<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mare  Müürsepp</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Anne Uusen</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">FAILING IN BASIC SCHOOL: DISCOURSES OF EXPLANATION</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Problems of Education in the 21st Century</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">essentialist vs. sociocultural approach</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">lifestyle</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">multiple masculinity</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2012</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">November/2012</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://oaji.net/articles/2014/457-1415392626.pdf</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">48</style></volume><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Discourse study was aimed to analyse the methodolody of educational research concerning problems of failing in basic school. There the gender discourse appeared as a substantial issue, while remarkable differences between boys and girls are revealed by official statistics and educational studies. 
 The sustainability of a society with such a gender imbalance in education is at risk, since the educational choices will influence choices in the labor market and in lifestyle in broader terms. It is therefore important to look for explanations for gender differences in education (coping strategies, achievement, etc.). In line with the theories of multiple masculinities can be argued that looking at the so-called failing boys as a homogenous group will not take us very far in understanding the underlying reasons for the causes of failing. If the coping at school is related to the gender, then the solution of the problem has to be derived from the gender differences too, but this kind of thinking would connote to the gender stereotypes. 
 Thus, a historical overview of educational research carried out in Estonia in the last century is provided, focusing on the discourse of gender in the educational science. There are different periods pointed out in relation to the focus in studies of academic success: there have been years, when the boys' results in academic skills were higher than girls' results; problems of health and social relations have been treated in different way during different periods. Content analysis of the studies concerning gender issues will be the basis for the discussion, and special attention will be given to the research of pupils' lifestyle.</style></abstract><work-type><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Original article</style></work-type><section><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">117-126</style></section></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Anne Uusen</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mare  Müürsepp</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">ORTHOGRAPHIC SKILLS AND TEACHING ORTHOGRAPHY IN LIGHT OF THE RENEWED ESTONIAN LANGUAGE SYLLABUS</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Problems of Education in the 21st Century </style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">native language pedagogy</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">writing skills</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2010</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">June/2010</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://oaji.net/articles/2014/457-1400136237.pdf</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">21</style></volume><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The National Curriculum is a document that prescribes the bases of teaching. All the issues in the National Curriculum are compulsory for each teacher. The issue of spelling skills in the curriculum has always had an active feedback, either positive or negative, among mother tongue teaching specialists in Estonia. Therefore, before starting the next curriculum reform, it is reasonable to analyze former versions and to research what is actually fulfilled or not in the real school life. 
The modern viewpoint of teaching spelling, described by keywords such as the usage of language and focusing on the text, is the basis of renewing the syllabus of mother tongue in Estonia. It means that orthography is taught and evaluated from the basis of informal teaching approach or in other words, by taking into account the language using situation and/or the language using purposes in teaching orthography. It has a clear and convincing scientific basis and ground, which is described also in the current article. 
Strong scientific ground and the results of studying the writing skills in students` independent pieces of writing gave a foundation to claim that the curriculum reform team in Estonia is on the right path. The results of the study also confirmed that orthographical skills and knowledge are acquired more effectively and consciously, when they are learned in the environment, where they are really needed or in other words, connected with the process of writing texts. The fact that the most frequently used words are written correctly even at the end of the first stage of compulsory school, makes it possible to draw more attention to teaching syntax, punctuation and writing different texts in different purposes at the 2nd stage of compulsory school. </style></abstract><work-type><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Original article</style></work-type><section><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">170-184</style></section></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Anne Uusen</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">READING ACTIVENESS AND READING PREFERENCES OF THE 6TH GRADE STUDENTS OF BASIC SCHOOL IN ESTONIA</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Problems of Education in the 21st Century </style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">reading activeness</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">reading literacy</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">reading skills</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2010</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">April/2010</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://oaji.net/articles/2014/457-1400134678.pdf</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">20</style></volume><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Reading skills, reading interest, understanding of text and other aspects connected with reading have been researched quite a lot during the last decades in Estonia. A number of studies have reached the conclusion that basic school students in Estonia are rather good readers. However, teachers often claim that teenagers tend to read less and less and also in newspapers there are complaints about bad reading skills of youngsters. One of the reasons of the above mentioned attitude is that we tend to define the concept of reading differently and if somebody complains because of students' low reading interest, he/she mostly refers to reading belles-lettres or fiction. 
Living in the 21st century demands much more from teenagers as readers than it did in the past century and many well-known reading researchers stress the need to be able to properly do our jobs, and simply, to live and manage an everyday life. In these two areas we need to be able to understand what all kinds of written messages are about.
 The content of the broader meaning of reading and the concept of reading literacy is discussed in the current article. Also an overview of the results of the study about reading activeness and reading preferences, the goal of which was to find out what kind of texts are authentic for the students and to start a larger study for analyzing the amount of time teenagers spend with reading, what they read etc., is given in this article. 
Based on the results of the study it became evident that students read quite a lot, but they rather read newspapers and magazines than belles-lettres or fiction. The most frequent texts that students read in the newspapers are news. Also comic strips, TV-programs and book reviews are read rather often. A positive finding was that a large proportion of students read belles-lettres quite often. 
The results of the conducted questionnaire provided the basis for improving and completing the questionnaire for a larger study as well as food for thought about broadening the assortment of reading materials for students and for making Estonian language lessons more pragmatic as well. </style></abstract><work-type><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Original article</style></work-type><section><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">135-145</style></section></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Anne Uusen</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">CHANGING TEACHERS` ATTITUDE TOWARDS WRITING, TEACHING OF WRITING AND ASSESSMENT OF WRITING</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Problems of Education in the 21st Century </style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">analytical assessment model</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">analytical assessment of writing</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">writing skills</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2009</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">January/2009</style></date></pub-dates></dates><urls><web-urls><url><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">http://oaji.net/articles/2014/457-1392315647.pdf</style></url></web-urls></urls><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">10</style></volume><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Writing is the most visible and probably therefore the most criticized product of education, but often the teacher has not declared to him/her what is the essence of writing and what are the main goals of teaching and assessing writing. Usually, when teachers in Estonia claim about students` bad writing skills, they often mean spelling, which is actually only one element of writing. The present article is going to introduce the research, which goal was to convince teachers, that creating text is a complex process, which involves paying attention to numerous factors: choice of words, syntax, message, peculiarities of different text forms, language usage etc. Therefore analytical assessment is described more closely in named above research paper and in this article, with hoping to encourage teachers to use it more systematically and consciously. Analytical assessment model, worked out for the research and used for assessing 740 pupils written texts, gave complex information about pupils writing skills, from what brief overview will be presented in the current article. The fact, that all pupils had their strong sides and weaknesses, confirmed complex nature of writing and proved, that for assessing pupils writing skills we need to assess many aspects of writing, not only spelling and/or content. </style></abstract><work-type><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Original article</style></work-type><section><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">100-108</style></section></record></records></xml>