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  • ”Kyllä me tästä yhdessä selvitään koko maailma!” : alakoululaisten vaikuttamaan pyrkivien kirjeiden ilmastonmuutosdiskursseja ja genrepiirteitä 
    Karihtala, Eeva-Leena (2021)
    Objectives. This master’s thesis was inspired on one hand by the current climate advocacy of children, and on the other by the persuasive possibilities of written texts (Anderson, 2008, 271; Wollman-Bonilla, 2004, 520). The aim of this piece of research was to investigate climate discourses and genre conventions in persuasive letters or “climate letters” written by primary school pupils. In addition, the aim was to specify and analyse which linguistic means were utilized to produce these climate discourses. This study increases knowledge of the meanings children attribute to climate change. Methods. The data for this study was collected from five primary school classes in four different schools. The students were in grades 3 to 6. The original data consisted of 54 letters. However, five letters which made up one of the classes participating in the study had to be disqualified. The conclusive data consisted of 49 climate letters from four different classes. The letters were analysed qualitatively utilizing discourse analysis and terminology within genre studies. Linguistic analysis, in this case the study of evaluations and modality, was used to support the discourse analysis. Findings and conclusions. The pupils’ climate letters utilized similar genre conventions which are natural to persuasive letters. These genre conventions are described using the term family resemblance. The letters have a similar schematic structure consisting of a greeting, a sequence containing opinions, arguments and suggestions, and a closing. By use of discourse analysis, six climate discourses were uncovered: a discourse about people-driven climate change, a denialist discourse, a conservation discourse, an animal rights discourse, a discourse of a sense of threat and a discourse of climate action. The discourses were produced using evaluations and modality. The evaluations varied. They were used to strengthen the affective quality of the letters and they proved to be an integral means of producing meanings about climate change. Out of the types of modality, dynamic modality was the most commonly used. In addition, illustrations were used to produce meanings about climate change. This study endeavours to offer more understanding about the meanings children develop about climate change so that the efforts to mitigate global warming would be more inclusive to the voices of the generation that will likely suffer most from the climate crisis.
  • Muuttiko rohkaisukeskeinen interventio viidesluokkalaisten minäpystyvyyttä? 
    Pasula, Susanna (2016)
    Goals. The writing performance level of Finnish schoolchildren, especially of boys, has been an area of concern over the past few years. The present study is part of a longitudinal intervention study (RoKKi), which has created an encouraging feedback model for trying to find ways to enhance writing skills. Research has shown that writing self-efficacy and writing performance are related, so this study will examine whether the encouraging feedback model will improve the self- efficacy of the students. A central element of the encouraging feedback model is peer feedback. The idea is that the pupils feel that attention is being paid to what they have written. Pupil experience has not figured significantly as an issue in writing research, so this study will tackle that subject as well. Methods. The study was carried out in three 5th-grade classes between autumn 2011 and autumn 2012. The established class had already used the encouraging feedback model before the study, while the treatment class started to use it at the beginning of the intervention. In the control class, the teacher gave feedback according to a more traditional manner. The data consists of four measures of self-efficacy and writing experience. They were analysed using one-way ANOVA, repeated measures ANOVA, t-tests and the equivalent nonparametric tests. Results and conclusions. The encouraging intervention didn't have a statistically significant effect on the self-efficacy beliefs of the 5th-graders. However, the self-efficacy in the established class was higher and the writing experiences were statistically significantly higher than in the other two classes. In the established class, the experiences remained positive regardless of the genre that was being exercised whereas, in the control group, not even the normally positively experienced genre of story could improve the writing experience of the boys. The intervention seemed to have a positive effect for boys in particular, but one needs to take into account that the starting level of the self-efficacy of the boys in the test class was also high, which is exceptional in the light of earlier research. In the control class, the girls had much higher levels of self-efficacy and better writing experiences than the boys whereas, in the established class, the results were quite even. The positive writing experiences and self-efficacy beliefs – and the equality of the genders – in the established class suggest that the encouraging feedback model might be of value in long-term use.

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