Abstracts - Earli

and developers’ stated intentions; and (c) to reveal the various kinds of LAW-VAW relations, inlight of the curriculum’s official goals and developers’ stated intentions. We analyzed textbookswhich are replete with visual artworks (VAWs) and teacher guides for Grades 7-9. A completeartwork, literary or visual, served as a unit of analysis. The qualitative and quantitative analysisincluded: (i) general physical characteristics and organization; (ii) analysis of each separate LAWand VAW via categorization of their features using a predetermined set of eight criteria, and (iii)analysis of LAW-VAW relations, using a new set of criteria elicited from the previous step. Interraterreliability for the two sets of criteria was tested on a random sample of LAWs and VAWs.We also questioned in writing two of the materials’ developers. Findings revealed that despitetextbooks’ visual attractiveness, students enjoyed relatively low mindful exposure to rich LAW-VAW relations. LAW-VAW adjacency was mostly intuitive and not research-based, and VAWsintended to accompany LAWs were not chosen by application of the same criteria as those utilizedfor choosing LAWs, thus hindering artistic text-visual relations from achieving its optimal gainsregarding literature teaching and learning.Making connections: The nature and occurrence of links in literacy teaching and learningJudy Parr, University of Auckland, New ZealandStuart McNaughton, University of Auckland, New ZealandMeaola Amituanai-Toloa, University of Auckland, New ZealandShelley MacDonald, University of Auckland, New ZealandMei Kuin Lai, University of Auckland, New ZealandThis paper presents and discusses a conceptual framework for analyzing the nature of links,principally reading-writing links that might be made in literacy learning settings. There are soundtheoretical reasons why writing and reading would be mutually supportive in learning, includingnotions of revisiting, generalization and transfer. Linking reading and writing should enhancelearners’ awareness of how language works; of the processes of reading and writing, activities andgoals and the current and needed expertise. It should build and refine the learners’ knowledge baseand increase the effectiveness of strategy use. The framework for examining links encompassesboth the sites and the types of the connection. The framework has utility both for research and forsupporting teachers to develop these links in order to assist generalisability of learning from one tothe other. The utility of the framework is examined using observations and the associatedtranscripts from a large corpus of literacy lessons at elementary level. This provides an indicationof normative practice and provides important information for professional learning settings.Challenges of e-learning in adult foreign language education - Profiling adult students and ateacher in tertiary vocational educationMirjamaija Mikkila-Erdmann, University of Turku, FinlandMinna Scheinin, Turku University of Applied Sciences, FinlandThe target of this study is to contribute to the understanding of adult language learners, who arestudying English language for professional purposes in an E-learning setting. Computer-supportedlanguage learning has long traditions. However, the network-based environments for learningpurposes still wait to be fully exploited. We focus on adult language learners and the challengesand constraints they meet on network-based environments. The theoretical framework for thisstudy comes from learning research and the task-based approach in foreign language learning. Theparticipants of this study were 18 adult learners of professional English. We applied pre – and post– instructional questionnaires and interviews. During the course the students wrote their learningdiaries, which gave us insight into their learning processes. Our preliminary results indicate that– 462 –