Stockholm university

Diana von Börtzell-SzuchLecturer

About me

I am a PhD Student at the Department of Special Education at Stockholm University, where I attend the research school GiftED that focuses on highly able students in inclusive educational systems. Also at Stockholm University, I am a teacher within the Special Education Teachers programme where I teach in courses that focus on reading and writing development and reading and writing difficulties.

My research interests are advanced reading skills and how reading instruction in primary school can meet educational needs of students with such skills and/or high potential to develop such skills. My research interests are aslo academic performance, well-being, motivation and attitudes toward learning and school among advanced students.

Supervisor: professor Mara Westling Allodi (Department of Special Education, Stockholm University)

Assistant supervisor: affiliated researcher Attila Szabo (Department of Learning and Teaching, Stockholm University)

Teaching

I have extensive experience of teaching (course coordinator and course teacher) in courses on reading and writing development as well as reading and writing difficulties in various teacher programs at the Department of Teaching and Learning at Stockholm University. Furthermore, I also have extensive experience as a course coordinator and course teacher in various practical training courses (VFU) in the Teacher Education Programme for Pre-School and Primary School Years 1 - 3. 

Now, I teach within the Special Education Teachers programme, second cycle, in courses that focus on reading and writing development and reading and writing difficulties.

 

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Students with advanced literacy skills and relatedliteracy instruction: a scoping review

    2024. Diana von Börtzell-Szuch, Mara Westling Allodi, Attila Szabo. Gifted and Talented International

    Article

    Empirical research on advanced literacy skills among students in elementary and middle school,and on literacy instruction related to such skills, was reviewed to map current scientific knowledgeon the topic, and to map identification methods and terms used to describe these students.A comprehensive search in three databases was conducted. Twenty-six studies met the criteriafor inclusion. Relevant results were summarized after a data extraction and thematic analysis. Themajority of the included studies were conducted in North America on elementary school students.Five research themes were identified, where the overarching results emphasize needs fora differentiated literacy instruction, both in terms of content and tasks, explicit instruction, abilitygrouping, and enrichment to enable gifted students to develop according to their potential.Furthermore, the findings indicate the importance of teacher professional development and accessto resources such as appropriate materials and time.

    Read more about Students with advanced literacy skills and relatedliteracy instruction: a scoping review
  • Läs- och skrivundervisning utifrån elevers varierade behov

    2025. Diana von Börtzell-Szuch, Sari Vuorenpää.

    Book

    Alla elever har olika språkliga resurser att tillgå och har därför varierade utgångspunkter i sin språk-, läs- och skrivutveckling. Den läs- och skrivundervisning och det stöd som fungerar för en elev behöver därför inte fungera för en annan. Grunden för en framgångsrik undervisning är gedigen kunskap väl grundad i evidensbaserad forskning om läs- och skrivutveckling, om vad som kan orsaka hinder och om vad som kan stötta fortsatt utveckling.

    Denna bok belyser vad av språkliga utmaningar kan innebära, hur de kan upptäckas, och vad lärare kan göra för att planera undervisningen så att den inkluderar alla elever. I bokens kapitel diskuteras språk-, läs- och skrivutveckling utifrån olika perspektiv, bedömning och kartläggning av läs- och skrivutveckling samt en strukturerad läs- och skrivundervisning för såväl skolan som den anpassade skolan. Vidare lyfts läs- och skrivsvårigheter liksom dyslexi samt hur dessa i kombination med neuropsykiatriska funktionsnedsättningar och språkstörning kan inverka på elevers läsande och skrivande samt vilka utmaningar det kan innebära för undervisningen. Innehållet belyser också hur läs- och skrivundervisningen kan stimulera och motivera till läsande och skrivande på olika sätt och hur assisterande teknik kan användas. Boken lyfter även hur språklig sårbarhet kan mötas i undervisningen samt vad Läsa-, skriva-, räknagarantin innebär för läs- och skrivundervisningen.

    I denna andra upplaga har innehållet uppdaterats och ett nytt angeläget kapitel om flerspråkiga elevers läsande har tillkommit.

    Boken riktar sig till studenter inom lärar-, speciallärar- och specialpedagogprogram, logopedstudenter samt yrkesverksamma som i sin profession önskar stärka sin kunskap inom området.

    Bokens redaktörer är Diana von Börtzell-Szuch och Sari Vuorenpää, båda vid Stockholms universitet.

    Read more about Läs- och skrivundervisning utifrån elevers varierade behov
  • Academic performance, academic self-concept, motivation, and attitudes toward learning among high-ability Grade 6 students in Sweden: Descriptive analyses of data from the Evaluation Through Follow-up database

    2025. Diana von Börtzell-Szuch, Mara Westling Allodi, Attila Szabo.

    Conference

    The Evaluation Through Follow-up (UGU) is a large cohort-sequential research study which is used for evaluation and research about schools and education in Sweden (Härnqvist, 2000). The aim of this poster is to investigate academic achievement, attitudes toward school and learning among the share of students who demonstrate the highest cognitive abilities from cohort 10, one of these nationally representative cohorts. The sample of cohort 10 was divided into two subpopulations (i.e., students with high cognitive abilities, other students), where the division of the two groups was based on the 10 percent highest achieving on the aptitude test consisting of two verbal parts (i.e., synonyms, antonyms), one spatial, and one inductive part, carried out in Grade 6 for the UGU data collection. 523 of the students from cohort 10 were identified as students with high cognitive abilities. The students also participated in a student questionnaire about the perceptions of teacher practices, motivation, and attitudes toward school. The questionnaire items were answered on a 4- or 5-point Likert scale with different answer alternatives. The answers to a selection of questions were analyzed with descriptive statistics in IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 29 and visualized. The main results indicate that students with high cognitive ability in the current sample, demonstrate a strong academic performance, are motivated to learn, and that they have a strong belief in their own academic ability. 

     

    Härnqvist, K. (2000). Evaluation through follow-up. A longitudinal program for studying education and career development. In C.-G. Janson (Ed.), Seven Swedish longitudinal studies in behavioral science (pp. 76–114). Forskningsrådsnämnden. https://gupea.ub.gu.se/handle/2077/26970

    Read more about Academic performance, academic self-concept, motivation, and attitudes toward learning among high-ability Grade 6 students in Sweden
  • Speciallärares och specialpedagogers röster om mötet med elevers varierade språkliga behov

    2022. Diana von Börtzell-Szuch, Sari Vuorenpää. Läs- och skrivundervisning utifrån elevers varierade behov, 293-316

    Chapter

    I bokens avslutande och femtonde kapitel lyfter Diana von Börtzell-Szuchoch Sari Vuorenpää erfarna speciallärares och specialpedagoger röster och resonemang om läs- och skrivundervisning i relation till det specialpedagogiska uppdraget – exempelvis att möta olika språkliga utmaningar och att kartläggaelevers språk-, läs- och skrivutveckling. Vidare lyfts arbetet med att utveckla specialpedagogiska förhållningssätt i den ordinarie undervisningen.

    Read more about Speciallärares och specialpedagogers röster om mötet med elevers varierade språkliga behov

Show all publications by Diana von Börtzell-Szuch at Stockholm University

Research interests: Advanced reading skills and reading instruction that support and promote development of such skills, and school performance, well-being, motivation and attitudes towards learning and school

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