Intercultural competence (IC) as an essential part of conceptualization of the cultural dimension in FLT has been promoted by educationalists as the most preferred type of competence. One of the challenges of incorporating IC into FLT is to move from the recognition of IC as a model of teaching (Byram, Nichols and Stevens, 2001) to the development of practical applications. This can be due to the fact that teachers do not have sufficient knowledge of the theory behind the concept and consequently, have difficulties to implement the curriculum requirements with regards to IC into their teaching. The purpose of this study was to investigate how teachers of English in upper secondary schools in Sweden interpret the concept of IC and, accordingly, what is their view of culture in English language teaching. In order to answer the research question, I used an exploratory investigation by adopting a qualitative research method in form of semi-structured interviews. The results are similar to the previous studies (Lundgren, 2002; Larzén, 2005) and suggest that teachers lack theoretical background and central guidance with regards to IC and do not always integrate language and culture into an intercultural model of the English language pedagogy.

La thèse aborde la question de la spécificité de la didactique des langues, et plus précisément du français, en Russie. Les différences linguistiques importantes entre le russe et le français, une des langues étrangères les plus populaires en Russie, ont amené les didacticiens russes à proposer des pistes méthodologiques plus ou moins différentes de celles communément en cours en occident. La première partie propose une étude diachronique des divers courants méthodologiques qui ont jalonné l’histoire de l’enseignement des langues étrangères en Russie. La deuxième partie étudie en quoi ces courants spécifiques y irriguent actuellement l’enseignement du français. La troisième partie contient l’analyse de l’influence des idées théoriques sur le système moderne d’enseignement des langues étrangères en Russie. / The following doctoral thesis contains information about foreign language didactics specified in the French language teaching in Russia. Inspite of some major linguistic distinctions, French has always been one of the most popular languages among Russian people. This fact resulted in wide methodological procedures difference from the European educational system. The first part of the thesis provides a diachronic research on various methodologic streams, which gave a new direction for foreign languages teaching in Russia. The second part shows the current situation in teaching French for Russians. The third part is dedicated for analysis of theoretical ideas influencing on present day educational system of foreign languages.

This dissertation deals with the attitudes and self-concept of students learning Arabic at university in Indonesia connected to their ability in Arabic speaking and writing. / Islam and the Arabic language have had a profound influence on Indonesian life and culture. As the language of Islam, Indonesian Muslims begin learning Arabic at an early age. A compulsory subject in madrasas, pesantrens, and Islamic universities, the Arabic language is also offered in public schools and universities. Despite its accessibility as a subject, learners' competency in Arabic remains generally poor, even after many years of language instruction. This is particularly true of the productive skills domain. While results in grammar tend to be very good, students' skills in spoken and written Arabic are generally weak. In order to identify ways Arabic language learning in Indonesia might be strengthened, it would be helpful to explore factors that may lie behind the specific discrepancies observed in the skills of Indonesian learners of Arabic. As such, this study aims to investigate if there is a relationship between students' attitudes and self-concept the Arabic language and their skills in written and spoken Arabic. Do attitudes and self-concept significantly affect students' Arabic writing and speaking skills? Beyond this initial question, this study also explores whether students' language abilities might be differentiated by demographic factors and social variables. In this way, one could gain a deeper understanding of how attitudes and self-concept might affect students’ Arabic writing and speaking skills. The results of the study revealed that a positive attitudes towards Arabic does not correlate positively to their writing ability; however, a positive attitudes towards Arabic does correlate positively to their speaking ability. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the students have a neutral self-concept. Self-concept does not show any significant correlation with their Arabic writing and speaking ability. Regarding their language abilities, the students demonstrated moderate ability in Arabic writing, and in speaking they exhibited good ability. Demographic factors such as gender, ethnicity, years of studying Arabic and learning institution did not demonstrate an effect on their speaking ability. Finally, this study could not find any correlation between students’ attitudes and self-concept with their abilities in Arabic speaking and writing.

It has been widely debated whether the use of the mother tongue is effective when learning a new language or if teachers should instead use the target language all the time in a language classroom. While some research shows that the use of the mother tongue is detrimental, other studies suggest that it can be used as a tool (e.g. for translations and for instructions) for teaching a new language. This study aims at exploring whether English or Swedish is predominantly used in English language teaching in Swedish primary schools and which factors contribute to the choice of language. Three primary school teachers and their pupils aged between 8 and10 at two primary schools in Sweden participated in the study. The data were collected through surveys and observations and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings show that the Swedish language is predominantly used during English lessons. Moreover, according to the participants in the study, this dominance is linked to the teachers´ need to create a positive classroom environment where the pupils feel safe, comfortable, and confident using their mother tongue as a tool for language learning.

By learning and developing continuously in practice, many teachers are trying to improve their teaching. In order to support this process, schools promote models of professional development (PD). Previous studies point out the educational system of Cuba as especially successful in the PD of their teachers. To understand why their model is successful, the author of this study visited and participated in the field for three months observing and speaking with Cuban teachers. What is their model of PD and what are its opportunities and constraints? The study was conducted with an ethnographic approach, with field visits at foreign language departments of a university and an upper secondary school. Observations of different activities were made. Interviews and conversations took place with actors in the field. Much PD appeared to originate from collaboration, so this became the focus of the study. Wenger’s concept of learning in communities of practice formed a theoretical basis. To understand aspects of collaborative learning, Engeström’s theory of learning by expanding was also applied. The PD model is regulated and controlled from a top-down perspective, but at the same time ensures much time and space for continuous learning together in communities and gives teachers a meta-language to talk about development. Much learning in the communities is based on less experienced teachers learning from more experienced or from methodologists. These teacher communities may be interpreted as professional learning autonomies where individual and collective change and creativity is seen, sometimes even in conflict with other ideas in the educational system. This study also indicates that teacher PD is very intertwined in a context with a fine balance between opportunities and constraints. This high level of complexity implies that selecting and transferring separate success factors into other contexts may be difficult.

Digital media has found its natural place in schools all around the world. Especially for its capacity to vary the teaching and to increase students' motivation. This small-scale national study aimed to investigate if and how Swedish primary school teachers use digital tools in form of motion media in their EFL teaching. It also investigates the teachers’ motives for using this kind of teaching asset. A mixed method approach was applied to gather information for this paper, in which interviews and an online questionnaire was conducted by participants from all around Sweden. 40 teachers responded to the questionnaire, and five teachers were interviewed. The results show that Swedish primary school teachers are frequent users of motion media in their EFL teaching, and that YouTube is a popular source for media. Their motives for using this form of teaching are that it is fun for the students, it brings variation to the lessons, and it provides models of authentic language to the classroom. The study also shows some drawbacks and challenges with the use of motion media in language teaching, for example choosing proper materials. However, more research in the area is needed, particularly in Sweden’s lower grades.

The purpose of incorporating digital educational games in educational settings is to engage the students' desire to learn. The aim of the syllabus for upper secondary school, as expressed by Skolverket (2011) is to support the students for lifelong learning and in order to do so, motivation is needed. However, a problematic gap can be found between “games” and “formal education” which are two different concepts which cross paths in this study. One path shows the foundation of the Swedish steering documents, and the other displays the motivational aspects of implementing digital educational games in educational settings. This qualitative research uses questionnaire surveys with structured questions and semi-structured follow-up interviews via email in order to examine to what degree digital educational games can be implemented in the English 6 classroom. It investigates the effectiveness of digital educational games in regard to English teaching and teachers’ attitudes and beliefs. The results display different approaches teachers could take when incorporating digital educational games in their classroom but also show significant factors such as teachers' experiences in the digital classroom. The research concludes that digital educational games can be used to encourage student motivation and in the teaching practices of upper secondary school teachers in Malmö. This is therefore an important area that should be further researched to ensure that teachers receive sufficient guidance and experience for using digital educational games in the English classroom.

Forskning har visat att svenskar, i synnerhet barn och ungdomar, läser allt läser mindre. Multimodala medier skapar nya möjligheter och nya verktyg för att utforma undervisning och på så vis även försöka främja elevers motivation till att läsa. Den här studien har som syfte att bidra med kunskap om hur svensklärare arbetar med multimodala medier i klassrummet för att främja elevers läsmotivation. Genom intervjuer med fyra yrkesverksamma svensklärare på gymnasiet undersöker studien hur lärare beskriver sina kunskaper om multimodala medier och deras didaktiska möjligheter och utmaningar när det gäller främjandet av läsmotivation, samt vilka för- respektive nackdelar det finns i arbetet med multimodala medier kontra traditionella texter. Resultatet visar att samtliga lärare besitter olika mycket kunskap om hur multimodala medier kan användas i undervisningen för att främja läsmotivation hos eleverna. Lärarna beskriver att multimodala medier skapar förutsättningar för att fånga upp fler elever i klassrummet och kan fungera som en hjälpande hand eller språngbräda in i berättandet och till en motivation att läsa. Exempelvis genom att elever får möjlighet att med olika medier ta till sig en och samma berättelse. / Research indicates that the Swedish population, especially children and young adults, read less and less. Multimodal media have the potential to create new opportunities and new tools for teachers to foster student’s motivation to read. The purpose of this study is thus to contribute with knowledge about how Swedish teachers use multimodal media in the classroom to promote students reading motivation. The empirical material consists of qualitative interviews with 4 teachers from different upper secondary schools in Sweden, with the purpose to analyze how teachers describe their knowledge of multimodal media and their didactic possibilities and challenges regarding the promotion of reading motivation, and what advantages and disadvantages there are in working with multimodal media versus traditional books.  The study shows that all of the interviewed teachers possess various much knowledge about how multimodal media can be used in classrooms to promote students reading motivation. The teachers describe that multimodal media can act as a helping hand or springboard to increase student motivation to read. For example, by giving student the opportunity to understand a specific story through different multimodal media.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka hur engelsklärare i åk 4-6 belyser och säger sig använda smartboarden i engelskundervisning. Denna studie är baserad på kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med tre grundlärare som undervisar i engelska i år 4, 5 och 6, och TPACK-modellen har valts som teoretisk utgångspunkt för analys, tolkning och diskussion av materialet. Resultatet visar vilka för- och nackdelar med smartboarden som upplevs av lärarna. En fördel som framkommer är att smartboarden gör det möjligt att spara och dela lektionsinnehållet, medan en nackdel som omnämns är teknikens sårbarhet som medför att läraren ständigt måste ha en alternativ lektionsplan i beredskap. Resultatet visar också att de tre lärarna framför allt använder smartboarden som projektor, dvs. ett visningsredskap, och att dess fulla användningspotential ofta lämnas outnyttjad till följd av att lärarna får otillräcklig teknisk utbildning och bristfälligt pedagogiskt stöd för hur smartboarden ska integreras i ämnesundervisningen på bästa sätt.

The purpose of this degree study it to fill the research gap of outdoor education in Gaza Strip-Palestine. It explored the perspective of Elementary English language teachers on what they understand outdoor education and explained the lack of research on outdoor education in this region. The study adapted a qualitative research method by conducting semi-structed interviews with 11 teachers from both private and UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) schools in the Gaza-Strip. The data was analyzed by employing inductive content analysis. The result has provided that the teachers have heard of outdoor education, but yet they lack awareness regarding the actual term and what it means. Adding to this, they responded positively on considering implementing outdoor English language lesson. However, they illustrated limitation that they would face to conduct them. The research evoked that these limitation are the same reasons which why outdoor education and learning is not common in the Gaza-Strip. Thus, they stand behind the main causes of the lake of research in this field in that certain region.