This research report is concerned with translation in which culture plays a major role, and examines the issues involved in translating for a specific audience – in this case Arabic-speaking Moslem children in Egypt. Translation is firstly discussed in a broader context, demonstrating that translation needs to be understood either as “rewriting” or “cultural textualisation” (Snell-Hornby, 1997:123). Secondly, the translation of children’s literature is discussed as a type of translation operating through an encounter with both culture and linguistics. Overlaps between language and culture are located and the importance of contextual adaptation is emphasised in relation to solutions proposed for addressing the cultural problems raised in the translation of Peter Slingsby’s The Joining for Egyptian children. In conclusion, suggestions are made concerning translation as adaptation in the form of possible guidelines for future translators of children’s literature into Arabic.

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The following study aims to investigate young Arabic-speaking adults' experiences of mathematics teaching during their time in primary school, more specifically, the study focuses on highlighting experiences of how linguistic and cultural experiences can be positioned as resources in mathematics teaching and how these relate to Arabic-speaking people's possible identity positions. Two questions have been formulated to achieve the purpose of the study: What experiences do Arabic-speaking young adults have of language and culture in mathematics teaching in primary school in Sweden? And what identity positions regarding resources for mathematics learning will be possible based on the young adults' linguistic and cultural experiences? A qualitative method for data collection has been done in the form of semi-structured interviews with 6 Arabic-speaking people aged 18-25 to answer the questions. Results show students were not allowed to use Arabic as a resource in school, but that it was used as a resource in mathematics learning in other contexts. Most students were also not allowed to use their cultural experiences as resources in school. These affected the persons' identity and the view they had of themselves, as they felt that they were, among other things, positioned as "dumb".

The number of people who flee their countries because of armed conflicts increased dramatically. Recently, Sweden received a higher number of refugees than before. The issue of integration of these new refugees into the host society is a challenging process and still open for debate. The field of cross-cultural studies has paid great attention to post-migration experiences. Therefore, the integration of refugees into a new society is a complex process. It’s not limited to the receiving countries’ policies, several aspects such as social and cultural characteristics of the refugees have to be taken into consideration.  In this regard, the research aims to explore the acculturation process from the perspective of highly educated Arabic-speaking refugees who recently settled in Sweden. The data has been collected using semi-structured interviews. The research used Berry’s acculturation model and the related theoretical frameworks to discuss the integration of highly educated Arabic-speaking refugees. The results revealed that the participants adopted the integration strategy, they appreciate their home culture while they are highly interested to interact with the host society. Labor market entry and Swedish language proficiency were the major challenges faced by the participants to integrate into the Swedish society. The findings of this research can be used by policymakers, the labor market, and social workers to understand the refugees’ attitudes when designing integration tools and interventions for highly educated refugees.

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Syfte: Det övergripande syftet med denna licentiatavhandling är att beskriva resultat från en kartläggning av hälsosituationen hos nyanlända flyktingar som genomgår SFI studier samt att belysa den självskattade hälsorelaterade livskvalitet som arabisktalande deltagare i en specifik hälsofrämjande gruppaktivitet (Hälsoskola) beskriver före, efter samt vid en sexmånaders uppföljning av aktiviteten. Design, metod, urval: Urvalet deltagare i delstudie I var nyanlända arabisktalande flyktingar bosatta i Fosie stadsdel i Malmö och som deltog i SFI utbildning. Undersökningsgruppen bestod av sammanlagt 67 personer, 52 procent män och 48 procent kvinnor. Datainsamlingen genomfördes med hjälp av frågeformulär innehållande frågor om familj och anhöriga, nätverk och service, svenskundervisning och delaktighet, introduktion och hjälpbehov samt om sömn och återhämtning. I delstudie II bestod urvalet av arabisktalande nyanlända flyktingar som genomgick en sju veckors Hälsoskola som en del i sin introduktionsplanering. Dataunderlag bestod av kvalitativa data inhämtat vid deltagande observationer och muntliga grupputvärderingar med 65 kursdeltagare. Därutöver besvarades ett frågeformulär för självskattning av hälsorelaterad livskvalitet samt om sömn och återhämtning. Frågeformuläret besvarades vid kursstart, kursavslutning samt sex månader efter kursens slut. Respondenter i denna del var 39 kursdeltagare som besvarat samtliga tre frågeformulärsomgångar. Därutöver innehåller avhandlingen en artikel vars syfte är att beskriva kursen/metoden Hälsoskola, dess bakgrund och teoretiska kopplingar samt den samverkansprocess som utvecklats mellan professionella aktörer och brukare. Resultat: I delstudie I rapporterade respondenterna hög förekomst av sömn- och trötthetsbesvär. Sextioåtta procent av respondenterna hade sömnproblem motsvarande hälften av veckans dagar. Något färre 43 % rapporterade regelbundna besvär med sömnighet, till exempel att man nickade till under dagen. Fyrtioen procent (män 36 %, kvinnor 50 %) uppfyllde kraven för klinisk insomni baserat på att respondenterna hade både sömnbesvär och trötthetsbesvär under minst hälften av veckans dagar. Därutöver upplevde drygt 80 % av samtliga stor oro över sin familj eller andra anhöriga i hemlandet. Många kände sig isolerade och ensamma, hade svårt att få kontakter med föreningsliv, få tillgång till platser för kulturella aktiviteter, för religionsutövning och för sportaktivitet. Många upplevde också svårighet att få tillgång till hälso- och sjukvård samt tandvård. I utbildningssituationen upplevde drygt hälften stora svårigheter att förstå vad läraren sade och 68 % hade svårt att hinna med i tempot på lektioner. Drygt 64 % rapporterade koncentrationssvårigheter, de hade problem att förstå hemuppgifter liksom att kunna göra hemuppgifter i lugn miljö. För många respondenter rådde oklarhet om introduktionsplanen och cirka hälften av dem hade velat få mera hjälp av sin introduktionshandläggare med läkar- och sjukvårdskontakter samt med sin bostadssituation. I den kvalitativa delen av delstudie II vars syfte var att belysa de viktigaste frågorna från deltagarnas synvinkel, utkristalliserade sig fyra kategorier: 1) Fördjupningsfrågor beträffande innehåll i kursen/Hälsoskolan. 2) Kommentarer angående form och struktur på kursen/Hälsoskolan. 3) Vilka av kursdeltagarnas ”behovsområden” som kursen/Hälsoskolan täcker in och vilka områden som saknas? 4) Vad kursdeltagarna önskar få framfört till administratörer, beslutsfattare och politiker. I den kvantitativa uppföljningsstudien framkom att deltagarna upplevde en hög grad av sömn och koncentrationsproblematik vid kursstart. Denna problematik var betydligt mindre vid kursens avslutning och förändringen kvarstod vid uppföljning sex månader senare. Det framkom även att sömnproblematik var relaterad till de fem variablerna av hälsorelaterad livskvalitet;( rörlighet, aktivitet, egenvård, smärta och oro/depression) och till upplevelsen av det allmänna hälsotillståndet. Angående variablerna smärta och oro/depression kvarstod en signifikant förändring både vid uppföljning ett och vid uppföljning två sex månader efter kursavslut. Både män och kvinnor bedömde sitt allmänna hälsotillstånd som signifikant bättre vid båda uppföljningarna jämfört med vid kursstart, men förändringen var störst beträffande kvinnorna. Konklusion: De sammantagna resultaten visar att det finns en hög fysisk och psykisk ohälsoproblematik i den undersökta populationen med avseende på deras självskattade hälsa. Denna problematik har ett nära samband med sömn och koncentrationsproblem och får även konsekvenser för de nyanländas dagliga aktiviteter och etablering i det nya samhället. Det framkommer ett stort behov av hjälp från hälso- och sjukvården men också en brist på tillit till detsamma, bland annat beroende på svårtillgänglighet och brist på professionella tolkar. Å andra sidan visar resultaten i denna licentiatavhandling att mottagningssystemet med noga överlagda insatser kan åstadkomma betydande positiva förändringar för gruppen nyanlända flyktingar. Den självupplevda hälsorelaterade livskvaliteten för deltagare i kursen Hälsoskola visade på signifikanta förändringar inom de undersökta aspekterna för gruppen som helhet vid kursslut och vid senare uppföljning. De reella faktiska kunskaperna inom egenvård och om det svenska hälso- och sjukvårdssystemet hade ökat betydligt vid kursavslut. Nämnda effekter kan även få positiva följdverkningar för nästa generation och andra personer i kursdeltagarnas nära omgivning. / Aim: The overall aim of this thesis is to describe the results of a survey of the health situation of newly-arrived refugees attending a course in Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) (study I) and elucidate the self-rated health-related quality of life that Arabic-speaking participants in a spe-cific health-promoting group activity (Health School) report before, immediately after and at a six-month follow-up of that activity (study II). Design, method, sample: The sample in study I comprised newly-arrived Arabic-speaking refugees living in the Malmö district of Fosie who were attending a SFI course. A total of 67 persons participated, 52 per cent men, 48 per cent women. Data were collected with the aid of a questionnaire with both open-ended and closed alternative responses about family and relatives, networks and services, Swedish language lessons and participation, introduction and needs, sleep and recovery. In study II the sample comprised newly-arrived Arabic-speaking refu-gees who attended a seven-week Health School as a part of their intro-ductory planning. The study was based on qualitative data obtained by participatory observation and oral group evaluations with 65 course participants. In addition, we used a questionnaire with closed response alternatives for self-rating health-related quality of life, including sleep and recovery. The questionnaire was administered at the beginning and end of the group activity as well as six months after the end. This sam-ple comprised 39 participants in the group activity who responded to the questionnaire on all three occasions. Furthermore, the thesis contains an article describing the Health School group activity/method, its background and theoretical links, as well as the collaborative process that developed between professionals and re-cipients. Results: The respondents in study I reported a high frequency of sleep- and fatigue-related complaints. Sleep disturbances on the equivalent of every other day were reported by 68 per cent and somewhat fewer, 43 per cent, reported regular problems with drowsiness, for instance drop-ping off during the day. Criteria for clinical insomnia were met by 41 per cent (36 per cent of the men, 50 per cent of the women), based on the combination of sleep disturbance and complaints of fatigue at least every other day. In addition, over 80 per cent of the sample experienced great anxiety about their family or other relatives in their home country. Many felt isolated and lonely, found it hard to get in touch with associations, have access to places for cultural activities, practicing religion and participating in sports. Many also experienced difficulties in gaining access to health care and dental care. In the educational situation (SFI), more than half had great difficulty in understanding what the teacher said and 68 per cent found it hard to keep up with the pace of the lessons. More than 64 per cent reported difficulties with concentration, problems with understanding homework and being able to do homework in a calm environment. Many respondents were uncertain about the introductory plan and roughly half had wanted their introductory officer to be more helpful in contacts with health care, including doctors, and housing matters. The qualitative part of study II, which aimed to elucidate the most im-portant issues according to the participants, gave rise to four categories: 1) More in-depth issues concerning the content of the group activi-ty/Health School, 2) Comments on the form and structure of the group activity/Health School, 3) Which of the participants’ “needs” were cov-ered by and which were missing, and 4) What the participants wanted to convey to administrators, decision-makers and politicians. The quantitative follow-up study showed that when the group activity started, the participants experienced a high degree of problems with sleep and concentration. Such problems were considerably less frequent at the end of the activity and this change persisted six months later. Moreover, the sleep disturbances were related both to the five variables of the health-related quality of life (mobility, activity, self-care, pain and anxiety/depression) and to the perception of general health. The variables pain and anxiety/depression showed significant improvements at the end of the activity as well as six months later. Men as well as women rated their general health as significantly improved at both follow-ups compared with baseline; the change was greatest for women. Conclusions: Taken together, the results show that in terms of self-rated health, the studied population has a high degree of problems with physical and mental ill-health. These problems are closely related to problems with sleep and concentration, besides having consequences for the newly-arrived persons’ daily activities and for settling in the host country. A great need of assistance from health care emerges, as well as a lack of trust in this, partly due to difficulty of access and a lack of professional interpreters. At the same time, the findings in this thesis show that the reception sys-tem with evidence-based inputs can achieve considerable positive changes for newly-arrived refugees. The self-rated health-related quality of life for participants in the group activity/Health School showed that for the group as a whole, the studied aspects had improved significantly both by the end of the activity and at the six-month follow-up. Proper actual knowledge about self-care and the Swedish health care system had increased significantly by the end of the activity. These effects can also have positive consequences for the next generation and others close to the participant. The group activity needs to be tested with other language groups of newly-arrived in order to warrant general conclusions.

Ce travail de recherche interlangue arabe-français s’inscrit à la croisée de la psycholinguistique, la psychologie cognitive etla didactique. Il se déroule au Maroc (Agadir) pays polyglossique. Notre étude s’attache à déterminer dans quelle mesure etavec quelle importance, l’apprentissage de la lecture en français (L2) intervient dans le développement de la perception etde la prononciation de cette même langue. Nous supposons que les connaissances orthographiques et phonologiques,acquises par le biais de la lecture, permettraient de rendre plus saillantes certaines représentations phonologiques de lalangue cible. Nous étudions cette hypothèse en nous appuyant sur l’acquisition des phonèmes [e] et [y] du français sourcede difficultés pour le locuteur marocain. Nous avons mené une étude longitudinale sur une année scolaire avec des enfants arabophones marocains apprenant le français écrit au Maroc. Nous avons mis en place un protocole d’évaluation des compétences orales en français à partir de tâches de conscience phonologique, de perception, de prononciation et delecture. Un questionnaire a également été distribué aux parents afin de nous renseigner sur l’environnement linguistiquedes enfants testés. L’analyse des résultats indique que l’apprentissage de la lecture en L2 entraîne la consolidation desconversions graphophonologiques, ce qui permet aux enfants de disposer de catégories phonémiques mieux définies, et de mieux percevoir et prononcer des sons absents du système phonologique de leur langue première. / This research on French-Arabic interlanguage is at the junction of psycholinguistics , cognitive psychology and didactics . It takes place in a multilingual country, Morocco (Agadir). Our study seeks to establish to what extent learning to read in French (L2) impacts the development of perception and pronunciation of this language and how important this learning is. We assume indeed that spelling and phonological skills gained through reading, could make certain phonological representations of the target language more salient. We explore this hypothesis by resorting to the acquisition of two French phonemes [e] and [y] create difficulties for Moroccan speakers.In order to verify that mastering spelling-phonological correspondences contributes to improving the quality of the phonological system of this language , we carried out a longitudinal study during a school year with Arabic-speaking Moroccan children Learning written French in Morocco. We have established a protocol for assessing oral proficiency in Arabic and French based on phonological awareness tasks (validated speech therapy tests) and on perception and expression skills. We set up to a reading test to provide information on speed , reading correction and vocabulary maturity of the subject. A questionnaire was also distributed to parents to provide insights into the linguistic environment of tested children. Result analysis shows that learning how to read in L2 consolidates writing and phonological conversion , which would allow children to own better defined phoneme categories , and consequently to better perceive and pronounce sounds that are absent from their first language phonological system.

The problem of this study was to examine the effect of text structure and signaling devices on immediate and delayed recalls of freshman Arabic-speaking students after reading a text. Subjects for the study were forty-five freshman Arabic-speaking students enrolled in three freshman English courses at a state university. All subjects were male students. The subjects-were chosen on a voluntary basis. The subjects were given the Reading Comprehension Section of the TOEFL. They were then divided into groups of good, average, and poor readers according to their performance on the TOEFL. Two well—organized passages of expository text with clearly identifiable top-level structure of problem/solution and appropriate reading levels were selected for the study. Two versions of each passage were adapted — one with the signaling devices included in the passage and the other with the signaling devices deleted. Each subject read one version of each of the two passages. The immediate and delayed recalls of the subjects were scored by an unbiased scorer. The scorer was an expert teacher of English to foreign students. Hypothesis I stated that good readers would be able to utilize the writer's rhetorical mode of the text at a significantly higher level than average and poor readers. This hypothesis was supported. The results of Chi square analysis was significant at the .03 level for immediate recall, and at the .01 level for the delayed recall. Hypothesis II stated that readers of each of the three groups who followed the original rhetorical mode of the text would recall significantly more information than those who failed to do so. This hypothesis was also supported. The results of the Two-way Analysis of Variance were significant at the .01 level for both immediate and delayed recalls. Hypothesis III stated that the students of all three groups would recall significantly more information from the passage with signaling devices than from the passage without signaling devices. This hypothesis was not supported. Signaling devices helped good and average readers to recall significantly more information, while the group of poor readers was not affected by the presence of these signaling devices. The findings suggest that training non-native speakers in identifying and utilizing different rhetorical structures might facilitate their reading comprehension. There is also a parallel need in writing instruction so that writers can . offer this facility to their readers.