Radical change theory (RCT) was conceived in a North American context in the mid-1990s, in order to explain changes in contemporary literature for youth related to the digitization of society. This study uses directed qualitative content analysis (DQlCA) to look at a select sample of contemporary award-winning Arabic picturebooks through the lens of radical change theory. The aim of the study is to ascertain whether and to what extent these acclaimed and promoted books display radical change characteristics (Dresang 1999). Children’s books that embody many such characteristics may be seen as products of an underlying ideology of childhood that is arguably gaining traction in contemporary societies–one in which children are seen as capable and seeking connection rather than innocent and in need of protection or depraved and needing to be controlled. All books in the present study were found to contain radical change. This can be viewed as revealing of larger trends affecting and perhaps changing the societies in which these books were published, distributed and promoted. In addition, radical change books are thought to be especially attractive to digital age children (by creating more interest and an elevated understanding), which is of special interest in the context of Arabic children’s literature because of the hurdles to accessibility that the use of literary Arabic creates.

This study is an exploration of the representation of masculinity in film, with particular focus on the way in which the leading male characters in a purposive sample of action genre and romantic comedy genre films represent masculinity. It is posited that masculinity is a construct, the meaning of which is dependent on the social context of the individual. Film being a social artefact could then possibly influence individuals understanding of the construct. Therefore an exploration of the kind of masculinity, the variations thereof across genres, and masculine characteristics of masculinity prevalent in each genre, is a first step in understanding possible influences of the definition of masculinity. In order to accomplish this exploration, a combination of methods is used to analyse these fictional characters according to a set of codes and „real‟ world norms. The real world norms are based on seven theoretically derived norms of masculinity developed from previous research on masculinity conducted by Levant, Hirsch, Celentano, Cozza, Hill, MacEachern, Marty and Schnedekerl (1992). The results of the findings from this study indicate that the way in which male characters are created for each genre are different, with male lead characters from the action genre having more characteristics that align with the „real‟ world norms of masculinity (Levant et al 1992). Alternatively, the male lead characters from the romantic comedy genre, have fewer characteristics that align with the seven theoretically derived norms of masculinity. The masculinity represented in the romantic comedy genre is more emotionally available and expressive, less aggressive, more compromising and reliant on others; while in the action genre masculinity is more independent, stoic, aggressive and more physically adventurous. The male lead characters in the romantic comedy genre are more about the emotional aspects of masculinity while the male lead characters in the action genre are more about the physical aspects of masculinity. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

This study is an exploration of the representation of masculinity in film, with particular focus on the way in which the leading male characters in a purposive sample of action genre and romantic comedy genre films represent masculinity. It is posited that masculinity is a construct, the meaning of which is dependent on the social context of the individual. Film being a social artefact could then possibly influence individuals understanding of the construct. Therefore an exploration of the kind of masculinity, the variations thereof across genres, and masculine characteristics of masculinity prevalent in each genre, is a first step in understanding possible influences of the definition of masculinity. In order to accomplish this exploration, a combination of methods is used to analyse these fictional characters according to a set of codes and „real‟ world norms. The real world norms are based on seven theoretically derived norms of masculinity developed from previous research on masculinity conducted by Levant, Hirsch, Celentano, Cozza, Hill, MacEachern, Marty and Schnedekerl (1992). The results of the findings from this study indicate that the way in which male characters are created for each genre are different, with male lead characters from the action genre having more characteristics that align with the „real‟ world norms of masculinity (Levant et al 1992). Alternatively, the male lead characters from the romantic comedy genre, have fewer characteristics that align with the seven theoretically derived norms of masculinity. The masculinity represented in the romantic comedy genre is more emotionally available and expressive, less aggressive, more compromising and reliant on others; while in the action genre masculinity is more independent, stoic, aggressive and more physically adventurous. The male lead characters in the romantic comedy genre are more about the emotional aspects of masculinity while the male lead characters in the action genre are more about the physical aspects of masculinity. / Communication Science / M.A. (Communication)

Forskning har visat att motivation har en stor betydelse för elevens lärande och välmående i skolan. Motivation har en lång forskningshistoria vilket har skapat en stor mängd tankar och idéer kring vad motivation är och hur den på bästa sätt kan främjas hos individen. Under senare år har motivationsforskning övergått till att i större omfattning använda socio-kognitiva modeller vilket har bidragit till en ny förståelse av motivationens flerdimensionalitet. Ur ett socio-kognitivt perspektiv framstår inte en elevs motivation vara ett stabilt personlighetsdrag utan snarare reflektera det möte som uppstår mellan undervisningens kontext och vilka förutsättningar eleven tar med sig in i denna kontext. För att nå en förståelse för elevens motivation att lära behövs således både en insikt om vilka förutsättningar eleven tar med sig in i en undervisningssituation samt hur undervisningens kontext påverkar dessa förutsättningar.Syftet med detta examensarbete är att undersöka hur elevens lärande inom matematik samt lärarens arbete med att motivera elever att lära sig matematik kan förstås ur ett motivationsteoretiskt perspektiv. Ett motivationsteoretiskt perspektiv betyder för denna studie att elever och lärares redogörelser har analyserats utifrån ett ramverk bestående av åtta motivationsteoretiska aspekter framtagna ur en syntes av motivationsteorierna självbestämmandeteorin, målorienteringsteorin samt förväntningar och värdeteorin.Studien genomfördes på två kommunala gymnasieskolor i Stockholmsområdet och deltagarna bestod av elever från varierande årskurser och programinriktningar samt lärare med lång respektive kort tid i yrket. Studien tillämpade en blandad metod där data samlades in via en enkät och intervjuer med elever och lärare. Deskriptiv analys utfördes på studiens enkätresultat med hjälp av statistikprogrammet SPSS och en riktad innehållsanalys genomfördes utifrån studiens ramverk på intervjuresultatet för att se hur motivationsteoretiska aspekter kom till uttryck i elever och lärares redogörelser. Resultatet visade att ungefär hälften av de motivationsteoretiska aspekter som ingick i ramverket aktualiserades i låg grad hos eleverna. Många av eleverna hade en positiv inställning gentemot matematikämnet och upplevde att de vara motiverade att lära sig matematik, men det fanns även många elever som hade en motsatt uppfattning. Dessa elever verkade ha tappat tron på sig själva och upplevde inte att undervisningen tog hänsyn till deras mer utmanande situation. Likväl visade det sig att lärarna upplevde att det var svårt att förverkliga ett motivationsarbete i sin undervisning på grund av tidsbrist och begränsningar kopplade till styrdokumenten. En märkbar konsekvens av detta var att elevernas inflytande och deltagande i undervisningen blev väldigt begränsat. Med utgångspunkt i detta resultat och tidigare forskning presenteras förslag för hur matematikundervisning kan organiseras för att främja elevens motivation att lära sig matematik. / Research has shown that student motivation plays a significant part in students academic success and well-being in school. In the field of educational research, motivation has long been a topic of interest which has produced an large amount of thoughts and ideas about what motivation is and what learning environments promote motivation most effectively. In recent years, researchers have increasingly began to use social cognitive models to explain motivation which has produced a new understanding of motivation as a multifaceted phenomenon. From a socio-cognitive perspective it has become clear that motivation cannot be explained as a stable personality trait. Instead, motivation can be understood to reflect the meeting point between the classroom context and what unique circumstances each student brings with him or herself into this context. Thus, in order to understand student motivation, one must first seek to understand the conditions each student brings to the classroom and how the classroom context affects each students unique circumstances. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how student accounts of learning mathematics and teachers classroom practices to motivate students to learn mathematics can be understood from a motivational theoretical perspective. In this study a motivational theoretical perspective refers to a framework that was developed from a synthesis of the three motivational theories, self-determination theory, goal orientation theory and expectancy-value theory.The study was conducted in two Swedish upper secondary schools with students from mixed grades and different educational programs and teachers with both short and long experience in the teacher profession. The study used a mixed method and the data was collected via a questionnaire that students participated in and through interviews with both students and teachers. Descriptive analysis was performed on the quantitative data using SPSS and a directed qualitative content analysis was performed using the developed framework on the qualitative data. The results showed that nearly half of the categories within the framework were satisfied in low levels within the students. Although many of the students had a positive attitude towards mathematics and felt that they were motivated to learn mathematics, there were also many students who had an opposite view. These students appeared to have had lost faith in themselves and did not experience that the learning environment took their more challenging circumstances into consideration. All of the teachers experienced a difficulty in including a motivational perspective in their teaching practice due to time constraints and limitations associated with the guidelines provided by the school system. A notable consequence of these circumstances was that student participation in learning activities and involvement in the decision making of the learning practices became very limited. Based on this result and previous research, suggestions were given on how the learning environment can be organized to promote student motivation in mathematics.