Viele Schüler haben Schwierigkeiten, eine korrekte Wortfolge zu produzieren. Die Wortfolge in deklarativen V2-Sätzen sollte eigentlich kein Problem für schwedische Deutschlerner ausmachen, weil die syntaktischen Strukturen des Deutschen und des Schwedischen in diesen Sätzen gleich sind. In Hauptsätzen haben beide Sprachen SVO-Wortfolge und wenn Sätze mit einer anderen Konstituente anfangen, verlangen beide Sprachen invertierte Wortfolge, das heißt AdvVSO. Es hat sich jedoch herausgestellt, dass L2-Lerner Probleme bekommen, wenn sie eine andere Konstituente als ein Subjekt am Satzanfang platzieren. Die Schüler schreiben manchmal keine invertierte Wortfolge und die Wortfolge wird damit inkorrekt. Das Ziel dieses Aufsatzes war es, die Wortfolge in Textproduktionen schwedischer Deutschanfänger zu analysieren und mit der Analyse Bestätigung für Pienmanns Prozessabilitätstheorie oder für die Transferhypothese zu suchen. Laut Pienemanns Prozessabilitätstheorie beruhe die inkorrekte Wortfolge darauf, dass die XSVO-Wortfolge einfacher als invertierte XVSO zu produzieren sei. Pienemann meint, dass alle L2-Erwerber von dieser kanonischen Wortfolge (SVO) ausgehen. Meine Untersuchung ergab jedoch, dass schon die Anfänger nicht subjektinitiale Sätze produzieren, was gegen Pienemanns Theorie spricht. Überdies produzieren auch die L2-Lerner in meiner Studie in großem Ausmaß eine korrekte XVS-Wortfolge und das deutet auf Transfer aus der Muttersprache hin. Im Vergleich zu Pienemanns Studie, in der nur etwa 20% der nicht subjektinitialen Sätze korrekt waren, produzieren die L2-Lerner in meiner Studie in 80% der Sätze eine korrekte Wortfolge, was ein erheblicher Unterschied aufweist. In Bezug auf die inkorrekte Wortfolge bin ich der Meinung, dass diese auf Transfer aus dem Englischen ins Deutsche beruhen könnte. Die Schüler lernen zuerst die englische Wortfolge und somit könnten diese Strukturen ins Deutsche transferiert werden.

Over the past few decades analyses of causation have proliferated in almost immeasurable abundance, and with two things in common; firstly, they make much of counterfactual dependence, and secondly, none of them successfully handle all the pre-emption cases. In this thesis, I fore-mostly investigate David Lewis’ promising counterfactual analyses of causation (along with many others), and provide an extensive examination of pre-emption cases. I also offer my own counterfactual analysis of causation, which I argue can handle the problematic pre-emption cases, and therein succeed where so many other prominent analyses of causation have failed. I then conclude with some morals for the continuing debate.

This study aims to analyse errors written by Year 9 and examine whether the errors derive from the pupils´ mother tongue (Swedish) or not. 20 essays collected from a school in southern Sweden were examined for this study. The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis, which states that grammatical errors in L2 English are the result of interference from L1 Swedish, was used as the theoretical basis for this study. Different processes of errors in second language acquisition were then analysed, which are called transfers and generalisation. Four different types of grammatical errors will be described and the errors found in the essays are discussed on the basis of these linguistic errors. In addition, some lexical errors will be accounted for. This study aims to find out whether it is possible to see any connections with the pupils´s errors to Swedish. The results show that some errors can be directly linked to their mother tongue, such as direct translations of prepositions, which were by far the most common type of errors. Some errors are however more likely to be generalisations, where the pupils´ have used their previous knowledge of English syntax, in a new context.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka hur lärare i moderna språk ser på L2-elevers möjligheter att lära sig ett modernt språk på grundskolan. Utifrån en kvalitativ metod samlades materialet genom intervjuer med sex lärare i moderna språk på grundskolan. Resultatet visar att lärarna betonar flera olika förkunskaper och förutsättningar för att L2-elever ska få börja läsa och kunna lära sig moderna språk. Dessa är kunskaper i svenska och engelska, bra skolbakgrund och klara skolans andra ämnen i första hand. Lärarnas syn på språkinlärning och vem ämnet moderna språk är till för är ledande för hur de kommer att rekommendera eleverna att välja, hur undervisningen ska se ut och vilket stöd eleverna får möjlighet till. Resultatet kommer fram till några motsägelsefulla slutsatser. Å ena sidan är flerspråkiga elever framgångsrika språkinlärare, å andra sidan behöver de först lära sig svenska och engelska för att få läsa moderna språk. Å ena sidan ska eleverna inte ha läxhjälp i moderna språk, å andra sidan förväntas föräldrarna kunna stötta sina barn i ämnet. Hur lärare ser på L2-elevers möjligheter i moderna språk kan kortfattat antas bero på vilken inställning de har till ämnets prioritet och språkinlärning.

This is a small, mixed-methods study focusing principally on the learning experience element of Dörnyei’s L2 motivational self system and its effect on students’ ideal and ought-to selves. The specific purpose of this investigation was to explore the L2 classroom environment and explore any potential relationship to the ideal and ought-to selves of the students. The secondary element of this study was to discover whether this potential relationship could impact teacher-training and how. The study was conducted in two English (L2) classes at a Swedish upper-secondary school. A quantitative questionnaire was compiled using features from previous studies in this field and questions designed for this particular study. Each student filled out a questionnaire individually. The results of these were then analysed to establish a picture of the students’ general level of motivation, their possible selves, their classroom environment, and how they felt the former was affected by the latter. Qualitative contributions to the investigations were made through interviews with individual students and observation of lessons. The results indicated that, for the majority, four components of the classroom environment impacted significantly on the ideal and ought-to selves of the students, namely, the teacher, the group cohesiveness and orientedness and finally, the facilities. However, one factor did not demonstrate such a noteworthy influence: course material. The implications of these findings are that course material may not be as critical as originally thought in influencing student motivation. Moreover, teacher-training could, in future, include training on ideal and ought-to selves in order to maximize the positive effect of the classroom environment, as a whole, on individuals. This could be achieved by, for example, adapting the classroom facilities to suit different student needs, forming groups based on common interests and allowing for extra-curricular activities to enhance group-cohesiveness.

The main objective of the present study is to investigate whether there is a difference in comprehension between two groups of Swedish L2 learners of English when they are faced with idioms in either a written context or in an audio-visual context. The investigation was performed at a Swedish upper secondary school. The subjects of the investigation are two different groups, where group 1 consists of 21 subjects and group 2 of 26 subjects. To one group, the idioms were presented in a written context, which is a transcribed version of the audio-visual context to which the second group was subjected. The results of the study are statistically confirmed, which means that they are generalizable to any two similar sets of students taking the same two tests and they show that there is a difference in comprehension for L2 learners if they are presented with idioms in an audio-visual context in comparison to when they are presented with a written context. This difference suggests that the comprehension of L2 idioms can be strengthened when the idioms are presented in an audio-visual context.

The topic of this diploma thesis belongs to the field of language acquisition and language learning. It aims to explore Czech as a second and foreign language of speakers whose mother tongue is German, namely concerning the pronunciation of the r-sound and its perceptual acceptability for Czech native speakers. The theoretical part summarizes the area of pronunciation learning and acquisition in a second and foreign language and outlines various pronunciation difficulties German speakers tend to have in Czech. It deals with the rhotics in general and subsequently focuses on the r- sound, both in Czech and in German, as well as in mutual comparison. In the last chapter, the combinatorial qualities of the r-sound which are used as a basis for the practical part are discussed. The practical part describes the conducted research. Five recordings of German students were collected. The students were staying in Prague for one semester with the Erasmus programme exchange and were learning Czech for the first time. For the recordings a written text was constructed which the students read individually. The text emphasized words including the r-sound. From the recordings, various key words were cut off and a perceptual test was compiled and given to Czech native speakers to evaluate the pronunciation of the...

The use of English has increased greatly in the higher education system with universities across the world including English as part of their education programs. One of many consequences of this is that many students have to read and study in a second or foreign language, which has shown to be of difficulty for many students according to previous research. The purpose of this present study is to investigate the academic reading habits of students and explore their perceptions and attitudes towards reading academic English, and what experiences they have in relation to that. A total of 68 participants took part in this study, all recruited at Stockholm University. All participants responded to a questionnaire and interviews were conducted with four of the students. A relatively high degree of commitment was reported towards the assigned reading and a majority of the students did not perceive reading academic English as difficult and reported mostly positive attitudes about it. The results suggest that the personal interest and perception of the assigned reading is crucial and matter more for students than the target language.

The decline of the requisite linguistic skills of law students around the world has been documented comprehensively through legal scholarship. While ameliorating initiatives attempt to remedy law school education, the curriculization of English for academic legal purposes (EALP) has been neglected, resulting in the absence of a principled curricular framework for developing EALP syllabi. The proliferation of legal English communication across the circles of world English has accentuated the deterioration of students’ linguistic skills and exacerbated the educational challenges confronting law schools. These premises were influenced and validated by the researcher’s experiences as student and teacher of law and language. Three research questions address the rationale and guide the research: (1) Which curricular principles can be deduced from theoretical linguistics, second language (L2) pedagogy, and legal education to constitute a framework for EALP? (2) Which legal linguistic skills clusters can be identified from a typology of EALP-type textbooks? (3) As research outcome, how can the literature review and textbook analysis be synthesized into a cohesive curricular framework for EALP that can be applied across the circles of world English? The cyclical research strategy that underpinned this qualitative study relied on a social constructionist worldview, case study methodology, and qualitative content analysis method. The literature review probed theoretical linguistics, L2 pedagogy, and legal education as tributary disciplines of EALP. Insights gleaned from the literature review informed the qualitative content analysis of a purposive sample of EALP-type textbooks (N = 44). The textbooks were coded to create a typology and to determine the clusters of linguistic skills introduced during law school and across the circles of world English. The literature review led to the formulation of theoretically informed, curricular principles from the three disciplines that underpin EALP. The qualitative content analysis resulted in the creation of a typology of textbooks that exhibits clusters of linguistic skills that are scaffolded throughout law school. While academic communication skills were accentuated, legal linguistic skills incorporate additional clusters of thinking, research, and pedagogic skills. Together these skills constitute the skill of “thinking like a lawyer.” A synthesis of the theoretical principles and skills clusters provides a holistic curricular framework for EALP that is sensitive to the local diversity within the circles of world English. The curricular framework for EALP draws legal English from the periphery to the center of law school education by accentuating the legal linguistic skills needed both in academia and in legal practice. The main limitations of the study are the challenges posed by the inclusion of original EALP syllabi and the manual coding of the textbook sample. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2015. / Humanities Education / Unrestricted

The present dissertation explored the acquisition of grammatical knowledge in L2 by adults. The main focus was to investigate the role of type and token frequency in knowledge acquisition under incidental learning conditions. Such impact was studied by using different experimental conditions, in which items were presented with high or low type and token frequency during training. The mediating effect of working memory in such learning conditions was also measured. The material for the study was a natural language (Russian), as opposed to the previous research having used mainly artificial or semi-artificial languages. Within the course of four experiments native speakers of English with no previous knowledge of a Slavic language were exposed to noun-adjective agreement patterns of different complexity. A simple noun-adjective agreement pattern according to gender was used in Experiment 1. A medium-complexity pattern, according to gender and case, was chosen in Experiment 2. And a complex noun-adjective agreement pattern, according to gender, case and number, was used in Experiment 3. Experiment 4 employed the same agreement pattern as in Experiment 2; animacy effects were also studied by selecting animate and inanimate head nouns as stimuli. The knowledge acquired was tested both in comprehension and production domains. Working memory was measured using the Operation and Reading span tests. The results supported a “starting small” approach for production; accuracy was greater in the low type low token frequency and low type high token frequency conditions. For comprehension, high type frequency had shown more effect. Working memory was differentially involved in the production of acquired knowledge in different conditions and not engaged where learning was facilitated by frequency. Levels of knowledge also depended on the complexity of the agreement pattern, frequency effects and the domain of knowledge acquisition: comprehension versus production.