Issues regarding how gender and sexuality are represented within different discourses have gained increased attention in the past decades. Within the field of language, gender, and sexuality, topics such as sexist language, stereotypes and heteronormativity have been continuously problematised as means of sustaining societal norms. The ramification of such norms can have a negative impact on how people engage with and express their identity, especially within the context of education. Research conducted on textbooks shows problematic representations of gender and sexuality where women are disfavoured and non-binary and LGBTQ+ identities often are excluded. Whilst gender representation has become increasingly more equal, a heterosexual norm is still very much prevalent within education. In response to such issues, the pedagogical approach norm critical pedagogy emerged in Sweden a few decades ago with the aim to develop critical thinking and thus challenge discriminatory beliefs and prejudice. In the present study, the representation of gender and sexuality within education will be investigated in a Swedish context. Linguistic patterns and word choice in three ELT textbooks are analysed through two approaches to content analysis. The findings showed that there is unequal representation of gender and sexuality overall, with gender identities outside the binary and varying sexualities being predominantly excluded. Additionally, implicit linguistic patterns which reinforce gender stereotypes and further limit the scope of acceptable gender expressions emerged across all textbooks. However, the most recent book stood out by being more inclusive and engaging with issues in a way which engages critical thinking.

This study explores how upper secondary school English teachers in Sweden view English pronunciation in the classroom, particularly in the context of English as a global language and the native speaker ideal. The results are analysed from a sociocultural perspective, highlighting contextual and cultural aspects of pronunciation teaching. Despite its importance for effective communication in a global context, the current English syllabi provide limited directives on teaching the productive skill of pronunciation. The study is based on eight semi-structured interviews with Swedish upper secondary school English teachers. Three research questions were formulated and addressed in the results section concerning the teachers’ perspectives on English pronunciation, their methods and strategies, and attitudes toward language varieties and the native speaker ideal. Furthermore, thematic analysis was utilised to identify themes that corresponded to the aim of the study. The findings indicate that pronunciation is primarily addressed alongside receptive skills, and the teachers prioritise communicative ability over adherence to a specific pronunciation norm. Teachers’ emphasis on pronunciation varies according to their pupils’ needs. While the teachers recognise the importance of exposing pupils to diverse English varieties, 60% give inner-circle forms as examples. Furthermore, the teachers perceive that pupils often aspire to sound native, yet the teachers accept different English varieties in the classroom. The study discusses the use of a Swedish variety of English as both an opportunity and a challenge. Moreover, various teaching strategies are reported, with reading aloud being employed by half of the teachers and a phonetic approach by two. The findings suggest that pronunciation teaching is a context-sensitive practice influenced by ongoing negotiations between teachers and pupils in the specific classroom.

L'épilepsie est une maladie neurologique chronique caractérisée par des crises spontanées et récurrentes. Les crises sont générées par un déséquilibre dans le fonctionnement des neurotransmetteurs et des canaux ioniques qui contrôlent l'excitabilité. L'épileptogenèse est majoritairement associée à des pertes neuronales, une gliose, une inflammation plus ou moins importants. Un tiers des patients deviennent réfractaires. Récemment, plusieurs équipes ont montré une association entre les épilepsies focales pharmacorésistantes et la rupture de la barrière hémato-encéphalique (BHE). De plus, une implication du système immunitaire ainsi qu'une cause auto-immune de l'épilepsie ont été suggérées. Dans cette thèse, nous avons observé dans le tissu de patients atteints d'épilepsie pharmacorésistante du lobe temporal (ELT), des fuites d'Immunoglobulines G (IgG) dans le parenchyme et leur accumulation dans les neurones présentant des signes de neurodégénérescence. Le récepteur d'IgG de grande affinité FcyRI est surexprimé sur les cellules ayant une morphologie de type microglie/ macrophages, tandis que le récepteur de faible affinité FcyRIII et le récepteur inhibiteur FcγRII sont moins présents. Dans ce même tissu nous avons noté que les protéines du complément C3c et C5b9 sont exprimées. Ensuite, nous avons étudié si le modèle murin d'épilepsie focale induite par injection intra-amygdalienne de kaïnate reproduit la physiopathologie de l'ELT associée à une rupture de la BHE. ZO-1, la principale protéine des jonctions serrées, présente un marquage discontinu indiquant que la BHE a été affectée. Nous avons remarqué des fuites d'IgGs et d'albumine ainsi que leur accumulation dans le parenchyme coïncidant avec la survenue des crises. La présence d‘IgG dans l'épilepsie pourrait également avoir une cause auto-immune. Nous avons utilisé des puces à protéines pour identifier des antigènes qui induisent une réponse immunitaire, dans le plasma des patients atteints d'ELT, Nous avons sélectionné 19 auto-anticorps spécifiques qui peuvent servir de potentiels biomarqueurs diagnostiques L'ensemble de ces résultats suggère que les fuites d'IgG sont associées à une déficience neuronale, conduisant à des changements immunologiques dans le foyer épileptique qui participent à la pathogénèse de l'ELT. Nous pensons qu'une meilleure interprétation des profils de ces auto-anticorps pourrait offrir de nouvelles perspectives thérapeutiques. / Epilepsy is a chronic neurologic disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. Seizures are generated by an imbalance in the functioning of neurotransmitters and ion channels that control excitability. Epileptogenesis is mostly associated with neuronal loss, gliosis, and inflammation more or less important. A third of patients become drug refractory. Recently, several teams have shown an association between drug-resistant focal epilepsy and disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). In addition, a possible role of the immune system and an autoimmune nature in epilepsy has been suggested. In this thesis, in the tissue of patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), leakage of immunoglobulin G (IgG) into the parenchyma and IgG accumulation in neurons with attendant signs of neurodegeneration was observed. In addition, the high affinity IgG receptor, FcγRI was expressed on microglia/macrophage shaped cells. The expression of the low affinity IgG receptor, FcγRIII and the inhibitory IgG receptor, FcγRII was decreased. In the same tissue the complement proteins C3c and C5b9 were present on astrocyte/ microglia and macrophage/ microglia shaped cells respectively. Then, we evaluated whether the mouse model of focal epilepsy induced by intra-amygdala microinjection of kainic acid reproduced a pathophysiology of TLE associated with BBB impairment. ZO-1, the main tight junction protein presented discontinuous staining indicating that BBB was affected. Both IgG and albumin extravasations from blood vessels were noted and its parenchymal accumulation was concomitant with seizure occurrence. Another hypothesis of IgG presence in epilepsy incriminates an auto-immune cause. Protein microarray technology was used for identification in pooled plasma samples, of antigens that bind plasma antibody from TLE patients. 19 potential autoantibodies were identified as potential diagnostic biomarkers. Together, these observations suggest that IgG leakage is associated with neuronal impairment, leading to immunological changes in epileptic focus involved in the pathogenesis of TLE. A better interpretation of the profiles of these autoantibodies could offer new therapeutic and diagnostic perspectives.

(in English) The thesis deals with the topic of the role of metalanguage and metalinguistic terminology in English Language Teaching at Czech grammar schools. The concepts of metalanguage and metalinguistic terminology are viewed as one of the potential educational tools in the field of learning and teaching English grammar. The theoretical part of the thesis focuses, among other things, on benefits and limitations of the use of metalanguage, and on the suitability of conditions for the use of metalanguage, i.e. on the variables which may affect the educational process are discussed in this part as well. Moreover, an overview of the approaches to teaching grammar in relation to the use of metalanguage and metalinguistic terminology is provided in this chapter together with the summary of findings obtained from the studies concerned with learners or teachers knowledge of metalinguistic terminology. The empirical part is based on the questionnaire survey among Czech grammar school students and teachers. The main areas examined in the research are: learners' and teachers' attitudes to and beliefs about learning and teaching English and English grammar, learners' and teachers' attitudes to metalinguistic terminology as well as learners' knowledge of the terminology and teachers' awareness of the...

This thesis focuses on the use of the mother tongue in foreign language teaching and learning. Recently there has been a notable shift towards promoting the use of the mother tongue. The theoretical part of the thesis maps the attitudes to the mother tongue in current literature as well as the suggested ways of its use in the classroom. The practical part attempts to analyse the students' attitudes towards the incorporation of Czech into English learning and teaching and their experience with its use from their secondary schools. To obtain the data, an online questionnaire was employed. The respondents are first- and second-year students of English and American studies who are expected to be able to analyse both the advantages and disadvantages of using Czech. The practical part focuses on the efficiency of Czech in comparison with English, ways of presenting grammar and vocabulary, the relation between the mother tongue use and the proficiency of students, and learning strategies of the respondents. Based on the analysis, suggestions regarding the mother tongue use are presented in the conclusion.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T18:24:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Juliana Godinho Ragusa Marcicano.pdf: 1199278 bytes, checksum: 937dcab140f2c5f63a232659f098a84b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-06-10 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / This dissertation lies within the area of the English teacher s reflective development and aims at describing and interpreting the phenomenon English teachers reflection in interactions through e-mail, through the identification of the questions that intrigue these participating teachers. To reach this goal, this investigation describes and interprets the phenomenon above from the point of view of the experience lived by myself, the researcher, as well as by seven participating teachers. The theoretical underpinning for this study is the concept of reflective development, based on the contributions of Dewey (1916, 1910/1933, 1938/1997, 1986/2008) Schön (1983, 1987, 1992a, 1992b), Freire (1970/1983, 1992, 2002, 2004), Vygotsky (1984/1998, 1989/2008), Kemmis (1987), Zeichner (1993, 2003) among others. From a qualitative standpoint, the methodological approach is the hermeneutic-phenomenological one, which aims at associations of retrospective descriptions and (re-)interpretations of lived experience (Ricoeur, 1986, 2002; van Manen, 1990; Freire, 1998, 2006, 2007a, 2007b). The texts which provided the interpretation basis were collected along two different semesters, when through 76 e-mail messages and 5 presential meetings it was possible to: (1) draw the profile of the English teachers who work for public schools and participate in this research, (2) identify the subjects which lead them to reflections upon their practices, and (3) document the reflective process unleashed. The interpretation of the collected texts was made according to the textualization and thematization processes proposed by van Manen (1990), and systematized by the refining and ressignification procedures suggested by Freire (2006, 2007a, 2007b) which show the themes that structure the investigated phenomenon. The interpretation of the texts reveal that English teachers reflection in interactions through e-mail is lived differently by the two groups formed by the participating teachers: in the first one, Caderno, difficulty, time, and identification are the emerging themes; in the second one, identification, practice and lack of time are the themes that display the nature of the experience lived by part of the participants in this research / objetivo descrever e interpretar o fenômeno reflexão de professores de Inglês em interações via e-mail, a partir da identificação de questões que inquietam esses professores. Para atingir esse objetivo, a presente investigação descreve e interpreta o fenômeno citado tendo como referência a experiência vivida por mim, pesquisadora, e pelos sete professores convidados a participar de minha pesquisa, originando os dois grupos focalizados. Fundamenta teoricamente esta pesquisa o conceito geral de formação de professores, tomando-se como base as contribuições de Dewey (1916, 1910/1933, 1938/1997, 1986/2008) Schön (1983, 1987, 1992a, 1992b), Freire (1970/1983, 1992, 2002, 2004), Vygotsky (1984/1998, 1989/2008), Kemmis (1987), Zeichner (1993, 2003), entre outros. De cunho qualitativo, a orientação metodológica é a hermenêutico-fenomenológica, que procura fazer uma associação de descrições retrospectivas e (re-)interpretação de experiências vividas (Ricoeur, 1986, 2002; van Manen, 1990; Freire, 1998, 2006, 2007a, 2007b), visando, assim, a descrever e interpretar um fenômeno da experiência humana. Os textos que serviram de base para a interpretação foram coletados ao longo de dois semestres diferentes, quando, por meio de 76 mensagens eletrônicas e 5 encontros presenciais, foi possível (1) traçar o perfil dos professores de inglês atuantes em escolas públicas e participantes desta pesquisa, (2) identificar os assuntos que os motivam a refletir sobre suas práticas e (3) documentar o processo reflexivo desencadeado. A interpretação dos registros textuais obtidos foi realizada com base nos processos de textualização e tematização, propostos por van Manen (1990) e operacionalizados pelos procedimentos de refinamento e ressignificação, sugeridos por Freire (2006, 2007a, 2007b), os quais evidenciam os temas que estruturam o fenômeno em foco. A interpretação dos textos revela que a natureza da reflexão de professores de Inglês em interações via e-mail se constituiu, distintamente, nos dois grupos investigados: no primeiro, Caderno, dificuldade, tempo e identificação são os temas que emergem dos registros interpretados; no segundo, os temas identificados são identificação, prática e falta de tempo

<p>The aim of this essay is to investigate what English teachers’ attitudes are towards British English, American English and Mid-Atlantic English. What variety of English do teachers use in Swedish upper secondary schools today and what are their reasons for using that variety? Do upper secondary school teachers think it is important to expose students to several varieties of English and do they teach differences (e.g. vocabulary and spelling) between varieties? The material is based on a questionnaire, which 20 participating teachers from five different upper secondary schools in Gävleborg answered. The study showed that there is an even distribution between the varieties used and taught. British English was preferred by teachers working the longest time while both AmE and MAE seemed to be growing in popularity among the younger teachers. Of the 20 teachers, 18 considered teaching differences to students since it gives them a chance to communicate effectively with people from other English speaking countries.</p>

This report describes simulations of observations with the near-infrared high-resolution spectrometer SIMPLE that is proposed to the ESO telescope E-ELT. We simulate M4 and G2 stars with transiting Earth-like planets and the goal is to distinguish spectral features originating from the atmosphere of the exoplanet. Noise levels of different magnitudes are added to the simulations and the minimal signal-to-noise required for detection of the atmosphere is estimated. Our conclusion is that detection of atmospheric features looks promising using this setup.

The purpose of this study is to outline students’ attitudes towards ICT in the learning of English. The research was carried out as action research at a vocational high school in Sweden. The study aims at giving answers to the questions what the students’ attitudes towards ICT are, to what extent they think that ICT affects their learning and if ICT use changes their attitudes towards English. The students had little or no previous experience of ICT. For a period of two months, they used ICT in their English studies. This work was organized according to Svensson’s (2008) definitions ICT as a tutor, ICT as a tool and ICT as an arena, which are connected to behavioristic, cognitive/constructive and social constructivist/socio-cultural learning perspectives, respectively. For example, the students read and listened to texts online, wrote their own dialogues for a movie and maintained their own blogs. After each module, they evaluated the method and at the end of the project they were interviewed. The study shows that most of the students were positive towards ICT in learning English. They were most positive towards ICT as a tutor, which was interesting given that behavioristic ways of learning are often criticized by today’s scholars. Furthermore, the students claimed that ICT gives them new opportunities to learn. Not surprisingly, to learn in a way that suits the individual learner was seen as positive. They stated that it was difficult to comment on the impact that ICT might have had on their performance after such a limited period of time, but they indicated that they thought that they had improved at least a little. During the interviews, a few students claimed to have changed their attitudes towards English a little, in a positive way, but it was difficult to confirm this after such short time.

<p>The purpose of this study is to outline students’ attitudes towards ICT in the learning of English. The research was carried out as action research at a vocational high school in Sweden. The study aims at giving answers to the questions what the students’ attitudes towards ICT are, to what extent they think that ICT affects their learning and if ICT use changes their attitudes towards English. The students had little or no previous experience of ICT. For a period of two months, they used ICT in their English studies. This work was organized according to Svensson’s (2008) definitions <em>ICT as a tutor</em>,<em> ICT as a tool </em>and<em> ICT as an arena</em>, which are connected to behavioristic, cognitive/constructive and social constructivist/socio-cultural learning perspectives, respectively. For example, the students read and listened to texts online, wrote their own dialogues for a movie and maintained their own blogs. After each module, they evaluated the method and at the end of the project they were interviewed. The study shows that most of the students were positive towards ICT in learning English. They were most positive towards ICT as a tutor, which was interesting given that behavioristic ways of learning are often criticized by today’s scholars. Furthermore, the students claimed that ICT gives them new opportunities to learn. Not surprisingly, to learn in a way that suits the individual learner was seen as positive. They stated that it was difficult to comment on the impact that ICT might have had on their performance after such a limited period of time, but they indicated that they thought that they had improved at least a little. During the interviews, a few students claimed to have changed their attitudes towards English a little, in a positive way, but it was difficult to confirm this after such short time.</p>