The purpose of this paper was to review research within the field of digital games and language learning to explore whether gaming can facilitate communicative competence and foster motivation for language learning. To answer my questions I conducted a research synthesis, compiling a variety of research over the last decade to answer my questions as effectively as possible. Results showed that digital games do in fact facilitate language development and induce motivation. Research also showed that different games provide different opportunities and activities, resulting in some games fostering language competence more than others. For instance, World of Warcraft provided social situations where conversations were erratic, spontaneous, contextual and driven by small events in the game, while The Sims focused more on strategic and creative activities. Additionally, research suggested that digital games motivated learners to develop their L2 language in hope of achieving more goals together within a variety games and game types.

Fewer students apply for and finish the teacher programs in Sweden, and manyteachers leave their job. Swedish schools are in need of more teachers, but theteaching profession is today portrayed as unattractive. This research aims toinvestigate what factors that motivate some students to become teachers and whatfactors that motivate some teachers, ESL teachers in first hand, to work as teachers,mainly in secondary schools in Malmoe. Three secondary teachers who teach ESL inMalmoe were interviewed and expressed their thoughts about the positive aspects ofthe teaching job, why they wanted to become and why they work as ESL teachers, andwhat goals they have in relation to their profession. The research showed that the ESLteachers teach because they feel passionate about the subject they teach and becausethey enjoy working with children and teenagers. They find the job fun and rewarding,and think that it is challenging, especially when working in a city like Malmoe. Itseems as teachers often put the pupils first and do not focus on external rewards, suchas salary. Teacher motivation has an impact on student motivation and it is thereforeimportant that teachers remain motivated within their profession.

Educators are attempting to eliminate the disproportionate representation of culturally and linguistically diverse students in special education through initiatives such as Response to Intervention (RtI). Prior to the implementation of such initiatives, existing research relevant to this population must be critically reviewed and expanded. A synthesis of the available literature can provide significant insight into the type of data necessary to make informed decisions involving English language learners (ELL) at Tier I of an RtI model. In forming the theoretical foundation for this research, cognitive deficits associated with language-based disabilities and principles of cognitive load theory were examined. The study is an investigation of the following research question: Is the effectiveness of the bilingual English as a Second Language (ESL) model significantly altered under certain conditions? The research question was addressed through testing moderator effects using hierarchical linear regression. Initial English proficiency and initial Spanish proficiency were examined as moderating variables of the relationship between ESL model type and Kindergarten academic achievement. Academic achievement was defined as student learning growth on the Florida Assessment for Reading Instruction (FAIR) and student outcome scores on the Comprehensive English Language Learning Assessment (CELLA) Listening/Speaking and Reading constructs. Results supported: a) the relationship between initial English proficiency and FAIR growth, CELLA Listening/Speaking, and CELLA Reading, b) the relationship between initial Spanish proficiency and FAIR growth and CELLA Listening/Speaking, c) the relationship between type of ESL model and FAIR growth, CELLA Listening/Speaking, and CELLA iii Reading, d) the additional effect of the interaction of initial Spanish language proficiency with ESL model type to alter FAIR learning growth over time, and e) the additional effect of the interaction of initial English language proficiency with ESL model type to alter CELLA Listening/Speaking scores. Overall, this research supports the hypothesis that initial language proficiency can significantly alter the effectiveness of a bilingual ESL model. Recommendations for future research in this area include longitudinal studies using a similar hierarchical regression design with moderators in order to contextualize positive student outcomes.

In the 2010-2011 school year, there were almost a quarter of a million English language learners (ELLs) enrolled in Florida public schools (Florida Department of Education, 2011), most of whom were placed in mainstream schools with segregated language remediation. Dual language education (DLE) programs offer developmental opportunities in two languages that mainstream schools cannot. The purpose of this research was to identify parental attitudes toward immersion programs and define the reasons that parents enroll their children in DLEs. Sixty participants completed a questionnaire sent home from their student's DLE. The study data included biographical information, statements depicting the reasons for enrollment rated by a Likert scale, and an area for comments. Overall, the study found that survey participants rated their child's comfort communicating with Spanish speakers (4.75 out of 5) to be the most important reason for enrollment. A difference was found in responses depending on the ethnic/language group of surveyed participants. Primarily, Spanish speakers responded more positively to the statements regarding bilingual education than any other ethnic/language group. All parents conclusively believe the dual immersion program has been a success for their children.

Far from being simply will, a survey of English grammar textbooks revealed that a multitude of expressions exists in the English language to express the future time. These expressions include, but are not limited to, will, be going to, the simple present tense, modals, the future perfect tense, and the present progressive tense. With so many choices and with a lack of direct relationship between tense and time, a language learner may certainly have difficulties in choosing which expression to use when attempting to produce a future utterance. A corpus-based approach to analyzing real language has been demonstrated to be quite useful for the field of TESOL (Biber, Conrad, & Reppen, 1996; Biber & Conrad, 2001; Biber & Reppen, 2002) and numerous studies on the frequency of lexical and grammatical items of language have revealed salient features that otherwise would have remained unknown. Adding to this body of knowledge, the current study was an analysis of future expressions in spoken conversational English using the television sitcom Friends as a corpus. A careful analysis of 349,106 words from transcripts of 117 randomly selected episodes revealed that the most common expression of the future in the English language is the contracted form of be going to – gonna. The results of the study also revealed that only six future expressions emerged in this spoken conversational English from this corpus: will, be going to, the simple present tense, the present progressive tense, modals, and be about to.

This research overview describes the potential of children’s literature in English and how it can be used in teaching for grades 1 to 3, including preschool, to make students aware of gender norms and gender stereotypes. This topic is important due to the Swedish school's value-based mission. One way that the teacher can pursue this mission is through children's literature. The teacher selects which literature they use in the classroom and can therefore control the gender norms mediated in the books. In order to provide a backdrop for the two research questions the background chapter describes the history and role of children's literature and how gender norms are mediated through children’s books. Different concepts such as children's literature, gender and norms are described to provide a theoretical basis and answer the research questions. The research overview answers the two research questions about how teachers work with children's literature and the potential affordances of children's literature to make students aware of gender norms and gender stereotypes. The discussion first describes the research overview’s patterns and then discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the methods. The discussion also describes appropriate methods for grades 1 to 3, including preschool, in an EFL and ESL context. This research overview concludes that more research is needed on how children's books are used and can be used in EFL or ESL contexts to make students aware of gender norms and gender stereotypes.

The present study aims to investigate if grade 9 English students, being 15-16 years old, attending a Swedish secondary school, use English slang during their English as a second language lessons, and if so, why they do it, and if there are any differences between the two genders in their slang usage. In order to incorporate a didactic perspective, it is also examined how English teachers deal with their students’ slang usage. Three English lessons has been observed, alongside with interviews with three English teachers, in order to conduct the investigation. The results indicate that slang words are common during grade 9 English lessons, and the male students’ usage of slang exceeds their female counterparts’ usage to a great extent. Reasons for these results can be found in the field of gender language which argues that slang usage, and language usage in general, is strongly connected to identity, and to how the two genders are expected to behave. Moreover, the English teachers display a varied opinion about their students’ slang usage, yet accounts for utilizing it when teaching register and linguistic adaptation. This approach is approved by a great amount of research, which states that by incorporating youth-language, in this case slang, students are able to gain a linguistic awareness where they can identify with what is taught, as well as adapt their language depending on situation and context.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the phonetic production of fricatives across differing word positions and task types. Further knowledge about the fricative production of second language learners of English would potentially improve the ability to teach correct pronunciation and improve the productivity of second language programs. All participants in this study were native speakers of Mandarin Chinese with English as their second language. A total of 12 subjects participated, all of whom had English proficiency ratings ranging from novice to advanced. The speakers were between 21-51 years of age, with each speaker having between 2 to 6 years of experience learning English in their country of origin. Using acoustic and spectral moment analyses, the acoustic nature of four types of fricative productions (/f/, /θ/, /s/, and /ʃ/) were analyzed as a function of linguistic task type and word position. Although a number of measures were found to differ significantly as a function of word position and task type, the majority of statistical analyses were not found to be significant. This lack of significance may be due to the specific methodology used, the speakers atypical voicing patterns, and/or decreased length of sound productions. Findings of this study may indicate that second language learners production of fricatives vary minimally across differing word positions and task types.

I denna kvalitativa intervjustudie har fyra gymnasielärare delat med sig av sina uppfattningar om användningen av skrivande och skriftlig korrigerande feedback som ett sätt att utveckla elevers grammatiska korrekthet. Studien visar att deltagarna anser att det är viktigt att integrera grammatikundervisningen med skrivande då det bland annat möjliggör individualisering. Vidare framkommer det att det finns ett större fokus på att rätta lokala fel än globala, och att omfattningen av feedback bör baseras på elevers kunskapsnivå. Lärarnas feedbackstrategier påverkas också av elevers kunskapsnivåer, men även felets komplexitet. Slutligen betonar lärarna att för att den skriftliga korrigerande feedbacken ska vara effektiv behöver eleverna få tid till att bearbeta den.

This study will investigate the most efficient way of giving and receiving formative feedback. There will primarily be a focus on whether verbal formative feedback or written formative feedback is found to be more efficient by teachers and students. Furthermore, the study will also investigate if formative feedback is motivating for L2 learners. The purpose of our area of interest is that there is little research done on verbal and written approaches to formative feedback. Moreover, the educational authorities in Sweden claim that formative feedback can have little to no impact at all and in some cases even negative effects, which we find to be problematic. This research study is done on secondary school students in grades 7-9. Our findings included in the results section include eight primary sources with a focus on our area of interest. The findings indicate that a verbal approach to formative feedback is highly appreciated by students and teachers, because of its effectiveness. Our findings show that verbal formative feedback can highlight students' strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, it is efficient as it explains misunderstandings and is understood by the learners. To conclude, formative feedback has a twofold aim, on one hand, it motivates students and on the other hand, it is efficient for assigning grades.