My aim with this study is to investigate the teaching strategies applied in teaching English to students with another mother tongue than Swedish. According to Second Language Acquisition (SLA) theory, factors such as age, language competence and mother tongue influence can affect language acquisition. SLA theory also states that multilinguals tend to select one of their languages as their primary source of information and this language is the language that most resembles the target language; Swedish and English are both Germanic languages and therefore share language closeness. Results showed that regardless of age and mother tongue, equal numbers of students chose to source Swedish only or both Swedish and their mother tongue when translating texts from English; only 3 chose to source their mother tongue only. There is to date little research that directly connects teaching approaches with SLA, particularly when dealing with multilingualism. I believe a potential area for research could be to investigate the possibility of developing teaching strategies that can potentially harness prior language knowledge. My investigation also showed that English is taught to native and non-native Swedish speakers alike through the medium of the Swedish language; that is to say the course books consist of English text with vocabulary translations and grammatical exercises from Swedish to English. A suggestion would be to reduce the use of the English to Swedish translation methods, particularly for students with a limited knowledge of Swedish, and incorporate into lessons more communicative teaching methods using authentic materials and real situations.

Video games are very popular among children in the Western world. This study was done in order to investigate if video games had an effect on 49 Swedish students‟ comprehension of English words (grades 7-8). The investigation was based on questionnaire and word test data. The questionnaire aimed to measure with which frequency students were playing video games, and the word test aimed to measure their word comprehension in general. In addition, data from the word test were used to investigate how students explained the words. Depending on their explanations, students were categorized as either using a “video game approach” or a “dictionary approach” in their explanations. The results showed a gender difference, both with regard to the frequency of playing and what types of games that were played. Playing video games seemed to increase the students‟ comprehension of English words, though there was no clear connection between the frequency with which students were playing video games and the choice of a dictionary or video game approach as an explanation.

The aim of this study and field trip is to study how English as a second language is taught in a school in India. The focus will be on the materials used during the lessons and how they are used by the teacher. My concentration will be on a primary school in Vadodara, Gujarat in India and my delimitation will be on English learned as a second language in a governmental school.  The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how English teachers in local government schools in Vadodara, Gujarat focus on the integration of the four skills; speaking, listening, reading and writing during the English lessons. I have gathered data through interviews, observations and through the material used during the lesson. The results of the empirical findings are that even though the government has specific goals, focusing on the teaching of the four skills, for the schools these goals cannot be attained. These goals can be found in the syllabus which is presented in the theoretical background of the essay. Even though the teachers state that they can use different materials teaching English, the only material used in the classroom is the textbook and all the lessons are based on it. To be able to "pronounce English words and word-clusters and sentences occurring in the text; correctly" was a speaking goal that was difficult for the students to attain. The reason for that may be because of the teachers’ lack of proficiency in the English language.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Michael F. Perl / It has long been believed that how well one reads and writes in his/her first language will help a learner when trying to read and write in a second language. In an attempt to explore this issue more thoroughly, the researcher administered the Spanish Idea Proficiency Test (IPT) and the English Idea Proficiency Test form 3B, along with a questionnaire obtaining specific demographic data (first semester second language grade, grade point average, gender, grade in school, number of semesters studied the second/foreign language, and the number of languages the student had studied) to 96 Kansas high school students (48 Native Spanish speakers learning English in an English as a second language environment; 48 Native English speakers learning Spanish in a foreign language setting). First, the researcher wanted to determine if first language literacy skills, along with demographic data, predicted second language proficiency scores. Using the 5 reading subscales and the 3 writing subscales from the IPT, as well as the 6 variables from the demographic data, a multiple linear regression was run, along with regressions for each subgroup. It was determined that the 14 variables accounted for 83% of the variance. Second, the researcher wanted to determine the nature of the relationship between first language literacy skills and second language literacy skills. To this end, several Pearson’s r were figured. While a negative relationship for the first and second language proficiency scores was found, a slight positive relationship was found between the first and second language scores for the two subgroups. Additionally, a significantly positive relationship was found for first and second language reading and writing proficiency scores for the native Spanish speakers. Also, a significant positive relationship was found for first semester second language grade and second language reading scores for native English speakers. Third, the researcher wanted to determine if there was a difference between the two subgroups’ second language proficiency scores when controlling for the length of time studied. When an ANCOVA was conducted, there was found to a significant difference between the proficiency scores of the two subgroups, with the native Spanish speakers having a higher mean.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Charles Heerman / The purpose of the study was to determine the reading methods New Mexico teachers considered important to use in their classrooms and schools. Design of the study was based on a fixed goals COBRA (content-based reading approach) model, which is in development by Heerman (2002). The New Mexico COBRA model was revised to fit the socio-cultural context of the diverse student population served by middle schools in the state. Teachers in New Mexico were asked to respond to a reading survey built around 44 reading methods distributed among seven goals of the COBRA model. The researcher surveyed 153 New Mexico middle school educators in 110 middle school building in order to determine the relative emphasis placed on various reading methods. A revision of the original survey used by Al-Fadda was conducted, which included drafting ELL survey items used at the middle schools with reference to culturally and linguistically diverse students or ELLs. Five research questions were used to build the rationale for the COBRA framework, develop the survey, conduct the survey research, and analyze the results. Middle schools included in this survey research were characterized as middle schools with a student population of 200 and above. The pool of educators asked to participate in the survey taught or were involved with the reading program at their respective schools. These included reading teachers, English language arts teachers, Bilingual/ESL/TESOL teachers, and instructional and school improvement leaders familiar with the building’s reading program. These middle level teachers perceive as important a first line conventional framework for middle level reading, which includes skills instruction, narrative literature instruction, and writing. These teachers give first emphases to reading instruction and communicative competence while content reading instruction is a secondary emphasis.

Hispanic Generation 1.5 students are foreign-born, U.S. high school graduates who are socialized in the English dominant K-12 school system while still maintaining the native language and culture at home (Allison, 2006; Blumenthal, 2002; Harklau, Siegal, & Losey, 1999; Rumbault & Ima, 1988). When transitioning from high school to college, these students sometimes assess into ESL courses based on their English language abilities, and because of this ESL placement, Hispanic Generation 1.5 students might have different engagement experiences than their mainstream peers. Engagement is a critical factor in student success and long-term retention because students’ positive and negative engagement experiences affect their membership and sense of belonging at the institution. The purpose of this study was to describe the engagement and membership experiences of Hispanic Generation 1.5 students’ at a Massachusetts community college. This study employed naturalistic inquiry within an embedded descriptive case study design that included three units of analysis: the students’ engagement experiences in (a) ESL courses, (b) developmental courses, and (c) mainstream courses. The main source of data was in-depth interviews with Hispanic Generation 1.5 students at Commonwealth of Massachusetts Community College. Criterion sampling was used to select the interview participants, ensuring that all participants were native Spanish speakers and were taking or had taken at least one ESL course at the institution. The study findings show that these Hispanic Generation 1.5 students at the college did not perceive peer engagement as critical to academic success. Most times the participants avoided peer engagement outside of the classroom, especially with fellow Hispanic students, who they felt would deter them from their English language development and general academic work. Engagement with ESL faculty and ESL academic support staff played the most critical role in the participants’ sense of belonging and success, and students who were required to engage with faculty and academic support staff outside of the classroom were the most satisfied with their educational experiences. While the participants were all disappointed with some aspect of their ESL placement, they valued the ESL engagement experiences more than the engagement experiences while completing developmental and credit coursework.

Elevernas tillgång till olika digitala medier har under de senaste 10 åren ökat. Flera elever möter idag det engelska språket utanför skolan i form av olika aktiviteter. Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur lärare förhåller sig till den engelska som eleverna har med sig in i klassrummet.  Begreppet extramural engelska innefattar all den engelska som eleverna kommer i kontakt med på fritiden. Studien har en fenomenografisk inspirerad ansats och materialinsamlingen har gjorts genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Fyra lärare på tre olika skolor har medverkat i studien. Resultatet visar att lärarna försöker att inkludera elevernas extramurala engelska i undervisningen, Lärarna ser dock både möjligheter och hinder med att använda elevernas extramurala engelska i engelskundervisningen. Samtliga lärare ser elevernas extramurala engelska som något positivt och tycker det är bra att eleverna lär sig engelska utanför skolan. / Students’ access to digital media has for the last ten years increased. Several students have been exposed to the English language out of school in the form of various activities. The aim of the study is to examine how teachers relate to the English that the students bring into the classroom. Extramural English includes all English that students encounter in their spare time. The study has a phenomenographic inspired approach and semi-structured interviews have been used to collect data. Four teachers from three different schools have participated in the study. The conclusion of the study shows that teachers try to include students extramural English in the classroom, however the teachers see both possibilities and obstacles with using students extramural English in the classroom. All teachers see the students extramural English as something positive and think that it is good that the students learn English out of school.

At the beginning of the 21st century, few challenges for educators compared to that of meeting the academic needs of the growing number of limited English proficient (LEP) students. Divergent views on whether those needs were best met through instruction in the student's first language and English, known as bilingual education, or instruction solely in English, compounded the challenge and led to varied language support programs. The present study looked at the prekindergarten (preK) language support program as a predictor of 3rd grade reading achievement of students with the intention of helping educators understand how best to serve LEP students. The study included an analysis of 3rd grade reading achievement for four groups of students with a primary home language of Spanish who attended bilingual or ESL prekindergarten. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) followed by descriptive discriminant analysis (DDA) was used to analyze scores from the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) reading test and the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) reading test. No statistically significant difference in 3rd grade reading achievement was found among the four groups at the .05 level. There was, however, a small-to-medium effect size. The MANOVA indicated that the group to which the students belonged accounted for 5.5% of the variance in their scores. The DDA revealed the ITBS explained most of the difference in the group performance. The findings suggest that ESL instruction is a viable option to bilingual instruction for LEP preK students.

Oral communication is a central aspect of language learning in EFL-classrooms all over the world. Therefore, problems arise when students are passive, or unwilling to communicate and participate. The aim of this study is to investigate what factors impact Swedish upper secondary students’ willingness to communicate using self-reported data. The data in the study is gathered from a questionnaire with 203 participants currently studying in Swedish upper secondary school. The data analysis comprised inferential statistics to investigate causal relationships between the concepts of foreign language anxiety (FLA), self-perceived communicative competence (SPCC), extramural English (EE), and willingness to communicate (WTC). The results of the study suggest a causal relationship between the concepts, thus contributing to previous studies on factors that impact and describe willingness to communicate. Also, the results indicate that students’ extramural English habits impact their behavior in oral communication. In conclusion, motivating the utility of the English language for real-world purposes, in combination with a positive classroom environment, and the improvement of students’ oral communication confidence are imperative tools for the stimulation of willingness to communicate in the EFL classroom.

I engelskämnets centrala innehåll och kunskapskrav ställs det krav på att eleverna i slutet avårskurs 6 ska kunna skriva olika typer av texter. Samtidigt identifieras skrivandet som enmöjliggörande faktor för utvecklingen av ett andraspråk. Syftet med den här studien var att fåkunskap om hur elever i årskurs 6 stöds i skrivandet av olika texttyper på engelska utifrånläroboken och lärarens undervisning, vilket har skett genom en kombinerad metod avläroboksanalyser och semistrukturerade intervjuer. Resultatet visade att eleverna främst skrevberättande- och beskrivande texter. I läroböckerna gavs eleverna stöd genom att läsa ellerlyssna på texter kopplat till ämnet, introducera nyckelbegrepp, studera exempeltextersutformning och samtala om ämnet. För att stödja elevernas skrivande erbjöd lärarna tydligtavgränsade skrivuppgifter och gav återkoppling. Lärarna uppgav att de använde läroboken menatt de valde bland uppgifterna och tog de som ansågs passande samt att nivåskillnader mellanelever skapade svårigheter i skrivundervisningen. / The English curriculum has requirements for writing different kinds of texts in English in year6. The act of writing can also be a way to develop a second language. The purpose with thisstudy has therefore been to examine how English textbooks and teachers are working to supportpupils in year 6 in their writing of different kinds of texts. This has been done through acombination of content analysis and semi-structured interviews. The result showed that thepupils mainly wrote narrative- and describing texts. The textbooks gave the pupils support intheir writing through the work of reading texts connected to the subject, introducing keywords,studying texts as examples and through conversations about the subject. The teachers wereusing the textbooks by choosing exercises that were thought to be relevant. Further, theyoffered the pupils feedback on their texts and suggested that aspects of level differencesbetween the pupils’ knowledge affected the teaching.