The aim of this study originated with my role as a teacher wanting to research the impact of the European Language Portfolio, ELP, (2001) on a small group of minority language students, in Brussels’ Flemish region. In this exploratory case study, the European Language Portfolio (Spanish model) was administered to a small group of forty-five primary school students from the Bicultural Foyer Project in Brussels. In spite of the students’ positive attitudes towards this portfolio, the results suggest that the ELP has no validity for them because the Brussels’ Flemish educational community does not offer the appropriate conditions for a possible broader use of this portfolio. Belgium’s language policy environment, including its language policies, is the fundamental reason for the non-implementation of the European Language Portfolio.

The present study focuses on teacher’s attitudes to the European Language Portfolio (ELP) in mother tongue English programs. More specifically it will explore how effective the ELP and portfolio assessment are in mother tongue teaching inSweden. The aim is also to assess whether mother tongue English students perform equally well in the four language skill areas. This case study seeks to find the strengths and weaknesses of the ELP according to the teachers that are using the ELP as an assessment tool, as well as investigating previous evaluation materials used to identify achievement in mother tongue. For this purpose, a case study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with four English mother tongue teachers at theLanguageCenterin Göteborg (henceforth LCG). The teachers interviewed at the language center use the ELP assessment but do not actively use the other parts of the language passport. The LCG materials for the mother tongue ELP were adapted from the original ELP 6 to 16 years created for Österåker municipality by Iakovos Demetriádes in 2007. Mother tongue teachers in Göteborg have since identified a number of the ELP’s strengths, as well as some of its weaknesses. The ELP is compatible with the Swedish syllabus, which makes it easier to write a written assessment for each class from the 1st grade and up.  There are however problems with individual teachers interpretation of ELP descriptors.  These problems will be brought to light later on in this paper.

The purpose of this comparative case study was to explore English language teachers&rsquo / beliefs, assumptions and knowledge about learner-centeredness and the European Language Portfolio (ELP) and to see how they implement their understanding of learner-centeredness in their classrooms. The study was conducted at one public and one private primary school in Istanbul. Focus group interviews were held in each school with thirteen teachers of English and then individual interviews and observations were carried out with four volunteer teachers during the spring semester, 2004-2005. The four participant teachers were observed in their classrooms ten times along with before- and after-class observation reflections facilitated by the researcher. A follow up interview was conducted with each teacher at the end of the observations. In addition, these observations were accompanied by document analysis. Data from the interviews and before- and after-class reflections were inductively analyzed. For the analysis of observation data and documents, a learner-centered data analysis model was constructed by the researcher. The results of the data indicated that there were differences between public school teachers and private school teachers in the way they defined and implemented learner-centeredness. Lack of knowledge about the ELP was observed in both public and private school teachers. Results revealed that there is a need for in-service training programs that will cater for the needs of public school teachers if the aim is to implement learner-centeredness in schools.

IN ENGLISH The doctoral thesis focuses on the analysis of Spanish textbooks, both comparative method and content analysis, and at the same time it contributes to the mapping of the beginning of Spanish language teaching in Bohemia after 1945. Functions of textbooks as a didactical teaching aid are also defined. The author conducted interviews by a unique method of oral history. Based on these interviews with three experts on language teaching, the beginnings of the formation of the Spanish language textbooks in Bohemia have been recorded. From the point of view of psychology and didactics, a teacher is a mediator between the textbook and the user. For this reason the doctoral thesis includes a chapter called Teachers` personality. The author characterizes the role of teachers in the educational process and the influence of his/her personality on the use of textbooks. The description is made on the basis of the interviews with Josef Hendrich, Libuše Prokopová and Vladimír Rejzek. The main part of the doctoral thesis consists of two chapters, a comparison and a content analysis. The comparative analysis describes textbooks with respect to the intention of the authors, it compares publications in terms of structure, target groups, use of pictorial material, etc. The development of linguistic...

Notre étude croisée qui concerne trois pays francophones européens (Belgique, France et Suisse) montre qu'il existe des différences notables sur le plan national en matière d'immigration et de politique d'intégration. En Europe, on constate la mise en place d'un contrôle accru des flux migratoires, de la lutte contre l'immigration illégale et de la restriction des demandes d'asile alors que la construction d'une action centrée sur la question sociale de l'intégration des populations migrantes peine à se concrétiser. Nous nous sommes intéressée à la mise en place de ces politiques par le biais des dispositifs de formation et d'évaluation des compétences des migrants. Les dispositifs mis en place dans chaque Etat sont avant tout pensés en fonction des spécificités nationales et de l'histoire nationale. Ainsi, un examen précis des mesures prises dans les trois pays francophones laisse apparaitre des conceptions opposées dans la construction de l'équation « langue, immigration, intégration ». Notre étude fait émerger deux conceptions opposées : d'un côté, une conception de l'intégration linguistique focalisée sur l'effort individuel des migrants pour atteindre la « maîtrise linguistique » fixée par la société hôte et à l'opposé une conception de l'intégration sociale centrée autour d'un « processus » social » de longue durée engageant fortement la société hôte. Enfin, le troisième volet plus microsociologique, par le biais d'une recherche action autour de la mise en place d'un portfolio des langues, a permis de révéler les difficultés d'adaptation pédagogique des enseignants et les représentations traditionnelles des apprenants concernant l'apprentissage des langues. / Our research regarding three francophone european countries (Belgium, France and Switzerland) shows first that there are significant differences in terms of immigration and integration policy. At the European level we notice a greater control of migration, actions against illegal immigration and the restriction of asylum applications while building a European action centered around the question of the social integration of migrant populations hardly takes place. We focused then our attention on the implementation of these policies through training schemes and skills evaluation of migrants learners. The training devices implemented in each country are primarily designed according to national specificities and national history. Thus, a detailed examination of the measures taken in the three francophone countries show opposite interpretations of the equation 'language , immigration, integration'. Our study brings out two opposite designs : on one side, a design focused on the linguistic integration of migrants and their individual efforts to achieve 'language mastery' set by the host country and on the opposite a design focused on social integration centered around a social long-term process with the strong commitment of the host country. Finally, the third microsociological component, through an action research around the implementation of a language portfolio, has revealed the teachers 'difficulties of adapting their teaching methods and learners' traditional views regarding language learning.

The aim of the study is to show how a selected part of the European Language Portfolio, ELP, can support the assessment process for teachers. All the checklists at level A1 and My Language Goals from the Language Biography, a part of the ELP, are implemented and communicated in teaching in a 4th grade class of students. Two teachers are interviewed and both of their classes are compared in the study. One group worked for two weeks with the selected part of the Language Portfolio and the second group followed the regular curriculum for the same period of time. The teachers are interviewed before and after the ELP through support of mind maps. Results show that by using checklists at level A1 and My Language Goals students become aware of their own learning process. The goals presented in the selected part of the ELP may provide opportunities for the teachers to discuss the learning process with the students in the classroom and the students therefore become involved in the learning process. When the Syllabus was clarified for the students it increased their participation and awareness among them. According to the teachers, these are factors that support teachers in the assessment process. / Syftet med undersökningen är att visa hur en utvald del av den Europeiska språkportfolion, ESP, kan utgöra ett stöd i bedömningsprocessen för lärare. Samtliga checklistor på nivå A1 och Mina språkmål, från den Europeiska språkportfolions Språkbiografidel, implementeras och kommuniceras i undervisningen i en elevgrupp med elever i år 4. Informanterna i undersökningen är två lärare i engelska. Deras elevgrupper jämförs efter att den ena gruppen arbetat under två veckor med den utvalda delen av Språkportfolion och den andra efter ordinarie undervisningsplan. Lärarna intervjuas med stöd av föreställningskartor både före och efter projektarbetet. Resultaten visar att genom att använda checklistorna på nivå A1 och Mina Språkmål kan elevernas medvetenhet kring inlärning öka. Kunskapsmålen från checklistorna ger möjligheter till samtal om elevers kunskapsutveckling i den vardagliga verksamheten och eleverna blir på så sätt delaktiga i inlärningsprocessen. Konkretisering av kunskapskraven samt ökad delaktighet och medvetenhet hos eleverna är enligt lärarna faktorer som kan bidra till att underlätta arbetet med bedömningsprocessen.

The present study focuses on how the European Language Portfolio (ELP) can be used in a Swedish school. More particularly it aims at exploring how a group of teachers have adapted the use of the material to their particular pedagogical situation. It also aims at finding out what the same group of teachers identifies as the ELP’s strengths and possible weaknesses.For this purpose, a case study was carried out in which semi-structured interviews were conducted with four language teachers at an upper secondary school in the south of Sweden. Although the teachers started out using the official ELP 16+, only the language passport has been kept. The teachers have adapted the rest of the material to their own situation. Three different adaptations were identified and presented. Moreover, the teachers identified a number of areas that they saw as the ELP’s strengths. Among these areas were the material’s compatibility with the Swedish steering documents and the language biography (in adapted versions). When asked about the possible weaknesses, the teachers’ main concerns were the standard checklists and the fact that working with the ELP is time-consuming in different ways.

The aim of this master's thesis " education of German language on secondary schools" -

Metacognition is one of the aims of the Swedish curricula in language teaching. This pilot study focuses on the implementation of this aim in a Swedish high-school. The teachers’ and the pupils’ attitudes towards the pupils’ metacognitive learning strategies and the reasons underpinning these attitudes are examined. The material finding of nine semi-structured interviews, held in a Swedish high-school in language teaching classes of Spanish, French and German, is analyzed with a qualitative method to get an understanding of the situation.The theoretical framework gives an introduction and overview of the actual research on the two key notions for this study: learning strategy and metacognition and related main concepts like cognitive and socio-affective strategies. The literature review shows that metacognitive learning strategies promote the pupils’ autonomy and responsibility in learning a foreign language in a more effective way.The analysis of the empirical material indicates that metacognition is a marginalized topic, although, after explaining them its meaning, both the teachers and the pupils think that it would be important to promote the pupils’ metacognitive learning strategies. However, the teachers emphasize more indirectly and unconsciously on offering different choices to accomplish an exercise than on consciously promoting metacognitive strategies. The main reasons for this were: the lack of time due to large and heterogeneous classes and doubting that most of the pupils could be responsible for their own learning.In cases where pupils had used learning strategies that worked best for them, they had developed these on their own and rarely reflected on them. The work with self-evaluative material like the European Language Portfolio was thought to be a good idea by both teachers and pupils but was not used at this particular school.