<p>Pre-school as a Meeting Place – Children’s Access-strategies and Exclusions in Play and Conversation</p><p>Abstract</p><p>The research reported in this thesis attempts to understand what happens when children interact with each other in the context of activities in a pre-school setting (here called Daggkåpan) when adults are not involved. By using ethnographically inspired methodology, in combination with conversation-analysis, this project has been analysing everyday interaction between children who are three to five years old. The aim of the project was to understand how children at Daggkåpan create relationships and how they defend and protect their interactional spaces. I have studied how children shape, maintain and interrupt relationships and interactions with one another. I have studied and analysed what kinds of access-strategies the children utilize and create and also how these children exclude one another in play activities and everyday conversations. Sociocultural and interactionistic perspectives have been used. Findings suggest that it is very important for these children to maintain interactions with peers and gain access to play groups. The children of Daggkåpan create and use several different strategies for gaining access. The results also indicate that gaining access to play groups is particularly difficult in preschool settings since young children tend to protect shared spaces and ongoing play activities from children outside the realms of these spaces and activities. Children also co-construct a number of strategies for excluding peers from their interactional spaces. Steering clear from the dominating perspective that categorizes children and focuses on the individual child, I have in contrast focused children during their interaction with one another in peer group activities. In other words I have discussed peer-relations, peer-socialization and peer-perspectives from an interactional view. Studying peer-interactions through microanalysis allows for understanding what is meaningful for children in their peer-culture in preschool.</p><p>Britt Tellgren</p>

<p>Talperceptionstest har skapats för att få information om hur en person kan uppfatta ochdiskriminera mellan språkljud. HöraTal Test 1.1 är ett omfattande analytiskt datorbaserattalperceptionstest. Testet är anpassat för icke läskunniga barn från fyra års ålder. Det ärframtaget för barn med hörselnedsättning och/eller cochleaimplantat men kan ävenanvändas för barn med neurologisk skada, specifik språkstörning och/eller annatförstaspråk än svenska. Huvudsyftet med studien är att ta fram ett referensmaterial för hurnormalhörande barn med normal språkutveckling i åldern 4;0 till och med 5;11 årpresterar på HöraTal Test. Därutöver undersöks om det finns ett samband mellantalperceptionssvårigheter och talproduktionssvårigheter. Detta prövas genom att resultatenpå vissa delar av talperceptionstestet jämförs med resultatet på ett talproduktionstest. Istudien ingick 16 fyraåringar och 19 femåringar. Studien visade att de flesta fyraåringarinte klarar av att genomföra testet. Femåringarna hade ett högt medelresultat vilketindikerar att femåringar med normal hörsel bör få ett högt resultat, många rätt, på HöraTalTest och att testet är lämpligt för att testa talperception. Det krävs dock ett större antalförsökspersoner för att man säkert ska kunna uttala sig om förväntade resultat på HöraTalTest i populationen. Studien visade inget samband mellan perceptions- ochproduktionssvårigheter men det var för få försökspersoner som hade uttalsavvikelser iproduktionsuppgiften för att bekräfta eller förkasta ett samband mellan perceptions- ochproduktionssvårigheter i populationen.</p> / <p>Speech perception tests have been developed to receive information about a person’sability to perceive and discriminate between speech sounds. HöraTal Test 1.1 is anextensive analytical computer based speech perception test made for children ages fourand up. The children do not need to be able to read to take the test. The test wasdeveloped for children with hearing disabilities and/or cochlear implants but it can also beused for children with neurological damages, specific language impairments and/or adifferent first language than Swedish. The aim of this study is to receive reference datafrom children of the age 4;0 to 5;11 years with normal hearing and normal speechdevelopment. The study also included a speech production test. The results from theproduction test were compared with the results from the perception test in order to find apossible connection between speech perception difficulties and speech productiondifficulties. 16 four-year-olds and 19 five-year-olds participated in the study. One of theconclusions from this study was that four-year-olds are not able to take the test. The five-year-olds had high mean scores on all the subtests which indicate that a five year old childwith normal hearing should receive high scores on HöraTal Test. This also indicates thatHöraTal Test is suitable for testing speech perception. To be able to generalize to thepopulation more test subjects are needed. No connection between speech perceptiondifficulties and speech production difficulties was found. Only a few of the test subjectshad speech production difficulties in the speech production test and therefore conclusionsabout a possible connection between speech perception difficulties and speech productiondifficulties in the population can not be made.</p>

SAMMANFATTNING Anette Eriksson Barns delaktighet i förskolan – är den villkorad av de vuxna? - Förskollärares uppfattningar om barns delaktighet i förskolans vardag. Vårterminen 2007 Antal sidor 59 Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka, analysera och beskriva hur förskollärare uppfattar delaktighet i förskolans vardag. En litteratursökning visade att det fanns få studier avseende förskollärares uppfattningar om barns delaktighet i förskolan. Studien är kvalitativ med en innehållsanalys och har en metodtriangulerad design. Studien inleds med en undersökning av en öppen forskningsfråga, vidare har 20 intervjuer genomförts med förskollärare. Resultaten i den öppna frågan visade att förskolepersonal har två perspektiv på barns delaktighet, ett barnperspektiv och ett verksamhetsperspektiv. Resultaten i intervjuerna på visade att förskollärare definierar delaktighet som beslutsprocesser och att vara med att välja och bestämma. Resultaten visar vidare att en djup medvetenhet om vad som främjar barns delaktighet i förskolan finns hos förskollärare, ytterligare visar resultaten att denna medvetenhet inte alltid leder till att delaktigheten för barnen ökas. Resultaten visar att förskollärare även har en kunskap om vad det är som hindrar en ökning av barns delaktighet i förskolan. Dessa hinder består av förskolans struktur och informella strukturer som förskollärarna anser sig styrda av i arbetet i barngrupp och arbetslaget. Nyckelord: Delaktighet, förskola, förskollärare, förskolebarn, bestämma. / Abstract Anette Eriksson Children’s participation in the pre-school –on conditions of the adults? - Pre-school teachers concepts of children’s participation in pre-schools everyday life. 2007 Pages 22 The purpose of this study was to investigate, analyze and describe pre-school teachers concepts of children’s participation in pre-schools every day life. A literature study showed that there were few studies, in the exiting literature, concerning pre-school teachers conceptions of children’s participation in the pre-school daily life. The study is a qualitative inquiry containing a content analysis and has a methods triangulation design. The initial step of the inquiry was an open research question, furthermore has 20 interviews been conducted with pre-school teachers. The results of the open research question showed that pre-school teachers has two perspectives of how they view children’s participation, one child-perspective and one pre-school activities-perspective. Results from the interviews shows that pre-school teachers define participation as decision-making processes and to have the opportunity to choose as well as a prospect of taking decisions. The results further shows that pre-school teachers has a deep awareness of what supports participation in pre-schools, further more the results show that this awareness does not always lead to increased participation on the children’s behalf. The results additionally show that pre-school teachers also have an understanding of what prevents participation in the pre-school. The obstacles consist of the pre-school structure and informal structures. Pre-schools teachers consider themselves as being ruled by these obstacles both in the work with the children and in the teacher team. Keywords: Partcipation, Pre-school, Pre-school teacher, Pre-school children, Decision-making.

Talperceptionstest har skapats för att få information om hur en person kan uppfatta ochdiskriminera mellan språkljud. HöraTal Test 1.1 är ett omfattande analytiskt datorbaserattalperceptionstest. Testet är anpassat för icke läskunniga barn från fyra års ålder. Det ärframtaget för barn med hörselnedsättning och/eller cochleaimplantat men kan ävenanvändas för barn med neurologisk skada, specifik språkstörning och/eller annatförstaspråk än svenska. Huvudsyftet med studien är att ta fram ett referensmaterial för hurnormalhörande barn med normal språkutveckling i åldern 4;0 till och med 5;11 årpresterar på HöraTal Test. Därutöver undersöks om det finns ett samband mellantalperceptionssvårigheter och talproduktionssvårigheter. Detta prövas genom att resultatenpå vissa delar av talperceptionstestet jämförs med resultatet på ett talproduktionstest. Istudien ingick 16 fyraåringar och 19 femåringar. Studien visade att de flesta fyraåringarinte klarar av att genomföra testet. Femåringarna hade ett högt medelresultat vilketindikerar att femåringar med normal hörsel bör få ett högt resultat, många rätt, på HöraTalTest och att testet är lämpligt för att testa talperception. Det krävs dock ett större antalförsökspersoner för att man säkert ska kunna uttala sig om förväntade resultat på HöraTalTest i populationen. Studien visade inget samband mellan perceptions- ochproduktionssvårigheter men det var för få försökspersoner som hade uttalsavvikelser iproduktionsuppgiften för att bekräfta eller förkasta ett samband mellan perceptions- ochproduktionssvårigheter i populationen. / Speech perception tests have been developed to receive information about a person’sability to perceive and discriminate between speech sounds. HöraTal Test 1.1 is anextensive analytical computer based speech perception test made for children ages fourand up. The children do not need to be able to read to take the test. The test wasdeveloped for children with hearing disabilities and/or cochlear implants but it can also beused for children with neurological damages, specific language impairments and/or adifferent first language than Swedish. The aim of this study is to receive reference datafrom children of the age 4;0 to 5;11 years with normal hearing and normal speechdevelopment. The study also included a speech production test. The results from theproduction test were compared with the results from the perception test in order to find apossible connection between speech perception difficulties and speech productiondifficulties. 16 four-year-olds and 19 five-year-olds participated in the study. One of theconclusions from this study was that four-year-olds are not able to take the test. The five-year-olds had high mean scores on all the subtests which indicate that a five year old childwith normal hearing should receive high scores on HöraTal Test. This also indicates thatHöraTal Test is suitable for testing speech perception. To be able to generalize to thepopulation more test subjects are needed. No connection between speech perceptiondifficulties and speech production difficulties was found. Only a few of the test subjectshad speech production difficulties in the speech production test and therefore conclusionsabout a possible connection between speech perception difficulties and speech productiondifficulties in the population can not be made.

Ett av förskolans vanligaste material är byggklossar i trä. I denna studie undersökte vi hur barnen i den fria byggleken gick tillväga då de löste uppkomna problem, samt vilka matematiska aspekter de erfor i leken med klossarna. Barnens lek observerades med hjälp av videokamera, och det resultat som erhölls härur kopplas i studien till teorier kring matematik och barns lärande. De slutsatser som drogs då observationsmaterialet analyserades är att förskolebarn i byggleken får rika tillfällen att erfara olika matematiska områden. Dessutom möter barnen för dem relevanta problem, vilka de behandlar, och i vissa fall löser, på skilda sätt. Ibland praktiserar barn kända strategier, och ibland utmanas de till att lösa ett problem genom att pröva sig fram. Tydligt är även att barn kan befinna sig i olika, i studien funna, faser då de löser ett problem, och att dessa är beroende av hur de i ett specifikt fall väljer att hantera en uppkommen utmaning. I studien dras även slutsatsen att barnen då de möter de olika matematiska aspekterna, och/eller antar en utmaning som leder till en problemlösningssituation, också har goda möjligheter till lärande. / Wooden building bricks are among the most common toys in Swedish preschools. In this study, preschool children’s course of action was examined as they solved problems that arose during their free play with bricks. The children’s play has been observed and recorded with a video camera, and the result received is then related to theories of mathematics and of children’s learning. The conclusions drawn from the result are that preschool children, in their free play with building bricks, get plenty of opportunities to experience various aspects of mathematics. Furthermore, children come across problems that are relevant to them, which they deal with in different ways and sometimes solve. At times children practise strategies already known to them, and every now and then they are challenged to solve a problem through trial and error. It is clear that children may be in different phases, found in the study, as they solve a problem. These phases are dependent on how they choose to handle the arisen challenge in a particular case. Another conclusion drawn in the study is that children, as they face the variety of mathematical aspects and/or accept a challenge which leads to a problem solving situation, have considerable opportunities of learning.

Syftet med vår uppsats är att söka svar på hur förskollärarna som arbetar i åldrarna 3-5 år väljer att arbeta med barns vänskapsrelationer i förskolans verksamhet, eftersom tidigare forskning visar att allt fler barn befinner sig i förskolan samt att vänskap för barn har stor betydelse för deras välbefinnande. Frågeställningar som vi söker svar på i vår uppsats är på vilket sätt genomför förskollärarna ett arbete med barns vänskapsrelationer i förskolan, om förskolläraren anser att barns vänskapsrelationer är ett arbetsområde att prioritera i förskolan samt vad förskolläraren anser om sitt eget deltagande i barns skapande av vänskapsrelationer. Vi söker svar på frågorna genom att göra en kvalitativ intervju med en förskollärare och observationer som ett komplement till intervjun. Som teoretisk utgångspunkt utgår vi från teorier om vad vänskap är för små barn och vilken betydelse vänskap har för barnen. Eftersom förskollärarna ska vara en del i barns vänskapande måste de förstå relationerna mellan barnen utifrån barnens egna termer. Vårt resultat visar att den aktuella förskolan bedriver ett arbete med barns vänskapsrelationer genom att ha ett tema och andra olika aktiviteter såsom drama och boksamtal. Resultatet visar även att förskolläraren anser att barns vänskapsrelationer bör prioriteras och att deras egen roll i barns vänskapande är av stor betydelse. Det är svårt att bedriva ett vänskapsarbete om arbetslaget har olika syn på vad vänskap är. Därför spelar det ingen roll hur mycket förskollärarna talar om för barnen hur de ska bete sig och vara som en vän om inte förskollärarna kan visa på dessa egenskaper själva, för förskollärarna fungerar som förebilder för barnen. / The purpose of this paper is to seek answers to how the preschool teachers who work with children aged 3-5 years choose to work with children's friendships in preschool, because previous research shows that more and more children are in preschool and friendship for children is very important for their welfare. Questions that we attempting to answer in this paper is how preschool teachers work with children's friendships in preschool, if the preschool teacher believes that children's friendships are a range of priority in preschool and how preschool teacher thinks about his own involvement in children's creation of friendships. We are looking for answers to the questions by making a qualitative interview with a preschool teacher and observations as a complement to the interview. As a theoretical starting point, we use theories about what friendship is for children in early years and the importance of friendships for children. Since preschool teachers should contribute to children making friends, they must understand the relationships between the children from children's own terms. Our results show that the current preschool worked with children's friendships by having a theme, and other various activities such as drama and discussions of literature. The results also show that preschool teacher believes that children's friendships should be valued and that their own role in children's friendship is of great importance. It is difficult to manage a friendly work if the team has different views on what friendship is. Therefore it doesn´t matter how much preschool teachers tells the children how to behave and how to be a friend if not preschool teachers can´t demonstrate these qualities themselves, because the preschool teachers serve as role models for children.

The present project is a first step towards a new Swedish assessment tool to examine phonological ability in preschool-aged children. The work consisted of developing a word list with words that was considered to reveal a child’s phonological ability and to try out the word list on pre-school children. The reason was to make sure that the words existed in the vocabulary of the children in the chosen ages. A word list consisting of 109 words, which convey relevant phonological information, was created. Every phoneme in the Swedish language is represented at least twice in initial, medial and final word position. The majority of the consonant clusters, which are allowed in the Swedish language, are included. Also words consisting of three or more syllables, words consisting of an initial unstressed syllable and both of the tonal word accents used in the Swedish language, are included in the wordlist. The 85 children who participated in the present study was 3;0-5;11 years old and their task was to name the pictures of the material. The children were divided into six half-yearly intervals. The result showed that the children’s ability to name the pictures was improved with increased age. The children in the youngest interval (3;0-3;5) named a mean of 92 pictures correctly, while children in the oldest interval (5;6-5;11) named a mean of 107 picture. The authors decided that words which were produced by at least 80% of the children in an interval were judged to be appropriate for the current age. Consequently, 79 of the 109 words were judged to be appropriate for children in interval 1. Among these 79 words, there are words which represent the majority of the phonological aspects that a phonological assessment tool should comprise. / Föreliggande uppsatsarbete utgör ett första steg i utformandet av ett nytt svenskt bedömningsmaterial för fonologisk förmåga hos barn i förskoleåldern. Arbetet bestod av att välja ut ord som kan anses ringa in ett barns fonologiska förmåga samt att testa dessa på barn i förskoleåldern, för att säkerställa att orden finns i det aktiva ordförrådet hos barn i aktuella åldrar. En ordlista bestående av 109 ord, som bär på relevant fonologisk information, skapades. Samtliga svenska fonem finns representerade minst två gånger i initial, medial och final ordposition. Dessutom ingår majoriteten av konsonantförbindelser, som är tillåtna enligt svensk fonotax, i de utvalda orden. Även ord med tre eller fler stavelser, ord innehållande pretonisk stavelse samt svenska språkets båda tonaccenter är representerade. Orden illustrerades med bilder från Boardmaker. De 85 barnen som deltog i studien var 3;0-5;11år och fick benämna samtliga bilder i materialet. Barnen delades in i sex halvårsintervall. Resultaten visade att barnens förmåga att benämna bilderna förbättrades med stigande ålder. Medelvärdet för antalet korrekt benämnda bilder för barnen i det yngsta åldersintervallet (3;0-3;5 år) var 92, medan motsvarade siffra för de äldsta barnen (5;6-5;11år) var 107. Författarna beslutade att ord som minst 80% av barnen i ett åldersintervall producerade, kunde anses som användbara i ett test för barn i den aktuella åldern. Därmed ansågs 79 av de 109 orden som användbara från och med åldersintervall 1. Bland de 79 orden finns ord som representerar majoriteten av de fonologiska aspekter som ett fonologiskt bedömningsmaterial bör förmedla.

I denna studie har två förskollärares syn på musik i förskolan undersökts. Kvalitativa intervjuer har ägt rum på två olika förskolor – en utan specifik inriktning och en avdelning med musikinriktning belägen i en annan förskola. Intervjufrågorna formulerades så att förskollärarnas syn på musikens roll och användningsområden i förskolan framkom. Svaren som gavs var i stora delar liknande, bland annat när det kommer till hur förskollärarna uppfattar musikens påverkan på barns språkliga utveckling. De stora skillnader som framkom var att musik i den musikinriktade verksamheten ses som ett medel att nå alla läroplanens mål, och mycket tid och planering läggs ned på musikaktiviteterna i deras strävan att uppnå detta. Organiserade och väl planerade musiksamlingar ägde dagligen rum på den musikinriktade avdelningen, och vikten av att alla pedagoger är engagerade poängterades. I förskolan utan speciell inriktning såg man i stort musik som ett roligt inslag och som komplement till den övriga verksamheten, även om man samtidigt var medveten om dess goda effekter på barns utveckling. Musik sågs kunna ge barnen ytterligare en dimension i teman och liknande. / In this study, two preschool teachers' views on music in preschool has been investigated. Qualitative interviews have taken place in two preschools - one without specific focus and a music-oriented section located in a different preschool. The questions in the interviews were formulated so that the preschool teachers' views on the role of music and use in pre-emerged. The answers given were largely similar, particularly when it comes to how preschool teachers perceive the music's impact on children's linguistic development. The major differences that emerged was that the music in the music-oriented section is seen as a means to achieve all goals of the curriculum, and a lot of time and planning is spent on music activities in their efforts to achieve this. Organized and well-planned music-themed assemblies took place daily on the music-oriented section, and the importance of engaged educators was emphasized. In the preschool without special emphasis music was in large seen as a fun element and an addition to other activities, while they still were aware of its good effects on child development. Music was seen as being able to give children an added dimension in themes and such.

The main purpose of the study is to investigate how children act and make meaning in art activities in the Swedish preschool. The study is a contribution to the new social studies of childhood. Children are seen as active participants in the construction and reconstruction of society. Pictures are understood as both culturally and socially produced. They are made in social contexts and earlier pictures are used as raw material. The investigation has an ethnographical approach and two preschools were visited for five weeks each. In all 36 children aged four to six years participated. Data were gathered through participant observations and comprise 37 hours of videotaped art activities, videotaped informal interviews, field notes and documented pictures. Both teacher-guided and unsolicited activities were observed, but in both cases the children's meaning making was in focus. The analyses show that the children use a wide range of pictorial genres. The pictures are produced in dialogue with other pictures: primarily pictures produced by other children, but also the staff's pedagogical illustrations and media pictures. The art activities have different purposes such as exploration of materials, making narrative accounts or producing pictures needed in fantasy play. The production of pictures is connected in several ways to the children's play projects. Girls and boys produce largely different pictures - making pictures could be seen as a way of doing gender. Aesthetic purposes seem to be important to the children. They prefer perfectly shaped forms and use a variety of strategies to accomplish such pictures. The admiration of perfect forms could be understood in relation to children's positions in the society. The social category 'child' is constructed in relation to adults and understood as a deficiency in size, age and abilities. There is a strong positive value connected to growing older and being 'big'. The use of methods that allow one to produce pictures similar to those that older children or adults can produce is one way of appearing as 'big' and competent. One paradox is that the methods used to make pictures attractive in the children's eyes make them less valuable in adults' eyes. Copying or using templates goes against central values that traditionally have dominated art pedagogy, where authenticity is valued and thought of as originating from the individual artist (or child). This contradiction is connected to another contradiction concerning individualism and collectivism. While adults often think of art activities as individual, the children mostly engage in art activities collectively. They sit together with other children when making pictures, they interact with each other during the activities and they produce similar pictures. The children's picture production is part of their peer cultures, and they share and practice what could be understood as their own pictorial cultures.

To explore how children use dialect, and whether the dialectal language develops during growth might be of interest from a speech language pathologist’s point of view as the dialect could influence the child’s speech. Previous research is often based on older material and/or examines the speech of adults.  In the present study, everyday language in groups of south- eastern Swedish speaking children was investigated. The aim of the present study was to examine to what extent typically developed children of the ages of  5, 8 and 11 years use dialectal language. A further purpose was to discover which dialectal characteristics that were present in the different age groups, and how they differed. The children were video- and audiorecorded during group sessions in everyday settings. The collected material was transcribed according to principles of conversation analysis, and key portions were chosen for deeper analysis. The identified dialectal characteristics were diphthongal, distinctly open or closed vowels and regarding consonants retroflex flap [ɭ] and posterior /r/ were encountered. In prosody a final tonal raise in phrases was observed. Dialectal words and phrases and discourse markers were also documented.   The results of the present study showed that the children use dialectal language as early as by the age of 5, but that older children had a more distinguishable dialect. Throughout all age groups, the vowels were dialectally influenced. Most distinctive was a much closed /i/ with a diphthong, and characteristically open &lt;ä&gt; and &lt;ö&gt;. The characteristic final tonal raise in phrases was encountered in all age groups. Furthermore, a variation regarding dialectal use has been observed between children but also within the same child. Discourse markers were found primarily in the school-aged children, assumingly due to the increased desire of belonging to a group. The results of the present study may contribute to the ability to determine whether phonology, lexicon and/or grammar in a child is deviant or in fact reflected by the south-eastern Swedish characteristics. Also from a diagnostic perspective it might be of value to know when to expect hearing dialectal characteristics in the child’s speech.