This study analyses the textbook Veckans ord 5 by Britta Redin and Görel Hydén (2003), which is used as a teaching aid in Swedish as a second language. The aim is to examine the theories of vocabulary learning and the learning strategies revealed in the content and design of the textbook and thereby examine its functionality for Swedish L2 pupils. We use content analysis as a method and apply it to selected chapters in the book connected to vocabulary learning and how pupils are expected to consolidate the words they learn. The analysis also considers whether the exercises deal with the form of words (morphology, orthography, phonology) or their content (syntax, lexical field, synonyms, hyponyms, antonyms).   The result shows that the arrangement of the textbook agrees with some common theories and vocabulary learning strategies such as repeating words, linking them to synonyms and learning words through pictures. Another finding is that the exercises highlight the form of words more than their content and meaning.

Abstract The aim of the study is to investigate how class teachers and Swedish L2 teachers perceive their work with recently arrived immigrant pupils in grades F to 3. Six teachers were interviewed about how they teach so that these pupils will achieve the target skills in Swedish as a second language in grade 3, and about their view of the integration of newly arrived pupils in the ordinary class and the preparatory class. In the study the teachers say that they lack shared guidelines for receiving newly arrived pupils and that the charting of the pupils is inadequate. The teachers prefer direct placement in the ordinary class because the pupils learn from others and improve in their zone of proximal development. The informants feel that they have sufficient training to teach newly arrived pupils and that working with them contributes to their professional development. The results of the study indicate that development-based teaching can benefit newly arrived pupils. The teachers say that they teach many words and concepts and use concrete material.

This study examines how teachers of Swedish as a second language perceive that they work to strengthen L2 pupils’ knowledge of Swedish. It investigates how the teachers say that they work to improve the pupils’ vocabulary and word comprehension, and what they can find problematic when they work with this. The method used for the study is qualitative, in the form of interviews, with the aim of charting the teachers’ opinions and perceptions of what was to be studied. Four teachers were interviewed, and their thoughts are part of the results in the study. Among other things, it was found that vocabulary and word comprehension are important to work with in Swedish as a second language since a large vocabulary and good word comprehension are the foundation for the pupils’ continued learning. The results also show the importance of conversations in the classroom when it comes to vocabulary and word comprehension, and the use of pictures and reading aloud.

This dissertation examines the language proficiency of school-aged deaf pupils from a bilingual perspective. The first aim of the study is to investigate the Swedish L2 skills of the pupils. This includes testing the validity of the Processability Theory on deaf learners of Swedish as an L2. The second aim is to investigate whether there is a correlation between proficiency in Swedish and Swedish Sign Language (SSL) as suggested in earlier research on deaf bilingualism. This study is cross-sectional and contains data from 38 pupils (grades 5 and 10) from a school for deaf and hearing-impaired pupils in Sweden. The data consists of retellings of a cartoon in written Swedish and of free stories in SSL. For the first part of the study, the Swedish data has been analyzed according to Processability Theory (PT).  For the second part of the study, narrative structure in both the Swedish and SSL data has been analyzed. As a theoretical framework, Labov’s narrative model is applied. The results show that there is an implicational order in the informants’ development of Swedish following the predicted grammatical learning order described by PT. The results therefore suggest that PT is a valid theory also for deaf learners of L2 Swedish. The conclusions regarding SSL proficiency suggest that more research about sign language as such is needed to get a deeper understanding of SSL proficiency. The results show that one narrative component of Labov’s model - Evaluation - is an important component in SSL proficiency. The results from the comparative analysis show that there is a positive statistical correlation between some Swedish and SSL variables used in this study, suggesting that skills in Swedish correlate with skills in SSL. This means that a well-developed sign language is important for the deaf to learn any written language as a second language.

<p>This dissertation examines direct and subordinate questions, as well as verb morphology in L2 Swedish, from a developmental perspective. The study is cross-sectional, containing data from Iraqi Arabic, Persian and Somali adolescent learners representing three different levels of proficiency. The data are analysed on the basis of two theories: The Markedness Differential Hypothesis and Processability Theory. Data elicited through four different techniques are examined with the aim of examining the possible impact of different data types on the results. The different elicitation techniques used in the study are: oral production, written production, grammaticality judgement and a receptive skills task. Two of the elicitation techniques, written production and grammaticality judgement, include all three structures in focus in the study, whilst the oral production and the receptive task is centred on direct questions.</p><p>The results suggest that there are implicational relationships regarding the order in which the grammatical structures are acquired. On the whole, predictions based on the two theories used as a basis for the analyses find support in the material. Having a wide scope for predictions at the morpho-syntactical level, the results meet the claims in particular of Processability Theory. The predictions and the results do not contrast the two theories with each other. A comparison of the different data types clearly indicates that the grammaticality judgement task substantially diverges from the other data types providing less consistent data and exhibiting trends that are in conflict with the data obtained through the three other elicitation techniques.</p>

This dissertation examines direct and subordinate questions, as well as verb morphology in L2 Swedish, from a developmental perspective. The study is cross-sectional, containing data from Iraqi Arabic, Persian and Somali adolescent learners representing three different levels of proficiency. The data are analysed on the basis of two theories: The Markedness Differential Hypothesis and Processability Theory. Data elicited through four different techniques are examined with the aim of examining the possible impact of different data types on the results. The different elicitation techniques used in the study are: oral production, written production, grammaticality judgement and a receptive skills task. Two of the elicitation techniques, written production and grammaticality judgement, include all three structures in focus in the study, whilst the oral production and the receptive task is centred on direct questions. The results suggest that there are implicational relationships regarding the order in which the grammatical structures are acquired. On the whole, predictions based on the two theories used as a basis for the analyses find support in the material. Having a wide scope for predictions at the morpho-syntactical level, the results meet the claims in particular of Processability Theory. The predictions and the results do not contrast the two theories with each other. A comparison of the different data types clearly indicates that the grammaticality judgement task substantially diverges from the other data types providing less consistent data and exhibiting trends that are in conflict with the data obtained through the three other elicitation techniques.

The aim of this study is to analyse how pupils in grade three use punctuation and howthey divide texts into sentences. The material in the study consists of 41 texts by pupils,divided into two types: narrative text and analytical text, written both by pupils withSwedish as their first language and by pupils with Swedish as their second language. Inthe study the pupils’ use of connectives and comma splices has been studied, and therelationship between graphical and syntactical sentences in the texts. The studycompares the results for narrative and analytical texts and the differences between L1and L2 pupils. The study is a follow-up of Per Ledin’s (1998) study of pupils’ use ofpunctuation in the low and intermediate levels of compulsory, and therefore the resultsof this study are compared with those obtained by Ledin. This study shows that in thisrespect L1 and L2 pupils produce texts that do not differ to any great extent. The mostprominent differences between the types of text are that the narrative texts have aclearer flow and a seemingly more logical link between sentences and clauses than theanalytical texts. The results of this study largely agree with Ledin’s results.

Sammanfattning Att kunna identifiera och förstå olika varieteter av målspråket är en grundläggande förutsättning för att andraspråksinlärare av svenska ska kunna bli fullständig deltagare i dagens flerspråkiga svenska samhälle. Den här studien har till syfte att explorativt undersöka vuxna andraspråksinlärares tillägnande av kunskaper i språklig variation vad gäller modersmålssvenska och andraspråkssvenska, samt deras sociolingvistiska medvetenhet. Detta testas och analyseras genom olika moment i ett lyssnarexperiment, dvs. hur L2-lyssnare bedömer olika talare, hur de förklarar sin bedömning och hur de uppfattar sig själva jämfört med olika talare. En bakgrundsenkät används för att samla in information om språklig erfarenhet och koppla den till L2-lyssnarnas bedömningar. Resultaten pekar mot att studiens L2-lyssnare varierar väldigt mycket vad gäller kunskaper i variation, och vissa lyssnare verkar även ha helt identiska bedömningar med modersmålskontrollgruppen. Studien har däremot inte kunnat påvisa någon korrelation mellan språklig erfarenhet och L2-lyssnarnas bedömningar. Det presenteras möjliga tolkningar av och förklaringar till vad som kan ha påverkan på L2-lyssnares kunskaper. / Abstract Being able to identify and understand different varieties of the target language is a fundamental condition for learners of Swedish as a second language in order to gain full language proficiency and become a participant in today’s multilingual Swedish society. The present study is an explorative investigation of how adult second language learners acquire knowledge of native and non-native variation in Swedish and of sociolinguistic awareness. A listening experiment is used to collect and analyse data in three steps, i.e. how L2 listeners judge different speakers, how they explain their judgements, and how they perceive their own Swedish compared to different speakers. A questionnaire is used to collect information about language experience and to find correlations between this and L2 listeners’ judgements. The results indicate that L2 listeners’ knowledge of variation varies to a great extent, and that some of them seem to have identical judgements to the native control group. The data in this study does not support that there are any correlations between L2 listeners’ language experience and judgements. Possible interpretations and explanations of what can affect L2 listeners’ knowledge are presented as well.

This thesis explores the role of age in second language (L2) acquisition and first language (L1) attrition. The focus is on Voice Onset Time (VOT) in the production and categorical perception of word-initial L1 and L2 stops in highly advanced L1 Spanish learners of L2 Swedish. Using as the point of departure a maturational constraints perspective and the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH), Study I examines the impact of age of onset (AO) of L2 acquisition on the production of L2 Swedish voiceless stops. The results show that there are AO effects even in the speech of highly advanced L2 learners and that the incidence of nativelike L2 learners is considerably lower than earlier assumed. However, conclusions like these are only possible when speaking rate is accounted for, thereby highlighting the importance of speaking rate effects on VOT as a measure of nativelikeness. Like Study I, Study II reveals age effects on the same L2 learners’ categorical perceptions of L2 Swedish stops. Moreover, after combining the results with the data from Study I, the incidence of nativelike behavior drops remarkably with no late L2 learner performing within the range of native-speaker production and perception. The results suggest that L2 acquisition of phonetic/phonological aspects is especially sensitive to AO effects. It is concluded that theories on maturational constraints, including the CPH, cannot be refuted on the basis of the present data. Study III concerns the same participants’ production and perception of L1 Spanish stops. Age of reduced contact (ARC) is identified as an important predictor for L1 attrition and retention of voiceless stop production, although not of stop perception. This discrepancy is related to different activation thresholds as proposed by the Activation Threshold Hypothesis (ATH). It is further suggested that early bilinguals are more dependent on high-frequency L1 use than late bilinguals when compensating for age effects, but only in production. / <p>At the time of doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Accepted. Paper 2: In press. Paper 3: Manuscript.</p> / Age of onset and ultimate attainment in second language acquisition, The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation, grant no. 1999-0383:01 / First language attrition in advanced second language speakers, Swedish Research Council, grant no. 421-2004-1975