Föreliggande studie undersöker sex elevers självskattade förståelse av tre mellanstadielärares språkbruk i tre olika ämnen. Studien utgår från tre frågeställningar som behandlar lärarnas språkbruk, elevernas självskattade förståelse samt elevernas tankar om förståelse och inlärning. Datainsamlingsmetoder är ljudinspelningar, deltagande observationer samt enkäter. Legitimation code theorys semantiska vågor är studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt och analysmetod. Semantisk densitet och semantisk gravitation används därför för att analysera lärarnas språkbruk i kombination med elevernas självskattade förståelse. Studiens resultat åskådliggör att eleverna i stor utsträckning har svårt att förstå ämnesspecifika begrepp som förklaras med hög informationstäthet. Eleverna angav även att muntliga och skriftligaförklaringar bidrog till att skapa större förståelse av ett ämnesinnehåll. Eleverna ansåg även att uppgifter som utfördes i kooperativa och praktiska arbetssätt påverkade deras förståelse positivt. Avslutningsvis presenteras vidare utvecklingsmöjligheter med studien.

MA (English) / Department of English / The study analysed the language used by The Herald and Daily News journalists to report on the marriage conflict between the former Prime Minister Morgan Richard Tsvangirai of Zimbabwe and Ms Locardia Karimatsenga. The Herald is a state-owned newspaper and Daily News is a privately-owned newspaper. An analysis of the marriage conflict enabled readers, in a magnified way, to see how ideological differences between the public and private media in Zimbabwe are represented. The study examined the similarities and/or differences in the manner in which the marriage conflict was represented in both papers. The study also examined the language used in the headlines, established the sources used and evaluated the ideological stances of the two newspapers. The study utilised the case study design. The researcher only focused on articles which were published during the month when the former Prime Minister married Ms Elizabeth Macheka in September 2012. It was also the month when the media published many articles about the marriage saga. Seventeen articles were analysed, eleven from The Herald and six from the Daily News. Framing and Representation theories were deemed appropriate to analyse the articles. Critical Discourse Analysis and semiotic analysis were used to analyse the selected articles and visuals which accompanied them. The findings of the study revealed that The Herald reports tended to be biased against the Prime Minister, while the Daily News was more objective in its use of language.

Denna uppsats undersöker hur elever på det industritekniska programmet ser på sitt egetanvändande av språket i undervisningen. I undersökningen riktas fokus på hur elevernauppfattar sitt eget användande av språket i både program- och gymnasiegemensamma ämnen.Undersökningen har genomförts med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer som sedan har analyseratsmed hjälp av en tematisk analys. De tre teman som arbetats fram är Det informella och detformella språket, Det samarbetande och jämlika språket och Självinsikter och språket.Samtliga presenterar olika perspektiv på hur eleverna inom programmet upplever ochuppfattar språket och användningen av det. Tematiken visar hur olika normer och regler styranvändandet av språket beroende på vilken undervisningssituation man som elev befinner sigi. Utifrån den data som inhämtas visar den att eleverna har en stor medvetenhet om att språketanvänds olika och att det finns olika strategier för att använda det. Det språk som helstanvänds och som eleverna känner sig mest bekväma med är det muntliga språket. / This thesis examines how students at the industrial-technical program views their use oflanguage within teaching. The survey focuses on how students percieve their own use oflanguage in both program specific and general subjects. The survey was conducted usingquialitative interviews which were then analyzed with the help of a thematic analysis. Threethemes has been found and those are The informal and the formal language, The collaborativeand equal language and Self insights and language. All of these present different perspectiveson how students within the program experience and percieve the language and its use. Thethemes also shows how different norms and rules govern the use of language depending onwhich teaching situation the student is situated in. Based on the data collected, it shows thatstudents have a keen awareness that the language is used differently and that there aredifferent strategies when using it. The language that is most used and that students feel mostcomfortable with is the oral language.

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We are constantly surrounded by language, which affects our view of ourselves and the world around us. Children are especially affected by their language environment and will often adapt their speech to fit in among their friends. Nowadays it seems like cursing and insults has become more common among young students in the school environment, which worries us. This study presents our research on what we call problematic language, it is specified on students in middle school and their experience of the use of curses and insults around them. Our research was done by qualitative interviews with both students and teachers as the aim was to get different perspectives on how the students are affected. We have chosen to take the social perspective of language in our study together with the perspectives of previous research in the field of offensive language. What we discovered was that the students have a different view of the language use than teachers do. How words are perceived is very individual, it depends on the situation and the relations to those around. What is clear is that students get affected by their language environment and therefore need support and guidance in order to understand the effects of problematic language use. With this study we intend to bring awareness and knowledge that can benefit a healthy language environment for students in school and after school care

Ausgehend von einem sozialkonstruktivistischen, pragmatisch-kognitiven Verständnis von Namen untersucht die Studie die diskriminierenden Wahrnehmungen, die über Personen-namen in Deutschland und Schweden aufgerufen werden. Durch Anwendung der kritischen Theorien und Zugänge der Black Feminist, Postcolonial, Postmigrant, Trans und Disability Studies auf Namensdiskurse werden gegenwärtige sowie historische hegemoniale Normen dekonstruiert. Mit Hilfe des durch intersektionale Machtverhältnisse konstituierten Dispositivmodells wird die Intelligibilität von Personennamen zur Diskussion gestellt. Vergewohnheitung (accustoming) als neues analytisches Konzept macht nachvollziehbar, wie hegemoniales Wissen zu Namensgebung auf strukturalistische und essentialisierende Weise erworben und internalisiert wird. Die Analyse administrativer und legislativer Diskurse zeigt, wie hegemoniale Namensnormen historisch und institutionell vergewohnheitet wurden. Dass ein Personenname institutionell auch durch individuelle Wahrnehmung bestimmt wird, illustriert die Analyse des ‚Kindeswohl‘, einem zentralen Argument für Namensentscheidungen auf Standesämtern. Ein weiteres Beispiel für die Rechtfertigung ent_wahrgenommener diskriminierender Namenspraktiken ist das Sprachgefühlkonzept, dessen Verwendung daraufhin untersucht wird, inwiefern es nationalistische Vorstellungen des Eigenen und des Anderen aufruft. Schließlich wird die An- und Aberkennung von Menschsein als Konsequenz diskriminierender Namenshandlungen adressiert. Eine Sammlung empowernder Interventionen in diskriminierende Namenspraktiken sowie Empfehlungen für eine kontra_diskriminierende, antistrukturalistische Wahrnehmung von Personennamen runden die Studie ab. Mit ihrem transdisziplinären Ansatz veranschaulicht die Arbeit, wie disziplinäre Grenzen überschritten und Diskursfelder und -materialien, die traditionellerweise in den Rechts-, Geschichts-, Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaften analysiert werden, in die Genderforschung integriert werden können. / Based on a social constructivist, pragmatic cognitive understanding of naming, the study investigates the discriminatory hegemonic presuppositions and perceptions that are interpellated with personal names in Germany and Sweden. The critical lens of Black Feminist, Postcolonial, Postmigrant, Critical Trans and Disability Studies is applied in order to deconstruct current and past hegemonic naming norms. By regarding the un/intelligibility of names as constituted by intersecting power relations, racism_genderism_ableism_migratism_ classism, the dispositive model helps to identify what personal names and naming practices are made un/thinkable. Accustoming is introduced as an analytic tool to understand how hegemonic knowledge on naming is acquired and internalized in a structuralist and essentializing way. The analysis of administrative and legislative discourses demonstrates how hegemonic naming norms have been historically and institutionally accustomed. That a personal name is not only determined by institutional but also by individual decision-making is illustrated on the example of the child’s well-being, a commonly used argument for name decisions at registry offices. The feel for language as another norm to justify de_perceived name discrimination is analyzed against the background of how sprachgefühl as an emotive concept interpellates nationalist images of the self and the Other. The final chapter addresses the consequences of discriminatory naming practices: the definition and denial of personhood. The study concludes with a collection of empowering interventions in discriminatory naming practices and recommendations for a contra_ discriminatory anti-structuralist perception of personal names. By employing a transdisciplinary approach, the study illustrates how disciplinary boundaries are transgressed and how different discourse areas and material that traditionally are investigated in law, history, linguistics and literature is integrated in Gender Studies research.

This study was designed to provide information on the reading instructional practices of 36 first grade teachers in nine schools that serve predominantly Spanish-speaking and ELL students in a southeastern U.S. school district. The purpose of this investigation was to describe teaching practices employed during English language arts instruction and to examine their use in relation to instructional grouping strategies, teacher language use, and student engagement. Participating classrooms were observed three times throughout the 2006-07 school year. Data were collected via the Timed Observations of Student Engagement/Language (TO/SEL) classroom observation instrument (Foorman & Schatchneider, 2003). Paired sample t-tests, multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA), and multiple regression analyses were employed to investigate the relationship among the following observed variables: allocation of reading instructional time, grouping strategies, teacher language use and student engagement. Several key findings emerged. Participating teachers spent a greater amount of time on meaning-focused reading instruction (i.e., writing, reading texts, reading comprehension) than on code-focused reading instruction (i.e., word work, spelling, reading fluency, phonemic awareness), both during all four observed grouping strategies and after controlling for individual student seat work. In addition, of five key collapsed instructional variables (word work/spelling, oral language, writing, reading texts, and reading comprehension), teachers spent most time on word work/spelling (19%) and writing (18%). Reading texts and reading comprehension instruction together comprised 26% of total instructional time. Whole class instruction was the grouping strategy of choice among teachers (65% of total observed time); in sharp contrast, teachers spent 11% of observed time engaged in small group instruction, despite research findings supporting the effectiveness of sound grouping instruction. In addition, as little as 1% of teachers' total instructional time was spent in oral language/discussion, and 6% of total instructional time was spent in vocabulary instruction. The results also demonstrated little variation in teacher language use. Thus, evidence of "codeswitching" was not significant. Student engagement was high- 91% of total time students were observed; and was highest during writing and word work/spelling instruction. More longitudinal research is warranted that further explores precisely documented teacher reading instructional practices in relation to student outcomes with culturally and linguistically diverse student populations. Implications for practice include teacher training and professional development on managing small group instruction, and incorporating additional oral language/discussion, vocabulary and meaningful tasks into daily classroom activities.

The main purpose of the dissertation is to understand meaning-making practices used by people suffering from acquired brain damage with severe physical and communicative disabilities, in order to create and sustain their identity and personhood in relation to other people. The study emanates from the idea that identity and personhood, also in relation to disability, are created/sustained in ongoing interaction between people in everyday situations, and that the ability to narrate is central to such a creation of identity. Therefore, it is of particular interest to try to understand what communicative and storytelling abilities/possibilities people with severe acquired brain damage have in presenting their identity. The study is ethnographic and based upon a year-long field study of participant observations at a day centre for people with acquired brain damage. Gathered data consist of written field notes, informal interviews conducted with both participants and personnel and approximately 70 hours of video data. The study shows how an identity as ‘severely disabled’ is created in the co-created storytelling between participants and personnel and that this identity seems to mean that one is dependent upon others to get along in everyday life at least if one listens only to spoken stories. Yet the study also shows that there exist different opinions about what this identity as ‘severely disabled’ could mean that there is a wish among the participants to be able to present a desirable identity as “normal”, and that such an identity comes to mean to be independent and self-determined. Normality, however, must be understood in relation to surrounding society (and the grand cultural narratives that surround us). Thus the study shows that normality in relation to severe disabilities is almost impossible to achieve because normality in relation to illness/disease/body contains the hope of a cure or an improvement. The participants in this study, however, have all been labelled as incurable – there is no hope of such a cure or improvement. That, on the other hand, does not mean that the participants do not try to tell such stories anyway in their quest to achieve this desirable identity. However, in order to hear this story we need to listen to stories that usually remain untold. A palpable hierarchy between different modes of language use was identified, where verbal/spoken language is supreme, resulting in the disabled participants not being perceived as competent interactors/communicators due to their difficulties in using verbal communication. Hence their ways of creating/telling stories, through embodiment and enactment, are not recognised as valid ways to create/tell stories; this is discussed in relation to both practical implications for health care settings as well as for further narrative research. / Avhandlingens huvudsyfte är att förstå meningsskapande praktiker som personer som drabbats av förvärvad hjärnskada med grava såväl fysiska som kommunikativa funktionshinder använder för att skapa och upprätthålla sin identitet och sitt personskap i relation till andra människor. Studien utgår ifrån att identitet och personskap, också i relation till funktionshinder, är något som skapas och upprätthålls i det pågående samspelet mellan människor i vardagliga situationer och att förmågan att berätta är central för detta identitetsskapande. Därför är det av särskilt intresse att försöka förstå vilka möjligheter personer med grava förvärvade hjärnskador har när det gäller att kommunicera och använda berättandet som ett sätt att presentera sin identitet. Studien är etnografisk och baseras på ett årslångt fältarbete bestående av deltagande observationer på ett dagcenter för människor med förvärvade hjärnskador. Insamlade data består av fältanteckningar, informella intervjuer med både deltagare och personal och ca 70 timmar videomaterial. Studien visar hur en identitet som ’gravt funktionshindrad’ skapas i det gemensamma berättandet mellan deltagare och personal och att denna identitet verkar innebära att man är beroende av andra för att klara sitt vardagliga liv, åtminstone om man enbart lyssnar till talade berättelser. Likväl visar studien även att det kan råda delade meningar om vad denna identitet som ’gravt funktionshindrad’ kan innebära och att det bland deltagarna finns en strävan att kunna presentera en önskvärd identitet som ”normal” och att en sådan identitet innebär att vara oberoende och självbestämmande. Normalitet måste dock förstås i relation till omgivande samhälle (och de stora, kulturella berättelser som omger oss) och studien visar att normalitet i samband med grava funktionshinder är i det närmaste omöjligt att uppnå då normalitet i relation till sjukdom/kropp innefattar ett hopp om att bli frisk, eller åtminstone bättre. Deltagarna i denna studie har emellertid diagnostiserats som obotliga – det finns inget hopp om förbättring. Detta innebär inte desto mindre att deltagarna ändå försöker berätta sådana berättelser i strävan efter att uppnå en önskvärd identitet. Dock; för att höra denna berättelse krävs ett lyssnande på berättelser som vanligtvis förblir oberättade. En tydlig hierarki mellan olika former av språkanvändning identifieras, där det talade ordet och den talade berättelsen ses som överlägsen. Detta får till konsekvens att de funktionshindrade inte ses som kompetenta aktörer/kommunikatörer pga. av sina svårigheter att kommunicera verbalt och att deras sätt att skapa berättelser, genom förkroppsligande framställningar, inte erkänns som legitima sätt att berätta. Detta diskuteras både i relation till olika praktiska implikationer för vårdinstitutioner och för vidare narrativ forskning.

The concept of "family" has undergone major changes over the past 50 years. This thesis examines changes in attitudes and values that can be detected in German and Swedish during this time. In order to investigate these changes in the concept of "family" I have analyzed how the German focus word Familie and the Swedish focus word familj are used in newspaper articles from the 1960s, 1980s and early 2000s. The empirical data consists of German and Swedish newspaper corpora from the three different periods. The theoretical point of departure is a social constructionist perspective, where family is considered to be something constructed and negotiated in language use. The method is corpus linguistic discourse analysis: compound words, collocations and multi-word patterns that include the focus words are analyzed using large text corpora. The study is both about changes in HOW the words familj and Familie are used and WHAT is said about the family in public language use. The thesis shows changes in both Swedish and German language use. I conclude that two different sub-concepts are being constructed and negotiated: the family as a GROUP OF PERSONS and family as a WAY OF LIVING TOGETHER. As regards the family as a group of persons this sub-concept has undergone major changes during the period studied. Differences in Swedish and German language use indicate more and sometimes earlier changes in the Swedish concept of family. The sub-concept of family as a way of living together is more constant. The observed changes can also be seen against a background of Swedish and German conceptual norms of family that do not change to the same extent. New family structures such as nätverksfamiljer (reconstituted families) and regnbågsfamiljer (rainbow families) are partly constructed as deviations from these conceptual norms. The thesis also shows that the sub-concept of family as a group of persons has become even more complex, especially in Swedish language use and particularly in so-called bio boxes, where pets are mentioned as family members and couples without children label themselves as familj. / Begreppet ”familj” har genomgått stora förändringar de senaste 50 åren. I den här avhandlingen studeras vilka förändringar i synsätt och värderingar som kan upptäckas i det tyska och det svenska språkbruket under denna tid. För att undersöka dessa förändringar i begreppet ”familj” analyseras hur det tyska fokusordet Familie och det svenska fokusordet familj används i tidningstext från 1960-talet, 1980-talet och början av 2000-talet. Det empiriska materialet består av tyska och svenska tidningskorpusar från de tre olika perioderna. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten är ett socialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv, där familj betraktas som någonting som konstrueras och förhandlas i språkanvändning. Metoden är korpuslingvistisk diskursanalys: med hjälp av stora textkorpusar analyseras sammansatta ord, kollokationer och flerordsmönster där fokusorden ingår. Det handlar här både om förändringar i HUR orden familj och Familie används och i VAD som sägs om familj i offentligt språkbruk. Avhandlingen visar på förändringar i både den svenska och den tyska språkanvändningen. Jag kommer fram till att två olika delbegrepp konstrueras och förhandlas: familj som PERSONGRUPP och familj som SAMLEVNADSFORM. När det gäller familj som persongrupp genomgår det delbegreppet stora förändringar under den studerade tidsperioden. Förändringarna visar sig vara större och ibland tidigare i det svenska materialet än i det tyska materialet. Delbegreppet familj som samlevnadsform är mer konstant. De förändringar som kan observeras sker också mot en bakgrund av svenska och tyska normbilder av familj, som inte förändras i samma grad. Nya familjebildningar som nätverksfamiljer och regnbågsfamiljer konstrueras delvis som avvikelser från dessa normbilder. Avhandlingen visar också att delbegreppet familj som persongrupp blir allt mer mångfacetterat, särskilt i svenskt språkbruk och i synnerhet i s.k. faktarutor, där även husdjur nämns som familjemedlemmar och par utan barn får etiketten familj.

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