Dual tracks - for Foreign (FL) and Heritage languages (HL) - in Spanish language programs are becoming increasingly common in U.S. higher education institutions, although most only offer HL courses for intermediate and/or advanced learners. Few universities have incorporated specialized courses for receptive bilinguals into their programs. Contradictory arguments can be found in the HL education literature regarding the type of curriculum (FL or HL) that would best serve the pedagogical needs of these students (Carreira, 2004; Lipski, 1996; Potowski, 2005).This study attempts to offer insights into this discussion by examining the effects of these two types of curricula on the written and oral language development of three groups of learners: two groups of HL learners enrolled in HL and FL courses, and a group of FL learners taking the same FL courses. The purpose of this study is four-fold: 1) delineate a profile of receptive bilinguals; 2) measure changes in oral and written production and other language-related variables after one semester of instruction; 3) examine the students' level of satisfaction with the language curriculum; and 4) uncover linguistic differences between FL and HL learners. The data collection consisted of series of written and oral-elicitation tasks and online questionnaires at the beginning and end of the semester.The results showed that all groups made significant gains in writing fluency and complexity but only the HL group in the HL course significantly improved their writing accuracy. Both HL groups made greater gains in oral fluency and complexity than the FL group but the HL group in the HL course outperformed both groups in syntactic complexity gains. The HL group in the HL course showed the highest level of satisfaction and the greatest improvement in self-confidence and language attitudes but no differences in language use outside the classroom and self-evaluation of language abilities. The results offer implications for the inclusion of receptive bilinguals in HL programs, their language placement, and pedagogical and curricular practices most suitable for these students in the HL classroom.

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According to the Swedish preschool policy documents all children should have the same opportunities to develop their early language skills regardless of their social background. The purpose of this study is to investigate how preschool teachers work with children's early literacy and language development with focus on reading aloud. The reason is to investigate how the preschool teachers work to create an environment that stimulates children's literacy and language development. Another intention is to study how often reading aloud occurs in the children's home environment and what the preschool teachers thoughts are about that. The study is based on interviews with four preschool teachers and surveys that were answered by parents. This study's theoretical perspective is based on development and learning occuring through social contexts.The conclusions of the study is that the preschool teachers find it very important for the children to get their early literacy and language development stimulated and that they work to create an environment that fulfills this. The preschool teachers were not sure about if reading aloud in the children's home environment occurred. Whether or not, if reading aloud occurs at home the teachers believe that children will get their early language development and literacy at the preschool anyway. The surveys showed that all the parents read to their children at least once a week and it seemed that they thought it was meaningful. Key words: Social background, early language development, literacy, reading aloud, home environment. Nyckelord: Social bakgrund, tidig språkutveckling, litteracitet, högläsning, hemmiljö

Dialektal medvetenhet är en förmåga som grundas i en metaspråklig förmåga, det vill säga att kunna resonera kring språk och hantera språkliga enheter. Exempel på detta är att med hjälp av prosodi kunna utläsa information i tal såsom känslor och dialekter. Det finns relativt lite forskning angående barns dialektala medvetenhet. Däremot finns mer forskning inom metaspråklig utveckling. En god metaspråklig förmåga hör samman med god generell språkutveckling och en metaspråklig kompetens innebär ett senare stadium av språkutveckling. Resultat från tidigare studier har visat att metaspråklig förmåga börjar utvecklas vid en ålder av cirka fem år vad gäller bland annat intonation och dialektrelaterat tal. I föreliggande studie konstruerades ett testbatteri för att kartlägga dialektal medvetenhet i åldrarna fem till tolv år. I studien deltog tre åldersgrupper, 5-, 8- och 11-åringar, med tio barn i respektive åldersgrupp. Testet är uppbyggt i tre delar som undersöker olika aspekter av dialektal medvetenhet. Studien är genomförd i Östergötland med barn som förväntas identifiera sig med östgötsk dialekt. Resultatet i föreliggande studie bekräftar att viss metaspråklig kunskap finns etablerad hos de femåriga barnen och att det sker en gradvis ökning i utvecklingen mellan åldrarna vad gäller att kunna avgöra om två personer låter som att de kommer från samma region. En liknande ökning av metaspråklig utveckling finns mellan respektive åldersgrupp och visas i barnens sätt att resonera kring olika sätt att tala. Föreliggande studies resultat visar även att barnen vid åtta år uppnått en god förmåga att urskilja sitt eget sätt att tala bland andra regionsdialekter, dock påvisas ingen ytterligare ökning av denna förmåga vid elva års ålder. / Awareness of accents is an ability derived from metalinguistic skills, which includes being able to reason about language and being able to handle small language units. An example of this may be to be able to use prosodic features in order to understand expressions of feelings and regional accents. There is not much research regarding regional accent awareness in Swedish children. There is, on the other hand, more research available about metalinguistic ability in children. Metalinguistic ability is associated with a more advanced language development in general, which means that metalinguistic capacity belongs to a latter phase of language development. Results from recent research have shown that metalinguistic ability starts to develop by the age of five regarding intonation and regional accents. The present study has produced a test battery to survey accent awareness in the ages five to twelve years. In the study participated three age groups of 5, 8 and 11 years with ten children from each age group. The test comprises three parts that investigate different aspects of awareness of Swedish regional accents. The study is carried out in Östergötland in Sweden, with children expected to identify themself with the Swedish regional accent Östgötska. The results of the present study confirm that certain metalinguistic knowledge is established by the age of five and that there is a gradual development between the age groups regarding the ability to decide if two persons sound like they are coming from the same region.  A similar gradual development of metalinguistic awareness in respective ages is shown in the children’s way to reason about different ways to talk. The results of the present study also indicate that children by an age of eight have achieved the ability to distinguish their own way of talking among other regional accents. No further development of this ability by the age of eleven is demonstrated.

Språksvårigheter kan leda till sociala problem eller vara en indikation på neuropsykologiska problem. MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB-CDI) och Children´s Communication Checklist (CCC) är instrument som används för att uppmärksamma eventuella brister i kommunikations- och språkutveckling. Swedish Early Communactive Development Inventories (SECDI) är svenska motsvarigheten till MB-CDI. Föreliggande studies syfte var att validera den nya svenska versionen av SECDI för barn 3-5 år gamla (SECDI-III) mot de tio skalorna i CCC-2. 36 föräldrar deltog i studien. Resultatet visade att ordförråd från SECDI-III var måttligt korrelerat till de första fyra skalorna i CCC-2, vilket i det stora hela ger stöd för validiteten hos SECDI-III. / Language difficulties can lead to social problems or be an indication of neuropsychological problems. MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (MB-CDI) and the Children's Communication Checklist (CCC) are instruments used to highlight any shortcomings of communication and language development in children. Swedish Early Communicative Development Inventories (SECDI) is the Swedish equivalent of the MB-CDI. The present study's purpose was to validate the new Swedish version of SECDI for children 3-5 years old (SECDI-III) to the ten scales of the CCC-2. 36 parents participated in the study. The results showed that vocabulary from SECDI-III was moderately correlated to the first four scales of the CCC-2, which on the whole support for the validity of SECDI-III.

The aim of this study is to analyse the factors underlying successful reading and writing education and the educational conditions promoting reflective didactic skills, focusing on the students’ develop­ment of reading and writing abilities. Large international surveys indicate that the consensus concerning read­ing and writing education achieved by science during the past decade has had limit­ed impact on class­room activities. Thus, an underlying question is how research results can be implement­ed in every­day schoolwork. This study uses a praxis-oriented approach by working with classroom observations and reflective communication with teachers about learning processes and pedagogical methodology. The importance of the teachers having a solid theoretical background is underlined since it enables them to identify the students’ developmental stage, to adapt the instruction accordingly and to instant­ly grasp pedagogical opportunities to interpret and utilize the diagnostic signals. Another conclusion is that successful reading and writing education must be viewed in a context of language develop­ment as a whole, involving both its oral and its written aspects. This study also demonstrates that re­search results are perceived by teachers to be more accessible and relevant when the focus is on applied peda­gogics, allowing theory and practical applications to interact. The teachers’ professional development is shown to be an on-going, interactive, social process in which organisation, time and communicative meetings play an important part. Abduction proves to be an effective learn­ing strategy in the development of professional competence whereby academic know­ledge and on-the-spot know-how are allowed to coalesce in practically useful know­ledge. The study’s praxis-oriented approach has made it possible to define the teachers’ experience-based know­ledge at the same time as the theoretical knowledge in the field has developed. This opens up possibilities for scientific theories to establish themselves in practical school work. / <p>En bearbetad version av Catharina Tjernbergs avhandling, med titeln "Framgångsrik läs- och skrivundervisning: en bro mellan teori och praktik", ISBN 9789127137387, finns utgiven på förlaget Natur och kultur 2013.</p>

The general aim of this descriptive study is to investigate how children from 3 to 9 plus 13- year-olds and adults use temporal elements to organize the macro temporal structure of narratives. In order to achieve this general aim, it specifically delineates how the emergence of story units differ relative to age / how the emergence of temporal elements differ relative to age and story units / and how the function of each temporal element differs relative to age and story unit in the narratives elicited from children from 3 to 9 plus 13-year-olds and adults, using Mercer Mayer&amp / #146 / s (1966) wordless, picture-book Frog, where are you? as stimulus. Participants are 98 children from 3 to 9-yearolds, as 14 informants in each age group / fourteen 13-year-olds and 14 adults. The orally collected data were transcribed and episode boundaries were coded according to Labov&amp / #146 / s (1972) story grammar. The occurrence of each temporal element within the coded episodes was counted. Frequency of each temporal element relative to age and story unit was identified. Functions of each temporal element relative to age and story units were analyzed. A great majority of the 3- and 4-year-olds produce narratives that do not count a story. 5- year-olds produce narratives that can be considered a story, however they fail to produce internal components of episodes. 7-year-olds are observed to produce episodes that contain necessary internal components. The emergence and function of temporal elements show differences relative to age and story unit.

Språkutvecklingen hos barn har fångat en nyfikenhet hos mig under min studietid och hur det vardagliga arbetet kan utveckla barnens språkutveckling. Ett intresse för olika pedagogiska inriktningar har vuxit fram och vilka strategier som används inom dessa för att stimuleras den verbala språkutvecklingen. Syftet med studien är därför att jämföra två pedagogiska arbetssätt, ett grundat i Montessoripedagogik systemet och ett grundat i Waldorfpedagogik systemet. Studiens frågeställning är vilka strategier som förskollärarna använder sig av och vilka likheter och skillnader som finns inbördes och mellan de två olika pedagogiska inriktningarna. Genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra olika förskollärare, två inom respektive pedagogisk inriktning, där deltagarna svarar på frågor om vilka arbetssätt som respektive förskola använder sig av för att stimulera språkutvecklingen hos barn. Detta medför att resultatet nödvändigtvis inte behöver bero på respektive pedagogisk ideologi. Utan det kan även förekomma strategier utan specifik pedagogisk inriktning. Studien visar att barnens första språkutveckling är något som är en del av den vardagliga verksamheten på förskolan. Strategierna som används skiljer sig däremot emellan de pedagogiska inriktningarna. I Montessoriförskolan nyttjas pedagogiskt material för att lära barnen de mer specifika delarna av språkutvecklingen. Inom Waldorfförskolan nyttjas den fria leken och ett mer generellt lärande, där lärandet anpassas efter barnets egna förmågor. / <p><strong>Fastställt via akademichefsbeslut HIG-STYR 2019/7 den 2019-01-07</strong></p><p><strong> </strong>Daniel Petterson, fil dr, univ. lekt Pedagogik och Erika Björklund, fil dr, univ. lekt Pedagogik går in som examinatorer på PEG700 under veckorna 1 till och med 3, 2019 då Peter Gill, prof. Pedagogik, gått i pension från och med 2019-01-01.</p>

The purpose of this study is to contribute with knowledge about how preschool teachers act as well as express themselves to children during mealtime, in order to promote language development. In addition, the purpose is to discover how preschool teachers view the mealtime situation from a linguistic perspective. The research methods used in this study are observation and interviews. These serve as a complement to one another, in order to demonstrate how preschool teachers act and express themselves during mealtimes and additionally, what kind of attitude these preschool teachers have towards the meal situation as a language development opportunity. The result shows that preschool teachers act and promote language expression in several different ways during mealtimes, by taking advantage of the children's interest in conversation as well as through confirmation and repetition. Furthermore, a language development activity is used to encourage language development. Findings also show that preschool teachers view language development as a broad area and one that occurs constantly throughout all situations. The meal situation is seen as an important opportunity, in which preschool teachers have the advantage of being able to converse with the children. / Denna studie har som syfte att bidra med kunskap om hur förskollärare agerar och uttrycker sig till barnen i måltidssituationen för att främja språkutvecklingen. Syftet är också att synliggöra hur förskollärarna ser på måltidssituationen ur ett språkligt perspektiv. Metoderna som används i studien är observation och intervju. Dessa fungerar som ett komplement till varandra och synliggör hur förskollärarna agerar och uttrycker sig i måltidssituationen samt vilken inställning förskollärarna har till måltidssituationen som ett språkutvecklande tillfälle. Resultatet visar att förskollärarna agerar och uttrycker sig språkfrämjande inom flera aspekter under måltidssituationen genom att ta tillvara på barnens intresse i samtal samt genom att bekräfta och upprepa det barnen säger. En språkutvecklande aktivitet används också för att främja språkutvecklingen. Resultatet visar också att förskollärarna ser på språkutveckling som ett brett område. Språkutveckling sker hela tiden, i alla situationer. Måltidssituationen ses som ett viktigt tillfälle som förskollärarna tar tillvara på för att samtala med barnen.

xiv, 149 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Three types of literate words, including abstract nouns (freedom, challenge), mental state verbs (assume, explain), and derivatives (relationship, respectful), were examined in narrative and expository writing in typically developing children and adolescents. It was predicted that older students would use literate words more frequently than younger students, and that literate words would occur more frequently in expository writing than in narrative writing. One hundred and twenty typically developing children and adolescents including forty 5th graders, forty 8th graders, and forty 11th graders wrote one narrative and one expository essay at school. The results showed that genre had a substantial impact on the use of literate words in the writing of school-age children and adolescents. except metalinguistic verbs. Moreover, literate words were used significantly more often in expository than in narrative text, except derived adjectives. Additionally, metalinguistic verbs occurred more often in narrative writing than expository writing; however, the difference was not statistically significant. Age-related increases occurred in the use of abstract nouns, derived nominals, early/late developing metacognitive verbs and late developing metalinguistic verbs in narrative writing. Age-related increases also occurred in the use of derived adjectives, and late developing metacognitive and metalinguistic verbs in expository writing. The present study adds to the knowledge base concerning the development of literate word use in narrative and expository writing in typically developing children and adolescents. / Adviser: Marilyn Nippold