Det är vanligt att elever befinner sig på olika kunskapsnivåer i en undervisningsgrupp och för att ta reda på vilka nivåer de befinner sig på går det att tillämpa Processbarhetsteorin. Det är en teori utformad av Manfred Pienemann för att studera hur inlärare processar grammatiska strukturer. Uppsatsen är främst byggd på en kvalitativ ansats på grund av de kvalitativa analyserna men även på en kvantitativ ansats då elevernas texter som är analyserade har räknats i procent och presenterats i fördelningar med hjälp av tabeller. Den deltagande gruppen bestod av 15 elever i en förberedelseklass med blandade åldrar från årskurs 7-9. Analyserna baserades på Processbarhetsteorin enligt Flyman Mattssons och Håkanssons analysmodell (2010, s. 66-75). Resultaten visade att eleverna i undervisningsgruppen, vars texter analyserades, befann sig på olika PT-nivåer och det förekom även olika typer av grammatiska strukturer bland eleverna. Majoriteten av eleverna processade grammatiska strukturer för PT-nivå 2 och/eller PT-nivå 3 i uppgift 1 och/eller uppgift 2. De olika resultaten kan bero på faktorer såsom startålder för språkinlärning då alla elever kom till den svenska skolan vid olika tillfällen men den främsta slutsatsen kan vara att de flesta elever i skolan är på olika kunskapsnivåer eftersom det visade sig genom de olika resultaten hos eleverna.

The aim of this study was to investigate longitudinally how a child learner acquired verbal morpho-syntax in Japanese in a naturalistic second language (L2) context. Specifically the points of emergence for three verbal morpho-syntactic structures, namely verbal inflection, the V-te V structure and the passive/causative structure, were investigated within a framework of Processability Theory (PT) (Pienemann, 1998b). The subsequent development of these structures was also examined. Unlike earlier research about morpheme orders and developmental sequences in language acquisition which was criticised because of its apparent lack of theoretical underpinnings, Pienemann's Processability Theory (PT)(1998b) connects the processability of morpho-syntactic structure to linguistic theories. Pienemann also claims that this theory can be used to explain the acquisition of a wide range of morpho-syntactic structures and that it is typologically plausible and applicable to any language. In recent times PT has been extensively tested in a range of languages acquired as an L2, including German, English and Swedish (Pienemann, 1998b; Pienemann & Hakansson, 1999) and Italian and Japanese (Di Biase & Kawaguchi, 2002). The findings from these studies support this theory.

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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.

This study investigated the difficulty order of 38 grammar structures obtained from an analysis of multiple-choice items using a Rasch analysis. The order was compared with the order predicted by processability theory and the order in which the structures appear in junior and senior high school textbooks in Japan. Because processability theory is based on natural speech data, a sentence repetition test was also conducted in order to compare the result with the order obtained from the multiple-choice tests and the order predicted by processability theory. The participants were 872 Japanese university students, whose TOEIC scores ranged from 200 to 875. The difficulty order of the 38 structures was displayed according to their Rasch difficulty estimates: The most difficult structure was subjunctive and the easiest one was present perfect with since in the sentence. The order was not in accord with the order predicted by processability theory, and the difficulty order derived from the sentence repetition test was not accounted for by processability theory either. In other words, the results suggest that processability theory only accounts for natural speech data, and not elicited data. Although the order derived from the repetition test differed from the order derived from the written tests, they correlated strongly when the repetition test used ungrammatical sentences. This study tentatively concluded that the students could have used their implicit knowledge when answering the written tests, but it is also possible that students used their explicit knowledge when correcting ungrammatical sentences in the repetition test. The difficulty order of grammatical structures derived from this study was not in accord with the order in which the structures appear in junior and senior high school textbooks in Japan. Their correlation was extremely low, which suggests that there is no empirical basis for textbook makers'/writers' policy regarding the ordering of grammar items. This study also demonstrated the difficulty of writing items testing the knowledge of the same grammar point that show similar Rasch difficulty estimates. Even though the vocabulary and the sentence positions were carefully controlled and the two items looked parallel to teachers, they often displayed very different difficulty estimates. A questionnaire was administered concerning such items, and the students' responses suggested that they seemed to look at the items differently than teachers and what they notice and how they interpret what they notice strongly influences item difficulty. Teachers or test-writers should be aware that it is difficult to write items that produce similar difficulty estimates and their own intuition or experience might not be the best guide for writing effective grammar test items. It is recommended to pilot test items to get statistical information about item functioning and qualitative data from students using a think-aloud protocol, interviews, or a questionnaire. / CITE/Language Arts

Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka hur olika ordföljdsprinciper i ett förstaspråk påverkar inlärningen av ordföljden i andraspråket svenska. Två grupper jämfördes där den ena hade ett förstaspråk med en bunden ordföljd baserad på den grammatiska principen och den andra ett förstaspråk med en fri ordföljd baserad på tema-rema-principen. Respondenterna bestod av elever inom den kommunala vuxenutbildningen i en västsvensk kommun som gick och läste på Sfi och SAS Grund. Varje respondent fick i uppgift att fritt skriva en kort uppsats. Texterna analyserades därefter ingående för att kunna identifiera vilka sats- och textgrammatiska ordföljdsfel som hade gjorts. Resultatet visade att de båda grupperna gjorde ungefär samma typ av satsgrammatiska fel men att gruppen med ett förstaspråk med fri ordföljd gjorde något fler textgrammatiska fel. Medan flera andra studier lyfter fram övergeneralisering av tema-rema-principen som det största problemet ur textgrammatisk synvinkel för denna senare grupp, fann jag att det snarare var underanvändning av tema-rema-principen som var problematiskt. / The purpose of this study was to examine how different word order principles in a first language influence the learning of word order in Swedish as second language. Two groups were compared in which one had a first language with a bound word order based on the grammatical principle and the other a first language with a free word order based on the topic-comment-principle. Respondents consisted of students in municipal adult education in a western Swedish municipality who studied at SFI and SAS Basic. Each respondent were asked to freely write a short essay. The texts were then analyzed in detail to identify which batch- and text grammatical word order inaccuracy that had been made. The results showed that both groups did about the same type of grammatical errors, but that the group with a first language with free word order did some more text grammatical errors. While several other studies highlight the generalization of the topic-comment-principle as the biggest problem for this latter group, I found that it was rather the lack of use of the topic-comment-principle that was problematic.

The aim of this study was to investigate the morphosyntactic development of Grundvux learners (adult learners who study school subjects at elementary school levels in Sweden) of English with the aid of Processability theory, or PT, and to investigate the potential influence of exposure to English outside school and the participants' highest completed formal education on the participants' morphosyntactic levels. The participants of this study were Grundvux learners who studied English either on National Course 2, 3, or 4. This study also investigated how similar or different Course 2, 3 and 4 participants were when it comes to their highest attained PT-levels. The participants described a picture series and answered questions about their highest completed education from their home countries and how much they tend to be exposed to English on a weekly basis outside school. The results show that Course 2, 3 and 4 participants have both similarities and differences regarding their highest attained PT-levels. The results also show that there could be a possible connection between educational background and morphosyntactic development, i.e. that educational background can have a solid influence on morphosyntactic development. Furthermore, this study shows that a connection between exposure to English outisde school and morphosyntactic development is not likely. Yet, more research with more participants and tasks with different instructions are needed to draw definitie conclusions about the effects of exposure to English outside school and highest completed education on learners' morphosyntactic development. Lastly, this study provides some information to in-service teachers about what morphosyntactic structures to teach and when based on the learners' highest attained PT-levels.

Denna studie bygger på andraspråksinlärares skriftliga kompetens kopplad till syntaktiska och kommunikativa nivåer. I synnerhet är syftet att studera språkliga syntaktiska nivåer i texter skrivna av andraspråksinlärare som har behörighet att studera vid universitet. Ytterligare ett syfte är att studera om innehållet i texter kan förmedlas på ett kommunikativt och idiomatisk sätt. Den teoretiska ramen för att mäta syntaktiska nivåer som informanter i denna studie har uppnått bygger på processbarhetsteorin (Pienneman, 1998/ Pienneman & Håkansson, 1999). Studien visar att godkända texter i Svenska som andraspråk B och Tisustest uppnår nivå 4 och 5 på syntaktisk nivå.   Studien visar också på variation av kommunikativ kompetens utifrån förmågan att förmedla ett central innehåll. Informanterna uppnår delvis målspråksnormen och delvis avviker från målspråksnormen i varierad grad vilket påverkar den kommunikativa kompetensen. Det mesta av resultatet pekar på individuella skillnader. Vad som kan förklara skillnader mellan informanterna kan delvis kopplas till varierad kognitiv svårighetsgrad i texterna. Studien visar att processbarhetsteorin kan vara ett fördelaktigt verktyg för att mäta syntaktiska nivåer i texter. Dock pekar studien på att det är av vikt att också genomföra en mer omfattande bedömning av kommunikativa språkkunskaper för att kunna göra en helhetsbedömning av skriftlig språkkompetens av andraspråksinlärare. / The present study concerns second language learners' syntactic and communicative competence in writing. The aim is to study syntactic performances in texts written by learners of Swedish as a second language permitted to study at university. Another aim is to discuss the communicative and idiomatic performances of the informants.   The theoretical framework used for assessment of achieved syntactic levels is the Processability Theory (Pienneman, 1998/Pienneman & Håkansson, 1999). The results reveal that the students who´s texts in Svenska som andraspråk B[1]and the Tisustest[2]have passed the exam have achieved either syntactic level 4 or 5 according to Processability Theory.    The study also reveals the variety of communicative and idiomatic competence based on the ability to convey a core content. The informants partly achieve and partly do not achieve the Swedish language norms, in various degrees, which effects the level of communicative competence which they are able to express. The results point to more or less individual differences. There are small differences between the group of informants in Svenska som andraspråk B and in the Tisustest. Possible causes for these differences may partly be connected to the varying degree of cognitive difficulty in producing the different texts.   The study shows that the use of Processability Theory may be a beneficial tool to measure levels of syntactic proficiency levels in second language learner texts. However, it appears that it also is important to establish a comprehensive assessment of communicative language skills in order to make an overall assessment of written language skills of second language learners. [1]Swedish as a second language, level B [2]Tisus - Test in Swedish for university studies.

This dissertation concerns oral language tests from a grammatical perspective. Tests today are usually assessed based on a communicative approach to language, so it is interesting to see how great a significance the level of grammatical development of test takers has for their communicative competence in general. The data in the investigation consist of recorded test conversations from a Swedish national language proficiency test, Tisus (test in Swedish for university and university college studies). The general aim of the study is to investigate whether there is a difference between the test takers who passed and those who failed in terms of their level of grammatical development. This is investigated in one main study and two smaller follow-up studies. The theoretical basis for this work is comprised of theories on second language learning and theories on language testing. For the grammatical analysis, Pienemann’s processability theory (PT) is applied. This theory posits that learners acquire certain morpho-syntactic structures in a particular order, something that produces a hierarchy consisting of five levels. In the main study, a quantitative analysis is made of the test takers’ level of grammatical development relative to their TISUS results. The results show a clear correlation between grammatical level and test results. There also seems to be a kind of watershed at level 4, given that most of the test takers who passed have command of this level in the PT hierarchy, whereas those who failed, as a rule, only make it to level 3. The first follow-up study is more qualitative in nature and is focused on the test takers who deviate from the general pattern of results in the main study: those who failed despite their high grammatical level and those who passed despite their low grammatical level. One result of this follow-up study is that, in these cases, it appears communicative competence was critical. Being able to orient oneself to the special conversational situation represented by the test conversation is considered to be particularly important. In a second follow-up study, the problems of applying PT to morphology and syntax are examined. The results of the dissertation suggest that there is a correlation between grammatical competence and communicative competence in general. This means that the grammatical levels in the PT hierarchy may constitute a useful basis of analysis in oral assessments, as a complement to other assessment tools.

An ongoing debate within the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) discusses the possibility of universal developmental stages in the interlanguage of second language learners. Processability Theory (PT) is one of the theories that enhances this way of thinking about second language acquisition. The belief is that learners go through the same stages of development when learning a new language. An ongoing process in PT is the construction of these developmental stages for individual languages, but today there is still much work needed in this area. The purpose of this thesis is to construct the developmental stages for Dutch, based on an error analysis of second language learners’ interlanguage. The data was collected from Swedish students learning Dutch on a university level. The students were interviewed once per month, and three times in total, so that no developments in their interlanguage could be missed. The data is processed according to the emergence criterion, resulting in developmental tables of the learners’ progress. The result of these interviews provides for the outline on how one acquires Dutch, and together with a grammatical analysis of Dutch word order procedures and morphology, a developmental hierarchy for the acquisition of Dutch according to PT is constructed. / I den här studien undersökas den nederländska språkinlärningsprocessen inom ramen av Processbarhetsteorin (PT). PT antar att inlärningsprocessen sker genom universella stadier. Dessa har skapats och forskats för flera olika sprak, men inte för nederländska. I den här uppsatsen kommer den nederländska morfologin och ordföljden att analyseras enligt PT’s stadier, och skapas en hierarki för nederländska. Samtidigt blir hierarkin testad genom en longitudenell studie av inlärningsprocessen av svenska studenter som lär sig nederländska. Dessutom diskuteras frågan om möjlig transfer från både det första och andra språket. Sen debatteras frågan om emergence criterion och procentsatser, och därmed skillnaden mellan språkinlärning och språkbehärskning. Resultatet är en granskning av den egna skapade hierarkin, och möjliga förklarningar för deras inlärningsprocess.