This study analyzed how six Heritage language learners at the university level gained conscious awareness and control of the concept of modality as revealed in student verbalizations (Vygotsky, 1998) throughout five different written communicative events. This work took place in the only course designed for Heritage language learners at a large public suburban university in the Northeast part of the United States. Grammatical simplification in bilingual speakers is due to incomplete acquisition of Spanish, attrition or loss of an underused linguistic system (Lynch, 1999; Martínez Mira, 2009a, 2009b; Mikulski, 2010b; Montrul, 2007; Ocampo, 1990; Silva-Corvalán, 1990, 1994a, 1994b, 2003; Studerus, 1995). The result of the process of simplification is reduction or loss of forms and/or meanings. In this work, I investigated in which ways Gal’perin’s (1989) systemic-theoretical organized instruction promoted awareness, control and internalization of the concept of modality in three sets of data: definition, discourse and verbalization (Negueruela, 2003). In addition, I examined how the concept of modality emerged and proceeded. By focusing students’ attention in Negueruela’s (2003) Concept of Mood in Spanish orienting chart in a top down fashion, students were able to strengthen their theoretical understanding in practical activity while still accessing empirical knowledge, and eventually generalizing its use in new contexts across nominal, adjectival and adverbial clauses. At the definition level, Gal’perin’s Systemic-theoretical instruction promoted emergence and progress of their conceptual understanding from perceptual to semantic. At the discourse level, students’ theoretically based semantic understanding had a positive impact as revealed in student’s discourse progress throughout tasks. At the verbalization level, semantic, abstract and systematic verbalizations showed students’ emergence of awareness of the interrelated categories of modality. The conceptual category of anticipation was appropriately verbalized and contextualized 68% of the time. The absence of quality verbalizations referring to a specific conceptual category in some students lead me to conclude that students did not fully understand the meaning of some conceptual categories. On the contrary, their presence in any of the tasks showed emergence of conceptual meaning(s) in appropriate contexts, further appropriate recontextualization may provide full awareness and control.

During our studies to becom special teachers in mathematics development, we have developed an interest in students who show resistance to the subject of matehmatics or mathematics teaching. The purpose of the study is to investigate teaching that promotes learning for pupils in mathematics anxiety, to distinguish any challenges that the teachers might encounter in teaching and to make visible future collaboration between the teachers and the special education teachers to support learning for pupils with mathematics anxiety. This has been done through semi-structured interviews and observations of primary and middle school teachers. The method used was inspired by grounded theory. The results were analyzed using sociocultural theory. The entire study rests on a relational perspective, which sees the student in difficulties and not with difficulties. The conclusion drawn from the study was that the teachers agreed with research in the field about which teaching methods are beneficial for students in mathematics anxiety. They also agreed with the research about the challenges that can arise in working with these students. Several different examples of collaboration between the teachers and the special education teachers emerged during the interviews. However, several challenges were identified which prevent teachers from implementing these methods in everyday teaching. A challenge in this may, for example, be that the special teachers in mathematics development are few in the schools. Another challenge can be that the teachers request pedagogical guidance where didactic issues can be raised, but that forum is missing in many schools.

This degree project is a study investigating the views Swedish upper secondary English teachers have towards the use of video games as a medium through which to teach. The aim of the study was to gain insight into teachers’ views and what aspects they believed could encourage and/or inhibit the use of video games in the English foreign language (EFL) classroom. To achieve this aim, a sociocultural perspective was used along with a mixed method consisting of a survey study and semi-structured interviews. The survey was used to gain an idea of how teachers who have used video games in their classroom view the medium and the interviews were used to further analyse these views. The results show that in general teachers have a positive attitude towards the use of video games in the EFL classroom. The aspects of motivation and engagement were found to be important factors for successful learning with video games and the participating teachers generally agreed that video games can help students reach the overarching aims of the English subject. One of the greatest inhibitors found among the teachers was the logistical aspect. This included costs, time, and technological difficulties, and was something the teachers found both made the use of video games in the classroom difficult and which at times could make it ineffective. The aspect of assessment was also investigated, where it was found that most teachers did not believe video games could constitute a valid form of assessment in and of itself, but rather as an aid towards other forms of assessment.

Denna studie strävar efter en djupare förståelse av förskollärares syn på kemi i förskolans vardag. Genom att tillämpa sociokulturella teorin som en teoretisk ram och genomföra kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer med verksamma förskollärare, belyser resultatanalysen deras syn på att förhålla sig till naturvetenskapens alla delar, inklusive kemi.Studien bidrar med insikter i hur kemi uppfattas av förskollärare, och en ökad förståelse för de praktiska och pedagogiska strategier som används för att förhålla sig till naturvetenskapens olika aspekter, särskilt kemi. Utmaningarna som framkommer utgörs av hinder som påverkar integrationen av kemi i förskolan och betonar vikten av förskollärarkompetens i en dynamisk pedagogisk kontext. Vid diskussionen om långsiktiga fördelar och nackdelar betonar förskollärarna kemiintegrationens potential att främja barnens problemlösningsförmågor, nyfikenhet och kreativitet. Samtidigt erkänns utmaningar såsom tidsbegränsningar och förväntningar från olika håll. Dessa insikter pekar på förskollärarnas medvetenhet kring läroplanen, men faktorer som påverkar deras praktiska integrering av kemi i förskolan är begränsad kompetens. I sin helhet ger studien en bild av förskollärares syn och arbete med kemi i förskolan. Den lyfter fram insikter kring utmaningar och möjligheter som påverkar kemiintegrationen, och understryker behovet av stödstrukturer och kompetensutveckling för förskollärare i deras strävan efter att skapa en gynnsam lärandemiljö för barnen. / This study aims to achieve a deeper understanding of preschool teachers' views on chemistry in the daily life of preschool. By applying sociocultural theory as a theoretical framework and conducting qualitative semi-structured interviews with active preschool teachers, the results analysis illuminates their views in engaging with all aspects of natural sciences, including chemistry. The study contributes insights into how chemistry is perceived by preschool teachers and enhances understanding of the practical and pedagogical strategies used to address various aspects of natural sciences, particularly chemistry. The challenges that emerge consist of barriers affecting the integration of chemistry in preschool, emphasizing the importance of preschool teacher competence in a dynamic educational context. In discussing long-term benefits and drawbacks, preschool teachers highlight the potential of integrating chemistry to enhance children's problem-solving abilities, curiosity, and creativity. Simultaneously, challenges such as time constraints and expectations from various sources are acknowledged. These insights indicate preschool teachers' awareness of the curriculum, but factors influencing their practical integration of chemistry in preschool include limited competence. In its entirety, the study paints a picture of preschool teachers' views and work with chemistry in preschool. It brings forth insights into challenges and opportunities influencing the integration of chemistry and underscores the need for support structures and professional development for preschool teachers in their efforts to create a conducive learning environment for children.

This thesis describes three (3) action research (AR) cycles I conducted in collaboration with my co-participants in Ghana's colleges of education. The focus of our collaboration was to nurture creative and innovative teaching strategies for education on HIV/AIDS and other emerging health issues. It has become necessary to engineer this bottom-up approach to learning and research because we see the current way of teaching and learning in Ghanaian schools as mere regurgitating of information and reproducing same in examination without meaningful change in behavior. This assertion was reiterated by Ghana's minister of education, Dr. Yao Osei Adutwum when he addressed delegates at the just ended United Nations General Assembly on September 26, 2022. He says, "[y]ou can't memorize your way out of poverty but you can critically think and innovate out of poverty." My co-participants and I are of the view that many people will continue to die from HIV/AIDS if teachers continue to teach by encouraging students to memorize factsheets to reproduce in examinations. The action research described in this thesis seeks to empower teacher-educators in Ghanaian colleges of education with useful pedagogical and research tools. The long-term goal - beyond the timeframe of this thesis - is for them to train new teachers to be confident, bold and assertive to push cultural and systemic boundaries, to nurture equally assertive students to deal with health challenges (pandemics) which they may be confronted with. Methods used to gather data included focus group interviews, observations of lesson presentations and reflective notes (journals). The design of this research was, partially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings, however, still proved to be interesting. Among those findings were strong teacher educator participation and a significant improvement in teacher educators' understanding and employment of SCT teaching strategies suited to their HIV/AIDS and Other Tropical Diseases in Africa classes.

Sociocultural identity is defined for this study as the element of identity affixed to a social or cultural group. Previous research on sociocultural identity has recognized the need for further study of its effect on second language performance, particularly pronunciation. Previous studies have found contradictory results when studying the relationships between sociocultural identity and various measures of second language pronunciation. This thesis takes a quantitative correlational approach to the study of sociocultural identification with the United States and English pronunciation comprehensibility and accent in a group of 68 international students learning English in the United States. Participants completed a survey indicating the strength of their identification with the United States, after which a group of three native speaking raters rated speech samples from the participants for both comprehensibility and accent. Scores from the identity survey were compared with those on the comprehensibility and accent ratings through a FACET analysis. Results showed no correlation between sociocultural identification with the United States and ESL pronunciation in either comprehensibility or accent. These results add further complexity to existent scholarship on identity and pronunciation and lead to a discussion of implications for future study.

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