This dissertation aims to investigate when and why code-switching occurs and the attitudes towards code-switching among teachers and students in four EFL classrooms in two mediumsized secondary schools. To be able to reach the goals set forth for this study we used classroom observations, student questionnaires and teacher interviews. We managed to get thecooperation of four teachers and four classes of students, two classes of eight graders and two classes of ninth graders.The previous research on the subject of code-switching has shown both positive and negative sides of its use and existence. Although extensive research has been done on the subject it is far from complete and there are still many interesting aspects left to investigate. The resultspresented in this study and the opinions raised by the participating teachers and students are in line with the already given results. Our conclusions are that the use of code-switching can be both beneficial and negative in learning/teaching situations.

From a general point of view, the aim of this thesis is to study the appearance and the translation of the metaphor in a context that involves specialized texts. Our purpose is also to examine the historical expression of metaphor within aspects connected to its importance for creation of scientific terms. More precisely, the main object is to explore how metaphors have been used in the field of medical terminology and by which methods they have been translated across the languages. Our approach is based on the definition of conceptual metaphor conceived by Lakoff & Johnson as a product of projections made by the thought (mapping). According to that idea, the metaphor constitutes a universal and essential element of human language and, therefore, also a keystone of the human communication reproduced at every level of social activity. From the cognitive point of view, our approach is also based on the theory of blending proposed by Fauconnier & Turner. It is diachronic and multidisciplinary as well, which means that a particular focus has been placed on the etymology of medical terms, which we have explored in the scientific context where those terms have been created and used. The database in this study is composed of medical terms emerging from scientific texts that we have translated from French to Swedish.  During our analysis, we have explored the occurrence of conceptual metaphor across the source language and the target language (the last one is in fact represented in this thesis by four languages: French, Swedish, English and Polish). The translation methods have been analyzed according to the model of Vinay & Darbelnet.   Our result indicates that conceptual metaphor plays a crucial role in the creation of medical terminology. It indicates also that the conceptualization of a medical phenomenon (expressed by mapping and blending) is almost always preserved in its original form in the target language. This observation implies that cognitive factors are activated during the process of translation. Our conclusion is made within the historical and scientific context, in other words regarding the context where the metaphorical terms have been created and afterwards transferred to other languages.   Key words: conceptual metaphor, metaphorical term, cognitive, etymology, medicine, scientific language, mapping, blending, conceptual shift, linguistic shift, translation, source language, target language.

In this empirical study, the aim is to investigate how and why teachers in five elementary classes in Sweden use the target language and first language respectively in the EFL classroom. In addition to investigating the teacher perspective, pupils are also asked how they perceive their English teacher’s choice of spoken language in the EFL classroom. The study has a theoretical base in Krashen’s (1982) Second Language Acquisition Theory, as well as previous research on teachers’ language use in the EFL classroom. The study revealed that the participating teachers use the target language mainly to instruct, and to encourage their pupils to produce English themselves. The study also showed that the first language is used to aid comprehension and to explain when the pupils do not seem to understand what is said in English. Furthermore, some of the participating teachers expressed a desire to use more target language in their teaching, while feeling obligated to speak Swedish to make sure all pupils understand. The results of the study also show that participating pupils find English in general to be both easy and fun, in one or several aspects, and that most of the pupils in the study appreciate their teacher using the target language during English lessons. Another conclusion that can be drawn is that more research is needed regarding how teachers’ linguistic choices actually affect pupils’ communicative proficiency in the English language. / <p>Engelska</p>

The present study investigates the nature of communicative language ability as manifested in performance on the TOEFL iBT® test, as well as the relationship between this ability with test-takers' study-abroad and learning experiences. The research interest in the nature of language ability is shared by the language testing community, whereas understanding the factors that affect language acquisition has been a focus of attention in the field of second language acquisition (Bachman & Cohen, 1998). This study utilizes a structural equation modeling approach, a hybrid of factor analysis and path analysis, to address issues at the interface between language testing and second language acquisition. The purpose of this study is two-fold. The first has a linguistic focus: to provide empirical evidence to enhance our understanding of the nature of communicative language ability by examining the dimensionality of this construct in both its absolute and relative senses. The second purpose, which has a social and cultural orientation, is to investigate the possible educational, social, and cultural influences on the acquisition of English as a foreign language, and the relationships between test performance and test-taker characteristics. The results revealed that the ability measured by the test was predominantly skill-oriented. The role of the context of language use in defining communicative language ability could not be confirmed due to a lack of empirical evidence. As elicited by the test, this ability was found to have equivalent underlying representations in two groups of test-takers with different context-of-learning experiences. The common belief in the superiority of the study-abroad environment over learning in the home country could not be upheld. Furthermore, both study-abroad and home-country learning were proved to have significant associations with aspects of the language ability, although the results also suggested that variables other than the ones specified in the models may have had an impact on the development of the ability being investigated. From a test validation point of view, the results of this study provide crucial validity evidence regarding the test's internal structure, this structure's generalizability across subgroups of test-takers, as well as its external relationships with relevant test-taker characteristics. Such a validity inquiry contributes to our understanding of what constitutes the test construct, and how this construct interacts with the individual and socio-cultural variables of foreign language learners and test-takers.

Target culture is a concept regularly used in Translation Studies but it is not a concept which is routinely defined any further than the geographical location of the target language. In English translation this can be problematic because some translations published in English are produced in one English-speaking country which are then sold to other English-speaking domains and this process of migration might not be obvious from the edition notice of the book. The underlying principle for the production of these translations could be that one translation can fit all English target cultures. Yet, in contrast, some anglophone translations are published separately e.g. as a British translation or an American translation. There has been, so far, minimal investigation into the different ways in which English translations come into existence and, therefore, this thesis aims to address the theoretical gap by creating a taxonomy of translation. The thesis presents new terminology for the various translation types within the anglophone world: for example, a translation can be separate when published independently by both Britain or America, or it can be transatlantic when it is shared by both countries. The existence of transatlantic translation challenges preconceived ideas regarding the concept of target culture within Descriptive Translation Studies. Through textual, paratextual and metatextual analysis of several case studies of each translation type the thesis explores the possible refinement of the concept of target culture per se. The thesis is underpinned by analysis of the work of two prominent Swedish children’s authors: Astrid Lindgren and Sven Nordqvist. Swedish children’s literature was selected because of its proven perennial contribution to the genre of children’s literature and its exceptional success in translation. Furthermore, children’s literature itself presents its own unique challenges in translation because, for this particular genre, the target culture introduces powerful constraints based upon the educational, social and cultural expectations of the receiving language community. However, in the case of the transatlantic translation, it is the initial target culture constraints which will be present within the text. In the second country to receive the translation, expectations regarding educational, social and cultural ideals may vary from the first target culture. Ultimately, the thesis argues that there are powerful constraining ideological forces within target cultures which are visible in separate translation; those same forces may present themselves in transatlantic translation also, but the origin of the ideology behind them may not be obvious. Thus, the thesis aims to change the way we label translation within newly delineated English-speaking target cultures.

The aim of this study was to investigate how code-switching operates and what impact it has on the interaction in the EFL classroom. The study was conducted at a Swedish secondary school by means of observations, interviews, and a questionnaire. The participants of the study were 79 students and two teachers. Both teachers and students were observed and, in addition to this, the students answered the questionnaire and the teachers were interviewed. The results showed that there were several factors that triggered the students' use of the native language and the ultimate reason for switching to the native language was often to facilitate the learning process. Typical situations in which the students switched to Swedish were when they communicated with their peers or when they encountered unfamiliar words. Moreover, the results suggest that the teacher plays an important role for the choice of code in the classroom through his/her own language use and attitude towards code-switching. Neither of the interviewed teachers nor the majority of the students thought that there were any positive aspects to code-switching.

Le constat qui consiste à dire que dans la pratique, le traducteur travaille en particulier sur des mots insérés dans des contextes, et non sur des unités lexicales dépourvues de toute situation de communication, et que l’ouvrage lexicographique constitue un des outils du travail traductionnel, nous amène à nous interroger sur l’état de la contextualisation dans le dictionnaire bilingue français-arabe. L’actuelle recherche, s’appuyant sur plusieurs approches, ne met pas seulement l’accent sur les plans organisationnel, quantitatif et qualitatif du contexte lexicographique en microstructure, mais en outre, met la lumière sur son fonctionnement linguistique, sa relation avec le paramètre extralinguistique ainsi que son dynamisme dans une optique contrastive. / Starting from the idea that the translator mostly works on words in sentences, and not on lexical units out of any discursive usage, and also from the fact that the bilingual dictionary is a tool of translation, we can wonder about the situation of contextualization in the French-Arabic dictionary. The present work, based on different approaches of analysis, does not only focus on the organizational, quantitative and qualitative levels of the lexicographic context in microstructure, but also deals with the linguistic functioning, the relation with the extralinguistic parameter, and its dynamics from the contrastive point of view.

La tesina investiga cómo cinco profesores interpretan la norma de Gy11 que indica que todo lo esencial de la enseñanza de lenguas modernas debe realizarse en la lengua meta. Las entrevistas semiestructuradas indican que los profesores interpretan la norma de maneras parecidas, es decir, que los profesores deben usar la lengua meta lo máximo posible en la enseñanza. La mayoría de los profesores están de acuerdo con la norma, sin embargo, tienen varias críticas contra Skolverket y la formulación de la norma. Ninguno de los profesores ha cambiado su uso de la lengua meta en el aula debido a la norma. / This thesis investigates how five teachers interpret the norm of Gy11 that indicates that the education of modern languages primarily should be held in the target language. The semi-structured interviews indicate that the teachers interpret the norm in similar ways, namely that the teachers should use the target language as much as possible in the education. The majority of the teachers agree with the norm, however, they have several critiques of the work of Skolverket and the formulation of the norm. None of the teachers have changed their usage of the target language in the classroom due to the norm.

This study aims to answer the questions of when and why foreign language teachers use their learners’ first language (L1) in the foreign language classroom. Additionally, the study also explores learner attitudes toward teachers’ use of the L1, and compares these attitudes with the teacher practices. In order to answer the research questions, international peer-reviewed studies have been used and analysed. The findings include L1 use in a number of different situations, for example during grammatical and lexical explanations, when giving instructions on classroom activities, and in informal interactions with the learners. Teachers may use the L1 in order to facilitate learners’ understanding, to save time, and to create a positive and welcoming classroom environment. The investigation of the learner attitudes shows that they are not always aligned with the teachers’ beliefs and practices. The learner attitudes are also ambiguous, displaying a variety of opinions for or against the teachers’ use of the L1. One possible explanation for the wide range of opinions could be the different levels of target language proficiency among the learners, with advanced learners leaning more toward less L1 use by the teacher, while beginners lean more toward the use of the L1. However, this could not be shown to always be the case, suggesting that other factors might also influence the attitudes toward the use of the L1. In the light of the results of this study, the discussion mainly revolves around the possible benefits and disadvantages of L1 use in the foreign language classroom, and what implications this might have for foreign language teachers. For example, more L1 use could result in less meaningful communication in the target language, which might pose a lost opportunity for language acquisition. On the other hand, the L1 could also lead to learners feeling more comfortable in class, lowering their affective filter and thus result in improved language acquisition.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka lärares syn på användandet av elevernas förstaspråk eller ”English-only” i engelskundervisningen, samt vilken potentiell utveckling de ser att den valda strategin resulterar i. Studien är kvalitativ och byggt på intervjuer med sju grundskollärare. Studien anlägger två teoretiska perspektiv. Först det sociokulturella perspektivet och det andra perspektivet är det språk inlärningsteoretiska som handlar om språkundervisning. Det finns tre språk inlärningsteoretiska som är ”Condition-Oriented Ideas”, ”Bottom Up Language Focused Ideas” och ”Top Down Language Focused Ideas”.  Studien visar att läraren kan använda båda metoderna men det beror på i vilka situationer och vilka elever läraren undervisar. ”English-only” har många fördelar speciellt för högstadieelever och för elever som har kunskaper och erfarenheter i engelska. ”English-only” gör att engelskan blir mer naturlig, vilket ökar elevernas motivation. ”English-only” är bra om läraren ger engelska instruktioner steg för steg med förklaringar. Enligt deltagarna finns det många fördelar när läraren använder L1 speciellt med mellanstadieelever och med elever som kämpar med engelskan. Det är bättre att använda L1 under genomgångar med elever som är på en låg nivå i engelska. L1 hjälper eleverna att förstå mer engelska, ökar elevernas motivation och L1 gör också så att elever som kämpar i engelska litar på sina förmågor. Resultatet av studien visar att läraren behöver bygga goda relationer med sina elever för att kunna anpassa undervisningen. Läraren behöver också prata på ett språk som eleverna förstår. Elever som inte har kunskaper i engelska kommer inte förstå läraren om läraren pratar ”English-only”. Elever som har goda kunskaper i engelska kommer tycka att det är tråkigt med engelska om läraren använder för mycket L1 under engelskalektionen. En slutsats som kan dras av studien är att läraren behöver vara medveten om när och i vilka situationer det är bra att använda ”English-only” eller L1.