I det här examensarbetet har en studie om elevers perspektiv på spanskundervisning och övningar för språkinlärning på högstadiet genomförts. Studien inkluderar 18 elevers svar på en enkät följt av fem fördjupande intervjuer. Resultaten indikerar att eleverna utsätts för en hög grad av läsövningar och grammatikövningar medan de identifierar att de lär sig bäst genom glosor och att lyssna. Input av spanska utanför klassrummet är låg och användningen av målspråket som arbetsspråk i klassrummet är inte alltid så hög som den skulle kunna vara. Slutsatsen är att den kontinuerliga användningen av visst material, eller läromedel, kan vara en bidragande del av de internationellt låga resultaten för svenska elever i spanska. Framtida forskning kan vara att fokusera på lärarens perspektiv på övningar och används i klassrummet. / In this study, an investigation about students’ perspective on Spanish teaching and exercises in compulsory school has been carried out. The study includes 18 students’ responses to a survey followed by five in-depth interviews. The results indicate that students are exposed to a high level of reading and grammar practice while they identify that they learn best thorough vocabulary and listening. Input of Spanish outside the classroom is low and the use of the target language as a working language in the classroom is not always as high as it could be. The conclusion is that the continuous use of certain teaching material can be a contributing factor to the internationally low results for Swedish students in Spanish. Future research may be to focus on the teacher´s perspective on exercises and their use in the classroom.

A monolingual target language (TL) teaching norm has been promoted in second language learning over recent decades. Despite this, international studies indicate substantial variation in how and why teachers use the TL. This study investigates the extent of TL use during English lessons in Swedish classrooms in primary school, and how the choice of language correlates with teachers’ beliefs regarding second language learning (SLL) and the inclusion of the first language (L1). This study discusses the teachers’ didactic considerations and implementations of languages during their English lessons, and the teachers’ view on how the students are affected by the use of the TL in the classroom. Semi-structured interviews are carried out with three certified primary school English teachers. The interview data from this study show that the teachers’ main perception of TL use is that it should be used as much as possible. However, they all occasionally include the use of L1 in order to aid comprehension and prevent students’ anxiety. All three teachers emphasized the importance of a safe learning environment, especially when learning a new language. Even though the teachers agreed that the knowledge criterias for the subject of English in primary school do not place high demands on the students’ abilities in English, they as teachers place higher demands. The reason being that Swedish students’ level of English is higher than ever before and in turn teachers’ expectations are higher.

Motivations, Attitudes and Modern Languages. A study of students’ motivational processes and attitudes while learning foreign languages. This doctoral thesis investigates students’ motivational processes and attitudes while studying and learning foreign languages (FLs). Students were asked about their choice of FL, and what had motivated them during their many years of studies. The study analyzes open-ended questionnaires and interviews with 43 students enrolled in the last year of foreign language studies in two schools, limiting its focus to the three most commonly studied FLs – French, German and Spanish. The theoretical framework of the thesis draws on sociocognitive theory (Bandura 1997; Linnenbrink & Pintrich 2002). Several informants refer to motivation in terms that could be related to intrinsic motivation. They have chosen to continue studying their particular target language due to an emotional state which could be related to enjoyment, pleasure and curiosity (Deci & Ryan 1985). Another salient feature is the frequent reference to mastery goals. Many of the informants express a motivation directed towards mastery and growth, or a main goal to be fluent or communicatively competent in their target language. Several informants also underline the motivational importance of experiencing competence, success and development. They become motivated by experiencing self-efficacy (Bandura 1997). This self-efficacy is rooted in experience of success, but also in being encouraged by significant others or role models, i.e. family members and friends. Despite a frequent awareness of the weakening general interest for FL, most students have a supportive network. Likewise, family and friends play a crucial role for many informants while choosing their target language initially. This key factor interacts with other important factors, such as the experiences of visiting countries or settings where the target language is used. In this context, target language attitudes tend to be important when choosing language and pursuing studies.

The present study investigates the translation of dialectal elements in literary texts from the German and Swedish linguistical and cultural areas. Translation theory generally advises against the translation of dialectal elements in standard language texts thereby implicitly questioning their creative and communicative function. The aim of the study is to investigate to what extent the dialectal elements in the source text are translated by corresponding dialectal elements in the target text thereby promoting a "cultural transfer" or whether a translation method based on translation theory is used. The linguistic material from the novels Die Räuberbande by the German author Leonhard Frank, Tjärdalen by the Swedish author Sara Lidman and Kapten Nemos bibliotek by the Swedish author Per Olov Enquist is microanalyzed. In doing so, the phonetical-phonological, morphological and syntactical dialectal features in the three source texts are treated methodically and are exemplarily and systematically presented together with their translation variants in the target language. The study focuses mainly on the translations of dialectal lexicology, which is investigated according to its contrastive function regarding the translations of standard language, thereby examining its adequacy. By including all the dialectal lexemes appearing in the works and their translations empirical dates have been compiled as a result of the translation methods. The study´s analyses demonstrate that dialectal elements are mainly translated into standard language, that a large part of dialectisms is paraphrased and that a small part is rendered by spoken language without regional limits. A tendency towards increasing use of dialectal elements through the times can be detected as well as a propensity to adapt the translation to the stylistical preferences in the receiving country. Thus, "cultural transfer" is not promoted.

This thesis deals with compensation strategies in learning Czech as a foreign language and concrete realisations of these strategies in spoken and written communiques. The theoretical part is based on the current linguistic-didactic approach to learning foreign languages, which includes the communicative method and the issue of communicative competence of non-native speakers. In connection with these issues, we also deal with the area of communication strategies and present the most important theoretical concepts and classifications of communication and compensation strategies by foreign researchers. We also introduce the definition of compensation strategies in Czech for foreigners within the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, which is presently a binding document for defining language competences at particular language levels. The theoretical part is followed by the empirical part which analyses concrete spoken and written productions of non-native speakers on the basis of theoretically established classification of compensation strategies designed for the purpose of research in this thesis. The data of the spoken communiques that was used for this analysis was collected from audio recordings and transcriptions of class content in various types of language courses. For the...

The master's thesis is a theoretical and empirical study about the interpreter's notes in consecutive interpreting. The study mainly deals with the note-taking language and the effect of the interpreter's experience on the choice of note-taking language. In literature, many authors have already thoroughly studied note-taking. In the second half of the 20th century, three traditional interpreting schools emerged. Several authors created their own note-taking systems. Since then, there hasn't been a consensus among experts on the choice of the note-taking language. Some recommend using the source language, some prefer the target language and many experts are in favor of using both. Main approaches to note-taking and reasons why to use either the source language or the target language are listed in the theoretical part. The theoretical part also covers empirical research on the choice of note-taking language. Compared to the high amount of theoretical publications on note-taking, only few empirical studies were carried out, studying the choice of note-taking language. Despite its small scale, the thesis thus seeks to follow in the footsteps of previous empirical researchers and verify, by the means of an experiment, claimings of theoreticians. The experiment studying the effect of the interpreter's...

Swedish learners of French often do not speak French in the FLE class (French as a foreign language). They experience large difficulties which are on the one hand specific to the French language e.g. chaining and deletion of Schwa, liaison, accentuation and on the other hand the excessive use of the mother tongue in FLE class. The aim of this essay is to understand why French learners communicate little in the target language. The essay consists of three parts. In the first part, through previous studies, we present the importance of the use of the target language in class. Theorists (Lundahl (2012), Tornberg (2015), Dysthe (1996,2003), Lindberg (1996) et Stoltz (2011), as well as the study plan, agree that it is very useful to expose students to the target language as often as possible in order to enrich their vocabulary and increase their knowledge in the taught foreign language. The second part consists in the responses and comments from the questionnaires submitted to the learners and the two teachers. In these questionnaires, most students admit not only that they like to speak French in class, but they would also like the teacher to use the target language. However, to overcome their difficulties to communicate they would like to have more oral production activities. The third part is based on our observations in class. We find out that the most spoken language in the classroom is the mother tongue, which is an obstacle. We also noticed that certain activities, such as watching a film followed by work in a small group and simple dialogues with themes very common in everyday life, prepared in advance and playing them in front of the class, encouraged students to express themselves in French without worrying too much about their faults.

Föreliggande studie har undersökt hur elever i årskurs 4 och 5 i den svenska grundskolan upplever användandet av svenska i undervisningen av engelska, samt hur användandet av svenska relaterar till eventuell foreign language anxietyhos eleverna. De forskningsfrågor som har besvarats är: 1) Hur upplever elever användandet av svenska i engelskundervisningen, utifrån deras nivå av behärskning av målspråket? samt 2) Hur relaterar användandet av svenska i engelskundervisningen till elevernas foreign language anxiety, utifrån deras nivå av behärskning av målspråket?Empiriskt material samlades in genom fokusgruppsintervjuer med 18 elever i årskurs 4 och 5. Eleverna från varje klass grupperades i tre grupper med tre elever i varje grupp efter deras nivå av behärskning av engelska. Sociokulturell teori om lärande och barndomssociologi har utgjort de teoretiska grunderna för studien. Det insamlade materialet analyserades med tematisk analys, där centrala teman i elevernas intervjusvar analyserades. De viktigaste resultaten från undersökningen kretsar kring elevernas uppfattningar om det svenska språkets roll i undervisningen för deras förståelse och delaktighet, där den största delen av de intervjuade eleverna uppger hur de anser användandet av svenska är en förutsättning för både förståelse och delaktighet. De uppgav även att en undervisning som exkluderar svenska bidrar till svårigheter med att förstå lektionsinnehållet, vilket hindrar ett aktivt deltagande och en oro för att andra ska döma dem för deras svårigheter med att förstå. En mindre grupp elever med god behärskning skildrade emellertid hur de betraktar användandet av svenska som ett hinder för förståelse och deltagande, och att behovet av att ibland uttrycka sin förståelse på svenska kan utgöra en källa till oro. Implikationerna av resultatet kretsar kring vikten av att lärare är medvetna om konsekvenserna av sina didaktiska val, och de svårigheter som finns med att tillgodose individuella behov hos en elevgrupp när elevernas olika behov står i motsats till varandra. / The current study examines how pupils in the years 4 and 5 in Swedish compulsory school view the use of Swedish in the teaching of English, as well as how it relates to experiences of foreign language anxiety. The research questions we have aimed to answer are: 1) How do pupils experience the use of Swedish in the teaching of English, with regard to their proficiency in the target language? and 2) How does the use of Swedish in the teaching of English relate to foreign language anxiety with the students, with regard to their proficiency in the target language? Empirical data was collected with semi-structured focus group interviews with 18 pupils in the years 4 and 5 of the Swedish compulsory school. The respondents from each class were grouped in three groups of three pupils in each group, with regards to their proficiency in English. With socio-cultural theory of learning and sociology of childhood as the theoretical foundation, a thematic analysis was implemented on the collected empirical material, where central themes from the interviews were highlighted and analyzed. Important results from our study include how a large part of the interviewed pupils expressed a view of Swedish as a necessity for both their understanding and their active participation during classes. They also expressed how an education of English which excludes Swedish hinders their understanding of the lesson content, which in turn creates a barrier for participation and a risk of being negatively judged by others. A small group of pupils with greater proficiency did, however, express a view of how the use of Swedish could act as a hindrance for participation, and how the need to at times express their understanding in Swedish could be a source of anxiety. The implications of our results focus on the need for teachers to be mindful of the consequences of their didactical choices, and on the difficulties which can arise when trying to fulfill the individual needs of a group of pupils when their needs at times are incompatible.

While translation can be studied with a view to throwing light on a number of aspects in life, in this thesis translation has been researched with a view to outlining the development of written Zulu from its earliest stages, using twelve texts of the Book of Matthew. The Book of Matthew has been chosen in this undertaking because it was the first book of the Bible to be translated into Zulu and was thought to be the most apposite instrument with which the development of written Zulu could be measured. The polysystem theory and the descriptive approach to translation studies are the theoretical models that inform the arguments presented in this study. Polysystem theory sees translated literature as a system operating in the larger social, literary and historical systems of the target culture, while with the descriptive approach translations are regarded as facts of the target culture. Against this premise the focus of this study is mainly on the twelve translations of the Book of Matthew and no comparisons between source and target texts are undertaken here. Corpus-based research provided tools such as WordSmith Tools 3.0 for linguistic analysis. Biblical texts were obtained, scanned and presented in electronic format ready to be analysed. From the findings drawn, written Zulu developed all the way through Bible translation, with some translations revealing slight developments and others showing enormous ones. As the findings of this study reveal, Zulu developed gradually, as evidenced by the change to conjunctive writing which occurred over a considerable period, along with the appropriate representation of Zulu speech sounds and grammar conventions. It could also be established at what point during the development of the language, processes such as consonantalisation and palatalisation were introduced into the written language. It is also clear that words of Greek and Hebrew origin were brought into the Zulu language through Bible translation. Furthermore, this study demonstrates that it is feasible to use corpus-based research for analysis in the indigenous languages of South Africa. / Linguistics / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

The problem this study addresses is the continuing ineffective teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL) despite the popularity of in-service (INSET) programmes. As a means of situational analysis, ethnographic approaches were used to investigate the INSET participants in the four-year degree programme at the University of Botswana. Responses to one inventory containing second language teaching activities showed that the activities respondents know to characterize ESL classrooms do not facilitate much verbal teacher-pupil/pupil-pupil interaction. Responses to another inventory containing idealised course content showed evidence of needs the preparation programme was ignoring. This confirmed one of two study hypotheses that: there are specific second language teaching needs being ignored by preparation programmes for primary school language teachers. Document analysis verified the assumptions about what classroom English Language Teaching (ELT) was expected to achieve. However, lesson observation revealed that the products of the programme still taught and perceived English as a mental exercise, with the following results: the lessons were complicated, uninspiring, unenjoyable, restrictive, and ineffective. Questionnaire and interview results confirmed the second study hypothesis that: the confidence of non-native English-speaking teachers (non-NESTs) with regard to competence in English, which affects the effectiveness and efficiency of their teaching, is low. As a solution a model specifying the essential programme components for preparing ELT specialists in the primary school is proposed. The proposed model is however not prescriptive and the proposed content is neither exhaustive nor limiting, but only broadly suggestive of the content of each instructional component. It is hoped that the product of the proposed model will become not only a well-educated person in the arts but also a highly proficient and self-confident person in ELT. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)