This licentiate thesis addresses what textbooks in the school subject Swedish specifically oriented to pupils in different vocational programmes at Swedish high school/ upper secondary schools (Gymnasiet) offer to their readers. The study uses qualitative textual analysis as its main approach as well as, to a certain extent, quantitative data from textbooks in the Blickpunkt series (Blickpunktserien). Since they are included in so called comprehensive teaching materials, Bra Svenska A and Bra Svenska B, certain aspects of these two books, primarily their selection of texts are also studied. My point of departure is that a given textbook presumes a certain type of reader – this is supported by Umberto Eco’s theory that an author always writes with a reader in mind, a model reader, and I pose the following question: What views on subject matter, literature and cognitive approach are conveyed by the textbooks and what does this tell us about their model readers? My interpretation is that there are both many similarities and many differencies between the various model readers presumed by the textbooks. The focus on future professional activities permeates all of the textbooks, but is somewhat less prominent in Blickpunkt bygg and Blickpunkt el, where, to a certain extent, the model reader is presumed to be working with topics which can be attributed to the Swedish subject matter area. In Blickpunkt barn och fritid, Blickpunkt fordon, Blickpunkt hotell och restaurang and Blickpunkt omvårdnad, the postulated reader is assumed to be uninterested in literature and is expected to work in a field only marginally related to the Swedish subject matter area. Instead the textbooks are organized on the basis of a general assumption regarding what know-how and qualifications are currently in demand on the labor market. Therefore we cannot say that they contain a genuine Swedish subject matter area. The formulation of the textbooks implies that a model reader is not expected to approach the texts with a critical mind in order to help him or her develop cognitive thinking and oral and written language skills.

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate how culture is represented in the Wings 7 blue textbook and workbook and what implications this may have on learners’ cultural understanding. The research questions are: How is culture represented in the textbook and workbook Wings 7 blue?, and What cultural understanding is promoted through the task design of the learning material Wings 7 blue?The analysis of the learning material draws on the theoretical framework of the Swedish researcher Ulrika Tornberg. The result of our analysis, and first research question, displays that the main focus of the cultural content in the Wings 7 blue textbook is on the mainstream national culture of Britain, typical British behavior, and linguistic readiness.Cultural understanding may be seen as either general cultural understanding, based on Tornberg’s two first perspectives, or as intercultural understanding which can be found in Tornberg’s third and final perspective. The result of the analysis of the tasks shows that both types of cultural understanding are promoted in the workbook, but the possibility for learners to develop their own intercultural understanding is limited, which is the answer to our second research question. This leads to the conclusion that the learning material, by itself, does not cover the complete aim for cultural understanding in the National Syllabus.One might argue that the material should only be seen as a complement to the other tools of the teacher, who can compensate for any missing information in his or her communication with the class. However, according to the large National survey for English, teachers of English mostly use published learning materials and tend to trust that these correspond to the aims of the steering documents.

Speaking is an essential skill for language learning. Moreover, the communicative aspect of learning a secondary language is the major goal for many learners. Since English is a language with a substantial number of speakers and is often used as the preferred method of communicating between people with different mother tongues, the pressure on teaching materials and textbooks for learning English is substantial. Traditionally, textbooks are one of the most used tools for learning language and assisting teachers in providing materials for students in the targeted language. However, previous research showed that there are aspects where textbooks could still be lacking due to commercial interests, lack of effective speech enhancing tasks, and a divergence from current research in secondary language acquisition. Moreover, little research has been done in Swedish contexts regarding the effectiveness of speaking tasks in textbooks. Considering these issues, the current study aimed to investigate speaking tasks within textbooks used for English 5 in Sweden to see if they can be considered effective in teaching speech. The study also aimed to find out novice teachers’ views on the speaking tasks in textbooks and teaching speaking in general. The study was conducted by analysing two English textbooks, namely Blueprint A and Solid Gold 1 used for English 5 in Sweden.  The speaking tasks within both textbooks were categorised based on previous research on effective speech enhancing tasks. The results of this analysis showed that a large portion of the speaking tasks within the textbooks could not be considered effective speech enhancing tasks. Nevertheless, around half of the ineffective tasks could be made into effective speaking tasks with minor teacher intervention. The result of the following interviews also showed that the novice teachers were aware of how to supplement the tasks within the textbooks and that they had a focus on content rather than structure of the tasks. Lastly, the novice teachers’ also viewed repetition of tasks as negative and that more focus on the social factors of teaching speaking should be taught in teacher programs.

This study conducted to examine the distribution of problem-solving tasks in mathematics textbook related to mathematical literacy. The aim of the study was to analyze the extent to which mathematical literacy is addressed through problem-solving tasks in two grade 4 mathematics textbooks. To analyze the types and distribution of problem-solving tasks within the textbooks the study employed a quantitative approach where the analysis tool was based on four main components that contribute to development of mathematical literacy. The findings revealed that the distribution of problem-solving tasks over had overall was similar with a few differences in percentage in both textbooks. The textbook Matte Direkt 4A provided a greater emphasis on mathematical literacy through problem-solving tasks compared to Koll på matematik 4A. The results also indicated that problem-solving tasks who had a context within the real-world were more prevalent than others in the materials analyzed. These findings implicate the need for a more balanced and comprehensive approach to incorporating problem-solving tasks that promote mathematical literacy in educational materials.

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Introduction: Over the last decades, our understanding of the cognitive, motivational, and neural processes involved in addictive behavior has increased enormously. A plethora of laboratory-based and cross-sectional studies has linked cognitive-behavioral measures to between-subject differences in drinking behavior. However, such laboratory-based studies inevitably suffer from small sample sizes and the inability to link temporal fluctuations in task measures to fluctuations in real-life substance use. To overcome these problems, several existing behavioral tasks have been transferred to smartphones to allow studying cognition in the field. Method: In this narrative review, we first summarize studies that used existing behavioral tasks in the laboratory and self-reports of substance use with ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in the field. Next, we review studies on psychometric properties of smartphone-based behavioral tasks. Finally, we review studies that used both smartphone-based tasks and self-reports with EMA in the field. Results: Overall, studies were scarce and heterogenous both in tasks and in study outcomes. Nevertheless, existing findings are promising and point toward several methodological recommendations: concerning psychometrics, studies show that – although more systematic studies are necessary – task validity and reliability can be improved, for example, by analyzing several measurement sessions at once rather than analyzing sessions separately. Studies that use tasks in the field, moreover, show that power can be improved by choosing sampling schemes that combine time-based with event-based sampling, rather than relying on time-based sampling alone. Increasing sampling frequency can further increase power. However, as this also increases the burden to participants, more research is necessary to determine the ideal sampling frequency for each task. Conclusion: Although more research is necessary to systematically study both the psychometrics of smartphone-based tasks and the frequency at which task measures fluctuate, existing studies are promising and reveal important methodological recommendations useful for researchers interested in implementing behavioral tasks in EMA studies.

Memory deficits in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) can be reflected in language-based tests, especially spontaneous speech tasks. Three spontaneous speech tests were developed in this study, including Thai Picture description (TPD), Thai Story Recall (TSR), and Semi-structured Interview for Thai (SIT) Ninety-eight Thai older adults underwent screening tests and three spontaneous speech tests. Then they were classified into three groups, including healthy control (HC), MCI, and AD. Their verbal responses were extracted into the content variables and acoustic features. Then the discriminant ability and accuracy in differentiating HC, MCI, and AD were examined with by Multivariate Discriminant Analysis (MDA) and analysis of the ROC curve and AUC. Two content variables showed significant differences among three groups of participants, i.e., correct information unit (CIU) of the TPD and delayed recall scores of the TSR. For acoustic features, ANOVAs revealed that three variables were significantly different among the three experimental groups, i.e., total utterance time in delayed recall, number of voice breaks in the TPD, and the SIT. The result of a stepwise estimation in MDA presented that the best combination of predictive model was CIU and backward digit span (BDS), in which provides 61.1% of correct classification. This discriminant function showed AUC of .81 in differentiating HC and MCI, AUC of .91 in distinguishing HC and AD, and AUC of .86 in detecting persons with cognitive impairments (MCI and AD) from HC. In conclusion, the combination of CIU of TPD and BDS is suitable for differentiating AD and persons with cognitive impairments from HC. However, there is no appropriate predictor in distinguishing MCI and AD.

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