The goal of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, it investigates the actual, native use of spatial-deictic demonstratives in Japanese, Finnish and Swedish. Secondly, it investigates and elucidates the interlanguage of Finnish-speaking and Swedish-speaking learners of Japanese regarding their use of Japanese spatial-deictic demonstratives in the light of respective native use and, in comparison to the descriptions of demonstratives in the teaching materials used. Thus, the present study deals with analyses of two sets of empirical data: data produced by native-speaking informants (L1 data) and data produced by language learners (L2 data). These were elicited by Discourse Completion Tasks (DCTs) designed, collected and analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods by the author. The results showed that the actual use of demonstratives by the native informants was not always in accordance with the way described in grammars. The typological similarities between Japanese and Finnish were in this study not reflected in the native use of demonstratives, and some uses were not solely based on the spatial relations between the referent, the speaker and the addressee, but rather on social-interactional factors. The main findings regarding the learner data revealed some differences in the usage rate of the demonstratives between the two Finnish-speaking groups and the one Swedish-speaking learner group studied. There were, however, no particular differences found between them regarding the type of demonstrative used. It is suggested that these differences are first and foremost connected both with the teaching materials used and the more or less heterogeneous linguistic environment in which the learners reside, and only thereafter with the typological similarities or differences between their respective native languages, Finnish and Swedish, and the target language, Japanese. It is further argued that the learners’ use of the different Japanese demonstratives, that is the type of demonstrative used, could be explained in terms of familiarity with the grammar. That is, when the situations used in the DCTs were exemplified in teaching materials and were familiar to them, the learners seemed to use Japanese demonstratives as they are described in the teaching materials and as the native Japanese speakers use them. When the situations used in the DCTs were not exemplified in the teaching materials, the learners seem to rely more on their native language. The results, thus, suggest that the learners’ interlanguage is influenced by the grammar of the target language known to the learners, but also by the number of languages (or varieties) that the learners have contact with at the time of learning. The results of the present study have implications for the teaching of Japanese in at least two ways. Firstly, the importance of grammar instruction must be emphasized since its effect on the learners’ language is apparent. Secondly, the contents of teaching materials should be revised on the basis of the native speakers’ actual use of the grammar.

Diese Arbeit behandelt das Thema, wie schwedische Deutschlehrkräfte über die Lehrpläne des Faches Deutsch denken, ob sich die Einstellung der Lehrkräfte und die der Schüler unterscheidet, wenn es um das Fach Deutsch geht. Das Resultat der Untersuchung zeigt, dass die Lehrkräfte mit den Lehrplänen zufrieden sind. Sie meinen, dass sie alle Kompetenzen, die einen modernen Fremdsprachenunterricht ausmachen, abdecken. Die Lehrpläne legen den Schwerpunkt auf Kommunikation, eine Kompetenz, die auch von den Lehrkräften hoch bewertet wird. Zur Unterstützung des Lernens sei es wichtig, dass Unterrichtsthemen im Mittelpunkt stehen, die für die Schüler relevant sind, und sie sollen mit vielfältigen Methoden vermittelt werden. Eine große Rolle für das Lernen spielt auch die Beziehung zwischen Lehrkraft und Schüler und das Arbeitsklima im Klassenzimmer.    Das Fach moderne Sprachen ist die dritte Sprache, die die Schüler in Schweden lernen, und dazu gehören Spanisch, Deutsch, Französisch und Chinesisch (Skolverket, 2018a). Das Interesse für moderne Sprachen und Deutsch ist im Allgemeinen niedrig. Viele haben die Einstellung, dass Englisch ausreichend ist. Im Schuljahr 2016/2017 haben 75 % der Neuntklässler eine moderne Sprache gelernt, während ein Viertel stattdessen weiter Schwedisch und Englisch gelernt haben (SCB, 2018). Gymnasiasten sagen, dass das Fach Deutsch nicht als Priorität gesehen wird. Wenige Schüler lernen Deutsch weiter, wenn es nicht obligatorisch ist.

This paper examines how the attitudes are towards the English education, in a school, among pupils in ninth, eighth, and sixth grade, and if monolingual and bilingual pupils feel that they have any advantages or disadvantages when learning English. This study also describes how teachers influence and establish attitudes among their pupils towards the English education.Both questionnaires and interviews were used in order to collect data valuable for the research questions. The results are thereafter discussed in relation to relevant background information, for example Gardner's (1991) theory about attitudes towards language learning and Ladberg's (1994) theory about second language learning and bilingualism.The results show that pupils' attitudes influence on the English education, that teachers' attitudes influence and establish pupils' attitudes towards the language learning, and that many of the bilingual pupils feel that they have advantages when learning English.

This thesis aims at exploring what linguistic challenges and opportunities multilingual students experience when reading in English. This paper has a qualitative approach and consists of focus group interviews as the method for collecting data. The participants were students in compulsory school, ninth grade, studying English as a foreign language. A total of nine multilingual were divided into three groups. Firstly they received a piece of informative text to read, containing a picture and a heading, and secondly they answered and discussed questions about their use of reading strategies. The results from the present study show that they tended to use top-down strategies when reading. The picture was not regarded as important as the heading; yet it was clear that they transferred already developed strategies from other languages. Previous research has shown that a reading ability developed in a student´s first language will be transferred to other languages, through an underlying proficency. Likewise it was expected in this study that the students would use their first language in order to understand English as a foreign language, but unpredictably findings show that Swedish was the preferred language when translating. In conclusion, one can therefore argue for Swedish as the strongest academic language and therefore important in scaffolding multilingual students.