<p>The aim of this study was to investigate, illuminate and discuss teacher’s and multilingual student’s view on the connection between their mother tongue and their learning of other languages. This qualitative study is based on interviews with eight students in the 8th grade and two language-teachers from the same school, as well as ethnographic observations during English and Swedish lessons. With the help of some relevant theories, the empirical study is compared, analyzed and interpreted. The results show that the theories and informant’s view on the connection between the mother tongue and other languages are similar, which is that the mother tongue must be fully established before a new language can be taken in.</p>

<p>This research is about how the educators view the best way to help multilingual students develop their understanding for mathematics. The aim of the study is to identify the different aspects from the teacher’s point of view of this new approach of teaching: what are the limitations versus the opportunities? The study is limited to a multicultural school in Stockholm and to the experience of a few class teachers and mother tongue teachers.</p><p>A qualitative approach was used and the interview was selected as the method to collect the data. Three class teachers as well as three mother tongue teachers were interviewed about their experiences. The interviews were recorded and transcribed word by word.</p><p>There have been discussions about the skills in mathematics in multilingual speaking students, and that their greatest obstacle of understanding mathematics is that they are being taught in another language than their own mother tongue. The National Agency for Education have stated that multilingual students who gets high grades in the mother tongue education tend to get higher grades in mathematics as well (Skolverket 2008). The result shows that the staff, the class teachers and mother tongue teachers, have been able to build a bridge between mathematics and their student’s mother tongue. The results also indicate that one’s mother tongue is a key component in student’s understanding and management of mathematics. This also benefits the student’s development of their self-esteem: mathematics taught in the student’s mother tongue helps the student to develop both their first and second language side by side.</p>

Objective : To determine the relationship of tongue volume as determined from Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) scan reconstructions with maxillary and mandibular arch width, axial cross-sectional palatal perimeter, palatal index and axial inclination of upper and lower first premolars and molars. Method: Thirty subjects without prior orthodontic treatment swished barium sulfate to coat the tongue prior to CBCT imaging. The scan reconstructions were analyzed with three after-market softwares and intra-examiner reliability was assessed. Results: Absolute agreement intra-class correlation coefficients were used to determine reliability of the measurements. Pearson correlation coefficients and regression analysis were used to determine relationships. Conclusions: Tongue volume was strongly correlated with upper inter-molar width and palatal perimeter at the molar level, and least correlated with lower inter-molar width and axial inclination of the upper and lower first premolars and molars. The differences in measurements obtained from the three softwares were not statistically significant.

Head and neck cancer is the 6th most common malignancy worldwide, with tumours of the tongue being one of the most prevalent sites. Despite advances in surgery and radiotherapy, the five-year survival has not changed during the last decades and remains at approximately 50%. Identification of novel biomarkers for more personalized treatment is important for increasing survival in these patients. One of the most commonly used methods in the search for new biomarkers is microarray analysis. A substantial limitation with this technique is the requirement for fresh frozen samples from which high quality RNA can be extracted. This becomes particularly problematic when attempting to discover differences associated with individual sub-types or rare cancers. Recent developments, including the DASL microarray platform, have provided the possibility of analysing RNA of poorer quality from formalin fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) samples. FFPE is the standard way of preserving tissue from patients and millions of samples are stored around the world. In this thesis we have evaluated the use of FFPE samples and global gene expression profiling for increasing basic knowledge in a subgroup of oral cancer patients with tumours of the tongue. As confirmation of microarray results using qPCR is of outmost importance for conclusive data evaluation, we first aimed at finding a housekeeping gene stably expressed across malignant and non-malignant FFPE oral tissue. TUBA6, which belongs to the tubulin family was detected as being the most stable out of eight possible genes and was thus used for qPCR normalization throughout the following studies. We have performed three separate microarray experiments. Initially only a focused DASL array covering 502 cancer related genes was available and we used it to analyze a smaller cohort of patients and controls (n=36). A similar cohort (n=29) was also analyzed for expression of 836 micoRNAs. In 2009 a whole genome DASL array was launched, covering over 20,000 genes, and all tongue tumour samples available between 1997 and 2010 (n=87) were analysed using this array. Similar to other research groups we observed very high replicate reproducibility using both DASL arrays. When using the microRNA array and the whole genome DASL array an effect of sample quality on the detected expression level of individual genes was noticed. While the expression of some genes severely decreased with a decrease in sample quality others were not changed. This will impair normalization, leading to a residual non-biological variation within the data. Based on our findings we have presented some recommendations for minimizing the effect of sample quality and maximizing the level of biologically relevant information obtained from these experiments, e.g. ensuring that samples in groups to be compared are of the same quality range. For the microRNA data we also introduced an additional normalization step to the standard normalizations. We could show that lists of differentially expressed genes generated when taking these precautions were enriched for genes involved in cancer related processes and contained for tongue carcinoma previously identified changes. A number of differentially expressed genes, novel for tongue carcinoma, were also confirmed in high quality fresh frozen samples, including BCL2A1 (apoptosis), CXCL10 (immune response), SLC2A6 (energy transport) and miR-424 (angiogenesis). In conclusion microarrays can be used to analyze FFPE samples but should be performed with care. Standard normalization methods will not remove the variation introduced by samples being of different quality, leading to spurious results. Taking a few precautions, however, led to the identification of differentially expressed genes relevant in tumour development and maintenance. The recommendations we make can facilitate design of future studies using FFPE samples. The genes we identified as being differentially expressed in tumour tissue now need to be further evaluated for their potential as biomarkers in tongue carcinoma.

This research is about how the educators view the best way to help multilingual students develop their understanding for mathematics. The aim of the study is to identify the different aspects from the teacher’s point of view of this new approach of teaching: what are the limitations versus the opportunities? The study is limited to a multicultural school in Stockholm and to the experience of a few class teachers and mother tongue teachers. A qualitative approach was used and the interview was selected as the method to collect the data. Three class teachers as well as three mother tongue teachers were interviewed about their experiences. The interviews were recorded and transcribed word by word. There have been discussions about the skills in mathematics in multilingual speaking students, and that their greatest obstacle of understanding mathematics is that they are being taught in another language than their own mother tongue. The National Agency for Education have stated that multilingual students who gets high grades in the mother tongue education tend to get higher grades in mathematics as well (Skolverket 2008). The result shows that the staff, the class teachers and mother tongue teachers, have been able to build a bridge between mathematics and their student’s mother tongue. The results also indicate that one’s mother tongue is a key component in student’s understanding and management of mathematics. This also benefits the student’s development of their self-esteem: mathematics taught in the student’s mother tongue helps the student to develop both their first and second language side by side.

This work should be seen as a pilot study of the effect that the common-sense based statement that one understands and learns best in their best language has on pupils in Swedish schools. A number of students have been given a mathematical test in the language they use for their normal school activities, and that is not their mother tongue. Some of them (approximately 50%) were led to believe this particular test to be language fair. Their average score on the test has then been compared to the average score on the same test of the remaining 50% students who considered the test a normal one. The difference in performance between the two subgroups has been interpreted with the help of the concept of stereotype threat. This pilot study showed a trace of the hypothesised best language stereotype threat in a specific group of students and will hopefully serve as a guide for a larger work that could prove (or falsify) the existence of the best language stereo-type threat with statistical certainty, extend its range of applicability to a wider group of students and establish its size as compared to other related factors. A final caveat: This study is focussed on (and relevant only for those) students that perform their school activities in a language different from their mother tongue but that are fully operational in the teaching language.

This essay is a study about the school introduction of immigrant pupils in the Swedish compulsory school. The purpose if this study is to examine the organisation municipal school introduction for immigrant pupils in the compulsory school in Södertälje. The method I have used is qualitative research method which depends on interviews and analysis of documents. The result shows that the municipal is without a plan for the school introduction of the immigrant pupils and that the individual compulsory school has the main responsibility for the school introduction of the immigrant pupils. The result also shows that there is a need of increased teaching of mother tongue. There is also a need of competence development within intercultural pedagogy. My conclusions are that a municipal plan for the school introduction of immigrant pupils should increase the immigrant pupils’ possibility to a shorter time of introduction to the compulsory school.

A longitudinal pilot study to compare, in children with reduced overbite malocclusions associated with oral habits (finger-sucking and tongue-thrusting), the effects of the experimental Myofunctional Trainer (MFT; Myofunctional Research Co.) and the conventional Bluegrass appliance (BG) on dento-alveolar relations, tongue position, and on speech. Methods: The experimental group received the MFT appliance while the control group received the BG appliance. Dento-alveolar changes were assessed by cephalometry and study models. Longitudinal midsagittal 2-dimensional B-mode ultrasound scans of the tongue surface were performed to determine tongue position. Speech acceptability tests were also performed. Results & Conclusions: The BG appliance was successful in breaking the finger-sucking habit. The MFT appliance showed only partial success which could be attributed to lack of compliance. At the end of treatment, the open bite was reduced in both groups due to dento-alveolar changes. The BG appliance had a deleterious effect on speech acceptability while in place, while there was no such effect with the MFT appliance.

A longitudinal pilot study to compare, in children with reduced overbite malocclusions associated with oral habits (finger-sucking and tongue-thrusting), the effects of the experimental Myofunctional Trainer (MFT; Myofunctional Research Co.) and the conventional Bluegrass appliance (BG) on dento-alveolar relations, tongue position, and on speech. Methods: The experimental group received the MFT appliance while the control group received the BG appliance. Dento-alveolar changes were assessed by cephalometry and study models. Longitudinal midsagittal 2-dimensional B-mode ultrasound scans of the tongue surface were performed to determine tongue position. Speech acceptability tests were also performed. Results & Conclusions: The BG appliance was successful in breaking the finger-sucking habit. The MFT appliance showed only partial success which could be attributed to lack of compliance. At the end of treatment, the open bite was reduced in both groups due to dento-alveolar changes. The BG appliance had a deleterious effect on speech acceptability while in place, while there was no such effect with the MFT appliance.

No description available.