This qualitative study aims to explore the ways in which digital dictionaries andmachine translation are being used to help students learning Swedish as a secondlanguage (L2). The study focuses on teacher’s reasoning for the use of these tools andthe problems they face in trying to implement the guidelines specified around the useof such tools in the Swedish curriculum. Through interviews with teachers of Swedishas a second language, and phenomenographic analysis, the study shows that mostteachers use these tools as a lexical aid rather than a steppingstone to implementingstrategies which facilitate the symbiotic uses of both the students first and secondlanguages in their linguistic development. This due to the controversial issue of usingmachine translation as a pedagogical tool in second language acquisition. Many of theteachers mentioned the shortcomings of both the tools and their own ability to usethem as a problem in implementing these tools. The teachers also had difficultiesdeciding which resources would be best in helping their students develop theirlanguage skills in the target language. Possible solutions for this problem would befurther training for teachers in the uses of machine translation and in which strategiesto teach their students to make didactic use of translation tools like Google Translate.

Thesis( M.Ed.) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / The purpose of this study was to explore translanguaging patterns in Xitsonga classrooms at high schools in Mkhuhlu, specifically M.L Nkuna High School. In this study, translanguaging patterns were tracked at M.L Nkuna high school, whereby some learners almost have little or no exposure to Xitsonga at home, but they enroll for Xitsonga as Home Language (HL). The language policy of the school provides for Xitsonga as an official HL, yet there are those who speak SiSwati and other languages as their Home Languages. There is high failure rate of Xitsonga Home Language as a subject. The researcher observed lessons and conducted interviews on teachers and learners to develop the case, which may be used to enrich an understanding of other cases that include translanguaging as a pedagogic tool. The study was qualitative within transformative paradigm. The researcher observed that translanguaging was not adequately used within Xitsonga classrooms at M.L Nkuna high school. Moreover, the researcher acknowledge the view that if translanguaging was used properly in classrooms, improvement of learning experience would be realized. Moreover, the researcher views translanguaging as an integral part of the environment of M.L Nkuna High School, in order to bridge the gap between learners in multilingual classrooms. Lastly, there is a need to conduct a survey on language policies in schools

Thesis (M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2022 / This study intended to investigate the effects of language transition and the educational conduit of language acquisition to learner performance in the academic space, especially in learning Natural sciences and technology. Moreover, refraining from the ideologies of globalization innovation and growth using English as a patriarchal language of choice for transformation. The study followed the qualitative approach with Interpretivism humanistic paradigmatic assessment of human behavior to achieve the aim. A purposive sampling strategy was used in selecting only schools in rural settings of Mankweng Circuit, where the ideologies of the fourth industrial revolution, are marginally advocated by cultural and curriculum perspective. Data collection was done through semi-structured interviews and conducting field observation notes. The results analysed with thematic Tech`s coding method indicated the existence of language transition problems for both teachers and grade four learners from a practical perspective of classroom interaction. Also, learners were unable to receive instruction, for the subject natural sciences and technology solely in English. Therefore, teachers had to device new strategies to curb the problem. The presence of trans-languaging problems in Grade 4 supports the need to review the period and method in which these learners are expected to transit from mother tongue learning to learning solely in English. Moreover, there is a need to review the Natural Sciences and Technology Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement document. Furthermore, prescribed textbook need to be reviewed to ensure inclusivity, eliminating language barriers, because language, forms the core part of learning, communicating and generating new ideas for the fourth industrial revolution.

This dissertation is comprised of three teacher-researcher studies carried out with the intention of showing teachers how to move beyond the monolingual paradigm to build upon linguistic and cultural diversity in their everyday practice. The monolingual paradigm is linked to ideologies regarding proficiency in English as the principle means of academic success and citizenship. These studies challenge this traditional way of viewing education by treating learning "as an emerging property of whole persons' legitimate peripheral participation in communities of practice" (Lave, 1991, p. 63), whether these are interest-based communities of practice beyond the classroom or bilingual communities of practice within the classroom. In order to recognize and explain this learning and inform teaching practices, I adopt a social semiotic approach in order to explore how meaning is constructed through language, and also through social interactions with all modern aspects of society, including gesture, image, performance, and music (Kress, 2012; van Leeuwen, 2005). I explore how these interactions allow youth to create diverse identities, beyond immigrant, refugee, limited English proficient, learner, and "other", in three educational arenas: 1) Outside of the classroom in interest-based communities of practice at school, 2) in a secondary dual-language content classroom, and 3) online in an educational transnational telecollaboration project. In all three studies I triangulate quantitative data of student participation and academic achievement with qualitative participant narratives and teacher-researcher observations. What results is insight into the impact of creating multimodal trajectories for youth to perform identities and knowledge as language users in schools, where historically messages of youth's social identities are ascribed in much more constricting ways (Harklau, 2003). Viewing these youth as language users, rather than learners, sends a message to both educators and youth that in education, identity formation trumps skills development, and this can lead to higher expectations, more engaging learning, and opportunities for youth to question race-language educational legacies (Malsbary, 2014; Wenger, 1998).

The aim of the present study is to examine two pupils’ interaction when playing the language learning game Sweet City together on tablet. The game is used for teaching Swedish as a second language and it is designed as an adventure game. Special interest is focused on how the pupils use the opportunities for translating labels into other languages, a function built into the game. Translanguaging, that is, how the pupils’ assembled linguistic resources benefit them in the game, is another focus of the study. The method used was observation, with filming of the pupils´ playing. The material was then analysed with the aid of the Exchange Structure Model. The result showed that playing video games leads to a context-linked conversation with many short exchanges. The pupils are engaged in the game and the cooperation that is required to make progress in it. The pupils take advantage of the potential to translate the game dialogue, but the concrete consequences of that are not clearly detectable.

Superdiversity has reached the EFL classroom and consequently language acquisition’s starting point has changed from one to various native languages. EFL teachers in Sweden meet a broad spectrum of students, varying from nearly bilingual when it comes to English, to students, who have to learn both English and Swedish from scratch. Meanwhile, the Swedish school system aspires to provide all students with an equal education. In addition to the increasingly diverse student body, EFL teachers also face the dilemma of steering documents that can be perceived as favouring the traditional monolingual principle of language teaching, while at the same time EFL teachers are asked to support students’ development into plurilingualists that embrace linguistic and cultural diversity. This thesis seeks to investigate EFL teachers’ reasoning concerning linguistic diversity and inclusion methods in the EFL classroom, as a part of school practice. Furthermore, this thesis aims to give a picture of the current situation in Swedish schools and seeks to find indications of whether further training is required in order to embrace the diversity of the globalized classroom. Mixed methods are used to examine the current situation and the results are based on the answers of 35 EFL teachers in Sweden. The findings indicate that most EFL teachers rarely include students’ L1 in the EFL classroom and that the inclusion of students’ L1 is for many participants related with weaker proficiency in English. Additionally, the necessity of enhancing the benefits of translanguaging pedagogy for all students, and consequently further education for EFL teachers can be identified, because the very important aspect of identity that matters when it comes to school success has hardly been considered.

Sammanfattning Denna uppsats bygger på två teman; det ena temat är flerspråkighet med fokus på translanguaging (att använda flera språk i undervisningen) och det andra temat är kopplat till specialpedagogik där flerspråkiga elever i läs- och skrivsvårigheter står i fokus. Studiens övergripande syfte är att undersöka om principerna om social rättvisa samt social praktik tillämpas i två olika klassrum inom ramen för tvåspråkig undervisning, samt undersöka om lärare anser translanguaging vara en behjälplig metod för flerspråkiga elever i läs- och skrivsvårigheter. Studien använder sig av flera metoder, strukturerad observation kombinerat med fältanteckningar samt semistrukturerade intervjuer. Materialet består av observationsanteckningar och fältanteckningar från två lektioner, samt av enskilda intervjuer med två lärare. Dessa lärarintervjuer är delade i två delar med fokus dels på det språkliga och dels på det specialpedagogiska, därmed innehåller datamaterialet fyra intervjuer. Datamaterialet analyseras utifrån forskningsfrågorna och i analysen används Garcías principer om framgångsrik flerspråkig undervisning. Resultaten visar att translanguaging förekommer i olika utsträckning i dessa klassrum och att metoden tillämpas på olika sätt. Lärarnas attityder till translanguaging speglar observationerna och två olika synsätt går att urskilja. I det ena klassrummet ses användning av flera språk som något naturligt, i det andra dominerar en enspråkighetsnorm samtidigt som mer kunskap kring flerspråkiga elevers språkinlärning efterlyses. Translanguaging som en extra anpassning för flerspråkiga elever i läs- och skrivsvårigheter ses som naturligt av den ena läraren, medan den andra läraren efterlyser mer fakta kring huruvida undervisning i och på flera språk hjälper eller stjälper dessa elever. Dessa resultat visar på ett samband mellan lärares attityd till flerspråkighet och till huruvida flerspråkighet ses som en resurs eller inte.

Syftet med denna studie är att öka kunskapen om förskollärares uppfattningar om möjligheterna att arbeta med integrering av barn med svenska som andraspråk i verksamheten. Den metod som har använts är kvalitativa intervjuer, både enskilda- och par-intervjuer. Resultatet visar på att språket har en stor betydelse i integreringen av barn med svenska som andraspråk och många aktiviteter behöver struktureras annorlunda och anpassas för att skapa samhörighet. Arbetet ser även annorlunda ut beroende på antalet barn med svenska som andraspråk i gruppen. Förskollärarna anser sig ha bristande resurser i arbetet och det är en svårighet att få de barn som inte vill tala det svenska språket att bli integrerade i verksamheten. En av slutsatserna som kan dras i studien är att språket har stor betydelse för barn med svenska som andraspråks integrering i förskolan. Förskollärarna anser sig behöva mer resurser i arbetet än vad som finns idag med barn med svenska som andraspråk. Trots de svårigheter förskollärarna möter är de positivt inställda och ser fler möjligheter än svårigheter.

This degree project focuses on the English classroom in the Swedish language introduction program, more specifically on the use of translanguaging as a teaching tool for newly arrived students. This thesis is an attempt to better understand the classroom dynamics in the program during English lessons by answering the following questions: What are the challenges of teaching English in the language introduction program in Sweden? What do teachers think about translanguaging as a teaching tool in the language introduction classes? Is using it taking advantage of pre-existing knowledge? The research was conducted with three teachers from one school in central Stockholm, all coming from different socio-cultural backgrounds and having varying degrees of experience as teachers. The data was gathered through classroom observations and interviews, which allowed for triangulation, thus offering a better understanding and a deeper view of their teaching practices. Three lessons were observed, one with each teacher. These observations were conducted prior to the interviews, to facilitate the comparison between the teaching styles of each teacher. Doing so allowed for more exhaustive and informative interviews. Although the qualitative nature of the data does not allow for the results to be generalizable, triangulation does give the results legitimacy and transferability. The results of this research will be beneficial in understanding how to tackle a multilingual environment, given that that is the direction in which Sweden is heading.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att se hur Garcías (2009a: 318ff) principer om social rättvisa och social träning kan tillämpas i grupper med flera olika förstaspråk. I min studie undersöker jag hur en lärare förhåller sig till dessa två strategiska principer vid arbetet med flerspråkighet som resurs i en femteklass. Jag har använt mig av fallstudie och metodologisk triangulering, en metodkombination bestående av observation, enkät och intervju.   Resultatet visar att lärarens arbete till stor del tar fasta på Garcías två strategiska principer. Läraren arbetar mycket för att elevernas attityd till varandras språk ska vara positiv och uppmuntrande. Skolan har ett flerspråkigt perspektiv med fokus på positiv förstärkning men det saknas utsmyckningar i skolans lokaler och litteratur på andra språk. Läraren arbetar aktivt med att integrera elevernas förstaspråk i undervisningen och hennes arbete har spridit sig till andra lärare men hon saknar mer samarbete med modersmålslärarna. Alla elever använder flera språk under en dag och har utvecklat sina språkkunskaper under läsåret. Föräldrarna till eleverna är mer insatta i sina barns skolarbete nu, detta tack vare hennes fokus på flerspråkighet. En svårighet är att alla språk inte har minst två talare i klassen vilket gör att alla elever inte kan använda sitt förstaspråk för att skapa ”sense-making”.