The purpose of this study is to find whether there is any truth in the thesis that adopted children from abroad is in greater need of special support, in particular regarding factors that might inhibit the language development that may cause language problems. To achieve knowledge for this study, the methods have been to seek and analyze literature that discusses theories about language development and language socialization. To understand if theory and reality is cohesive, two interviews was conducted with special teachers that have had experiences teaching adopted children, analyzes of the results contra literature has been somewhat important and necessary. To ensure the reliability the interviews was recorded on tape and later transcribed. The results from literature studies indicates that adopted children are more likely to be in need of special support in school due to factors concerning, among other things, adaptation difficulties, language progress and identity. Overall, language progress is depended on children’s total progress that includes physical, emotional and psychological condition. The results of the interviews agree in many aspects and outline the importance of giving such adopted children correct and individual support. The conclusions of this study is that adopted children from abroad can, in some cases, be in need of special support in school, but not necessarily just because they are adopted. Language socialization explains how a language is learned and used and in that sense, it’s very important to be aware of the responsibility you have as a teacher to overview large spread of individuals and their progress.

The overall aim of this thesis is to survey and analyse young peoples’ geographical movements, and illustrate the similarities and differences that exist between different individuals.. The aim of the thesis is also to examine and discuss youth’s attitudes and motivation for different forms of geographical mobility. The youth focused on in this project reside in Norrland. The first phase, Mapping of the Geographical Movement of Youth, was carried out through the use of a questionnaire, sent to graduating students in upper secondary school. The second phase, Umeå  Students Abroad, was carried out by interviewing Umeå students who had either completed or were about to begin a period of foreign exchange. The third phase, Emigrants from Sweden, is based on statistics acquired from Sweden Statistics’ (SCB) and from the TOPSWING database. Home: The starting point of this thesis is the conception of “home”. The choice of path to take in life, and where students wanted to live in the future had significance for how they examined the choice between moving and staying; and the role of the home town in a longer perspective as to how the students viewed Umeå. Away: It is not just the place that a person comes from that says something about who she is, but also the place where she is going and the way in which she takes herself there. Many of the upper secondary school students that took part in the questionnaire had been abroad one or more times. Furthermore, many of the students would like to travel abroad again. At the same time, it can be said that there are also young people that do not have extensive experiences in travelling to other countries. Somewhere between home and away: The study shows that students may have very different views of their time abroad. The Tourist Student is one who chooses his/her destination in order to fulfil certain criteria and then mainly stays in the university town, “taking one day at a time.” He or she does not have a thought-out strategy for how the stay abroad should be carried out. The Travelling Student is the student who searches for a particular destination and later also has the ambition to get to know the country and the people that live there. The travelling student can be said to have a thought-out strategy for how to make the most out of his or her time in a foreign country. When away becomes home – or when home becomes home again: The interview study shows that to live abroad or to live in Sweden acquired a different meaning if you had a family. To have a family gives rise to a reason why one may choose to move back to Sweden. On the other hand there were also students for whom the home country was not important. A large portion of those who emigrated from Sweden during the study period moved back again. For those with a college or university education, a few years abroad can be a part of their choice of life path. It is something that one wants and from a career prospective, possibly should do. Rooted, rootless or restless young? The rooted are those who mainly live their entire lives in one place. The rootless represent a mobile life, where there is no home base, instead they create new ones as life passes. I would like to characterise most of the young people that in one way or another is featured in my study as restless. The restless combine, in different ways, the characteristics of both the rooted and the rootless. They are not unwilling to move, within the country, as well as to other countries, but they are at the same time rooted in their home town or in their home country.

The purpose of the study was to investigate how teaching for transfer of learning was built into a month-long outdoor experiential education course within a semester long study abroad program and to address the extent to which student perception of learning gains could be transferred for use in future courses and for later in life. From a program planning and evaluation perspective it was also important to determine what types of activities and experiences within the course were instrumental in helping students to develop concepts and skills that could be transferred to life after the course. This research quantifies the frequency and consistency of teaching for transfer events using a tool based on research by a social psychologist (Haskell, 2001) and an outdoor experiential educator. (Gass, 1990) Student perception of learning gains were measured at the end of the course with the SALG assessment tool. (Seymour, Wiese, Hunter, & Daffinrud, 2000) This research is an ethnographic case study of an expedition field course (EFC) entitled Human Rights and the Environment: Rivers, Dams and Local Struggles at the Institute for Sustainable Development Studies (ISDSI) based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which included intensive language instruction, expedition field studies, and leadership opportunities to enable students to study the relationship between culture and ecology. Students studied problems of a global scale by learning about local issues with the intent that the program at ISDSI aims to “develop committed leaders for a sustainable future”. (Ritchie, 2006, p. 1) It is a response to the call for educational programs in the field of outdoor and experiential learning to examine the benefits and outcomes of course offerings. (Ewert, 1996; Hattie, Marsh, Neill and Richards, 1997; Holman and McAvoy, 2005) Through a qualitative look at observation data, recommendations were made to increase the capacity for this ISDSI course to promote the transfer of learning. Some suggestions include expanding the use of systems thinking and examples of individuals who are masters of transfer thinking into course design, heightening culture and ecology connections through increased use of guided facilitation, integrating individual goal setting, and expanding internal assessment and staff development possibilities.

Abstract Introduction Boarders are shrinking, the world becomes more internationalized and the globalization of society has resulted in increasing demands on universities to adjust their education to the labor market. A growing interest among Swedish students to study abroad and re-ceive an international experience has increased as well. The changes in the environment have affected organizations’ recruitment processes and how they manage their human resources. Problem Today an ordinary education is not enough, you need to have something unique, some-thing that makes you stand out in the crowd. As a student you are encouraged to study abroad, and many view this as a possibility to broaden their competence. However, it is not known how future employers value and compensate this experience. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to examine how university studies abroad are valued when recruiting white-collar workers. The ambition is to provide prospective and current stu-dents with an understanding of the employers’ view of the subject. Method The empirical data have been gathered by using a qualitative approach and face-to-face interviews have been conducted with the human resource manager at eleven medium- and large-sized organizations, located in Norrköping, Linköping, and Jönköping. Conclusions We have come to the conclusion that it is difficult to determine specific competences that are preferable in the selection of white-collar workers, however the candidate’s unique competences are somehow reflected in the personality. Organizations view the study abroad experience as rewarding for the candidates personal development and ma-turity. The university study abroad experience might not be valued higher in the future, but the more knowledge and information available, the larger are the benefits for both the organizations and the candidates.

Introduction Boarders are shrinking, the world becomes more internationalized and the globalization of society has resulted in increasing demands on universities to adjust their education to the labor market. A growing interest among Swedish students to study abroad and receive an international experience has increased as well. The changes in the environment have affected organizations’ recruitment processes and how they manage their human resources. Problem Today an ordinary education is not enough, you need to have something unique, something that makes you stand out in the crowd. As a student you are encouraged to study abroad, and many view this as a possibility to broaden their competence. However, it is not known how future employers value and compensate this experience. Purpose The purpose of this thesis is to examine how university studies abroad are valued when recruiting white-collar workers. The ambition is to provide prospective and current stu-dents with an understanding of the employers’ view of the subject. Method The empirical data have been gathered by using a qualitative approach and face-to-face interviews have been conducted with the human resource manager at eleven medium- and large-sized organizations, located in Norrköping, Linköping, and Jönköping. Conclusions We have come to the conclusion that it is difficult to determine specific competences that are preferable in the selection of white-collar workers, however the candidate’s unique competences are somehow reflected in the personality. Organizations view the study abroad experience as rewarding for the candidates personal development and ma-turity. The university study abroad experience might not be valued higher in the future, but the more knowledge and information available, the larger are the benefits for both the organizations and the candidates.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka vilka hot och risker svenska officerare upplever underutlandstjänstgöring. Detta för att kanske i framtiden kunna förhindra att officerare drabbas avPTSD(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), eftersom en ökning av dessa fall på senare tid har noterats.Metoden som har använts är kvalitativ intervjustudie där författaren går på djupet för att skapa sig enförståelse för den intervjuades värld. Med inriktning av upplevelser kommer uppsatsen att behandlafysiska och psykiska upplevelser under utlandstjänstgöring samt om dessa hade kunnat förebyggas.Deltagarna i intervjustudien är fyra officerare, samtliga män, med varierande bakgrund och samtligaarbetade vid intervjutillfället inom Försvarsmakten.Resultaten av denna studie och tidigare forskning är att upplevelser av Svenskars hot och risker, kanriskera att leda till PTSD. Resultaten visade också att upplevelser är skiftande och individuella menäven att det finns likheter i upplevelserna om utlandstjänstgöringen har genomförts på sammageografiska plats. PTSD kan förhindras genom kunskap i hur stress motverkas och förhindras. / The purpose with this paper is to examine officers experience of threats and risks during serviceabroad. This because maybe in the future be able to create an embryo to prevent officers to developPTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), since an increase of PTSD cases has been noticed.The method that is used in this paper is qualitative interview study where the author is trying to get adeeper understanding.The paper is to examine physical and psychological experiences of threats and risks during serviceabroad and if it would be possible to prevent.The participants in the study are four officers all male, with different backgrounds and all wasworking in the Swedish army at the time of the study.The results of this paper and previous research have found that experiences of threats and risks canlead to PTSD. The results also show that experiences are different and individual and that PTSD canbe prevented through knowledge of stress.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att presentera bakomliggande orsaker som kan påverka tjänstvilligheten att genomföra internationella militära insatser. Uppsatsen bygger på en enkätundersökning med fem kategorier människor, som antingen innehar anställning, eller är anhöriga till dem som är anställda av Försvarsmakten. Dessutom har intervjuer med anhöriga genomförts för att få en djupare insikt och förståelse. Resultatet av undersökningen skall svara på vilka faktorer som påverkar tjänstvilligheten, samt därigenom ge förslag på områden där FM och dess uppdragsgivare kan intensifiera arbetet för att göra den internationella miljön mer attraktiv. Utredningen kan ses som ett komplement till Veteransoldatutredningen som genomförts vid Försvarsdepartementet under 2008. / The purpose with this essay is to present the reasons and explanations behind the decision to go or not to go on missions abroad and how obliging you can be. The essay relay on an examine of opinions due out of five categories of people, who either have an employment with or relative who is in connections with one who have an employment with the Swedish Defence Forces. Besides that two interviews have been conducted to get to know the thoughts or decisions behind for the relatives. The result is to give answer on what the main reasons are for the willingness of service abroad and what the Swedish Defence Forces and their principal can do about it to promote foreign service further more. The essay can be seen as a parallel investigation as the Veteran policies which have been conducted by the Defence ministry in 2008.

This study investigates how 4 newly admitted Chinese international graduate students participate in classroom discussions at a Canadian university. This qualitative research provides rich descriptions of their backgrounds and classroom participation, as well as their voices related to their classroom experiences. Framed by Language Socialization Theory, the study examines the classroom contexts where the students are socialized, particularly the social relations in the classroom that influence the 4 students’ participation. The study also investigates the role of the 4 students’ agency in the negotiation of access and participation in classroom discussions, as well as their identity formation in classroom communities. The findings of this research highlight the co-constructed and bi-directional nature of language socialization. The 4 students’ classroom experiences are not only shaped by their educational, cultural and social backgrounds, but are also jointly constructed by local contextual factors in Western classrooms. Pedagogical implications are also discussed.

This study investigates how 4 newly admitted Chinese international graduate students participate in classroom discussions at a Canadian university. This qualitative research provides rich descriptions of their backgrounds and classroom participation, as well as their voices related to their classroom experiences. Framed by Language Socialization Theory, the study examines the classroom contexts where the students are socialized, particularly the social relations in the classroom that influence the 4 students’ participation. The study also investigates the role of the 4 students’ agency in the negotiation of access and participation in classroom discussions, as well as their identity formation in classroom communities. The findings of this research highlight the co-constructed and bi-directional nature of language socialization. The 4 students’ classroom experiences are not only shaped by their educational, cultural and social backgrounds, but are also jointly constructed by local contextual factors in Western classrooms. Pedagogical implications are also discussed.

The purpose of this dissertation was to analyze the impact of international experiential education on life choices, specifically those related to career and educational goals. This was accomplished through two main phases of research. In the first phase, a web-based survey was used to explore the question of whether international experiential education did, in fact, impact life choices. Responses from this initial phase were used to identify a purposive sample of eight respondents with whom telephone interviews were conducted in the second phase of the study. The goal of the interviews was to determine, for those who indicated that their life choices had been impacted by the abroad experience, when and why it had happened. The evaluation was done by applying Mezirow’s transformative learning theory to the analysis. The self-reported responses indicated that there was an impact on life choices related to educational and career goals in almost 80 percent of the 74 survey respondents. These data were used as the foundation for the second phase of the study, which examined the catalysts for, and the process of, transformation through the lens of transformative learning theory. Almost all respondents indicated that the international experience had transformed their perspectives on their identity and purpose in life. Seven out of eight respondents discussed how they had gained an understanding of the fact that where one is born defines his or her perspective. One’s sociocultural environment defines who one is and how he or she sees the world. The international experience allows a person to see themselves through the eyes of others. While the timing and specifics of the catalysts varied, each of these seven had gone through the phases of transformation--disorienting dilemma, critical reflection, changed frame of reference--with some relation to the abroad experience.