Syftet med vår studie är att undersöka vilka faktorer som orsakar talängslan i engelska enligt sex mellanstadielärare från tre olika kommuner, samt vilka strategier de använder för att stödja elever som inte vågar att uttrycka sig på engelska vid kommunikativa tillfällen i klassen.  I intervjuer med de deltagande lärarna visade det sig att de är medvetna om olika faktorer som bidrar till talängslan i engelskämnet, såsom klassrumsklimatet, gruppdynamiken, elevernas personligheter och relationen lärare-elev. De deltagande lärarna använder sinsemellan likartade strategier för att stödja eleverna, som att skapa ett tryggt klassrumsklimat, ge eleverna chans att förbereda sig innan presentationer, inkludera olika roliga lekar och talaktiviteter, ge gradvis träning i små grupper med fokus på tryggt kamratskap i början, samt att vara en stödjande och uppmuntrande lärare.

This essay deals with the principle of communication as phrased in section 17 of the Swedish administrative act. According to this section administrative authorities are obliged to inform a party involved in an administrative case of all material which has been added to the case by somebody else and is of importance for the decision and then give the party an opportunity to comment on it. The purpose of this essay is to examine how courts evaluate the way administrative authorities apply this rule. How do the authorities fail in their obligation to communicate and what do the courts say about this? The essay includes a description of the details of the law and what preparatory work and doctrine say about it. The essay includes an analysis of thirteen court cases. The courts were critical of the application of the rule in a majority of cases. The analysis showed different kinds of deviations from the obligation to communicate. The courts only accepted minor deviations. In most cases where the authorities had failed in their communication the courts reversed the decisions. The conclusion of the analysis is that the courts are very strict when they evaluate how administrative authorities apply their obligation to communicate. / I inledningen till denna uppsats görs en liknelse mellan det som kallas kommunikationsprincipen och boken Processen av Franz Kafka där huvudpersonen upplever motsatsen till allt det som denna princip innebär. Uppsatsen behandlar kommunikationsskyldigheten som den regleras i 17 § förvaltningslagen. Det är en skyldighet som förvaltningsmyndigheter har gentemot enskilda och som är mycket viktig för rättssäkerheten och allmänhetens förtroende för myndigheter. En enskild kan vara inblandad i ett ärende hos en förvaltningsmyndighet. Det kan till exempel handla om att en person söker bygglov eller att en person som äger en restaurang riskerar att få sitt serveringstillstånd indraget. I alla sådana ärenden som innebär myndighetsutövning mot enskild måste myndigheten informera den som är part i ärendet om alla de uppgifter som tillförts ärendet av någon annan än honom/henne själv och som har betydelse för utgången i ärendet. Det kan handla om muntliga eller skriftliga uppgifter, uppgifter som tillförts ärendet inifrån eller utifrån myndigheten. Parten ska också ges tillfälle att komma med synpunkter på dessa uppgifter. Den enskilda individen ska inte själv behöva undersöka om nya uppgifter kommit in. Det är myndighetens ansvar att se till att den enskilda får dessa uppgifter.   Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur domstolarna bedömer att förvaltningsmyndigheterna tillämpar denna regel. Vilka brister finns i myndigheternas tillämpning av sin kommunikationsskyldighet och hur bedömer domstolarna dessa brister? Vad beror bristerna på?   För att undersöka detta analyserades totalt 13 rättsfall. Där förekom olika typer av brister i kommunikationen, muntliga yttranden från t.ex  arbetsgivarrepresentanter i tjänstetillsättningsärenden kommunicerades inte. I ett par fall informerade myndigheterna inte om uppgifter de själva tillfört ärendet. Orsakerna till bristerna kunde förutom försummelse och bristande rutiner vara feltolkningar av lagen. I ett par fall kunde man misstänka att myndigheterna avsiktligt avstod att meddela vissa uppgifter. Domstolarna godtog bara mycket små avvikelser från kommunikationsskyldigheten. I de allra flesta av fallen bedömde domstolarna att bristerna var så allvarliga att besluten upphävdes och återförvisades till lägre instans för ny bedömning Analysen visar att domstolarna är mycket stränga i sin bedömning av förvaltningsmyndigheternas tillämpning av regeln om kommunikationsskyldighet.

The syllabus for upper secondary school states that interaction and communication are important for students’ oral production skills development. Also, the contemporary view on learning is that people learn a language by using it. This study examines how students and a teacher experience the ways in which classmates influence each other’s willingness to speak English in the classroom, if they believe it affects their oral production skills development, and moreover whether they think that some sort of ability grouping could support oral production skills development. The study was carried out among a total of eight students and one teacher at an upper secondary school located in Southern Sweden, using a qualitative methodology based on personal interviews. Four English 6 students belong to the natural science program, and four English 7 Cambridge Advanced English students belong to various academic programs. The teacher teaches both courses. The results showed that classmates is the factor in the classroom which affects students’ willingness to speak English the most in their different language proficiency, personality, attitude, focus, willingness to communicate in English, and relationship with each other. The students experience that these differences between them often affect their WTC negatively and thereby their oral production skills development. They want to interact with other students who are at their level or slightly above them, who want to speak English, who share the communication space, and who take the lessons seriously. Therefore, the students and teacher have a positive attitude toward some form of ability grouping in all English courses.

Under de senaste åren har det skett en integrering av informations- och kommunikationsteknik (IKT), exempelvis datorer, i såväl samhället som i skolans undervisning. Syftet med den aktuella litteraturstudien är att undersöka vilka samtalsaktiviteter som eleverna deltar i då de använder bärbara datorer eller handdatorer under matematiklektionerna, samt att belysa vilka möjligheter och hinder som framträder. Som teoretisk utgångspunkt ligger ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärandet där språket, den miljö som eleven befinner sig i och de redskap som används beskrivs som betydelsefulla aspekter för lärandet. I läroplanen förtydligas att elever ska ges möjlighet att delta i kommunikativa samspel och att modern teknologi ska användas så att eleven kan inhämta, lära och utveckla sin förmåga att kommunicera matematik. Tidigare forskning kring matematik visar att elevers kollaborativa lärande och användande av IKT främjar elevernas matematiska kunskaper och delaktighet i samtalet. Litteraturstudiens resultat visar att elever i huvudsak deltar i muntliga samtal och att deras kollaborativa lärande och matematiska förståelse ökar då de använder datorer. Handdatorer beskrivs dessutom kunna möjliggöra för en ökad mobilitet vilket medför att elevernas i större utsträckning kan välja med vem de vill samtala. / In recent years there has been an integration of information and communication technologies (ICT), such as computers, in society as well as in education. The purpose of the current literature survey is to examine the communication between students when they use a laptop or a handheld computer during math class, as well as to highlight the opportunities and obstacles that appear. As a base for this work a sociocultural perspective on learning is used where the language, the pupils studying environment and the tools that are used, are important aspects of learning. The curriculum states that the students should be given the opportunity to participate in communicative interactions and that modern technology should be used so that students can obtain, learn and develop their ability to communicate mathematics. Earlier research in mathematics shows that the student’s collaborative learning and the use of ICT promotes the pupils mathematical knowledge and involvement in the conversation. The result of the survey shows that students mainly participate in oral communication and their collaborative learning and mathematical understanding increase when they use a computer. Another conclusion from the survey is that handheld computers allow mobility, which improves the students opportunities to choose who they want to talk to.

The main purpose of this research is to investigate the beliefs of trainee teachers regarding generating English language learners' Willingness to Communicate (WTC), the relationship between their beliefs and practice and the influence of teaching practicum to their beliefs. This study took place in the Indonesian context in which EFL trainee teachers' belief-practice relationships regarding learners' WTC is still an understudied domain. Thus, this study was designed to fill this gap in current research. Three Indonesian EFL trainee teachers participated in this study during their teaching practicum. The study is within an Interpretive paradigm and utilizes a case study approach. Methods of data collection included classroom observation and semi-structured interviews. The findings showed that trainee teachers' learning experience significantly influenced their beliefs and governed their teaching. Some of the trainee teachers' beliefs were clearly manifested in their actual teaching (e.g. using explicit approaches particularly in teaching grammar). Other beliefs (e.g. creating interactive classroom activities) were not demonstrated. Several intrinsic factors such as trainee teachers' English proficiency level and confidence, and extrinsic factors such as large class size and students' responses were found to affect the relationship between trainee teachers' beliefs and practice. Most of their beliefs (e.g. learners' language knowledge as the key factor to communicate in English) remained unchanged after the practicum. Other beliefs, such as the need to use English and BI proportionally were not enacted in their teaching practice during the classroom observations. This study provides important implications for initial English language teacher education programmes, teacher professional development and for the field of teacher cognition and WTC.

This study examined how employees at a Florida medical facility felt regarding the upcoming change to a paperless system and whether a training program administered by the organization was effective in reducing anxiety, increasing understanding of the need for the change, increasing employee confidence using the new computer system, changing employee perceptions of the new system, and helping employees view the change as an organizational improvement. The results indicated that the training program marginally reduced anxiety, but did not significantly increase user confidence or understanding of the need for the change. While participants viewed the change as an organizational improvement, this view was only superficial. When means were examined by occupation, age group and gender, pre-training results indicated that the medical staff and older participants exhibited the most anxiety, understood the reason for the change the least and had the lowest confidence in their ability to use the practice management system. These same participants appeared to benefit the most from the training program. They reported reduced anxiety and increased confidence using the innovation. Post-training, younger participants and those who identified their occupation as "other" indicated increased anxiety levels and slight reductions in their confidence using the practice management system. The medical staff and older participants appeared to benefit the most from the training program.

Part of the seemingly magical nature of study abroad programs is the imagined community of target language speakers that learners will be able to speak to and connect with, and whose culture they will be invited to join. Far too often, however, study abroad sojourners struggle to actually communicate in the second language (L2), therefore hindering their opportunities to connect with native speakers of the language. This phenomenon is especially salient in short-term study abroad programs where students may have little time for meaningful engagement in the complex activities of social, cultural, and linguistic acclimation. These difficulties are magnified when the increasingly popular short-term study abroad program is a "sheltered" or "island" program (Allen, 2010), in which students take classes designed by faculty at their home institution with peers with whom they share a first language. In response to this situation, this dissertation critically examines the willingness to communicate construct (MacIntyre, Dörnyei, Clément, & Noels, 1998) in the context of a short-term study abroad program in Valladolid, Spain with the goal of understanding why some students eagerly engage with the second language and culture, others do to a lesser degree, and some virtually not at all. This investigation employs a multiple case study approach utilizing ethnographic data collection methods and a sociocultural lens to analyze the construct of willingness to communicate. Data sources include interviews, journals, language contact reports, observations, proficiency assessments, and audio recordings from group activities designed to increase learners' willingness to communicate. Recursive, qualitative analysis of the experiences of three students suggests that experiences, goals, and motivations vary widely across students, and across time, even in just five weeks. Furthermore, analysis suggests that willingness to communicate in a study abroad context does not always align with previous research examining the construct in other settings. Pedagogical and implications for future study abroad program design to foster connections and communication in the target language are also explored.

<p>The purpose of this essay is to investigate pupils’ attitudes towards spoken English and towards speaking in front of their friends, and how these attitudes appear to be related to their oral communication and communicative behaviour in the classroom. The material was collected by video taping two classes, a questionnaire in these two classes and by interviewing their teacher.</p><p>The results show that motivation and anxiety are psychological factors that play a significant role in the learning process. Attitudes, both towards the target language and towards their own production affect pupils’ willingness to communicate, and consequently their oral production in different tasks. The larger the group is, the more anxious they become. In order to motivate pupils, a variety of exercises is needed, where the topic is of great importance to awaken their interest for communication. The teacher also needs to circulate in the classroom to avoid a situation where pupils switch to their first language. Otherwise, pupils appear to code-switch as soon as an opportunity presents itself, which was observed in the analyses of recorded lessons.</p>

The news media serve as the Canadian public’s main source of information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This thesis examines the ways in which the Canadian media portray the conflict, through a lens of Habermas’ (1962) public sphere theory, Foucault’s (1926 – 1984) ideas on discourse, and Rawls’ (1921 – 2002) conceptions of equality and justice. Building on these theories, Noelle-Neumann’s Spiral of Silence theory (1974), Said’s Orientalism (1978), and d’Arcy’s (1913 – 1983) conception of the right to communicate are examined to arrive at a framework for analyzing Canadian news. Looking at ideological representations, power manifestations, issue framing, and social responsibility within the media, this thesis explores whether the Canadian media portray the conflict in such a way that fosters a downward spiral of opinions within the Canadian public. A Critical Discourse Analysis of coverage in two national English Canadian newspapers, The Globe and Mail and the National Post, during three separate timeframes of increased violence in Israel and Palestine between 2000 and 2009 reveals that newspaper representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are often entrenched in predefined ways of portraying the Other, fostering an Israeli-Palestinian spiral of silence in Canadian media.

The news media serve as the Canadian public’s main source of information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This thesis examines the ways in which the Canadian media portray the conflict, through a lens of Habermas’ (1962) public sphere theory, Foucault’s (1926 – 1984) ideas on discourse, and Rawls’ (1921 – 2002) conceptions of equality and justice. Building on these theories, Noelle-Neumann’s Spiral of Silence theory (1974), Said’s Orientalism (1978), and d’Arcy’s (1913 – 1983) conception of the right to communicate are examined to arrive at a framework for analyzing Canadian news. Looking at ideological representations, power manifestations, issue framing, and social responsibility within the media, this thesis explores whether the Canadian media portray the conflict in such a way that fosters a downward spiral of opinions within the Canadian public. A Critical Discourse Analysis of coverage in two national English Canadian newspapers, The Globe and Mail and the National Post, during three separate timeframes of increased violence in Israel and Palestine between 2000 and 2009 reveals that newspaper representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are often entrenched in predefined ways of portraying the Other, fostering an Israeli-Palestinian spiral of silence in Canadian media.