Young adult literature is enjoyed by both adolescents and adults. This genre of literature is often contemporary and tends to deal with real life issues, for example cultural and social aspects of young people’s lives. Such social issues can be, for example discrimination and racism, topics highly relevant to discuss in the Swedish upper secondary English classroom. This essay performs a didactic literary analysis of All American Boys, a young adult novel dealing with racism and police brutality in the USA. The primary focus in this essay is arguing for how literature, specifically, All American Boys, can be used to promote students’ critical thinking and intercultural awareness in the Swedish upper secondary school English classroom. The literary analysis of All American Boys found that the novel’s dual narrative offers a powerful and complex insight to social issues, making it suitable a suitable material to use in the Swedish upper secondary English classroom. The dual narrative in the novel can help students develop, not only reading comprehension in English, but also intercultural competence, as well as an opportunity to practice their critical thinking skills, specifically through working with comprehension constructors.

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Critical thinking (CT) is one of the desirable skills to be taught in school. It is not only considered an important 21st century skill for living in a democratic society, but also important for a deep understanding of domain-specific content. Despite its importance, studies show that students often lack the ability to think critically. Moreover, there is a lack of clear theory, supported by empirical findings, for developing domain-specific teaching-learning sequences to promote students’ CT. This makes teaching CT challenging for teachers. To address this gap, the presented study has two goals: to identify design principles for instruction that promotes critical thinking and to develop an exemplary instructional unit in particle physics on this basis. Particle physics is chosen because of its abstractness and complexity, as well as student interest in the subject. Another basis is a definition of CT that can be readily applied in the context of teaching physics. For this purpose, Halpern’s classification of CT strategies and their measurable outcomes is used. Furthermore, a distinction is made between general CT skills that provide a framework for CT, such as understanding the need to define terms precisely, and domain-specific CT skills that represent the application of general CT skills in a specific domain and require domain-specific expertise, such as distinguishing between the concepts of mass and matter in the context of particle physics. This study examines the development of both general and domain-specific CT. The teaching-learning sequences about antimatter (10 to 12 lessons) are developed for students in grades 10, 11, and 12 using the Design-Based Research (DBR) approach. Analysis of the data from pilot studies provides guidance for further development of the antimatter course and the creation of a teacher package that supports teachers both methodologically and in terms of content when implementing the antimatter course. In the main study, the course is implemented in 3 classes in different federal states of Germany. To evaluate the effectiveness of the course in promoting students’ CT, the perspectives of students as well as of teachers are examined. To evaluate the effectiveness of the course from the students’ perspective, the video and audio data, the students’ works, students’ interviews or questionnaires are inductively analyzed using the constant comparative method to identify the students’ learning processes. The results show that students apply content knowledge, apply CT skills, and demonstrate a disposition toward CT. This corresponds to a developed CT. Further analysis is conducted to relate the design skeleton facets of the course (materials, activity structure, and participant structure) to the learning processes, using the conjecture map framework to support the results from the constant comparative method. A Particle Physics Critical Thinking (PPCT) test is also developed to triangulate the results. The results of administering the PPCT test as a posttest are consistent with the qualitative findings on the effectiveness of the course. A questionnaire is developed for teachers to elicit their perceptions of the relevance, practicality, and effectiveness of the course in promoting students’ CT. The results show a positive perception. Combining all the results shows that the antimatter course is an effective course in promoting CT. The design principles applied contribute to the theory of designing effective CT instruction. Furthermore, data analysis reveals the challenges students face in critical thinking and provides teachers with heuristics for designing a domain-specific course. Based on the findings, a model for teaching CT is developed. This work leads to implications for teaching, in addition to other research questions. These include, for example, developing domain-specific CT instruction using 6 principles empirically tested in this study, considering heuristics for designing domain-specific CT instruction, and using the course materials for the purpose of developing CT. In addition, the PPCT can guide the development of other domain-specific CT tests.:Abstract i Kurzfassung iii Table of Contents v 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Importance of critical thinking and its teaching 1 1.2 Research goals 2 1.3 Structure of the work 4 Part I Theory 7 2 What is critical thinking? 9 2.1 Definition of critical thinking 9 2.2 Commonalities between different definitions 20 2.3 Nature of critical thinking: general and domain-specific 28 2.3.1 Nature of critical thinking in physics 30 2.4 Students’ challenges in critical thinking 32 2.4.1 Verbal reasoning skill 33 2.4.2 Argument analysis skill 33 2.4.3 Thinking as hypothesis testing skill 34 2.4.4 Likelihood and uncertainty analysis skill 35 2.4.5 Decision making and problem solving skill 36 2.5 Teachers’ perspective on critical thinking and teaching critical thinking 37 2.5.1 Teachers’ perspective on critical thinking 38 2.5.2 Teachers’ perspective on teaching critical thinking 41 2.5.3 Rationale for developing supportive materials for teachers 41 3 Teaching critical thinking 43 3.1 Challenges of teaching critical thinking 44 3.1.1 Teaching critical thinking as a general or domain-specific skill . 45 3.1.2 Teaching critical thinking implicitly or explicitly 46 3.1.3 Valuing disposition alongside teaching critical thinking 48 3.2 Design of critical thinking (CT) instruction 49 3.2.1 First component of CT instruction: Critical thinking model 50 3.2.2 Second component of CT instruction: Appropriate instructional design theory 52 3.2.3 A proposal for CT instruction 56 3.3 Evaluation of CT instruction 57 3.3.1 Evaluation criteria 58 3.3.2 Evaluation approaches 63 4 Design-based research 69 4.1 Design-based research (DBR) and its features 69 4.2 Conducting DBR in education: Design and evaluation of an instruction 71 4.2.1 Analysis and exploration phase 73 4.2.2 Design and construction phase 74 4.2.3 Evaluation and reflection phase 79 4.3 Summary 89 Part II Empirical Study 91 5 Research questions 93 6 Design and methodology of the study 95 6.1 Design and development of instruction according to Design-based research 96 6.1.1 Analysis and exploration phase 97 6.1.2 Design and construction phase 100 6.1.3 Evaluation and reflection phase 111 6.2 Evaluation of effectiveness of instruction 114 6.2.1 Constant comparative method for qualitative evaluation 114 6.2.2 Description of instruments for quantitative evaluation 119 6.3 Relating design skeleton facets to valued outcomes 133 6.4 Description of instrument for evaluating teachers’ perspective 134 7 Evaluation of effectiveness of the antimatter course 139 7.1 Participants 139 7.2 Evaluation of structure fidelity of implementation 141 7.2.1 Adherence 141 7.2.2 Duration 145 7.3 Results of qualitative data analysis 146 7.3.1 Likelihood and uncertainty analysis skill in the positron discovery context 147 7.3.2 Argument analysis skill in the Big Bang context 162 7.3.3 Verbal reasoning in the context of analysing the scenario of scene of “Illuminati” 173 7.3.4 Thinking as hypothesis testing in the antimatter trap context 184 7.4 Conclusion on the effectiveness of antimatter course 200 7.5 Development of critical thinking skills: a model proposal 202 7.5.1 Model proposal on developing likelihood and uncertainty analysis skill 202 7.5.2 Model proposal on developing argument analysis skill 204 7.5.3 Model proposal on developing verbal reasoning skill 205 7.5.4 Model proposal on developing thinking as hypothesis testing skill 206 7.5.5 An underlying model on developing critical thinking 207 8 Relating design skeleton facets to valued outcomes 213 8.1 Design skeleton facets of antimatter course 213 8.1.1 Materials 214 8.1.2 Activity structure 214 8.1.3 Participant structure 215 8.2 Relation of design skeleton facets to valued outcomes 218 8.2.1 Materials 218 8.2.2 Activity structure 220 8.2.3 Participant structure 221 8.3 Conclusion and discussion 225 9 Teacher perception of the antimatter course 227 9.1 Participants 227 9.2 Perceived relevance 228 9.3 Perceived practicality 232 9.4 Perceived effectiveness 234 9.5 Conclusion and discussion 239 10 Triangulation of findings 241 10.1 Participants 241 10.2 Evaluation of general critical thinking skills 242 10.3 Evaluation of domain-specific critical thinking skills 244 10.4 Conclusion and discussion 244 Part III Conclusion 247 11 Summary and discussion 249 11.1 Empirical study 249 11.2 Contribution to theory 253 11.2.1 Theory of instructional design 254 11.2.2 Evaluation of critical thinking instruction 256 11.2.3 Model on developing critical thinking 257 11.3 Limitations 257 12 Outlook 259 12.1 Implications for teaching critical thinking 259 12.2 Future research 263 Appendix 265 Research instruments 267 A Student information and prior knowledge questionnaire 267 B Particle Physics Critical Thinking (PPCT) test 270 C Student questionnaire 289 D Teacher information 290 E Teacher questionnaire 291 Antimatter course materials 292 F Worksheet 1: Critical Thinking 292 G Worksheet 2: Illuminati 295 H Worksheet 3: Anderson’s cloud chamber photograph 296 I Worksheet 4: Big Bang 298 J Worksheet 5: Search systematically 299 K Worksheet 6: Trapping antimatter 302 L Worksheet 7: Individual work “Illuminati” 305 M Worksheet 8: Group work “Illuminati” 306 List of tables 309 List of figures 313 References 315 Acknowledgements 329 Statement of Authorship 331 / Kritisches Denken (KD) ist eine der wünschenswerten Fähigkeiten, die in der Schule vermittelt werden sollten. Es gilt nicht nur als wichtige Kompetenz des 21. Jahrhunderts für das Leben in einer demokratischen Gesellschaft, sondern auch als wichtig für ein tiefes Verständnis von fachspezifischen Inhalten. Trotz dieser Bedeutung zeigen Studien, dass es den Lernenden oft an der Fähigkeit fehlt, kritisch zu denken. Zudem fehlt es an einer klaren, durch empirische Befunde gestützten Theorie für die Entwicklung von fachspezifischen Lehr-Lern-Sequenzen zur Förderung der KD-Fähigkeiten von SchülerInnen. Dies macht den KD-Unterricht zu einer Herausforderung für Lehrkräfte. Um diese Lücke zu schließen, verfolgt die vorgelegte Studie zwei Ziele: Die Identifikation von Gestaltungsprinzipien für einen Unterricht, der die Fähigkeit zum kritischen Denken fördert, und die Entwicklung einer exemplarischen Unterrichtseinheit in Teilchenphysik auf dieser Grundlage. Die Teilchenphysik wurde aufgrund ihrer Abstraktheit und Komplexität sowie des Interesses der Schüler ausgewählt. Eine weitere Grundlage ist eine Definition von KD, die sich gut im Rahmen des Physikunterrichts anwenden lässt. Hierzu wurde Halperns Klassifizierung von KD-Strategien und ihre messbaren Ergebnisse verwendet. Darüber hinaus wird unterschieden zwischen allgemeinen KD-Fähigkeiten, die einen Rahmen für KD bilden, wie z. B. das Verständnis für die Notwendigkeit, Begriffe genau zu definieren, und domänenspezifischen KD-Fähigkeiten, die die Anwendung allgemeiner KD-Fähigkeiten in einer bestimmten Domäne darstellen und domänenspezifisches Fachwissen erfordern, wie z. B. die Unterscheidung zwischen den Konzepten von Masse und Materie im Kontext der Teilchenphysik. Diese Studie untersucht die Entwicklung sowohl der allgemeinen als auch der domänenspezifischen KD. Die Lehr-Lern-Sequenzen über Antimaterie (10 bis 12 Unterrichtsstunde) werden für SchülerInnen der Klassenstufen 10, 11 und 12 mit Hilfe des Design-Based Research (DBR) Ansatzes entwickelt. Die Analyse der Daten aus den Pilotstudien liefert Anhaltspunkte für die Weiterentwicklung des Antimateriekurses und die Entwicklung eines Lehrerpakets, das Lehrkräfte methodisch und inhaltlich bei der Umsetzung des Antimateriekurses unterstützt. In der Hauptstudie wird der Kurs in 3 Klassen in verschiedenen Bundesländern Deutschlands durchgeführt. Um die Wirksamkeit des Antimateriekurses bei der Förderung des KD der SchülerInnen zu evaluieren, werden sowohl die Perspektiven der SchülerInnen als auch die der LehrerInnen untersucht. Um die Wirksamkeit des Kurses aus der Perspektive der SchülerInnen zu evaluieren, werden die Video- und Audiodaten, die Schülerarbeiten, das Schülerinterview und der Fragebogen induktiv mit der Constant Comparative Methode analysiert, um die Lernprozesse der SchülerInnen zu identifizieren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die SchülerInnen inhaltliches Wissen und KD-Fähigkeiten anwenden und eine Disposition zeigen, die gemeinsam einer entwickelten KD entsprechen. Zusätzlich werden mit Hilfe von sog. „Conjecture Maps“ die Gestaltungsfacetten des Kurses (Materialien, Aktivitätsstruktur und Teilnehmerstruktur) mit den Lernprozessen in Beziehung gesetzt, um die Ergebnisse aus der Constant Comparative Methode zu stützen. Ein Particle Physics Critical Thinking (PPCT) Test wurde ebenfalls entwickelt, um die Ergebnisse zu triangulieren. Die Ergebnisse der Durchführung des PPCT-Tests als Posttest stimmen mit den qualitativen Erkenntnissen über die Wirksamkeit des Kurses überein. Ferner wurde ein Fragebogen für Lehrkräfte entwickelt, um ihre Einschätzung der Relevanz, Praktikabilität und Wirksamkeit des Kurses bei der Förderung des KD der SchülerInnen zu erheben. Dieser zeigte eine positive Wahrnehmung. Die Kombination aller Ergebnisse zeigt, dass der Antimateriekurs ein effektiver Kurs zur Förderung des KD ist. Die angewandten Gestaltungsprinzipien tragen zur Theorie der Gestaltung eines wirksamen KD-Unterrichts bei. Darüber hinaus zeigt die Datenanalyse die Herausforderungen auf, denen sich die SchülerInnen beim kritischen Denken gegenübersehen, und liefert den Lehrkräften Heuristiken für die Gestaltung eines domänenspezifischen Kurses. Auf der Grundlage der Ergebnisse wird ein Modell für den KD-Unterricht entwickelt. Diese Arbeit führt neben weiteren Forschungsfragen auch zu Implikationen für den Unterricht. Dazu gehören z. B. die Entwicklung eines domainspezifischen KD-Unterrichts unter Verwendung von 6 Prinzipien, die in dieser Studie empirisch getestet wurden, die Berücksichtigung von Heuristiken für die Gestaltung eines domainspezifischen KD-Unterrichts, und die Verwendung der Kursmaterialien zum Zweck der Entwicklung von KD. Darüber hinaus kann der PPCT Test die Entwicklung anderer domainspezifischer KD-Tests anleiten.:Abstract i Kurzfassung iii Table of Contents v 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Importance of critical thinking and its teaching 1 1.2 Research goals 2 1.3 Structure of the work 4 Part I Theory 7 2 What is critical thinking? 9 2.1 Definition of critical thinking 9 2.2 Commonalities between different definitions 20 2.3 Nature of critical thinking: general and domain-specific 28 2.3.1 Nature of critical thinking in physics 30 2.4 Students’ challenges in critical thinking 32 2.4.1 Verbal reasoning skill 33 2.4.2 Argument analysis skill 33 2.4.3 Thinking as hypothesis testing skill 34 2.4.4 Likelihood and uncertainty analysis skill 35 2.4.5 Decision making and problem solving skill 36 2.5 Teachers’ perspective on critical thinking and teaching critical thinking 37 2.5.1 Teachers’ perspective on critical thinking 38 2.5.2 Teachers’ perspective on teaching critical thinking 41 2.5.3 Rationale for developing supportive materials for teachers 41 3 Teaching critical thinking 43 3.1 Challenges of teaching critical thinking 44 3.1.1 Teaching critical thinking as a general or domain-specific skill . 45 3.1.2 Teaching critical thinking implicitly or explicitly 46 3.1.3 Valuing disposition alongside teaching critical thinking 48 3.2 Design of critical thinking (CT) instruction 49 3.2.1 First component of CT instruction: Critical thinking model 50 3.2.2 Second component of CT instruction: Appropriate instructional design theory 52 3.2.3 A proposal for CT instruction 56 3.3 Evaluation of CT instruction 57 3.3.1 Evaluation criteria 58 3.3.2 Evaluation approaches 63 4 Design-based research 69 4.1 Design-based research (DBR) and its features 69 4.2 Conducting DBR in education: Design and evaluation of an instruction 71 4.2.1 Analysis and exploration phase 73 4.2.2 Design and construction phase 74 4.2.3 Evaluation and reflection phase 79 4.3 Summary 89 Part II Empirical Study 91 5 Research questions 93 6 Design and methodology of the study 95 6.1 Design and development of instruction according to Design-based research 96 6.1.1 Analysis and exploration phase 97 6.1.2 Design and construction phase 100 6.1.3 Evaluation and reflection phase 111 6.2 Evaluation of effectiveness of instruction 114 6.2.1 Constant comparative method for qualitative evaluation 114 6.2.2 Description of instruments for quantitative evaluation 119 6.3 Relating design skeleton facets to valued outcomes 133 6.4 Description of instrument for evaluating teachers’ perspective 134 7 Evaluation of effectiveness of the antimatter course 139 7.1 Participants 139 7.2 Evaluation of structure fidelity of implementation 141 7.2.1 Adherence 141 7.2.2 Duration 145 7.3 Results of qualitative data analysis 146 7.3.1 Likelihood and uncertainty analysis skill in the positron discovery context 147 7.3.2 Argument analysis skill in the Big Bang context 162 7.3.3 Verbal reasoning in the context of analysing the scenario of scene of “Illuminati” 173 7.3.4 Thinking as hypothesis testing in the antimatter trap context 184 7.4 Conclusion on the effectiveness of antimatter course 200 7.5 Development of critical thinking skills: a model proposal 202 7.5.1 Model proposal on developing likelihood and uncertainty analysis skill 202 7.5.2 Model proposal on developing argument analysis skill 204 7.5.3 Model proposal on developing verbal reasoning skill 205 7.5.4 Model proposal on developing thinking as hypothesis testing skill 206 7.5.5 An underlying model on developing critical thinking 207 8 Relating design skeleton facets to valued outcomes 213 8.1 Design skeleton facets of antimatter course 213 8.1.1 Materials 214 8.1.2 Activity structure 214 8.1.3 Participant structure 215 8.2 Relation of design skeleton facets to valued outcomes 218 8.2.1 Materials 218 8.2.2 Activity structure 220 8.2.3 Participant structure 221 8.3 Conclusion and discussion 225 9 Teacher perception of the antimatter course 227 9.1 Participants 227 9.2 Perceived relevance 228 9.3 Perceived practicality 232 9.4 Perceived effectiveness 234 9.5 Conclusion and discussion 239 10 Triangulation of findings 241 10.1 Participants 241 10.2 Evaluation of general critical thinking skills 242 10.3 Evaluation of domain-specific critical thinking skills 244 10.4 Conclusion and discussion 244 Part III Conclusion 247 11 Summary and discussion 249 11.1 Empirical study 249 11.2 Contribution to theory 253 11.2.1 Theory of instructional design 254 11.2.2 Evaluation of critical thinking instruction 256 11.2.3 Model on developing critical thinking 257 11.3 Limitations 257 12 Outlook 259 12.1 Implications for teaching critical thinking 259 12.2 Future research 263 Appendix 265 Research instruments 267 A Student information and prior knowledge questionnaire 267 B Particle Physics Critical Thinking (PPCT) test 270 C Student questionnaire 289 D Teacher information 290 E Teacher questionnaire 291 Antimatter course materials 292 F Worksheet 1: Critical Thinking 292 G Worksheet 2: Illuminati 295 H Worksheet 3: Anderson’s cloud chamber photograph 296 I Worksheet 4: Big Bang 298 J Worksheet 5: Search systematically 299 K Worksheet 6: Trapping antimatter 302 L Worksheet 7: Individual work “Illuminati” 305 M Worksheet 8: Group work “Illuminati” 306 List of tables 309 List of figures 313 References 315 Acknowledgements 329 Statement of Authorship 331

Although peer review, in which students evaluate each others' papers, has been shown to be beneficial in many writing classrooms, the benefits of peer review to the reviewer, or the student giving the feedback, has not been thoroughly investigated in the field of second language (L2) writing. The purpose of this study is to determine which is more beneficial to improving student writing: receiving or giving peer feedback. The study was conducted at the English Language Center (ELC) at Brigham Young University (BYU). Ninety-one students in nine writing classes at two different proficiency levels, high beginning and high intermediate, participated in the study. The treatment groups reviewed anonymous papers, but received no peer feedback over the course of the semester, while the control groups received feedback, but did not review other students' papers. Writing samples collected at the beginning and end of the semester were used to evaluate which of the two methods most helped student writers. In addition, a short survey was conducted to investigate the correlation between student attitudes and demographic information and these results. Results of a series of t-tests indicated that the treatment groups, which focused solely on reviewing peers' writing, made more significant gains in their writing over the course of the semester than the control groups. These results were also more significant at the lower than the higher proficiency level. Students? level of comfort with the writing process and desire to learn how to use feedback were found to be significant predictors of these results.

Critical thinking has long been recognized as a valuable skill, both in education in general and within the world language teaching field specifically. In recent years, critical thinking has been identified as one of the 21st century skills that students need to succeed in modern society (Partnership, 2009). However, there is no clear, unifying definition of the term itself (Paul, 2004), and the definition of critical thinking is debated in many different fields without support from empirical data (Kuhn, 1999). Similarly, critical thinking has been often discussed in the literature as having great potential to facilitate language learning, and particularly to develop language proficiency (Gaskaree, Mashhady & Dousti, 2010; Heining-Boynton & Heining-Boynton, 1992; Hoch & Hart, 1991; Rojas, 2001; Williams, Lively & Harper, 1994). However, this discussion has not been centered around a single, clear definition or been supported by empirical research. This study attempts to fill these gaps by exploring how currently practicing world language teachers define the term critical thinking. Definitions were gathered through a survey of K-16 world language teachers from across the United States and through interviews with individual beginning level German instructors at a large, private university in the western United States. Findings revealed three primary ways in which teachers define critical thinking: first, by identifying characteristics of critical thinking; second, by discussing the thought processes and skills used in the action of critical thinking; and third, by describing the topics about which critical thinking takes place, either on the micro-level, dealing with language itself, or on the macro-level, dealing with real-world issues and themes. Based on these three areas of definition, several pedagogical implications were identified. As critical thinking is integrated as a 21st century skill into the world language classroom, the traditional roles of the teacher may need to transform, the content used in the classroom may need to change, and the activities in which students are asked to engage may likewise need to shift. The integration of these pedagogical implications into the world language classroom as a means to facilitate the development of advanced levels of language proficiency is also discussed.

Language can create realities, and the totalitarian pigs in George Orwell’s Animal Farm tend to use language in order to control the oppressed animals’ minds and world view. Orwell’s dystopian fable Animal Farm repeatedly deals with manipulative language, and so an analysis of the animal characters’ language may help upper secondary students to understand themes such as the power of language and truth. Moreover, for students to understand the power of language and truth in Animal Farm more easily I, in this essay, argue that logic and epistemology might help. This logical and epistemological perspective can be seen as a philosophical perspective for English teachers and students when they discuss language and truth on the farm. Finally, this philosophical analysis of Animal Farm may also improve students’ logical reasoning skills and critical thinking.

I denna undersökning har sju lärare som undervisar i teknik- och fysikämnena i årskurs 7-9 intervjuats i syfte att undersöka deras syn på lärande för hållbar utveckling inom sina ämnen. Frågorna som ställts i uppsatsen har haft för avsikt att ge insikt om vilka faktorer som påverkar hur hållbar utveckling implementeras i skolämnen. Studien visar att läraren strävar efter att eleverna inte bara ska ta emot information, utan också agera själva utifrån grundläggande demokratiska värderingar. Däremot har det visat sig vara svårt för lärare att involvera hållbar utveckling i deras undervisning när det gäller ämnet fysik eller teknik. I studien har lärarens syn på hur hållbar utveckling ska involveras i ämnen analyserats utifrån de tre traditionerna; faktabaserad, normativ- och pluralistisk vilka genomsyrar undervisningen för hållbar utveckling. Studien visar att lärarnas undervisning har intentionen att utveckla olika förmågor och kunskaper hos eleverna. Till exempel framhåller lärarna vikten av att samla in och utvärdera information självständigt, kunna diskutera och samarbeta, lösa problem och använda kritiskt tänkande samt planera för långsiktiga mål. Ett viktigt perspektiv i lärarnas undervisning är att eleverna ska förstå helheten och sambandet mellan olika vardagliga områden. Dessutom visar studien att skolledningen spelar en viktig roll genom att ge tydligt stöd i de olika skolsaktiviteter som kopplas till hållbar utveckling. Det gör undervisningen för hållbar utveckling mer meningsfull och effektiv. / In this review, seven teachers who teach technology and physics subjects in grades 7-9 have been interviewed in order to investigate their views on learning for sustainable development in their subjects. The questions asked in the study were intended to provide insight into which factors influence how sustainable development is implemented in school subjects. The study shows that the teacher strives for the students not only to receive information, but also to act themselves based on basic democratic values. However, it has proven difficult for teachers to involve sustainable development in their teaching when it comes to the subject of physics or technology. In the study, the teacher's view of how sustainable development should be involved in subjects has been analyzed based on the three traditions; fact-based, normative and pluralistic which permeate the teaching for sustainable development. The study shows that the teachers' teaching has the intention of developing different abilities and knowledge in the students. For example, the teachers emphasize the importance of collecting and evaluating information independently, being able to discuss and collaborate, solve problems and use critical thinking, and plan for long-term goals. An important perspective in the teachers' teaching is that the students should understand the bigger picture and the connection between different everyday areas. In addition, the study shows that school management plays an important role by providing clear support in the various school activities linked to sustainable development. It makes teaching for sustainable development more meaningful and effective.

Данное диссертационное исследование посвящено изучению технологии развития критического мышления при обучении лексической стороне письменной речи студентов языковых направлений подготовки. Базой исследования стала кафедра лингвистики и профессиональной коммуникации на иностранных языках (ЛиПКИЯ). В период с ноября 2021 г. по декабрь 2021 г. был проведен эксперимент среди студентов 4 курса. В опытно-экспериментальном обучении приняли участие 15 студентов. В первой части освещается теория вопроса об аспектах формирования лексической компетенции на основе технологии развития критического мышления (ТРКМ). Обусловлена значимость коммуникативного подхода в обучении языку, при котором критическое мышление рассматривается как дидактический феномен, как средство повышения эффективности усвоения лексического материала, формирующее черты вторичной языковой личности. Особое внимание уделяется теоретическому обоснованию и описанию способов совершенствования лексической стороны речи на основе ТРКМ. Во второй части описаны результаты анкетирования, проведенного среди выпускников бакалавриата и магистратуры языковых направлений подготовки с целью самодиагностики уровня сформированности лексической компетентности. Определяются дефициты в компонентах лексической компетентности письменной речи на основе анализа деловых писем студентов, моделируются приемы ТРКМ при обучении деловому письму, а также приводятся результаты опытного обучения студентов-лингвистов. В работе предложены занятия с применением приемов ТРКМ для совершенствования лексической компетенции в рамках делового письма. Результаты работы могут быть использованы в разработке новых и совершенствования существующих подходов в обучении лексической стороне письменной речи с применением технологии развития критического мышления. В приложении приводятся вопросы анкеты для сбора информации, направленной на анализ дефицитов при формировании различных компонентов лексической компетенции, также примеры деловых писем в предэкспериментальный и постэкспериментальный срез. / This dissertation research is devoted to the critical thinking technology in teaching the lexical part of the written speech to students of language studies. The base of the research was the Department of Linguistics and Professional Communication in Foreign Languages. In the period from November 2021 to December 2021, an experiment was conducted among 4th year students. 15 students took part in experimental training. The first part highlights the aspects of the lexical competence formation based on the critical thinking technology. The significance of the communicative approach in teaching a language is determined. Critical thinking is considered as a didactic phenomenon and as a means of increasing the efficiency of learning vocabulary. Particular attention is paid to the theoretical description of improving the vocabulary due to critical thinking technology. The second part describes the results of a survey conducted among bachelor's and master's degree graduates in order to diagnose the lexical competence level. Deficiencies in the lexical competence components are determined due to the students' business letters analysis. Techniques of critical thinking technology are modeled when teaching business writing, and the results of experimental training are also presented. The study offers classes using critical thinking techniques to improve lexical competence in business writing. The results of the study can be used in the development and improvement of existing approaches in teaching the language when using the critical thinking technology. The appendix contains a questionnaire for collecting information and analyzing lexical competence formation, as well as examples of business letters in the pre-experimental and post-experimental section.

This paper is a synthesis of research that presents and reflects on the possible benefits of integrating media information literacy and critical thinking into the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum with the intention of facilitating for students' development in their critical thinking and media information literacy when engaging with English-language social media content. English is of major significance in the Swedish society and students get some of their news feed from social media in the English language along with their native language of Swedish. The aim of this paper is to investigate which strategies are currently used to promote students’ critical thinking and media information literacy when engaging with English-language social media content as well as which potential strategies which could possibly be incorporated by Upper-Secondary school EFL teachers in Sweden. Relevant academic articles were analysed showing various findings such as 1) the general importance of critical thinking and media literacy skills, 2) the importance of incorporating media information literacy in teacher training and practice, and lastly 3) the continuous development of critical thinking and media information literacy by age throughout the schooling years. This is an important field to continue to study in order to transform teaching practices and materials with the inclusion of media information literacy and critical thinking in the teaching of EFL in Sweden. In a wider perspective this can be seen as one of many tools to strengthen the state of democracy in Sweden.

The following essay has the purpose of giving an account of how the increasing digitalization, medialization and flow of information has affected social science as a subject, and how this has changed the expectations put on students and teachers. Furthermore, the way teachers’ TPACK knowledge and web literacy skills affect their teaching is also examined. Lastly, students’ level of understanding for the term media and information literacy is further investigated.  This is being done with the help of the following three question formulations: 1. What further demands does the increasing digitalization, medialization and flow of information pose for students and teachers, and how does it connect to social science as a subject? 2. How do teachers' knowledge of TPACK and web literacy affect their teaching? 3. What level of understanding do students have for the term media and information literacy?  The essay is based upon 15 peer-reviewed scientific articles, which have been chosen to represent the field of knowledge and answer the three question formulations. The interconnection between media and information literacy and democracy makes the subject increasingly important in today’s society with threats like propaganda, misinformation, and anti-democratic rhetoric. One conclusion made is how important it is for the students’ learning outcomes that the teacher is well-informed and has the necessary knowledge to help and support the students in their learning. It is also important to consider that the way students define media and information literacy may differ from teachers’ understanding, and that can lead to students’ knowledge being interpreted as higher than it is in reality.