Anyone who has been learning a new language knows the feeling of anxiety when facedwith the task to use it in the classroom and in real life. Foreign Language Anxiety isconcept developed by Horwitz et al. (1986) to describe and measure this specific form ofanxiety. In this study, the anxiety levels of a class of Chinese senior middle schoolstudents taking an English class have been measured. The levels were measuredaccording to the Foreign Language Anxiety Scale, developed by Horwitz et al. (1986). 59informants participated in the study. The data were analysed to find which factors invokethe most anxiety. To gather qualitative data and gain further insight, two sets of groupinterviews were performed. The results show that a majority of the students suffer fromanxiety in class. Teacher-generated anxiety seems to be the most provoking factoraccording to the analysis. / Alla som har studerat ett främmande språk känner igen den ängslan man upplever närspråket ska användas i klassrummet eller i en autentisk situation. Språkängslan införfrämmande språk är ett begrepp som utvecklats av Horwitz et al. (1986) för att beskrivaoch mäta den här specifika formen av ängslan. I den här studien har nivån av ängslan ien kinesisk högstadieklass som studerar engelska mätts. Nivån har mätts i enlighet medskalan för språkängslan i samband med undervisning i främmande språk (författarensöversättning) utvecklad av Horwitz et al. (1986). 59 informanter deltog i studien. Datananalyserades för att se vilka faktorer som framkallar mest ängslan. För att samlakvalitativ data och få djupare insyn genomfördes också två gruppintervjuer. Resultatetvisar att en majoritet av studenterna lider av ängslan i klassrummet. Lärargenereradängslan är den mest bidragande faktorn enligt analysen.

In spite of a monolingual norm in foreign language teaching during the last decades studies throughout the world show that teachers’ target language use varies significantly. This study sets out to examine to what extent the target language (TL) is used with young language learners and how this use correlates to teachers’ beliefs about foreign language teaching and first language (L1) inclusion. Moreover the paper discusses functions for L1 use and strategies used by teachers to support comprehension in the TL. Lesson observations and qualitative interviews were performed with four Swedish primary school class teachers. Despite the prevailing idea of exclusive TL use three of the four teachers do not subscribe to this approach and find L1 inclusion necessary. An emerging theme is the impact of teachers’ beliefs and how these are shaped by personal experience and/or education. L1 is legitimized in order to support comprehension and prevent pupils’ frustration. To varying degrees the L1 is used, mostly to facilitate learning but also for classroom management. The data suggests that teachers are well aware of their language use although they lack awareness and professional language to describe and be articulate about strategies they employ. / Trots att det under de senaste decennierna varit norm att inom språkundervisningen uteslutande använda målspråket i klassrummet, visar studier från hela världen att lärares målspråksanvändning varierar avsevärt. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka i vilken utsträckning målspråket används med yngre språkelever och hur denna överensstämmer med lärarnas föreställningar om språkundervisning och användning av förstaspråket. Dessutom diskuteras funktioner för förstaspråksanvändning och strategier som lärare använder för att underlätta förståelse på målspråket. Lektionsobservationer och kvalitativa intervjuer genomfördes med fyra svenska klasslärare i grundskolans tidigare år. Trots den rådande rekommendationen att undvika användning av förstaspråket och uteslutande använda målspråket, ansluter sig tre av fyra lärare inte till denna didaktiska modell, utan finner det nödvändigt att inkludera förstaspråket i undervisningen. Ett tema som framträder är påverkan av lärares uppfattningar och hur dessa har formats av personliga erfarenheter och/eller utbildning. Förstaspråksanvändning motiveras för att stötta förståelse och undvika frustration hos eleverna. Förstaspråket används i olika utsträckning, framförallt för att underlätta inlärning men också för att leda arbetet i klassrummet. Resultaten tyder på att lärare är väl medvetna om sin språkanvändning, men att de delvis saknar insikt om och ett professionellt språk för att beskriva och formulera sig kring de strategier de använder.

Computer Assisted Translation tools continue to become more ubiquitous, but translation students do not necessarily receive much training in using them, and may therefore find translating when using them very different to translating freehand. An experiment was conducted where a three Master’s students were each asked to translate two texts; one in a CAT tool and the other freehand, and the resulting target texts were inspected to determine whether they may have been affected by the segmentation performed by the CAT tool compared to freehand translations of the same text, and if so, how. There were indications that in certain cases, such as very long sentences, the CAT tool may act as a visual aid, and also indications that certain students may be more prone to follow the segmentation provided by the CAT tool than others. However, the influence of personal translator style and translator’s habitus cannot be disregarded and as such the differences that are apparent cannot be entirely attributed to the CAT tool.

The purpose of this study is to provide additional research on the topic of the relationship between extramural English activities and performance on vocabulary tests among Swedish school learners. Data were collected from English L2 learners in Swedish upper secondary school (English 6 course). A questionnaire about participants extramural English activities was filled in. Participants then took a receptive vocabulary test of 140 items. The participants (N=74) were aged 17, with the exception of one 19-year-old and two 16-year-olds and got divided into two main research groups: gamers and non-gamers. The results from the vocabulary test revealed that gamers had a higher mean score than non-gamers on the test. However, the non-gamers trailed behind with a barely notable distinction. When examining the gamer group more closely, the findings show that participants who spent more time gaming also had the highest scores, compared to lower frequency gamers. Additionally, gamers spend more hours per week on other English-related media (excluding tv-series, movies and gaming) than the non-gamers. This makes it possible to conclude that there is, to some extent, a connection between extramural English activities and better receptive vocabulary. However, while extramural activities influence vocabulary, so does length of instruction in a language. The non-gamers caught up to the gamers, one reason as to why being a result of the length of instruction in English, which may even out large differences between gamers and non-gamers for more advanced learners (Peters, 2018). / Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med ytterligare forskning om ämnet extramurala engelsksaktiviteter och deras inverkan på svenska skolelevers vokabulärinlärning. Data samlades in från elever som har engelska som andrahandsspråk och som gick på gymnasiet (och deltog i engelska 6 kursen). Deltagarnas uppgift var att fylla i ett frågeformulär samt ett engelskt vokabulärtest som bestod av 140 ord. Deltagarna (N = 74) var 17 år gamla, samt en 19-årig elev och två 16-åriga elever, och delades in i två huvudgrupper: spelare (gamers) och icke-spelare (non-gamers). Resultaten från vokabulärtestet avslöjade att spelarna hade ett högre medelvärde än icke-spelare på testet: Dock hade icke-spelarna nästan samma  medelvärde. När man undersöker den gruppen som spelar spel närmare, visar resultaten att deltagare som tillbringade mer tid på spel också hade de högsta poängen jämfört med spelare som spelade mindre frekvent. Dessutom tillbringar spelare i genomsnitt fler timmar per vecka på annan  engelskrelaterad media (exklusive tv-serier, filmer och spel) i genomsnitt än icke-spelarna. Detta gör det möjligt att dra slutsatsen att det i viss utsträckning finns en koppling mellan extramurala engelskaktiviteter och högre ordförrådsförmåga. Peters (2018) slutsats visade att även längden av engelskstudierna kan ha en inverkan på vokabulären och för äldre elever kan möjligen effekten av exempelvis dataspelande jämnas ut desto längre de studerat engelska.

The translation of names is a topic for discussion within many fields, no less so within translation studies. Furthermore, the translation of proper names in children’s literature is a topic with on-going changes. There is a divide between those who believe that the names should be translated into proper cultural equivalent and those who believe it is time to have faith in children being able to handle foreign names. That is what this study will focus on. Approx. 15 names from seven children’s books from 1865 to 2011 were studied to conclude that there seems to be a greater faith in children’s ability to handle foreign names. Three languages were compared English, Spanish, and Swedish with the majority of the 337 names studied being kept in their original format, with spelling intact. / Översättningen av namn är ett diskussionsämne inom många områden, inte minst inom översättningsstudier. Utöver detta är översättningen av egennamn inom barnlitteratur ett ämne som är under ständig förändring. Det finns en klyfta mellan de som menar att namn borde bli översatta till sin kulturella likvärdighet och de som menar att det är på tiden att lita på att barn kan hantera främmande namn. Det är denna diskussion som kommer vara fokus för denna uppsatsen. Ca. 15 namn från sju barnböcker från 1865 till 2011 studerades för att visa att det verkar finnas en större tilltro till barns förmåga att hantera främmande namn. Tre språk jämfördes, engelska, spanska och svenska. Var utav de 337 namnen som studerades var majoriteten oförändrade i översättningarna.

Denna kandidatuppsats består av en översättning av sju scener ur librettot till en musikal (Dear Evan Hansen av Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek och Justin Paul) och en översättningsteoretisk kommentar. Kommentaren ger först en kort översikt över musikalgenren och behandlar sedan översättningsarbetet, från källtext till måltext. I kommentaren beskriver jag min översättningsprincip, till vilken jag har använt mig av både Johan Franzons funktionella översättningsperspektiv (Franzon, 2009) och H. S. Drinkers principer (Drinker, 1950). Jag tar även upp de utmaningar och problem som jag stött på under översättningsarbetet och förklarar hur jag har löst dessa. Jag reflekterar också över hur musikallibrettots särskilda egenskaper har påverkat de val jag gjort i min översättning. / This bachelor’s thesis consists of a translation of seven scenes from a musical libretto (Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek och Justin Paul) and a commentary of this translation. The commentary first provides a brief overview of the musical genre and proceeds to describe my translation, from source text to target text. The commentary describes my translation principle, which is inspired by the functional perspective of Johan Franzon (2009) as well as the principles of H. S. Drinker (1950). I also deal with the specific challenges encountered during the translation and describe how I handled them, as well as how the specific characteristics of the musical libretto has influenced my translation.

This qualitative minor field study is conducted in a multilingual public secondary school in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The aim is to analyse the literacy teaching from a critical literacy point of view and to gain new perspectives on how to work with literacy in multilingual classrooms in Sweden. The material was collected over approximately three weeks and consists of participant observations and two semi-structured group interviews with nine learners in total. The theoretical approach derives from a socio-cultural orientation and focuses on how unequal power relations are represented in language. Our results indicate a focus on individual learning of cognitive skills, for example, answering pre-written questions to a text in the work with reading comprehension. Furthermore, reading is considered important to be able to influence one’s own life and to connect with the surrounding society, as is good knowledge of English, which in turn is developed by reading. English is the language the learners are most used to use in school related activities and the language they feel confident to read in. In addition, the results show social, critical and transformative aspects of literacy. The teachers want to make use of the learners’ experiences in the teaching. Moreover, this goal is occasionally connected to a desire to empower the learners with agency to act for change. However, this desire is limited by the curriculum since it is forcing the teachers to teach at a certain pace. These results are then analysed by the use of Hilary Janks’ interdependent model for critical literacy by considering the consequences of focusing on any of its four parts – power, access, diversity and design – without any one of the others. We conclude that it is a challenge to design teaching that does not separate, but include cognitive, social, critical and transforming aspects of literacy in Sweden as well. Janks’ model can be used to design a teaching that includes these aspects to a greater extent and thereby create a more inclusive multilingual learning environment. Finally, we suggest that theories about critical literacy should be added to both teacher education and to the steering documents.

The aim of this thesis is two-fold. Firstly, the aim is to analyze the three aspects institutional racism, double-consciousness and importance of minoritized voices in Angie Thomas’ novel The Hate U Give in connection to the thesis’ theoretical framework, Critical Race Theory. Secondly, the aim is also to argue for the inclusion of The Hate U Give in the Swedish EFL classroom, by investigating potential pedagogical implications in connection to the literary analysis and the thesis’ pedagogical framework, Critical Race Pedagogy. Potentially as a way of hoping for social justice and change for a minoritized group of people, the literary analysis of the three aspects demonstrates that Thomas depicts racial inequality as natural and fixed within many layers of American society such as economic opportunities, law enforcement, education, identities and which voices are heard vs. ignored. Therefore, this thesis argues that Thomas’ counter narrative The Hate U Give, with its portrayal of the racially inequal American society and the effects on the African American characters, could serve as a point of departure for discussions of institutional racism, double-consciousness and the importance of minoritized voices in the Swedish EFL classroom, to raise awareness of the situation for a minoritized group of people in America and connect it to the students’ own experiences and knowledge of these aspects.

Astrid Lindgren is arguably the most famous Swedish author of all times, known for her chil­dren’s books about Pippi Longstocking, the Brothers Lionheart, Ronia the Robber’s Daughter, and many more. Subsequently, her works have been translated into over a hundred languages. In Sweden her books are recognized for their peculiar, playful language, and immersive imag­ination. This paper is examining how that style of writing is translated to other languages. Spe­cifically, Lindgren’s last novel Ronja Rövardotter (1981) and its translations to English, Ronia the Robber’s Daughter (1985), and Dutch, Ronja de Roversdochter (1982), are compared ac­cording to the particular elements that the novel uses to build its own unique feeling: the style of the narrator; the language of the characters; the names; and the illustrations. In the source text these four aspects collaborate to create a medieval fairy tale-like atmosphere, which espe­cially is accomplished by the transformative language which combines older colloquialisms and dialectic words with a poetic phrasing, which is simultaneously unique for this literary work and deeply rooted in Swedish tradition. This is difficult to properly translate to other languages, as it is built upon playfulness with a certain language and culture. Therefore, even though both translations are perfectly valid and retell the story adequately, they both are incapable of fully translating the style of the original. Besides that, other (more deliberate) changes are resulting in a different reading experience – i.e., the inclusion of illustrations, the narrator’s oral (origi­nal)/textual (translated) language, and whether Ronia flees from wild ‘vittror’ (north-Swedish gnome-like creatures), harpies, or bird–witches. Altogether, the English Ronia and the Dutch Ronja are significantly different from the Swedish Ronja, with their own styles, but attributed to the same original author.

Denna studie tillhör deltagarorienterad forskning (PAR) i form av en forskningscirkel. Syftet var att beskriva och analysera en forskningscirkels kunskapsutveckling både gällande dess process och dess innehåll. Deltagarna i cirkeln var nio lärare som arbetar vid en komvuxskola och de undervisar vuxenelever i ämnena SFI, SVA och engelska. Forskningscirkelns fokus har varit frågor som gäller individanpassad undervisning inom komvuxutbildningar. I cirkeln har empiriska data kommit fram genom att låta deltagarna berätta sina livsberättelser om individanpassad undervisning och i gruppsamtal prata om individanpassad undervisning. I en växelverkan mellan deltagarnas erfarenheter om individanpassad undervisning och tidigare forskning inom detta område, arbetade vi i cirkeln fram metoder för individanpassad undervisning inom komvuxutbildningar. Deltagarna prövade dessa metoder i undervisningen. Metoderna som var utformade för individanpassad undervisning var både vitt och övergripande utformade, vilket var positivt på grund av att lärarna kunde anpassa metoderna och arbetssätten till varje elevgrupp och till enskilda vuxenelever. Resultatet visar att individanpassad undervisning bör utformas som individuell undervisning, en till en undervisning, mellan lärare och vuxenelev. Då kan vuxeneleven få individuell hjälp med studierna och eleven kan få arbetsuppgifter som är individuellt anpassad till hens förmåga att studera. Det har också framkommit att, det är viktigt att undervisningen är utformad utifrån relationell undervisning, vilket innebär att vuxeneleven både får möta lärare och andra elever under studiernas gång. Det innebär olika undervisningssätt som både är individanpassade, samtidigt som de utgår från en relationell undervisning. Det har framkommit i studien att relationell undervisning är särskilt viktigt i språkundervisningen. Det har också uppmärksammats individanpassade metoder som utgår från digital undervisning både inom individuell undervisning och relationell undervisning. I studien lyftes fram olika arbetssätt som utgår från digital undervisning. / This study belongs to the research tradition Participatory Action Research (PAR) in the form of a Research Circle. The task was to describe and analyse the process and content of knowledge development within a Research Circle. The participants in this circle were nine teacher who work at komvux, and teach adult students in subject such as SFI, SVA and English. In this circle with participating teachers, issues of individually adapted teaching in adult education have been in focus. In this circle, empirical data has been highlighted by having the participants tell life stories and in group interviews about the individualized teaching. In an interaction between the participants´ experiences of individually adapted teaching and previous research in this area, we in the circle developed methods for individually adapted teaching in adult education. The participants tried these methods in their teaching. The methods that were developed for individually adapted teaching were both broadly and comprehensive designed, which was positive because then the teacher can adapt the teaching methods to each student group and individual adult student. The result indicate that the individually adapted teaching needs to be designed based on individual teaching, one to one teaching between teacher and adult student. Then the adult student can receive individual support in their studies and receive tasks that are individually adapted to the student´s ability to study. It is also important that the teaching is designed based on relational teaching, were the adult student both meets the teacher and other students during the course of study. This means different working methods in teaching that are individually adapted based on relational teaching. Relational teaching is especially important in language teaching. It has also been highlighted methods for individually adapted teaching based on digital teaching which is both based on individual teaching and relational teaching. This digital teaching is based on different working methods that are highlighted in this study.