The increased need for digital education in upper secondary schools of Sweden during the COVID-19 outbreak showcased that there is a lack of professional knowledge in regards to what tools to use in order to vary the experience for the students in a virtual teaching environment. In this paper, we investigate whether Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) could assist English vocabulary acquisition of Swedish upper secondary students and what their attitudes are towards it. By finding and synthesizing studies that have been published on MALL in regards to vocabulary acquisition, we hoped to gauge the possible outcomes of applying it in Swedish classrooms as well. The majority of the analyzed studies showed positive results on both vocabulary acquisition and the students' attitudes. However, the methods of the experiments and the attitude questionnaires, along with the innate cultural differences, made us question whether we would see the same results in Swedish schools, but when considering the curriculum, the empirical evidence and learning theories, we still found enough relevancy and validity in the method to claim that MALL could work to assist vocabulary acquisition in the English classroom of Swedish upper secondary school.

This study aims to investigate the foreign language anxieties Japanese international students at American universities have and the relationship between these anxieties and length of stay in the U.S. 151 Japanese international students answered a modified version of the Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (Horwitz, Horwitz & Cope, 1986) followed by demographic questions. The findings from the questionnaire were analyzed through SPSS 21 software. Results indicated a statistically significant relationship between students’ level of anxieties and the length of stay in the U.S. Implications for teachers and government officials in Japan, as well as for teachers and university administrators in the U.S., are discussed.

This study describes the language behaviors and social strategies of English as Second Language (ESL) and English as Primary Language (EPL) pre-kindergarten students during cooperative Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI) experiences. Thirty-three pre-kindergarten subjects ages four to five years, were videotaped at two personal computers during self-selected center time. The sources of data for this descriptive study were a parent computer survey, videotapes, a subject interview derived from the Young Children's Computer Inventory, and written records.

Teachers work with large student groups and their job is to make their pupils’ grow and evolve in their learning every day, even though the students may not be interested in the subject at all. How can teachers manage to do this with such a variety of students? What tools can be used to motivate as many of them as possible to achieve the most favourable learning outcomes? Music is a universal language that most people enjoy and for children it is even a natural part of growing up. Music can be a pleasant and fun element in the classroom, so we want to investigate if teachers could take advantage of this and use music and songs as an effective motivator to foster second language development. In the national curriculum, Skolverket states that teachers need to build upon the pupil’s confidence in their own ability to use language in different situations and for different purposes (Skolverket, 2011). What happens with the classroom environment when music is used and what happens to the pupils? There is research pointing to the benefits of using music in second language learning however, there exists some disagreement among researchers if music could improve language development or if it is just a fun activity. Researchers also discuss on how to use music in the classroom in the most valuable way. In the current study, we explore and provide an overview for the possible advantages of using music. We also investigate the effectiveness of different musical approaches for facilitating language learning for young children in an educational context. In particular, we will discuss how songs and music can motivate young English language learners in their process and how the second language development can benefit from this.

This paper examines the impact of teachers' formative feedback on intermediate drafts on student writing development and its interrelationship with summative assessment. Formative feedback is advocated for its benefits on learners writing development; however, its usage in writing instruction at the upper-secondary level is met with frustrations from teachers and students alike. This paper endeavors to draw upon international research on the topic, synthesize the results and correlate it to the educational context of ESL teaching of writing in Swedish upper-secondary schools to elucidate what formative feedback practices are beneficial and how summative aspects can impact them. Research shows that feedback that is encouraging, investigative, and deals with global and local issues alike is more beneficial for facilitating writing development in a new genre. However, teachers should be mindful of overusing imperatives as they can act as demotivators, and they should also be mindful of the toll engaging with feedback takes on learners. Furthermore, teachers should not use grades to motivate feedback uptake, as it does not incentivize learners to do meaningful revisions. Lastly, more research should examine how formative feedback can illustrate students' writing standards without impeding benefits to writing development.

This study investigates the view of some students and a teacher’s attitudes towards the learning possibilities of the integration of personal interests to the teaching of English. The research carried out at one of the largest profile schools in Sweden, with an aesthetic subject-orientation. These subjects are referred to as “passion subjects”. Qualitative interviews and observation were the methods used for data collection. The research questions were about students’ and teachers attitudes towards the involvement of their passion subject in the formal education process, as well as their views on integrating English as a foreign language in the teaching/learning process of their passion subject. The results show that the teacher and the students view the involvement of students’ personal interests in the formal education as a key source for motivation. Regarding the involvement of English as a foreign language in the passion subject, the results are both positive and negative: positive in the sense that it is viewed as getting extra lessons in English and negative in the sense that information can be overlooked as the students not always understand the input.

The effectiveness of language requires that users of a language be provided with the right knowledge to cope with its complexity and demanding nature especially in the area of writing. In this sense, this thesis sought to draw attention to some of the important features of writing and speaking skills in the English language at two higher learning institutions in Namibia. English is a second language for students at these institutions. Articles 3 and 20 of the Namibian Constitution stipulate that the language policy must promote the use of English in schools (The Constitution of Namibia (1990). It is now 24 years since English as medium of instruction was introduced in schools and tertiary institutions, but some students’ English proficiency is still relatively poor, especially in writing and speaking communication skills. This study investigated the barriers that prevent students to write and speak English well at University A and University B. The writing and speaking skills were investigated through the lens of syllabi/study guides, and lack of practical teaching of oral communication and writing skills inter alia morphology and syntax. Fifty-seven respondents took part in the research, comprising Heads of Departments (Language, Communication and Language Centre), Course Coordinators, lecturers and students in the English field at the two institutions investigated. Students were deliberately selected for the questionnaire to illustrate the difficulties they face when writing and speaking English as a second language. The lecturers were also deliberately selected because they were the ones who were with the students in classrooms. This study used qualitative research to gather information through methods such as observation, interviews, open-response questionnaire items, document analysis and verbal reports. The following were the main findings. There was a lack of specific teaching objectives in oral communication and written skills in the syllabi, while the inability of students to write correct sentences, and the limited time allocated to these courses also played a role. The conclusion drawn from this study is that students’ communicative competency is very poor. Therefore, it is the opinion of this researcher that improvement is much needed regarding syllabi content, teaching approaches of speaking and writing skills, students’ admission criteria and the time frame allocated for the different courses. To answer the research question: firstly the time allocated to some of the English courses is short, there is lack of teaching and learning of oral and writing skills approaches and, the syllabi were planned and design in a way that do not enhance much the teaching and learning of the second language. There are not many activities in the study guides that could be used to enhance students’ communicative competency. Such activities should include subject and verb agreement, passive and active form, sentence construction, word-building using prefixes and suffixes, auxiliaries or activities which give the students a chance to practice a certain aspect of language. Also, since English is a second language for students in Namibia, the institutions must seriously look at the time allocated to the courses they offer so that lecturers can appropriately apply proper approaches to teach writing and speaking skills. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

The effectiveness of language requires that users of a language be provided with the right knowledge to cope with its complexity and demanding nature especially in the area of writing. In this sense, this thesis sought to draw attention to some of the important features of writing and speaking skills in the English language at two higher learning institutions in Namibia. English is a second language for students at these institutions. Articles 3 and 20 of the Namibian Constitution stipulate that the language policy must promote the use of English in schools (The Constitution of Namibia (1990). It is now 24 years since English as medium of instruction was introduced in schools and tertiary institutions, but some students’ English proficiency is still relatively poor, especially in writing and speaking communication skills. This study investigated the barriers that prevent students to write and speak English well at University A and University B. The writing and speaking skills were investigated through the lens of syllabi/study guides, and lack of practical teaching of oral communication and writing skills inter alia morphology and syntax. Fifty-seven respondents took part in the research, comprising Heads of Departments (Language, Communication and Language Centre), Course Coordinators, lecturers and students in the English field at the two institutions investigated. Students were deliberately selected for the questionnaire to illustrate the difficulties they face when writing and speaking English as a second language. The lecturers were also deliberately selected because they were the ones who were with the students in classrooms. This study used qualitative research to gather information through methods such as observation, interviews, open-response questionnaire items, document analysis and verbal reports. The following were the main findings. There was a lack of specific teaching objectives in oral communication and written skills in the syllabi, while the inability of students to write correct sentences, and the limited time allocated to these courses also played a role. The conclusion drawn from this study is that students’ communicative competency is very poor. Therefore, it is the opinion of this researcher that improvement is much needed regarding syllabi content, teaching approaches of speaking and writing skills, students’ admission criteria and the time frame allocated for the different courses. To answer the research question: firstly the time allocated to some of the English courses is short, there is lack of teaching and learning of oral and writing skills approaches and, the syllabi were planned and design in a way that do not enhance much the teaching and learning of the second language. There are not many activities in the study guides that could be used to enhance students’ communicative competency. Such activities should include subject and verb agreement, passive and active form, sentence construction, word-building using prefixes and suffixes, auxiliaries or activities which give the students a chance to practice a certain aspect of language. Also, since English is a second language for students in Namibia, the institutions must seriously look at the time allocated to the courses they offer so that lecturers can appropriately apply proper approaches to teach writing and speaking skills. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

Il est bien documenté que les élèves de l’élémentaire et du secondaire évoluant en milieu francophone minoritaire éprouvent plus de difficultés à apprendre à écrire en français que les élèves vivant en milieu francophone majoritaire. Ce constat a également été établi pour le postsecondaire. Ces difficultés d’apprentissage pourraient être attribuables à certains aspects de leur rapport à l’écrit, soit de la relation qu’ils entretiennent avec les écrits (les documents lus et écrits) ainsi qu’avec leurs processus. Nous nous sommes intéressée au rapport à l’écrit d’étudiants francophones universitaires issus d’un milieu francophone minoritaire canadien. Nous avons posé chaque question non seulement pour le français, mais également pour l’anglais parce que ces derniers sont exposés régulièrement à ces deux langues. Par ailleurs, il est opportun de connaître les caractéristiques du rapport à l’écrit de cette population étudiante parce qu’elles peuvent différer de celles présentes chez des francophones issus d’un milieu francophone majoritaire. Pour recueillir nos données, nous avons demandé à des étudiants francophones qui font des études de baccalauréat en français dans une université bilingue de l’est de l’Ontario de remplir un questionnaire écrit et de participer à un entretien individuel semi dirigé. Nous avons cherché à décrire le rapport à l’écrit à la fois en français et en anglais, et ce, dans une perspective de groupe et dans une perspective individuelle. Les résultats ont montré des caractéristiques semblables et différentes quant aux représentations, aux sentiments, aux émotions, aux pratiques et aux types d’investissement, et ce, autant pour le français que pour l’anglais. En outre, tous les participants reconnaissent que leur bilinguisme français anglais leur procure un grand nombre d’avantages. Cette étude revêt un caractère unique parce qu’elle porte sur le rapport à l’écrit à la fois en français et en anglais des participants et qu’elle contribue à une meilleure connaissance des facteurs qui se révèlent être favorables ou défavorables au développement des compétences rédactionnelles en français des étudiants francophones universitaires issus d’un milieu francophone minoritaire canadien.