Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala universitet, 1996. / Abstract p. laid in. Includes bibliographical references (p. [288]-298).

Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala universitet, 1996. / Abstract p. laid in. Includes bibliographical references (p. [288]-298).

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / "A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science (Speech and Hearing Sciences), The University of Hong Kong, May 10, 2000." Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 176-187).

Research has shown that theory of mind tends to develop in typically-developing children at about the age of 4 years. However, language appears to play a great role in this, particularly as deaf children, particularly those born to hearing parents, display extreme delays in theory of mind development, while bilinguals have been found to develop at a somewhat faster rate than monolinguals. Additionally, effects of culture on theory of mind development remain somewhat unclear, as there have been mixed results in past research. Theory of mind has also been correlated with metalinguistic ability and executive functioning skills, leading to multiple hypotheses regarding what drives theory of mind development. The aim of this doctoral thesis was to examine the relationships between theory of mind, metalinguistic awareness, and executive functioning, as well as to evaluate how language and culture play a role in these relationships. Four studies were conducted in an attempt to seek answers to six research questions surrounding this aim. Study1 evaluated theory of mind, metalinguistic awareness, and executive functioning among hearing nursery children in Central Scotland. Study 2 was aimed at evaluating these same skills among deaf children in the U.S. and U.K., as well as developing a scaling of theory of mind abilities among deaf children. Study 3 assessed these skills among deaf Ghanaian children, as well as evaluating theory of mind abilities among a group of hearing Ghanaian children. Finally, Study 4 compared monolingual and bilingual children on theory of mind, metalinguistic awareness, and executive functioning. Results show that there is a strong link between theory of mind and metalinguistic awareness among hearing children that is not explained by executive functioning skills. This relationship was not apparent among deaf children, who struggle more with theory of mind than metalinguistic awareness. The deaf children in Ghana were delayed compared to their Western peers; hearing Ghanaian children were delayed compared to their Western peers as well, but only slightly. Bilingual children and monolingual children performed similarly on false belief and set-shifting tasks; however, monolingual children outperformed bilinguals on metalinguistic awareness and inhibition tasks, possibly due to low verbal mental age among the monolinguals. Results of the four studies suggest that language does play a part in the relationship between theory of mind and metalinguistic awareness. Due to limited data, cultural effects remain unclear. It is proposed that deaf children’s struggle with theory of mind stems from their difficulty with abstract concepts.

Thesis (M. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-134).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 197-205).

Denna uppsats har gjorts i hopp om att kunna bidra med kunskap om vad elever förväntas och vilka kunskaper de kan tillgodogöra sig genom undervisningen i svenskämnets språkhistoria. Studien har gjorts genom en dokumentstudie av tre samtida läroböcker för kursen svenska 3 för gymnasiet. Syftet med studien har varit att undersöka i vilket utsträckning läroböcker möjliggör språkhistorisk medvetenhet. För att besvara detta har huvudfokus legat på att ta reda på hur väl läroböckerna tillämpar begreppet och hur de motiverar nyttan i språkhistoria. Uppsatsens teoretiska ingång baseras på Jonathan Petterssons tankar om att undervisningen i språkhistoria kan bidra till att eleverna utvecklar en språkhistorisk medvetenhet. Det innebär att eleven kan sätta språkhistorien i relation till aktuella frågor i sin samtid och framtid, för att bygga upp ett förhållningssätt till sig själv och sin omgivning som språkvarelser. Undersökningen har visat att läroböckerna lyckas tillämpa begreppet i hög grad, genom att uppnå olika förutsättningar för att utveckla ett språkhistoriskt medvetande. Vad som är nyttan i det språkhistoriska ämnet är däremot inte något som tydligt motiveras i läroböckerna, vilket bekräftar tidigare forsknings tankar om att det råder oklarheter frågan. Avsaknaden av motiveringen speglar också nuvarande styrdokument som endast formulerar att de ska utveckla kunskaper i det svenska språkets ursprung. Sammanfattningsvis pekar därför studien på att läroböckerna i svenskämnet möjliggör utvecklandet av språkhistorisk medvetenhet. I ett större perspektiv antyder därför studien på att det finns goda möjligheter för begreppet språkhistorisk medvetenhet att ingå i svenskämnets språkhistoria, men att det fortfarande krävs att större forskning börjar intressera sig för frågan för att sätta större ljus på forskningsproblemet. Detta är också en nödvändighet för att möjliggöra en eventuell ändring i styrdokumenten i framtiden. / This essay have been written with hope in contributing with knowledge about what students are expected and what they can absorb through the teaching of the Swedish language history. The study has been done through a document study of three modern textbooks for the Swedish course 3 intended for high school. The purpose of the study has been to investigate the extent to which textbooks enable language-historical awareness. To answer this, the main focus has been on finding out how well the textbooks apply the concept and how they justify the usefulness in language history.  The theoretical approach is based on Jonathan Pettersson's thoughts of that the teaching of language history can contribute to the students developing a language-historical awareness. This means that the student can put the language history in relation to current issues in his or her contemporary and future, in order to build up an approach to themselves and their surroundings as language creatures.  The study has shown that the textbooks succeed in applying the concept of language-historical consciousness to a great extent, by achieving different conditions for developing a language-historical consciousness. What is useful in the language-historical subject on the other hand is not something that is clearly justified in the textbooks, which confirms the earlier research's thoughts that there are uncertainties within this question. The lack of justification also reflects the current curricula of Swedish that only states that they should develop knowledge in the origin of the Swedish language. To sum up, the study therefore indicates that the textbooks enable the development of language-historical awareness. In a larger perspective, the study therefore suggests that there are good opportunities for the concept of language-historical awareness to be included in the Swedish history language, but that it is still necessary for major research to start to take an interest in the issue in order to shed more light on the research problem. This is also necessary in order to enable a possible change in the curricula in the future.