The purpose of this degree project was to investigate the views of four elementary schoolteachers concerning the use of music in the English language classroom. Additionally wewanted to see how the teachers motivated their choices to use or not use music, and in order to answer our two research questions we chose to do semi-structured interviews with the fourselected informants. This method helped us to get an in depth perspective of the teachersthoughts and opinions. Krashen (1983) and Piaget (2008, 1988) provided us with theunderlying theoretical concepts for this study: ‘the affective filter hypothesis’ and ‘the theoryof cognitive development.’ Furthermore, we used selected previous research studies andtheoretical literature for the final analysis. Our findings show that the teachers have an overallpositive attitude towards using music and English together and that they all have seen positiveoutcomes for the students’ motivation and language learning when using it. Their motives forusing music were based on their own musical interests, their view of learning, the type ofclass they teach and their previous positive experiences. Our conclusion for this study is thatthe benefits that can come from using music in the English language classroom are far moreprominent than the challenges, and in the end it is up to the teacher to evaluate if this way ofworking will suit her learners. Therefore, our suggestion to English teachers is to at leastconsider the use of music in the English language classroom in order to experience thepossible benefits.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur förskollärare arbetar språkfrämjande med barn som inte har svenska som modersmål. Vi ville genom denna studie ta reda på hur de arbetar med att främja barns språkutveckling i det svenska språket samt vilka metoder och verktyg de använder som stöd i arbetet. Studien är baserad på en kvalitativ ansats genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem förskollärare. Teoretisk utgångspunkt är den sociokulturella teorin av Lev S Vygotskij där samspelet med omgivningen är avgörande för barns lärande och utveckling. Resultatet i studien visar enligt förskollärarna att språkliga aktiviteter såsom högläsning, sångstunder och lek är ledande i det språkutvecklande arbetet när det gäller att främja det svenska språket för barn som inte behärskar språket tillräckligt. Metoder och verktyg som förskollärarna främst använder sig av för att stödja barn i deras språkutveckling är digitala verktyg, bilder och TAKK vid kommunikation. Andra faktorer som visade sig vara betydelsefulla i resultatet är samverkan med föräldrarna och modersmålet.

No description available.

<p>With advances in neonatal intensive care, many infants born at risk due to very low birthweight (1500 grams or less), due to intrauterine growth retardation (the small-for-gestational age infant has a birthweight less than 2 SD below the mean for gestation) or due to severe Respiratory Distress Syndrome and birth asphyxia, survive free of major debilitating sequelae. However, these apparently 'healthy' children may experience difficulties in perceptual, cognitive and academic performance. The early language development of 12 'healthy' children potentially at risk due to their pre- and perinatal histories, and a group of comparison children matched for sex and social class was investigated. Their language was recorded at home at three monthly intervals during a rapid phase of acquisition (18 to 30 months), to determine whether the two populations were acquiring language similarly. Of further interest was the ambient linguistic environment provided by their mothers. The language measures, derived from the child's spontaneous speech, quantified verbal output (rate and amount of speech), syntactic complexity (mean length of utterance, upper bound and type-token ratio) and morphemic acquisition. Comprehension and expressive scores were also derived from the Reynell Language Scales. The mothers' speech was scored for verbal output and syntactic complexity. The high risk children were as verbose as the comparison children, but their language was syntactically less complex. Their comprehension scores were also significantly lower. Although the high risk scores (uncorrected for the degree of prematurity) were within normal range, they were still significantly below those of the comparison children. This, along with the fact that the language of the two groups of mothers did not differ, and the fact that social class was not a significant factor, supports the position that maturational delay and/or cortical lesion may affect language acquisition. Other issues discussed included the propriety of applying a correction for prematurity to the results, and whether the results are evidence of a developmental lag, or a continuing disability likely to affect other emerging skills. Finally, this study provided correlations between language measures derived from spontaneous speech, and those from standardised language scales.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

I in this study aim to investigate the connection between aesthetic expression in theatre and nonverbal communication among preschool children, grounded in Vygotsky's artefact and mediation theories. Theatre, with its rich visual and performative elements, serves as a medium for artistic expression and imaginative exploration. Within early childhood education, understanding how theatre influences children's nonverbal communication skills is essential for promoting children development and social interaction. Lev Vygotsky’s theories of artefacts and mediation provide a valuable framework for examining the role of theatre in children's socioemotional development. Artefacts, such as costumes, props, and stage settings, serve as cultural tools that scaffold children's learning and cognition. Theatre acts as a mediating artefact that facilitates children's exploration of emotions, roles, and relationships through dramatic play and performance. Theatre can provide an environment where children can experiment with these nonverbal communication skills in a supportive and creative context. I seek to elucidate how exposure to theatrical experiences impacts the nonverbal communication abilities of young children. By examining the perspectives of educators working closely with young children, this research aims to uncover nuanced understandings of how aesthetic experiences in theater contribute to the development and learning of preschoolers.

The impact of birth order on language development has gained significant traction over the years, with contradictory evidence suggesting that lower birth order may hinder language development in typically-developing children (Nafissi and Vosoughi, 2015). However, results also suggest that when considering measures of social communication, second-born typically-developing children demonstrate a significant advantage (Kheirkhah and Cekaite, 2018). These findings have interesting ramifications when considering autistic children, as language impairments are characteristic of the disorder. The current study investigated the impact of birth order, in particular having an older, typically-developing sibling, on vocabulary and social language development in autistic youth. Participants included 1338 first-borns and 1049 second-borns (M age = 9.03 years, SD = 3.57; 86.4% male) with diagnoses of Autistic disorder, Aspergers, or PDD-NOS from the Simons Simplex Collection (Fischbach and Lord, 2010). Results indicated no significant differences in vocabulary or social language between first-borns and second-borns. Hierarchical linear regressions indicated no significant main effect of birth order; however, significant 2-way interactions with birth order x income and birth order x age predicted expressive vocabulary and inappropriate speech. Post-hoc simple slopes suggested that birth order may have a greater impact on language in younger autistic children, and lower-income families. This is the first work to date to investigate birth order and contextual factors on expressive language outcomes in autistic youth. / Doctor of Philosophy / Families provide an important context for important developmental milestones, such as language development (e.g., first words, firs phrases). Many parents and previous literature suggest that occasionally, older siblings can "speak on behalf" of their younger siblings, which reduces the number of opportunities second-born children have to practice important language skills. Previous literature in the field suggests that first-born siblings demonstrate stronger language skills when considering vocabulary, but that second-born siblings demonstrate stronger social language skills. The current dissertation evaluated these birth order findings in a clinical group of children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as language differences are key features of the disorder. Using a large, representative data set from the Simon Simplex Collection, nearly 3,000 youth with ASD were evaluated on vocabulary and social language skills, grouped by birth order status. Group comparisons suggested that there were no significant differences between first-borns and second-borns in vocabulary and language. When evaluating what factors predicted vocabulary and language, birth order was also not significant. However, some interaction effects emerged between birth order and income, suggesting that in lower-income families, birth order may make a meaningful difference in vocabulary and social language. This is the first work to evaluate the role of siblings on language in ASD, and has important implications for interventions, especially for lower-income families impacted by ASD.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur några lärare i grundskolan beskriver flerspråkiga elevers hinder och möjligheter i sin andraspråksutveckling i svenska och försöka förstå hur de arbetar med dessa elevers språkutveckling. Denna studie bidrar med kunskap och förståelse kring: andraspråkselevers språkutveckling, deras dubbla uppgifter att både lära sig undervisningsspråket och innehållet, hur vi tillsammans i skolans värld kan undanröja hinder och möjliggöra en god språk- och kunskapsutveckling. Data har samlats in genom halvstrukturerade intervjuer med fyra lärare som tillsammans representerar tre skolområden. Undersökningen är kvalitativ med en sociokulturell ansats där språket, redskapens redskap, står i fokus. Sammanfattningsvis visar resultaten att lärarna lägger stor vikt vid undervisning av ord, begrepp och förståelse. Tid och engagemang läggs på att: skapa relationer med eleverna, planera upp och bedriva språkförebyggande undervisning, som de ser gynnar och har betydelse för andraspråkselevers språkutveckling i svenska. Detta resultat framkommer även i andra studier som jag tagit del av. Med flerspråkiga elever menas elever som lär sig behärska fler än ett språk. Begreppen förstaspråk och andraspråk förkortas L1 och L2. Där L står för language och handlar om den ordningsföljd barnet lär sig språket, och har inget att göra med behärskningsgraden (Abrahamsson &amp; Bylund, 2012). / The purpose of the study is to investigate how some teachers in primary school describes multilingual students’ obstacles and opportunities in their second language development in Swedish and try to understand how the teachers work with these students' language development. This study contributes with knowledge and understanding of: second language learners’ language development, their dual assignment to both learn the language and content, how we in education can remove barriers and allow a good language- and knowledge-development. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with four teachers who together represent three school areas. The study is qualitative with a socio-cultural approach in which language, the gear tools, are the focus. In summary, the results show that the teachers put great emphasis in teaching words, concepts and understanding. Time and dedication is put on: creating relations with the students, planning and conduct up language teaching prevention, which they see benefits and are important for second language learners’ language development in Swedish. This result is also indicated in other studies that I have read. Multilingual pupils mean students learning to master more than one language. The terms First language and Second language shortened L1 and L2. Where L stands for language and the figure is about the order the child learns the language, and has nothing to do with mastery level (Abrahamsson &amp; Bylund, 2012).

O diagnóstico precoce das alterações de compreensão oral é imprescindível para a intervenção efetiva. Porém, avaliar a compreensão é uma tarefa difícil, pois estratégias compensatórias podem mascarar dificuldades. Dada a importância de instrumentos apropriados para a avaliação de habilidades receptivas, o estudo comparou crianças com Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem (DEL) com um Grupo Controle quanto à compreensão de discurso. Participaram do estudo 47 sujeitos, distribuídos em dois grupos: Pesquisa e Controle. No Grupo Pesquisa, havia 21 sujeitos com DEL entre 8:0 e 8:9 anos, frequentadores do Laboratório de Investigação Fonoaudiológica em Desenvolvimento da Linguagem e suas Alterações da Universidade de São Paulo. No Controle, 26 sujeitos com desenvolvimento normal de linguagem entre 7:10 e 8:11 anos, frequentadores de duas escolas públicas de São Paulo. Ambos os grupos responderam a perguntas literais e inferenciais sobre duas narrativas gravadas digitalmente. Os materiais e os procedimentos basearam-se nos critérios de Bishop e Adams (1992), Norbury e Bishop (2002). Havia três formas de resposta: espontânea, com incentivo e por múltipla escolha. Priorizou-se a primeira. Ausente a resposta, forneceu-se auxílio na forma de encorajamento ou de alternativas. Utilizou-se um sistema de três pontos para a análise quantitativa das respostas. As completamente corretas receberam dois pontos. As parcialmente corretas, um ponto. Já as ausentes ou totalmente incorretas, nenhum. Os erros foram classificados quanto à natureza em: (1) Alternativa Incorreta; (2) Falha de Compreensão Literal; (3) Inferência Errada; (4) Resposta Atípica I; (5) Resposta Atípica II e (6) Falha de Compreensão do Escopo da Pergunta. Foram observadas diferenças quantitativas e qualitativas entre os grupos. O teste não paramétrico de Wilcoxon revelou que o Grupo Pesquisa obteve pontuações estatisticamente mais baixas, tanto em compreensão literal como inferencial de discurso. Ambos os grupos produziram predominantemente respostas espontâneas. Porém, a Análise de Variância demonstrou que as crianças com DEL precisaram de alternativas com mais frequência. Essa análise também confirmou diferenças nos padrões de erro. A tipologia de erro predominante em ambos os grupos foi a Inferência Errada. Contudo, o Grupo Pesquisa cometeu os seguintes erros com mais frequência que o Controle: Alternativa Incorreta, Falha de Compreensão Literal e Resposta Atípica I. Por fim, o Modelo de Regressão de Poisson revelou que o desempenho do grupo com DEL esteve diretamente relacionado ao tempo de terapia e inversamente à idade. Em suma, as crianças com DEL apresentaram desempenho quantitativa e qualitativamente pior que os pares cronológicos na tarefa de compreensão de discurso. Tais resultados corroboram os achados descritos na literatura. Portanto, reforçam a necessidade de identificação precoce das dificuldades de compreensão de escolares com DEL / Early identification of comprehension deficits is of extreme importance for effective intervention. However, assessing comprehension is challenging. Comprehension problems may be not entirely obvious due to compensatory strategies. Seeing that appropriate instruments are crucial, this study compared schoolchildren with SLI to age-matched peers in a comprehension task. Two groups participated in this research: SLI (n=21, age range: 8:0 8:9 years) and Control (n=26, age range: 7:10 8:11 years). Subjects with SLI were recruited from a language unit affiliated to University of São Paulo, whereas age-matched peers, from public schools. Both groups answered to literal and inferential questions about two digitally recorded narratives. Material and procedure were based on criteria proposed by Bishop and Adams (1992), Norbury and Bishop (2002). Spontaneous responses were encouraged. In case of no response, children were helped. The researcher provided them with either encouragement or multiple choices. The responses were scored according to a 3-point scoring system. Correct and fully adequate responses received two points. Partial responses received one. No response or incorrect ones received no point. Wrong responses were classified into six typologies: (1) Incorrect Alternative; (2) Failure of Literal Comprehension; (3) Wrong inference; (4) Odd Response I; (5) Odd Response II and (6) Scope of Question Misunderstood. According to Wilcoxon Test, the SLI group performed poorly in literal and inferential comprehension of discourse. Both groups produced mostly spontaneous responses. However, ANOVA revealed that children with SLI needed alternatives more often. This analysis also confirmed that there were different error patterns. In both groups, Wrong Inference was the predominant error. Nevertheless, the SLI group used these typologies more often: Incorrect Alternative, Failure of Literal Comprehension and Odd Response I. The Poisson Regression was carried out in order to verify whether age, intervention time and level of education affected performance of children with SLI. This model showed that performance was directly related to intervention time and inversely connected with age. Concluding, the group with SLI performed quantitative and qualitatively worse than age-matched peers in the comprehension task. The results support the necessity of early identification of comprehension deficits in schoolchildren with SLI

Sammandrag Syftet med den här undersökningen var att undersöka hur pedagogerna på en förskola i Värmland upplever att införandet av TAKK har påverkat barnens språkutveckling. Jag ville också undersöka hur de språkutvecklande aktiviteterna på en småbarnsavdelning har förändrats sedan 2005 och vilken roll TAKK har i detta. Dessutom ville jag se om personalen använde tecken på alla avdelningar på förskolan.   Jag kom fram till att den största skillnaden när det gäller språkutvecklande aktiviteter är att de har infört TAKK på småbarnsavdelningen som stöd till alla barn. Med hjälp av observationer och intervjuer på den aktuella förskolan kunde jag konstatera att pedagogerna på förskolan upplever att tecken är bra för alla små barns språkutveckling eftersom de har upptäckt att barnen fått ett mer utvecklat språk sedan metoden infördes.   Litteraturstudierna bekräftade att TAKK kan användas till alla barn, även små barn, eftersom det blir ett redskap för barnet i sin kommunikation. Pedagogerna på förskolan upplever mindre frustration i barngruppen då barn och pedagoger förstår varandra mycket bättre idag. Barnen har blivit ovanligt bra på färger anser pedagogerna.   En av de andra avdelningarna på förskolan använder TAKK, men inte till alla barn utan där använder man tecken främst till ett speciellt barn som behöver det som stöd i sin kommunikation. Den tredje avdelningen använder inte TAKK. / Abstract The purpose of this investigation was to examine how the pedagogues of a preschool in Värmland experience that the introduction of TAKK has affected the children’s language development. I also wanted to examine how the language development activities in a small children’s department have been changed since 2005 and what part TAKK has in this. Furthermore I wanted to see if the personnel used signs in every department on the preschool.   My conclusion was that the biggest difference when it comes to the activities for the language development is that they have introduced TAKK in the small children’s department as a support to all children. With the aid of observations and interviews made in the current preschool, I could establish that the pedagogues of the preschool experience that signs is a good help for every small child’s language development since they discovered that the children have a more developed language after the method was introduced.   The literature studies confirmed that TAKK can be used on all children, even small children, since it becomes a tool for the child in its communication. The pedagogues of the preschool experience less frustration in the group of children as children and pedagogues understand each other much better today. The pedagogues consider that the children have become exceptionally good in defining colours.   One of the other departments of the preschool uses TAKK but not to all children. They use signs mainly to a particular child who needs signs as a support for her communication. The third department doesn’t use TAKK.

O diagnóstico precoce das alterações de compreensão oral é imprescindível para a intervenção efetiva. Porém, avaliar a compreensão é uma tarefa difícil, pois estratégias compensatórias podem mascarar dificuldades. Dada a importância de instrumentos apropriados para a avaliação de habilidades receptivas, o estudo comparou crianças com Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem (DEL) com um Grupo Controle quanto à compreensão de discurso. Participaram do estudo 47 sujeitos, distribuídos em dois grupos: Pesquisa e Controle. No Grupo Pesquisa, havia 21 sujeitos com DEL entre 8:0 e 8:9 anos, frequentadores do Laboratório de Investigação Fonoaudiológica em Desenvolvimento da Linguagem e suas Alterações da Universidade de São Paulo. No Controle, 26 sujeitos com desenvolvimento normal de linguagem entre 7:10 e 8:11 anos, frequentadores de duas escolas públicas de São Paulo. Ambos os grupos responderam a perguntas literais e inferenciais sobre duas narrativas gravadas digitalmente. Os materiais e os procedimentos basearam-se nos critérios de Bishop e Adams (1992), Norbury e Bishop (2002). Havia três formas de resposta: espontânea, com incentivo e por múltipla escolha. Priorizou-se a primeira. Ausente a resposta, forneceu-se auxílio na forma de encorajamento ou de alternativas. Utilizou-se um sistema de três pontos para a análise quantitativa das respostas. As completamente corretas receberam dois pontos. As parcialmente corretas, um ponto. Já as ausentes ou totalmente incorretas, nenhum. Os erros foram classificados quanto à natureza em: (1) Alternativa Incorreta; (2) Falha de Compreensão Literal; (3) Inferência Errada; (4) Resposta Atípica I; (5) Resposta Atípica II e (6) Falha de Compreensão do Escopo da Pergunta. Foram observadas diferenças quantitativas e qualitativas entre os grupos. O teste não paramétrico de Wilcoxon revelou que o Grupo Pesquisa obteve pontuações estatisticamente mais baixas, tanto em compreensão literal como inferencial de discurso. Ambos os grupos produziram predominantemente respostas espontâneas. Porém, a Análise de Variância demonstrou que as crianças com DEL precisaram de alternativas com mais frequência. Essa análise também confirmou diferenças nos padrões de erro. A tipologia de erro predominante em ambos os grupos foi a Inferência Errada. Contudo, o Grupo Pesquisa cometeu os seguintes erros com mais frequência que o Controle: Alternativa Incorreta, Falha de Compreensão Literal e Resposta Atípica I. Por fim, o Modelo de Regressão de Poisson revelou que o desempenho do grupo com DEL esteve diretamente relacionado ao tempo de terapia e inversamente à idade. Em suma, as crianças com DEL apresentaram desempenho quantitativa e qualitativamente pior que os pares cronológicos na tarefa de compreensão de discurso. Tais resultados corroboram os achados descritos na literatura. Portanto, reforçam a necessidade de identificação precoce das dificuldades de compreensão de escolares com DEL / Early identification of comprehension deficits is of extreme importance for effective intervention. However, assessing comprehension is challenging. Comprehension problems may be not entirely obvious due to compensatory strategies. Seeing that appropriate instruments are crucial, this study compared schoolchildren with SLI to age-matched peers in a comprehension task. Two groups participated in this research: SLI (n=21, age range: 8:0 8:9 years) and Control (n=26, age range: 7:10 8:11 years). Subjects with SLI were recruited from a language unit affiliated to University of São Paulo, whereas age-matched peers, from public schools. Both groups answered to literal and inferential questions about two digitally recorded narratives. Material and procedure were based on criteria proposed by Bishop and Adams (1992), Norbury and Bishop (2002). Spontaneous responses were encouraged. In case of no response, children were helped. The researcher provided them with either encouragement or multiple choices. The responses were scored according to a 3-point scoring system. Correct and fully adequate responses received two points. Partial responses received one. No response or incorrect ones received no point. Wrong responses were classified into six typologies: (1) Incorrect Alternative; (2) Failure of Literal Comprehension; (3) Wrong inference; (4) Odd Response I; (5) Odd Response II and (6) Scope of Question Misunderstood. According to Wilcoxon Test, the SLI group performed poorly in literal and inferential comprehension of discourse. Both groups produced mostly spontaneous responses. However, ANOVA revealed that children with SLI needed alternatives more often. This analysis also confirmed that there were different error patterns. In both groups, Wrong Inference was the predominant error. Nevertheless, the SLI group used these typologies more often: Incorrect Alternative, Failure of Literal Comprehension and Odd Response I. The Poisson Regression was carried out in order to verify whether age, intervention time and level of education affected performance of children with SLI. This model showed that performance was directly related to intervention time and inversely connected with age. Concluding, the group with SLI performed quantitative and qualitatively worse than age-matched peers in the comprehension task. The results support the necessity of early identification of comprehension deficits in schoolchildren with SLI