After having worked within the preschool and it’s system for a number of years, we have often reflected over the fact that many educators tend to look at children with language difficulties in several different ways, and many of them being conflicting. Something that might contribute to this problem is the fact that the term itself, language difficulties, is defined differently between individuals, who in turn affects the way educators and preschools deal with the problem. The aim of this study is to create an understanding of the problems related to language difficulties, and how it is being dealt with within the preschool environment. To achieve this we have chosen to work within a qualitative research approach, alongside a discourse analysis. The selection of informants we have chosen consists of ten, qualified educators. Within this study we have collected a variety of descriptions for the term language difficulties, and how these in turn affect the way that children’s language, the typical and the atypical, is developed. As reference material we have chosen to use the paper Med blicken på barnet - Om olikheter inom förskolan som diskursiv praktik, by Palla (2011), and we stick to this theoretical approach throughout the study. Furthermore, we will try to explain the language development of children through developmental psychology and language theories. Through the analysis of the results found in this study, we conclude that the definition and construction of the term language difficulties, varies greatly, but are always seen as correct and true by the individual behind it. This in turn affects the way that educators deal with the children that are affected. In this study, two reoccurring aspects to this have been found, namely, the age of the child, and the responsibility held by the preschool. These aspects seem to be important in forming the image that educators have of the matter, and furthermore shape the way that they value and deal with it.

Šiame bakalauro darbe analizuojami daugiakalbėje aplinkoje gyvenančių mokinių kalbos sutrikimai ir sunkumai. Tyrime dalyvavo 51 pradinių klasių mokytojas, 17 lietuvių kalbos mokytojų, dirbančių 5-8 -ose klasėse ir keturi, mokyklose dirbantys logopedai. Anketinės apklausos metodu ištirti daugiakalbėje aplinkoje gyvenančių mokinių kalbos sunkumai ir sutrikimai. Norint, kad atsakymai būtų išsamesni ir požiūris į nagrinėjamą reiškinį tikslesnis, buvo pasirinktas interviu metodas, kuriuo apklausti logopedai. Analizuojant tyrimo duomenis buvo derinami kiekybiniai ir kokybiniai metodai. Atlikta statistinė duomenų analizė, ji papildyta logopedų pasisakymais, iliustruota mokytojų pateiktais pavyzdžiais ir mokinių rašto darbų pavyzdžiais. Tyrimu nustatyta, kad daugiakalbė aplinka turi įtakos ir kartais neigiamos vaikų kalbos raidai. Dauguma apklausoje dalyvavusių respondentų nurodė, kad dėl kalbų interferencijos mokiniai, gyvenantys daugiakalbėje aplinkoje, gana dažnai turi kalbos sunkumų. Jų kalba gramatiškai netaisyklinga, kalboje vartojami kelių kalbų žodžiai, netaisyklingas kirčiavimas, ypatingai dažnos ilgųjų ir trumpųjų balsių bei dvibalsių painiojimo klaidos (i-y; u- ū; uo-o; e, ė, ie). Tai sukelia skaitymo ir rašymo sunkumų. Respondentų nuomone, rašymo problemos žymiai didesnės ir dažnesnės. Kalbos sutrikimų daugiakalbė aplinka nelemia. Ji gali būti tik viena iš įtariamo kalbos sutrikimo priežasčių, bet ne pagrindinė. Pedagogai pagal galimybes padeda mokiniams turintiems... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This paper analyses speech disorders and difficulties of students from multilingual environment. The subject of the study was 51 primary school teachers, 17 teachers of the Lithuanian language who teach 5th – 8th formers and 4 speech therapists who work at school. Speech disorders and difficulties of students from multilingual environment have been identified using the method of questionnaire. Speech therapists have been interviewed in order to receive comprehensive responses and precise attitude towards this phenomenon. Quantitative and qualitative methods have been combined analysing the data of the research. The statistical analysis of the data includes the remarks of speech therapists, pictorial teachers’ and students’ written work samples. The study states that multilingual environment can sometimes have a negative influence on children’s speech development. Most respondents pointed that the students from multilingual environment have speech difficulties more often because of the language interference. Their speech is wrong grammatically. Moreover, they use in their speech words from different languages, put the stress incorrectly, mispronounce long and short vowels and diphthongs (i-y; u-ū; uo-o; e, ė, ie). It causes difficulties in reading and writing. The respondents think that writing difficulties occur more often. The multilingual environment does not determine disorders. It can only be one of the reasons of speech disorders but not... [to full text]

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Antalet äldre invandrare i Sverige ökar och många bland den gruppen har kommit sent i livet. Språksvårigheter och kulturella skillnader gör det svårt för dem att få samma omsorg som majoritetsbefolkningen.Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur faktorer som språksvårigheter och kulturella skillnader påverka situationen för äldre invandrare och deras kontakter med äldreomsorgen. Kommunikationsteorier och relaterade definitioner av språk, kultur och kommunikation har använts för analysen.Denna studie är en litteraturstudie. Sammanlagt 18 artiklar med både kvantitativa och kvalitativa ansatser samt litteraturstudier ingår.Resultatet har presenterats i ett antal underrubriker. Centralt är att det finns ett klart samband mellan språk- och kulturella barriärer och sämre hälsa, upplevelse av vårdkvalitet och tillgång till formell och systematisk hjälp.Detta samband och tolkens roll i kommunikation och hur äldreomsorg borde utformas för att vara mer tillgänglig för äldre invandrare har diskuterats liksom vad kulturanpassad äldreomsorg kan innebära. Slutsatsen är att det finns luckor i kunskapsläget när det gäller studier som är baserade på de äldre invandrarnas subjektiva upplevelser, önskemål och krav. / The population of elder immigrants in Sweden is increasing and many older people among the group have come late in life. Language difficulties and cultural differences make it difficult for them to get the same care as the majority population. The purpose of this essay is to examine how factors such as language barriers and cultural differences affect the situation of older immigrants and their contacts with elder care.  Communication theories and related definitions of language, culture and communication have been used for the analysis.This study is a literature review. A total of 18 articles with both quantitative and qualitative approaches, and literature reviews are included.The results have been presented in a number of subheadings. A central issue was that there was a clear connection between language and cultural barriers and poor health, perceived quality of care and access to formal and systematic means.This connection and the interpreter's role in communication and how elder care should be designed to be more accessible to elderly immigrants has been discussed as well as what culturally congruent elderly care could include. The conclusion is that there is a lack of knowledge based on the subjective experiences, wishes and requirements of older immigrants' themselves.

Forskningen visar att språket är viktig när det kommer till vård. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka hur vårdgivare inom hemtjänsten hanterar och uppfattar språksvårigheter med äldre invandrare som inte kan svenska. För att besvara syftet har kvalitativa, semi-strukturerade intervjuer genomförts med sex stycken vårdpersonal inom hemtjänsten. Resultatet visar att språksvårigheter är vanligt förekommande men att det inte alltid behöver vara ett problem. För att hantera språkskillnaderna användes bland annat teckenspråk, kroppsspråk, ögonkontakt samt beröring. Utförliga besöksplaner, kontaktmannaskap och kontinuitet användes som arbetsredskap för att förebygga missförstånd och underlätta kommunikationen. Det rådde olika meningar huruvida de äldre invandrarna var ensamma och isolerade. Personalen upplevde att de äldre upplevde språksvårigheterna som jobbiga, blev ledsna, arga och kände hopplöshet. Skapandet av goda relationer påverkades inte av språksvårigheterna ansåg fyra av sex intervjupersoner. Antaganden användes inte för att underlätta språksvårigheterna då de behandlade alla individuellt. Tillmötesgående, förtroendeingivande, sunt förnuft och vänlighet var ord som förknippades med positivt bemötande. / Research shows that language is important when it comes to healthcare. This study aims to investigate how caregivers in home care handle and understand language difficulties with older immigrants who don’t speak Swedish. To answer the question qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six health workers in home care. The result shows that language difficulties are common but not always need to be a problem. To deal with the different languages following were used; sign language, body language, eye contact and touch. Detailed visit plans, contact persons and continuity were used as tools to prevent misunderstandings and to facilitate communication. There was a difference of opinion whether the older immigrants were alone and isolated. The staff felt that the older experienced language difficulties hard, that they were sad, angry and felt hopelessness. Four interview persons thought that the establishment of good relations were not affected by language difficulties. Assumptions were not used to facilitate language difficulties since they treated everyone individually. Accommodating, trustworthy, good sense and kindness were words that were associated with positive reception.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difficulties encountered by the grade ten township learners with respect to the concept of electricity. More specifically, the study attempted to explore the learners’ scientific knowledge by investigating their conceptions or alternative conceptions about electricity; the influence of learners’ age, career interests and gender issues on their conceptions of electricity and; the effectiveness of concept mapping (a pedagogic tool designed by Novak in the 1970s) in facilitating the learners’ understanding of electricity. The study was premised on socio-cultural constructivism as well as meaningful learning as espoused by Ausubel (1968). A Pre-Test-Post-Test Control Group Design was adopted in the study in which two comparable groups were used. The data was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative research methods and the instruments that were used included a conception of electricity (COET) (originally adopted and administered in the Western Cape, Northern Cape provinces and in Norway in 1999 for the purpose of Science and Technology Literacy Project (STLP) with the hope that their reliability and validity was guaranteed); selected learner interviews and evaluation forms. The summary of findings has suggested that the Grade ten learners held misconceptions about the concept of electricity even after they were exposed to intervention that included concept mapping. In terms of the gender issues, there was no significant difference in performance between the boys and girls though the females outperformed their male counterparts at both groups. The underachievement of the older learners compared to the younger ones has also surfaced and that is against expectation since a number of studies carried out earlier (see Ogunniyi (1999)) have already corroborated such findings. With respect to career interests, what the learners indicated as their future dreams, i.e. what they intend to do and become, seems to have been influenced their performance at the pre- and post-test stages. / Magister Educationis - MEd

<p><font size="3"> <p>The purpose of this study was to investigate the difficulties encountered by the grade ten township learners with respect to the concept of electricity. More specifically, the study attempted to explore the learners&rsquo / scientific knowledge by investigating their conceptions or alternative conceptions about electricity / the influence of learners&rsquo / age, career interests and gender issues on their conceptions of electricity and / the effectiveness of concept mapping (a pedagogic tool designed by Novak in the 1970s) in facilitating the learners&rsquo / understanding of electricity. The study was premised on socio-cultural constructivism as well as meaningful learning as espoused by Ausubel (1968). A Pre-Test-Post-Test Control Group Design was adopted in the study in which two comparable groups were used. The data was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative research methods and the instruments that were used included a conception of electricity (COET) (originally adopted and administered in the Western Cape, Northern Cape provinces and in Norway in 1999 for the purpose of Science and Technology Literacy Project (STLP) with the hope that their reliability and validity was guaranteed) / selected learner interviews and evaluation forms. The summary of findings has suggested that the Grade ten learners held misconceptions about the concept of electricity even after they were exposed to intervention that included concept mapping. In terms of the gender issues, there was no significant difference in performance between the boys and girls though the females outperformed their male counterparts at both groups. The underachievement of the older learners compared to the younger ones has also surfaced and that is against expectation since a number of studies carried out earlier (see Ogunniyi (1999)) have already corroborated such findings. With respect to career interests, what the learners indicated as their future dreams, i.e. what they intend to do and become, seems to have been influenced their performance at the pre- and post-test stages.</p> </font></p>

<p><font size="3"> <p>The purpose of this study was to investigate the difficulties encountered by the grade ten township learners with respect to the concept of electricity. More specifically, the study attempted to explore the learners&rsquo / scientific knowledge by investigating their conceptions or alternative conceptions about electricity / the influence of learners&rsquo / age, career interests and gender issues on their conceptions of electricity and / the effectiveness of concept mapping (a pedagogic tool designed by Novak in the 1970s) in facilitating the learners&rsquo / understanding of electricity. The study was premised on socio-cultural constructivism as well as meaningful learning as espoused by Ausubel (1968). A Pre-Test-Post-Test Control Group Design was adopted in the study in which two comparable groups were used. The data was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative research methods and the instruments that were used included a conception of electricity (COET) (originally adopted and administered in the Western Cape, Northern Cape provinces and in Norway in 1999 for the purpose of Science and Technology Literacy Project (STLP) with the hope that their reliability and validity was guaranteed) / selected learner interviews and evaluation forms. The summary of findings has suggested that the Grade ten learners held misconceptions about the concept of electricity even after they were exposed to intervention that included concept mapping. In terms of the gender issues, there was no significant difference in performance between the boys and girls though the females outperformed their male counterparts at both groups. The underachievement of the older learners compared to the younger ones has also surfaced and that is against expectation since a number of studies carried out earlier (see Ogunniyi (1999)) have already corroborated such findings. With respect to career interests, what the learners indicated as their future dreams, i.e. what they intend to do and become, seems to have been influenced their performance at the pre- and post-test stages.</p> </font></p>

The aim of this study is to describe how four teachers in middle school work to verbally support students´ language and comprehension of subject-specific concepts, and also illustrate what teachers´ express they consider is linguistic development. The research questions posed in this study are: which multimodal linguistic representations do the teachers use in a group to verbally support students’ linguistic development, and what do the teachers consider to be linguistic methods.   The study is a qualitative study with two different methods. The study set out to explore what multimodal linguistic support the teachers’ use in classroom, through observations using an observation scheme based on communicative representations. To find out, what teachers consider, is linguistic development, an interview in a focus group with the observed teachers was conducted. The sociocultural perspective on language and teaching, where learning is considered as a social process together with others, is used in the analysis collected for data. It was found that the teachers in the study use multimodal linguistic support for the students with learning difficulties. The students are able to be involved in the lessons. The teachers often use subject-specific concepts so that they will be well known and used by the students themselves. The teachers talk about linguistic development as subject-specific concepts and have not reflected that they develop the student’s language through the multimodal linguistic methods they use in their daily work with the group, both individually and collective.

Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med kunskap om och ge perspektiv på barns talsvårigheter i relation till hur arbetet på förskolan utförs och kan vidareutvecklas, via utsagor från förskollärare, specialpedagog och logopeder. Studien utgår från tre frågeställningar: på vilka sätt kan arbetet med barns talsvårigheter vidareutvecklas, enligt förskollärare, specialpedagog och logopeder, hur resonerar förskollärare, specialpedagog och logopeder om samarbete och dess betydelse mellan de olika yrkesgrupperna samt vilka perspektiv på talsvårigheter synliggörs i förskollärares, specialpedagogs och logopeders utsagor?  Den metod som används för denna studie är kvalitativa intervjuer med två förskollärare, två logopeder och en specialpedagog. Den data som samlades in genom intervjuerna kodades och kategoriserades i fem olika kategorier. Dessa kategorier tar upp förskolans arbete, barns talsvårigheter, kontakter och samverkan, briser i arbetet samt hjälpsamma arbetsmetoder.  Studiens resultat visar på vilka sätt logopeder ansvarar för att hjälpa barn med talsvårigheter. Resultatet visar också på förskolans ansvar att ge barn goda möjligheter till utveckling oavsett barnens förutsättningar, enligt förskollärarna i studien. Dessutom visar resultatet på de brister som respondenterna tar upp i arbetet med barns talsvårigheter och dessa är: okunskap, brist på personal, ekonomisk brist samt bristen på stöd från skollagen.