Huvudsyftet med denna studien var att granska hur kommuner informerar om modersmål i förskoleklassen på finska. Tio kommuner valdes för att studera detta, fem s.k. förvaltningskommuner för finska, fem som inte var det. Studien visar att det är vanligare att kommunerna informerar om modersmål och förskoleklass på finska om kommunen ingår i förvaltningsområdet för det finska språket. För att sprida information på finska använder kommunerna både finskspråkiga myndighetstexter och automatiska översättningsprogram. Kommunernas finskspråkiga texter visade sig vara vaga och mångtydiga. De automatiska översättningarna motsvarade inte det förväntade innehållet. Denna kvalitativa studie tar sin teoretiska utgångspunkt i nationell lagstiftning ur ett språk- och minoritetspolitiskt synsätt. Huvudmaterialet består av de valda kommunernas internetsidor som samlades in under oktober 2019 och analyserades med hjälp av kritisk diskursanalys. / The aim of this study was to examine how municipalities inform about mother tongue in the pre-school class in Finnish. Ten municipalities were chosen to study this, five so-called administrative areas for Finnish, five that were not. The study shows that it is more common for municipalities to provide information about mother tongue and pre-school class in Finnish if the municipality is included in the administrative area for Finnish language. To disseminate information in Finnish, the municipalities use both government texts in Finnish and automatic translation programs. The language texts of the municipalities in Finnish proved to be vague and ambiguous. The automatic translations did not match the expected content. This qualitative study takes its theoretical point of departure in national legislation from the perspective of a language and minority policy. The main material consists of ten municipalities' internet pages which were collected in October 2019 and analysed using critical discourse analysis.

Over the past years, there has been a consistent call from Government and industry for South African tertiary institutions to deliver more graduates in the fields of science and technology. This, however, is no mean feat for universities, as the pool of prospective candidates delivers very few students with the necessary academic literacy abilities, and very few students who passed mathematics and science at the right levels to succeed in science higher education. This puts tertiary institutions under mounting pressure to accept students who are under-prepared and to support these students appropriately. The plight of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions like the University of South Africa (UNISA) is even more desperate, as they are often left with those students who are either unable to gain entrance into, or to afford the study fees of, residential universities. These students are often in greater need for face-to-face interaction than are their counterparts at residential universities, yet they generally receive very little of this. The intervention examined and critiqued in this study is an attempt at raising the academic literacy levels of first-year students at UNISA in the fields of science and technology by means of a 60-hour face-to-face workshop programme. As its foundation, it uses the principles of collaborative learning and authentic material design. It also treats academic literacy abilities as interdependent and holistic. This study starts with a broad overview of the context. This is followed by a review of the literature. This review focuses on concepts such as collaborative learning, academic literacy, English for academic purposes, English for specific purposes and English for science and technology. Thereafter, a needs analysis is done in which students’ Test for Academic Literacy Levels (TALL) pre-test results, as well as a sample of their assignments, are examined. In addition, the workshops in this intervention programme are analysed individually. To determine the effectiveness of the academic literacy intervention, students’ pre- and post-TALL results are scrutinised, and a feedback questionnaire filled in at the end of the year is analysed. Subsequently, recommendations are made as to how the workshop programme could be improved. Findings show that the academic literacy intervention did improve students’ academic literacy levels significantly, though the improvement is not enough to elevate students from being considered at-risk. However, with fine-tuning the existing programme, the possibility exists that students’ academic literacy levels might be further improved. This calls for a careful examination of the areas in which students’ performance did not improve significantly. Student feedback indicated a positive attitude towards the entire intervention programme, as well as a marked preference for collaborative learning and face-to-face interaction. In the redevelopment of the current workshop programme, such preferences would have to receive attention, so as to integrate students’ wants, together with what they lack and what they need, in subsequent interventions. In conclusion, the limitations of this study are discussed, and recommendations are made for future research, as the current study must be seen as only the beginning of a process of action research that could lead to a sustainable intervention programme in future. Copyright / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Unit for Academic Literacy / Afrikaans / unrestricted

The thesis is devoted to the problem of providing language support to children with a different mother tongue in preschool age. The theoretical part discusses the child with a different mother tongue, the framework conditions for providing language support to children with a different mother tongue at preschool age in the Czech Republic, methodical and educational materials suitable language support for children with a different mother tongue in preschool age and the method Kikus. Empirical part is prepared on the basis of action research conducted under the support of a language course by Kikus methods for children with a different mother tongue in preschool age. The artist in the empirical part of the main objective, secondary objectives and the main research question of action research, as well as the methodology of this research. Characterizes children's group, which conducted action research and its transformation. Presents selected case reports of children with a different mother tongue preschoolers attending a language course. The conclusion considers the specifics of the application method Kikus in support of the Czech language as a second language in children with a different mother tongue in preschool age and summarizes the course of action research. The finding is that Kikus method can...

The general aim of this study was to investigate the implementation of active learning approaches in the teaching of English Language support courses to first-year university students. The study was planned to identify factors that affected the implementation of active learning in classrooms where English as a Foreign Language (EFL) is taught, the perceptions of EFL instructors and their students regarding active learning, the linkage between assessment practices and productive skills, and the commonly used types of active learning techniques. The study was conducted in three Ethiopian universities and employed a qualitative approach to data generation and analysis. As such, data generation strategies focused on relevant documents, classroom observation, individual interviews, and focus group discussions. The participants of the study included 27 EFL instructors and their students (17 groups of focus group discussion), enrolled for English Language support courses at freshman level. Based on my analysis of the data, the primary barriers to the implementation of active learning techniques in EFL classrooms were as follows: Students’ poor background exposure to the English language; Students’ negative associations with language learning; EFL instructors’ ineffective classroom management; The adverse influence of students’ external social environments; Dependency in group work; low relevance of English Language support courses; Lack of administrative support from Universities. The participants of the study were aware of the importance of active learning and student-centred approaches and in favour of the implementation thereof. Despite this, they did not feel that they practised them effectively in the teaching and learning process. In fact, the instructors explained that, in the face of very unfavourable circumstances for active learning and student-centred approaches, they felt utterly disappointed, with no sense of achievement, when attempting to use these approaches in their classrooms; they did not believe that the existing situation was conducive to the implementation of active learning and student-centred approach. Furthermore, these EFL instructors did not use a variety of active learning techniques in the teaching and learning process of English supportive courses. The dominant techniques they used were group work and pair work. They did not utilise alternative techniques to teach essential productive skills (i.e. speaking and writing).The participants also indicated that the assessment techniques they used were not closely related to lesson objectives or language learning goals in the development of productive skills. The relationship between assessment types and active learning techniques was characterised by traditional pencil-and-paper tests designed solely for grading purposes; and not to improve the actual learning process. In grading, the weight given to productive skills was very small in contrast to that assigned to receptive skills (i.e. listening and reading), grammar and vocabulary. Their relationship involved teaching simply to prepare students for tests, irrelevant and untimely feedback, substandard assessment, absence of dynamism in the two-dimensional assessment techniques, and incongruence between assessment techniques and actual language skills and competence. In relation to feedback, both the students and their instructors pointed out that EFL students were more concerned with their grades than with the potential to learn when receiving feedback on their writing or oral presentations. In line with these findings, this thesis concluded by offering relevant recommendations for alleviating the problems observed in the teaching of English language support courses - both in general and with particular regard to productive skills development. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)