The use of children’s literature in the English as a Second language (ESL) classroom is a widely used teaching method. This study aims to find research relating to the incorporation of children’s literature in the lower elementary English as a secondlanguage classroom. The main questions are how children’s literature can be used in the classroom and what potential benefits it has. A systematic literature review was carried out and research from six studies was included. The included studies, analyzed in this thesis, involved children aged 6-9, who are learning a second language. The results reveal multiple benefits with the use of children’s literature in the lower elementary ESL classroom, such as vocabulary gains, improved speaking and listening skills, increased motivation and better pronunciation. The results also present a few suggestions on how to incorporate the literature in the classroom, where reading aloud to the students appears to be the most common practice. It also appears common to have post-reading sessions that include discussions about what has been read. / <p>Engelska</p>

The diploma thesis deals with development of lower elementary school children human figure in motion drawing. The theoretical part of the thesis aims to summarize findings of developmental psychology, it especially describes development of younger school age children during particular stages of development, and further it provides information about child?s artistic expression and its development stages. The practical part of the thesis shows research results of human figure drawings of children from the 1st to the 5th grade. Furthermore, child?s ability to capture the figure in motion is observed and development of this capture is compared. Results were assessed according to criteria determined in advance, and subsequently analyzed.

Previous research has shown multiple benefits and challenges with the incorporation of children’s literature in the English as a Second language (ESL) classroom. In addition, the use of children’s literature in the lower elementary English classroom is recommended by the Swedish National Agency for Education. Consequently, the current study explores how teachers in Swedish elementary school teach ESL through children’s literature. This empirical study involves English teachers from seven schools in a small municipality in Sweden. The data has been collected through an Internet survey. The study also connects the results to previous international research, comparing Swedish and international research. The results suggest that even though there are many benefits of using children’s literature in the ESL classroom, the respondents seldom use these authentic texts, due to limited time and a narrow supply of literature, among other factors. However, despite these challenges, all of the teachers claim to use children’s literature by reading aloud in the classroom. Based on the results, further research exploring pupils’ thoughts in contrast to teachers would be beneficial. In addition, the majority of the participants expressed that they wanted more information on how to use children’s literature. Therefore, additional research relating to beneficial methods of teaching English through children’s literature, especially in Sweden, is recommended.

Syftet med undersökningen är att ge ett kunskapsbidrag om hur några verksamma lärare säger att de använder digitala och analoga skrivverktyg i skrivundervisningen för att diskutera skrivverktygens roll för elevers textskapande. För att besvara studiens syfte utgår undersökningen från följande frågeställningar: Hur beskriver och motiverar lärarna sin användning av skrivverktyg i undervisningen?, Hur upplever lärarna att elevers textskapande påverkas vid användning av respektive skrivverktyg? och Hur beskriver lärarna sin roll i att stötta och motivera elever under textskapande vid användandet av respektive skrivverktyg? Studien har utgått ifrån ett kvalitativt perspektiv och metoden som använts är semistrukturerade intervjuer med fyra informanter. Intervjuerna grundar sig i förkonstruerade frågor framtagna för att besvara studiens tre frågeställningar. Materialet har transkriberats och analyserats för att sortera in relevanta svar i linje med studiens frågeställningar. Resultatet visar att informanterna anser att båda skrivverktygen är viktiga att använda i skrivundervisningen. Det framkommer dock att lärarna prioriterar olika beroende på hur och när skrivverktygen ska användas.