Previous research claims that studies on pupil code-switching are lacking in number. Therefore, this study aimed to provide a picture of how lower secondary students in Sweden perceive code-switching inside and outside the Swedish EFL classroom, how the interlocutor affects the pupils’ code-switching as well as the pupils’ attitudes to the phenomenon. The material consists of semi-structured interviews with seven pupils at a lower secondary school. Qualitative content analysis was used as a method to process the interview data. The results show that code-switching occurs in relation to language proficiency in order to explain, annotate and exemplify second language content in the pupils’ first language and in this way enhance learning. This is done by the teachers when leading the class or by the pupils themselves in group discussions or during exercises. Furthermore, results show that interlocutors could be both enablers and be enabled to code-switch during discussions. In addition, the pupils had varied attitudes to code-switching where it was either seen as a mistake to code-switch, or that the pupils code-switched to add effect to their language. The pupils claimed to have different proficiency of the English language and spoke a varied amount of L1 during the lessons. However, all pupils agreed that English should be the primary language in the Swedish EFL classroom. The study concluded with a discussion on the pedagogical implications of the study where it could be used by teachers as a communicative resource.

Matematikundervisningen i den svenska grundskolan är starkt läromedelstyrd. Med en fundamental grund i det svenska styrdokumentet LGR 11 har läromedlen genom undervisningen en betydande roll för att utveckla och gynna elevernas lärande. Undervisningen påverkas således av det ämnesinnehåll ett läromedel består av. Kunskaper i algebra har visat ha en betydande roll för elevers matematikinlärning. Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vad som kännetecknar det algebraiska innehållet i dagens läroböcker. Detta med fokus på hur det algebraiska tänkandet kan karakteriseras och gynnas för elever i grundskolans senare årskurser. Med läroböckernas starka koppling till styrdokumenten tas även i beaktning hur algebraiskt innehåll beskrivs och hanteras där. Matematikdidaktisk forskning finns att tillgå med liknande syfte för grundskolans tidigare år där ett ramverk av fem Big Ideas fastställts för att karakterisera det algebraiska innehållet i läroböcker. Detta ramverk har använts även i denna studie med fokus på årskurs 7-9. Resultaten visar att det algebraiska innehållet i grundskolans senare år är starkt präglat av variabelhantering såväl som olika metoder och aspekter relevanta för ekvationslösning. / Mathematics education in Sweden is heavily influenced by textbooks. Being based on the Swedish curriculum and adapted to its content, the textbooks carry great weight in relation to the pupils’ teaching experience. Algebraic knowledge comprises an important role in the learning of mathematics. The aim of this study is to identify what characterizes the algebraic content in Swedish textbooks and curriculums for the lower secondary school. Researchers within mathematics education have previously published studies related to this aim in the lower level of elementary school. Five Big Ideas were identified and used as a framework to characterize the algebraic content in earlier studies. Those five Big Ideas were also used as a framework in this study. The results show that the algebraic content in lower secondary school is largely composed of methods for using variables. Methods and aspects suitable for solving equations were also frequently represented.

The aim of this thesis is to develop knowledge about what students actually learn in lower secondary school science, regardless of intentions and policies. This is conceptualized as a study of the lived curriculum. During the last decades, new ways of organizing classroom work have evolved in Sweden. Students are to an increasing extent expected to take responsibility for what, when, and how they study. The aim of this thesis is therefore delimited to the study of which lived curriculum is constituted in such an individually organized science classroom practice. The theoretical foundation is a cultural-historical activity-theoretical perspective on human learning and development. The point of departure is that what we learn must be understood as an aspect of the activities we engage in. The research approach is ethnographic; field studies were conducted in two science classes, grades six and seven (ages 12 to 14 years old), in a Swedish midsized compulsory school during one school-year. The first result is that two different practices are discerned in the studied science classroom. One classroom practice is a criteria-based practice, where students work individually with local school criteria determining what students must be able to do in order to get a pass or a pass with distinction in the natural science subjects. The other classroom practice is a laboratory practice, where students do laboratory experiments and write laboratory reports. The second result is that students, in both practices, participate in different actions; either production and reproduction of correct answers or development of conceptual relations. These actions correspond in varying degrees to different motives; as a consequence, different scientific formation is made possible in the two different actions. A third result is that classroom practice supports student participation in the action of reproducing correct answers; while participation in the development of conceptual relations is a more risky and uncertain endeavour. However, there is evidence that students’ ways of participating can change, to a more qualified, as conditions for work change. A conclusion is that work in science classroom practice cannot, as suggested in previous research, be comprehended in terms of cultural border-crossings, between a culture of science and student cultures. Rather, work in science classroom practice must be conceptualized in terms of schooling.

This thesis presents students relationship to the nature education at primary school or at lower secondary school level and shows the primary school role in life of students. Further there are investigated reasons for the popularity of natural history, respondent's relationship to teachers and to different types of teaching activities. A part of this thesis was to create a questionnaire which was assigned to high school students in the city of České Budějovice. The questionnaire result assessment was performed in combination of graphical and table forms with the additional text comment providing a clearer reading comprehension.

The aim of the thesis Innovative Approaches to Czech Language Curriculum at Lower Secondary School was to discover whether any innovative approaches to subject Czech language at lower secondary schools were included in their school education programme, if the answer was positive, the aim was to define which innovative approaches exactly they were. The thesis is divided into a theoretical part and a practical part. The theoretical part analyzes the general approach to curriculum and also the specific approach towards the Czech language. The thesis includes a brief history of the curricular reform, which was implemented in January 2005, and the opinions of the experts on the reform. The practical part contains the analysis of the innovative approaches towards the curriculum of the Czech language at the chosen thirteen lower secondary schools in the Czech Republic. A specific interest was given to innovative approaches towards the Czech language which were in agreement with the curricular reform and with the innovative didactic approaches in general. The chosen method is a comparison and the analysis of the texts. The results indicate that the innovative approaches are present in the curricular materials at the chosen schools, specifically in the syllabus of the subject Czech language. The results...

This diploma thesis is focused on acquiring communicative competence in teaching the English language as a foreign language. It is based on the presumption that students are not aware of some components of communication which partake in understanding when communicating in a foreign language (context of situation, nonverbal communication, paralinguistic features). This assumption is being verified via questionnaires. The theoretical basis describes the grounding and benefits of drama techniques used in teaching a foreign language and The Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) method. Both these approaches are used for preparation of three experimental lesson plans which are put into practice. Video recordings are made which, along with information from students and their teacher, serve as a detailed analysis of the whole experiment.

This essay argues that while the main character in The Outsiders challenges the norms of toxic masculinity on a surface level, his decision to continue fighting for his gang, the greasers, actually reinforces the stereotypical view that violence is connected to masculinity. Furthermore, it is argued that studying The Outsiders in a Swedish EFL classroom can promote critical thinking and knowledge of issues connected to gender through using empathetic reading.  Empathetic reading is a way to read carefully to gain new perspectives in order to discuss and criticize the text. Even though the term toxic masculinity assumes a healthy/harmful binary, it is needed since the power dynamics that sustain gender inequality remain. Recent events in the Western world, such as the #Metoo movement and Trumpism, are just a couple of examples of how power dynamics are showing through gender discrimination and sexual harassment. However, gender can be a sensitive subject in lower secondary EFL classrooms, and by focusing on being empathetic towards how others express gender may lessen the pressure of speaking about gender subjectively.

The present licentiate thesis aims to investigate pupils’ understanding and use of teacher written feedback in English as a foreign language (EFL). The study was carried out in two Swedish lower secondary schools in two different classrooms, one in year eight with 14-year-old pupils and one in year nine with 15-year-old pupils. A case study research design was adopted to gain insights into nine pupils’ understand-ing and use of feedback. The three participants in year eight wrote ‘a letter to Barack Obama’ and received teacher written feedback in their draft texts and on a separate paper with individualized comments. The six pupils in year nine wrote about ‘mov-ies’ and received teacher written feedback in their draft texts but were also provided with a writing checklist. Data were collected from multiple sources but the data used for analysis were comprised of pupils’ draft and final version texts and pupil reflec-tive interviews.  The findings suggest that pupils understand many of the issues addressed by the teachers in their written feedback. Most pupils express their understanding using everyday language and by resorting to different strategies such as explaining why the feedback is provided, suggesting adequate changes or just by providing a correc-tion. However, it seems hard for a few pupils to understand the use of implicit types of written feedback. The results of the present study also suggest that it is hard to know a priori what pupils will experience as difficult to understand when it comes to the language used by the teachers in their written explanations. The findings further show that the majority of feedback points trigger pupils to make revision operations that involve major text-based changes. In other words pupils make more changes than those addressed in the teachers’ written feedback. The results also highlight that most pupils do not challenge their teachers’ feedback.  The findings of this study contribute to research on foreign language (FL) writing by providing insights from pupils’ perspectives and may fill a gap in the field of FL writing, since there are not many studies based on pupils’ perceptions. The context in which this study took place, lower secondary level and EFL in Sweden, also makes an additional contribution to the field of FL writing.

This thesis analyses the approach to the concept of family in general Czech educational programme, specific educational programs of selected schools and currently used textbooks for Civics. The analysis is put into the context of current state of knowledge of the topic Czech family. Based on these findings, a teaching concept of the topic family at Lower Secondary Schools is presented. The proposed concept aims to help the children understand their family situation as well as prepare them for future situations while respecting the children's privacy. It combines methods of cooperative teaching, competence learning and unstructured staging. In the proposed concept, children form groups representing simulated families and take roles of given family members. A list of supporting teaching materials is attached in the appendix. These materials can be used to create a portfolio of information about the simulated family. KEY WORDS didactics, family, Lower Secondary School, family problems, Civics

Det här självständiga arbetet har som syfte att ta reda på vilka uppfattningar som flickor på högstadiet har om teknikämnet för att kunna se vad som kan förändras i den nuvarande teknikundervisningen. Syftet är också att det aktuella arbetet ska kunna bidra till att teknikundervisningen kan utvecklas åt ett håll så att fler flickor känner att de förstår vad teknik är och på så sätt kan utveckla ett intresse som gör att de vill välja att läsa vidare på gymnasiets teknikprogram. Frågeställningarna som användes i undersökningen var: - Vad gör teknikämnet intressant för flickor på högstadiet? - Vad påverkar flickor till att välja/inte välja teknikprogrammet på gymnasiet? Undersökningen genomfördes med två fokusgruppsintervjuer på två skolor i två olika kommuner. Av resultatet framkom det att en del flickor anser att de haft så lite teknikundervisning att de saknar kunskap om vad teknik är, och att det har bidragit till att de inte utvecklat något intresse för teknikämnet och därmed inte heller funderar på att välja teknikprogrammet. En del flickor anser även att lärarnas roll är viktig för att kunna utveckla ett intresse för teknikämnet, men att det också är väldigt viktigt att ha kvinnliga förebilder som kan visa att det är möjligt även för flickor att lyckas inom en teknisk bransch. / The purpose of this report is to find out what perception of technology girls in lower secondary school have, so that technology as a subject can be altered. Another aim of this report is to create a helpful tool for future developing the technology subject so that more girls can establish an interest in the subject. This is as an understanding within technology could increase the possibility that they want to study technology in the future. The research issues for this study are: - What makes girls in lower secondary school interested in technology? - What affects girls in their choice of studying or not studying technology in upper secondary school? The study was performed by group interviews conducted at two different schools in different municipalities. Results given reveal that some girls believe that they have had too little training in technology, leading to a lack of knowledge about what technology is. This contributes to a lack of interest within technology, which makes them not think about choosing the technology program in the future. Some girl believe that the teachers play a significant role when it comes to the development regarding an interest in technology, and also that it is important to have female role-models to show that it is possible for girls to succeed in the technological industry.