This study aims at exploring to what extent transfer plays a role for young Italian learners of English. The informants consisted of a group of Italian high school students whose English written compositions are investigated. The collection of data is made up of an error analysis based on Pit Corder’s methodology (Corder in Ellis 2008: 46), in which six different linguistic categories are examined such as collocations, word order, the past tenses with special focus on the simple present perfect versus the simple past, furthermore the null subject parameter, false friends and subject-verb agreement. A brief discussion is also dedicated to the difference between what constitutes an error and a mistake. What emerges in this study is that the category of collocations is the one in which most instances of transfer errors are found followed by word order and the use of the simple past tense. Finally, the research aims to find out what could be the plausible reasons as to why certain categories appear to be more subject to the transfer phenomena.

The purpose of the study is to get an insight into how to work with multilingualism in the activities at preschool. I want to see how the preschool teachers promote children's different native languages and if language is something they discuss in the activities. I have chosen to explore if there is a difference in the work with the toddlers and the older children where the majority of the children are foreign compared to pre sections were the majority of the children are swedish. I have interviewed preschool teachers at their workplaces and some over the phone. My study shows that they work more with multilingual languages at the pre section where the majority were foreign. On the other pre sections were the majority of the children are swedish they focus on the swedish language and engage the parents to teach their children their mother tongue

Namibia is a country where the official language has been English since independence in 1990. There are different national languages in the country and a majority of the people do not have English as a mother tongue. Nevertheless, the language of instruction from fourth grade and onwards is indeed English. Consequently, for the majority of the population the education is in their second language. What this essay explores is the role English as a second language has as a medium of instruction and the implications it may have. It is a minor field study that was carried out with the help of a scholarship from SIDA (Swedish Agency for International Development Cooperation) and it took place in a school in Northern Namibia, April and May 2007. It is a qualitative study that explores the use of English among teachers and students as well as the transition from mother tongue instruction to English instruction and the implications that this can have for the quality of education. The reality of the Namibian students that have to study and perform in a second language is questioned and discussed from pedagogical and linguistic points of view. The results show that most pupils do not speak English before starting fourth grade. Furthermore, the sudden transition from mother tongue to English instruction creates some descent in the participation of the pupils and possibly in the learning, not only of the new language but also of the content subjects. As far as the teachers concern, there are positive but ambiguous opinions among them concerning English as a medium of instruction.

Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur fem förskollärare arbetar med ett interkulturellt arbetssätt inom en mångkulturellt förskoleverksamhet. Studien har utgått från ett teoretiskt perspektiv på interkulturellt arbetssätt och den teoretiska ansatsen utgörs av ett interkulturellt perspektiv. Interkulturalitet handlar om möten mellan människor från skilda kulturer och en ömsesidig förståelse dem emellan. Skilda kulturer innebär exempelvis att man har olika modersmål, seder och levnadsregler. Jag har gjort en kvalitativ undersökning, där jag har intervjuat fem förskollärare i två förskolor. Resultatet visar att förskollärarna hade en liknande syn på interkulturellt arbetssätt och att faktorer som förhållningssätt, arbetsmiljö och lärandemiljö bidrar till att barnen på förskolan ska känna sig mer trygga, nyfikna och motiverade. Därutöver visar resultatet på förskollärares behov av vidare utbildning i frågor som rör barns kultur och modersmål. Betydelsen av att arbeta med utgångspunkt i olika språk i förskoleverksamheten är ytterligare en tendens som framkommer i resultatet. En slutsats som kan formuleras med grund i undersökningens resultat är att förskoleverksamhet som tar tillvara och har sin grund i flera modersmål bidrar till att barn blir sedda, respekterade och motiverade att lära sig.

The aim is to study how two newly-arrived pupils in the subject of Swedish cooperate with each other through code-switching. The study is based on a qualitative method with three observations during classes in the subject of Swedish. The study showed me that newly arrived pupils use a lot of codeswitching when they are paired up with each other. In particular, this study found that they used code-switching when their vocabulary in Swedish did not suffice, as well as when they had problems with interpreting certain words. In most cases, the subjects show a preference for intrasentiell code-switching (switching within the sentence for a few words) over the intersentiell variety, although both occur.

The aim of this study is to investigate how Swedish and French high school pupils relateto their respective mother tongues. It is a comparative study that seeks to examine thisrelationship from three perspectives: individual, society and history. An additionaloverall perspective in the study is school. The theoretical foundation for the studyconsists of earlier research on the topic and official steering documents for the subjectof Swedish in Swedish high school and corresponding texts about the subject of Frenchin French high school. In-depth interviews have been conducted with two Swedish andtwo French high school pupils. The study shows that the mother tongue is of greatsignificance for personal development and self-esteem for pupils in both countries. Theoutlook on language and society and language and history is more complex and theinformants’ answers show greater variation. Two different attitudes to education andlearning emerge. An important conclusion of the study is that the difference noted in theoutlook on language and society in the steering documents is also found in the highschool pupils’ discourses.

Submitted by Fabio Sobreira Campos da Costa (fabio.sobreira@ufpe.br) on 2017-07-20T12:09:22Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) TeseDoutoradoCE_HericaKarinaCavalcantideLima.pdf: 2396214 bytes, checksum: 5080727610b3a98fa3341b3249089111 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-20T12:09:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 811 bytes, checksum: e39d27027a6cc9cb039ad269a5db8e34 (MD5) TeseDoutoradoCE_HericaKarinaCavalcantideLima.pdf: 2396214 bytes, checksum: 5080727610b3a98fa3341b3249089111 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-27 / No Brasil, o livro didático representa, para muitos, o principal meio de acesso à cultura letrada por parte de professores e alunos. O uso desse material é comum na maioria das escolas brasileiras e pode estar estritamente relacionado com a formação do professor. Considerando, então, a importância atribuída a esse recurso e o lugar de destaque que ele tem alcançado nas pesquisas e estudos educacionais, realizamos esta investigação, de caráter qualitativo, com o objetivo de refletir sobre a formação inicial de professores, observando a relação entre essa formação e o uso do livro didático de português na sala de aula da educação básica. Nosso referencial teórico foi composto a partir de grandes temáticas: formação de professores, ensino de língua portuguesa, livro didático e currículo. De posse das leituras, investigamos dois cursos de licenciatura em Letras de instituições públicas de ensino superior da cidade de Recife (PE) e, conforme nossos propósitos, os dados foram recolhidos a partir de diferentes instrumentos: pesquisa documental, entrevista semiestruturada e observação. No primeiro caso, analisamos as matrizes curriculares dos cursos e os programas das disciplinas de formação para a docência (didáticas específicas, metodologias, práticas e estágios), buscando observar como se dava a organização dos cursos e qual o lugar reservado à discussão sobre o livro didático de português; no caso do segundo instrumento, realizamos entrevistas com docentes das disciplinas formadoras, de modo a identificar a concepção dos mesmos sobre a formação do professor de português, o papel das disciplinas de formação para a docência e o livro didático; quanto ao terceiro instrumento, observamos aulas desses docentes, com o objetivo de perceber como se davam as discussões sobre o livro didático de português e o seu uso. A análise dos dados, apoiada no caráter inferencial e interpretativo da Análise de Conteúdo, permitiu-nos perceber, em relação aos documentos, que os dois cursos atendem às determinações das Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para a Formação de Professores da Educação Básica em Nível Superior no que diz respeito à duração, carga horária, oferta de componentes curriculares globais, específicos e integradores, indicação de Atividades Complementares e oferta de disciplinas que garantem espaço para a Prática como Componente Curricular (PCC). No que se refere às disciplinas ofertadas nos currículos das duas instituições, observamos que a maior parte delas remete aos conteúdos que serão ensinados na educação básica e que aquelas que se voltam à formação para a docência, em sua maioria, apresentam a discussão sobre o livro didático. No que se refere aos discursos dos docentes, observamos que eles esperam que ocorra na universidade, lócus privilegiado da formação do professor, a formação do profissional crítico e reflexivo, que não somente domine os conhecimentos teóricos, mas também saiba didatizá-los. Os docentes reconhecem ainda a importância das disciplinas de formação para a docência e da discussão sobre o livro didático na formação de um professor autônomo e autor das suas próprias práticas. No que concerne, por fim, às práticas, vimos que a discussão sobre livro didático ocorre nas disciplinas de formação para a docência na tentativa a abarcar os vários aspectos desse objeto multifacetado, mesmo que alguns pontos importantes dessa temática não tenham sido contemplados. Os achados deste estudo não esgotam o tema. Há ainda muito o que investigar no que se refere ao livro didático de português, sobretudo no que diz respeito ao seu uso. / Textbook, in Brazil, represents the main way of access to literate culture for many teachers and students. The use of this material is common in most of Brazilian schools and it can be strictly related to teacher’s formation. Considering, thus, the importance attributed to this resource and the emphasized place it takes on educational studies, we realize this investigation, in a qualitative perspective, with the aim of reflecting about teachers’ initial formation, observing the relation between this formation and the use of Portuguese textbooks in basic education classrooms. Our theoretic background was composed by wise themes: teacher formation, teaching of Portuguese, textbooks and curriculum. After readings, we investigated two Letters teaching courses which are public institutions of higher education system from Recife (PE) and, according to our purposes, data was collected through different instruments: documental research, semi-structured interview and observation. In the first case, we analyzed curricular matrices and the programs of subjects focused on teacher’s formation (specific didactics, methodologies, practices and trainings), aiming to observe how the courses are organized and what place is reserved for discussion about Portuguese textbook; on the case of second instrument, we interviewed professors who teach those subjects in order to identify their conception about Portuguese teachers’ formation , the role of those subjects to teaching and textbook; in relation to the third instrument, we observed classes taught by these professors aiming to understand how discussions about Portuguese textbook and its use happen. Data analyzes, based on inferential and interpretative features of Content Analyze, pointed out, in relation to documents, which both courses are according to what is determined by Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para a Formação de Professores da Educação Básica em Nível Superior (National Curricular Matrices for Basic Education Teachers’ Formation in Higher Education) in terms of length of time, hourly load, offering of global curricular components, specific and integrated ones, indication of Complementary Activities and subjects that secure space for Practice as Curricular Component (PCC). In relation to subjects presented in both curricula of the two intuitions, we observed that most of them contemplate contents which will be taught in basic education and most of them which focus on teaching formation present the discussion about textbook. In relation to professors’ discourse, we observed they hope to occur in university, privileged locus of teacher’s formation, the formation of critic and reflexive professionals that do not know only theoretic knowledge, but also the didactic process of its teaching. Professors recognized the importance of subjects for teachers’ formation and the discussion about textbooks in order to form a teacher who is autonomous and author of his own practices. In relation to professors’ practices, we notice that the discussion about textbook takes place on subjects for teachers’ formation in attempt to contemplate several aspects of this multifaceted object, even considering that some important points of this thematic were not contemplated. Findings of this study do not exhaust the theme. There is still much more to investigate in relation to Portuguese textbook, especially about its use.

Denna studie berör lärares uppfattningar om nyanlända elevers matematiska svårigheter i årskurs 1–3. Flera nyanlända elever börjar i den svenska skolan, vissa av dem har skolbakgrund och vissa saknar det. Oavsett vilket är det skolans och lärarens plikt att handleda och stötta eleverna i deras studier. Tidigare forskning visar att de nyanlända eleverna ofta presterar sämre än andra elever i matematikundervisningen, speciellt när de stöter på textbaserade uppgifter. Det har framkommit tydligt att de nyanlända elevernas matematiska svårigheter uppstår på grund av att de saknar det svenska språket. I denna studie kommer det att presenteras vilka svårigheter några lärare upplever att nyanlända elever har i matematikundervisning och på vilket sätt lärarna stödjer dessa elever i matematikundervisningen. Denna studie är en kvalitativ studie där semistrukturerade intervjuer har utförts för att besvara forskningsfrågorna. Tre matematiklärare och tre SvA-lärare har deltagit och bidragit med sina tankar och resonerat kring studiens valda problemområde. Studien tar avstamp från det interkulturella perspektivet. Det framkommer i resultatet från de sex respondenterna att språket spelar en stor roll för de nyanlända elevernas lärande i ämnet matematik. I resultatet framkommer att lärarna hade liknande resonemang och tankar kring hur de ska uttala sig vid genomgångar och tydliggöra olika matematiska begrepp, termer och symboler. Studiens slutsats är att användning av studiehandledning, modersmål samt formellt och informellt språk är olika sätt att underlätta för nyanlända elever i matematikundervisningen. Vidare framkom att de modersmål som de nyanlända eleverna har kan utnyttjas för att öka elevernas förståelse för begrepp, termer och symboler i matematikundervisningen. Detta betyder att språket kan spela en stor roll i de nyanlända elevernas kunskapsutveckling. / This study deals with teachers’ views of mathematical difficulties for newly arrived students in Grades 1-3. Several newly arrived students have started in the Swedish schools, some of them have a school background and some do not. Either way, it is the duty of the school and the teacher to manage and support the students in their education. Previous research show that newly arrived pupils often perform worse than other pupils in mathematics education, especially when the instruction relies on text-based assignments. It has become clear that the newly arrived pupils’ mathematical difficulties arise partly because they lack the Swedish language. This study will present what difficulties some teachers of newly arrived students have in mathematics instruction and in what way they support newly arrived students in their mathematics teaching. This study is a qualitative study where semi-structured interviews have been done to answer the research questions. Three mathematics teachers and three Swedish as second language teachers have participated and contributed with their thoughts and reasoned about the study's chosen problem. The study has taken off from the intercultural perspective. The results from the six respondents clearly show that language plays a significant role in the newly arrived students' learning abilities in mathematics. The result shows that the teachers had similar thoughts and opinions about how they should express themselves during lectures and how to clarify different mathematical concepts, terms and symbols. The study's conclusion is that study guidance, mother tongue as well as formal and informal language is strategies to advance mathematics teaching for the newly arrived students. In addition, it was found that the native languages that the newly arrived students have can be appointed to increase the students' understanding of concepts, terms and symbols in mathematics education. This means that language plays an important role in the newly arrived students' development of knowledge.

The purpose of this essay, is to investigate how preschool pedagogues support mother tongue development. The research questions guiding our study were the following: What activities encourage mother tongue development? What approach do pedagogues have towards mother tongue development?  The theoretical framework used to guide the collection and analysis the empirical material is social-cultural theory, and the related concepts of mediation and diversified normality. Data collection was accomplished through and on-line free-text survey of pedagogues one pre-school. Seven of twelve pedagogues participated.   In summary, we found that the pedagogues had a predominantly positive outlook on mother tongue pedagogy. The participants also gave suggestions on how one can work with mother tongue in pre-school, and how these suggestions are encouraging for developing children´s mother tongue. Through our data we also found that the work with the Swedish language happens on a day-to-day basis, but as for the activities with mother tongue they occur more sporadically. A reason for this can be that knowledge for the mother tongue the pre-schoolers have is something that the pedagogues lack knowledge in.

The purpose of the study is to shed light on and increase understanding of children's language development with a focus on multilingualism in preschool / kindergarten. I also investigate the working methods used by preschool teachers to support language development in multilingual children. The questions I have asked are: How do preschool teachers relate to the language development of multilingual children in preschool?  What working methods are used by preschool teachers in work with children's language development in preschool? To find answers for my questions, I use qualitative interviews with five preschool teachers from three different preschools in the same municipality in Stockholm. This study is based on Lev Vygotsky's theory of the sociocultural perspective and the proximal developmental zone. The reason I use the sociocultural perspective on language development is because I am of the belief that language is learned and developed mainly through social interaction between an individual and its environment. Results in the study showed that preschool teachers are aware that support, repetition, and appreciation provide a positive stimulus to multilingual children's language development. However, the interviewed preschool teachers point out that they have no specific knowledge about working with multilingual children. The study has also concluded that preschool teachers believe that multilingualism is an asset for both the individual and for the society. What also emerged in the study is that preschool teachers take the parents and other educators at the preschool as resources. Methods used by preschool teachers are digital books in several languages (pollyglutt), concrete material and pictures, reading aloud, storytelling, rhymes and jingles, Memory games that increase children's language development.