The main objective of this study is to increase knowledge of how mother tongue as a school subject is constructed, legitimized and positioned at the policy level. Based on the analysis of governmental policy documents, the thesis deals with mother tongue instruction (MTI) in the Swedish compulsory school, its historical development and status among other language subjects. The study draws on the curriculum theory, which means that the focus lies on the relationship between content of the curriculum and the historical, social and cultural context in which it was conducted. Regarding MTI, I argue that it is located at an intersection among immigration, education and language policies and must, therefore, be viewed in the light of them. With curriculum theory and discourse analysis as theoretical and methodological framework, I examine governmental policy documents from the 1960s to the current curriculum (Lgr11). The result shows that the introduction of MTI (named “home language”) in Swedish school in the 1970s was a part of an immigration policy directed towards immigrant children in order to compensate their special needs. It was argued that mother tongue was crucial for children's personal development and learning. The subject was aimed at all pupils with the home language other than Swedish and was seen as “almost mandatory”. However, the effects of MTI became questioned in the 1980-90s, which led to decreased access to MTI for students that did not belong to national minority groups. The status of the subject was weakened; in fact, it had no natural place in the school schedule. Under this period, the individual’s freedom of choice became valued more than the equality among students. The third period of the MTI history started in the late 1990s when the government articulated its willingness to raise the status of the subject. At present, the practice of MTI is regulated not only by the curriculum but also by the school law and the language law. MTI is currently a part of language policy, which is aimed at language pluralism. Indeed, the development of bilingualism has been stated as the goal of MTI in every curriculum since Lgr69. In the meantime, other language subjects do not aim at promoting bilingualism. This means that bilingualism is something that minority groups should strive for, but nothing majority students need. The current curriculum emphasizes the mother tongue’s significance for language acquisition and for learning in general. The focus still lies on the mother tongue’s importance for individuals but not for the society. Moreover, there are no connections mentioned between MTI and future studies and job opportunities, as the case is for other language subjects. By comparing syllabuses for other school languages I concluded that MTI is constructed as a kind of support subject, rather than as a regular language subject.

Darbe aptariamas Sh. Suzuki „Motinos kalbos“ metodas, jo taikymo galimybės mokant groti gitara, siekiant atskleisti metodo išskirtinumą, praktiškumą ugdyme, humaniškumo svarbą ugdant. / The Sh. Suzuki “Mother Tongue” method and its application possibilities in teaching to play the guitar, are discussed in the final paper.

According to the Constitution of South Africa (1996), as well as the Schools Act of South Africa (1996), everyone has the right to education in the language of their choice. The advantage of being educated in one’s home language is a well-known and accepted as a demonstrated fact (Oosthuizen, Rossouw & De Wet, 2004:22). Unfortunately, Oosthuizen et al. (2004:22) remark that the biggest problem in education today, is that home language education cannot be given to everyone in South Africa. As a result many parents choose English as the Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT) for their children, since they believe English is the language of empowerment. Although English Second Language (ESL) learners pose a challenge to educators in the class, they still have a right to quality education. Therefore, thorough planning is essential to ensure that these learners are taught according to their needs. The primary aim of this research study was to determine if primary school educators designed their lesson planning to accommodate ESL learners with a limited English proficiency. The primary aim could only be determined if the following sub-aims were successfully analysed: *To determine through a literature investigation which specific language barriers ESL learners, with limited English language proficiency, experience during a lesson. *To determine through a literature investigation why lesson planning is important; *To determine to what extent educators accommodate language barriers to learning of ESL learners, with a limited English language proficiency, in their lesson plans. *To determine how educators reflect on their lesson plan, in order to determine whether ESL learners, with limited English language proficiency, coped with the lesson. *To establish which modifications, if any, educators make after reflection to accommodate ESL learners with limited English language proficiency in the follow lesson planning? A Qualitative research method was followed during the study. Data was collected for the research study by doing a document analysis and semi-structured interviews with primary school educators who are currently in the teaching profession and have ESL learners in their class. A convenience sample was used, where the nearest parallel medium school was chosen with participants readily available. The following findings emerged from the study: According to the literature study, the most common specific language barriers which ESL learners with limited English proficiency experience in the classroom are: *Experience it difficult to express themselves in English; *Educators disparity in language between learners and educators; *a limited English vocabulary; and *struggling with comprehension of English. Findings of the empirical study showed that the participants do not plan for accommodations for ESL learners who may experience barriers to learning. They indicated that since English is the LOLT of the school and because they feel that the learners should be proficient in the language they do not need to plan for possible misunderstandings or communication problems that could occur because of a language barrier. However, they did acknowledge that a limited vocabulary and ways of expression can cause communication problems. / MEd, Learner Support, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

Abstract The aim of this study is to find out how preschool teachers interpret their role in supporting speech development for children with Swedish as their second language. The curriculum indicates that the preschool should support children who speaks other languages than Swedish to develop both Swedish and their mother tongue. This can become difficult since it means that a teacher often is commissioned to support a language that he or she does not speak. The objective of this study is to find out how preschool teachers interpret and describe their role when they don ́t speak the languages that is represented in the class. The purpose is to find out how the environment can be meaningful without verbal understanding between the child and teacher, as well as between the children. The data is collected with qualitative interviews that has been analysed with a social- constructionist perspective and theories of multilingual development for young children. The results show that the preschool teachers prioritize the support of the Swedish language to achieve multilingualism. They want the children to develop their mother tongue as well, but for this they often rely on parents. The teachers describe that a meaningful environment can be created by letting the children show what subjects is the most interesting, and plan for the basis of playfulness. The mother tongue is considered as meaningful to the child ́s identity and it is important that the child is permitted to be proud of his or hers language.

This paper reports on the findings of the research in which an evaluation of the Kha Ri Gude Mass Literacy Campaign was conducted at five different learning centers in Tshwane. The campaign was initiated as a result of the observation that“… South Africa’s system of Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) is not reducing the number of illiterates in spite of the constitutional right of all South Africans to basic education in their own language” (Ministerial Committee on Literacy, 2007: 5). Furthermore, studies have shown that illiteracy especially among black South Africans is not going down. This is thus preventing affected people from contributing effectively and meaningfully to the social economic and political life of the new democratic SouthAfrica. The evaluation was to inter alia assess how the problem of illiteracy was being addressed in light of the campaign’s focus of using mother tongue as a way of enhancing the learning process. Data collection instruments included questionnaires that were completed by coordinators, supervisors, and volunteer educators involved in the campaign. Class observations were carried out on the learning process in order to establish the degree to which mother tongue instruction made it easier for the learners to among others participate effectively and meaningfully during the learning process and assess how different volunteer educators’ different teaching methodologies impacted on the performance of the learners. Preliminary results indicate that mother tongue teaching greatly enhances learner participation and understanding. It is therefore recommended that efforts to conscientize people about the benefits of using mother tongue when teaching be done so that all people can be able to reap its benefits.

Il existe une grande diversité de bilinguismes chez les enfants de migrants. De nombreux facteurs interviennentdans la mise en place de cette double compétence en situation migratoire. Les langues maternelles sont souventdes langues minoritaires et les processus de transmission peuvent varier d’une famille à l’autre et d’un enfant àl’autre au sein d’une même fratrie. De ce fait, l’évaluation du langage chez les enfants de migrants est complexeet doit tenir compte des particularités du développement bilingue et du contexte culturel.En France, nous ne disposons pas d’outils permettant d’évaluer les connaissances linguistiques transmises ausein de la famille lorsque la langue maternelle n’est pas le français et cette absence d’outil peut être à la sourced’erreurs diagnostiques chez les enfants bilingues.Cette thèse a pour objectif la validation de l’ELAL d’Avicenne, un outil transculturel d’évaluation des languesmaternelles destiné à des enfants âgés de trois et demi à six ans et demi. La population de validation en Franceest constituée de 145 enfants parlant l’arabe du Maghreb, le tamoul du Sri Lanka, ou le soninké d’Afrique deL’Ouest. Un groupe de 99 enfants a été recruté dans des pays où les langues premières sont majoritaires(Mauritanie, Algérie, Sri Lanka et Maroc). Dans ce groupe les enfants parlent l’une des trois langues de l’étude.Pour la population bilingue rencontrée en France le protocole comprend une évaluation bilingue et un entretienavec les parents autour des pratiques et des représentations concernant la transmission. Dans l’autre groupe, onpropose une évaluation de la langue maternelle avec l’ELAL d’Avicenne.Les résultats montrent que l’ELAL d’Avicenne a des qualités psychométriques et cliniques adéquates. L’analysedes protocoles dans les différents contextes culturels et linguistiques montre une bonne validité transculturelle.L’utilisation de l’outil dans le cadre d’une évaluation bilingue permet la construction d’un profil bilingue. Nousdistinguons quatre profils : harmonie des langues, dysharmonie des langues au profit de la langue maternelle oude la langue seconde, et vulnérabilité langagière. Nous discutons les différents profils et les interventionspréventives, thérapeutiques, et pédagogiques qui en découlent. / There is a wide variety of bilingualism among the children of migrants. Numerous factors contribute to theestablishment of this dual skill in migratory settings. The native or first languages are often minority languages,and transmission processes can vary from one family to another, and among siblings in a given family. As aresult, assessing language acquisitions among the children of migrants is complex, and needs to take account ofthe specific features of bilingual development as well as the cultural background.In France we do not have any tool enabling the assessment of linguistic abilities handed down in families wherethe native (or first) language is not French, and this lack of an appropriate tool can lead to diagnostic errorsamong bilingual children.This thesis set out to validate the Avicenne ELAL, a transcultural evaluation tool for first languages intended forchildren aged between three and a half and six and a half. The validation population in France was made up of145 children speaking Arabic (Maghreb), Tamil (Sri-Lanka) and Soninke (West Africa). A group of 99 childrenwere recruited in countries where these languages of interest are used by the majority (Mauritania, Algeria, Sri-Lanka and Morocco). In this group the children spoke one of the three study languages. For the bilingualpopulation recruited in France, the protocol comprised a bilingual evaluation and an interview with the parentson the subject of practices and representations concerning the transmission of language. In the other group thefirst language was assessed using the Avicenne ELAL.The results showed that this instrument had satisfactory psychometric and clinical properties. The analysis of theprotocols as applied in the different cultural and linguistic settings shows that is has good transcultural validity.The use of the tool for the assessment of bilingualism enables a bilingual profile to be derived. We distinguishedfour profiles: harmonious coexistence of the two languages, lack of harmonious coexistence in favour of the firstlanguage or in favour of the second language, and linguistic vulnerability. We discuss these different profiles andthe preventive, therapeutic and pedagogical interventions that they suggest.

O presente trabalho concentra-se em investigar como cursos de formação continuada, para professores de Língua Portuguesa do ensino fundamental II da rede pública municipal de São Paulo, formam ou transformam as concepções sobre o ensino de língua de professores atuantes e de que maneira esses profissionais lidam com os conhecimentos veiculados. Nosso objetivo foi discutir quais significados os cursos de formação trazem para o professor que participa desses eventos formativos. Para tanto, realizamos pesquisa documental e entrevistas com professoras da rede municipal que participaram de cursos de formação continuada cujos objetivos continham o estudo das Sequências Didáticas nos Cadernos de Apoio e Aprendizagem. Fizemos descrição do material, que foi motivo para as formações, bem como a análise de uma Sequência Didática nele contido e verificamos que veiculam novas representações de professor de Português. Para realizar um estudo dos temas abordados nas entrevistas, discutimos os conceitos de representação de Lefebvre (1983) e Moscovici (2012); utilizamos também a contribuição de Geraldi (2013) a respeito do ensino de Língua Portuguesa para refletir sobre o papel do professor, principalmente o de Português, no contexto atual; também valemo-nos das contribuições de Tardif (2005) a respeito dos saberes docentes. Pudemos constatar que os professores constroem significados somente com aquilo que conseguem relacionar em outros momentos e/ou lugares. / The present work focuses on investigating how ongoing education courses for teachers of Portuguese Language from secondary education of the public system from the city of São Paulo form or transform conceptions about the teaching of in service language teachers and how they deal with the knowledge conveyed. Our objective was to discuss which meanings the education training courses bring to the teacher who attended those education events. Therefore, we performed documental research and interviews with teachers from the city of SP who participated on ongoing education courses whose objectives contained the study of didactic sequences from the Support and Learning Books. We made a description of the material that was used for the education trainings, as well as the analysis of a didactic sequence within this material and we noticed that it conveys new representations of Portuguese teacher. To carry out a study of the themes discussed in the interviews, we discussed the concepts of representation of Lefebvre (1983) and Moscovici (2012). We also used the contribution of Geraldi (2013) about the teaching of Portuguese language to reflect on the role of the teacher, mainly in the Portuguese language teaching field in the current context. We also considered the contributions of Tardif (2005) about the teaching knowledges. We have seen that teachers only construct meanings with what they can relate in other moments and/or places.

One of the subjects in Swedish schools that has become increasingly important is the English subject. This study aimed to analyse what language teachers use in different situations in an English lesson. The study’s purpose was also to find out what reasons teachers gave for their choice of language use during English lessons. The method chosen for this study was a survey. The survey was published in Facebook groups intended for teachers. The results of the survey showed that when asking questions to pupils most teachers chose to use English whereas Swedish was mostly used when helping the students during exercises. The results also showed that teachers’ own experience was the main determining factor when teachers planned the lessons and what language to use.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Languages)) -- University of Limpopo, 2007 / Refer to the document / University of Limpopo

Résumé Cette étude s’intéresse aux influences de la langue maternelle (l’arabe), sur l’apprentissage du français chez les apprenants libyens dans un milieu institutionnel : le département de français à l’université de Benghazi et de Tripoli en Libye. Elle se penche sur les erreurs morphosyntaxiques en productions écrites que commettent les apprenants libyens en français langue étrangère, et sur les difficultés interlinguales dont souffrent ces apprenants. L’objectif de cette étude, c’est d’identifier et de classer les erreurs commises par les étudiants libyens dans leurs productions écrites, puis d’étudier et d’analyser les causes de celles-ci, afin de chercher des procédures pour les corriger. Elle vise à amener une réflexion sur l’enseignement de la langue française en Libye et sur les possibilités d’améliorer quelques-unes des démarches d’enseignement utilisées au sein de ces départements de français. Elle vise aussi à proposer une analyse des différents aspects de l’enseignement du français langue étrangère qui peuvent être transposés dans le cadre libyen, à proposer des idées pédagogiques, et à aborder enfin les différentes théories en relation avec cet enseignement. Pour atteindre ces objectifs, nous avons tout d’abord retracé l’évolution de l’enseignement de la langue française en Libye. Ensuite, nous avons abordé quelques notions ayant une importance remarquable dans notre travail d’étude. Nous avons abordé dans un second temps différents points de vue concernant certaines études réalisées en apprentissage (ou acquisition) d’une langue étrangère. Par la suite, nous avons examiné les fonctionnements morphosyntaxiques opératoires de certains constituants des phrases en arabe en comparant avec le français. Nous avons présenté notre corpus, les modalités de classements et certaines des erreurs relevées dans les copies des apprenants. Enfin, et grâce aux résultats livrés par cette analyse, nous avons été amené à présenter quelques perspectives et propositions didactiques qui peuvent être utiles à l’enseignement de la langue française en Libye, et à ouvrir des possibilités pour l’amélioration des démarches d’enseignement utilisées dans ce pays. / Abstract This study investigates the influence of native language (Arabic) on the learning of French among Libyan learners in an institutional setting : the French department at the University of Benghazi and Tripoli in Libya. It examines the morphosyntactic errors the learners commit in their written productions, and the interlingual difficulties they face. The purpose of this study is to identify and classify those errors, and to investigate their causes so as to offer procedures to correct them. The study aims to bring a reflection on the teaching of French in Libya and the opportunities to improve some of the teaching approaches that are used in the departments of French language. It also aims to discuss or present a number of strategies in teaching French as a foreign language that could be implemented in the Libyan context, and to address various theories linked to this teaching. To achieve these goals, we first traced the evolution of the teaching of French language in Libya. Then we discussed a number of concepts of major significance for our study. We discussed in a second time different views on certain studies in learning (or acquisition) of a foreign language. Next, we examined the morphosyntactic characteristics of some linguistic features of Arabic in comparison with French. We presented our corpus, our ranking methods, and the errors identified in the learners’ submissions. Following the conclusions drawn from the latter analysis, we presented some didactic strategies that may be useful for the teaching of French language in Libya or that may add new perspectives to existing approaches.