Whether or not the mother tongue is to be used in the language classroom has long been a subject of heated argument among language teachers in China. The great success of the communicative approach in second language teaching seems to have strengthened some peoples' belief that the mother tongue should be completely avoided in language teaching. It is, therefore, of great importance in China, and perhaps of interest to foreign language teachers in other countries as well, to analyse the situations of foreign language teaching and learning, including the difference between second language and foreign language teaching, in order to see whether controlled use of the mother tongue can in fact make teaching and learning effective and efficient. Chapter 1 reviews the major language teaching methods and approaches now in use within and outside China. These methods and approaches are categorized in accordance with the ways of the learning they represent, and the advantages and problems of these methods and approaches are analysed. The differences between foreign language learning and second language learning are examined in Chapter 2. Since foreign language learners have different aims and objectives, a different environment and possibly different motives, their ways of learning are bound to be affected. Theories of language learning compound and co-ordinate bilingualism, independent and interdependent bilinguals, acquisition and learning, are also discussed in relation to the influence of these theories on language teaching as well as the reasons why people use the mother tongue in foreign language teaching. However, it is the teacher's responsibility to select the appropriate techniques for presenting and practising the target language. In the case of foreign language learning the use of the mother tongue is not only possible but can be effective and efficient. Chapter 3 focuses on the foreign language teaching situation in China. It includes a description of and comments on the changes in methods in the last 50 years as well as some important arguments in academic circles associated with the issue of the use of the mother tongue in foreign language teaching. Chapter 4 describes the author's investigation in the form of questionnaires sent to foreign language teachers and observations of foreign language classrooms. Answers to the questionnaires appear to confirm the existence of the problems in the use of the mother tongue. Analysis of the observations reveals possible solutions to the problems. Practical suggestions about the actual use of the mother tongue in the foreign language teaching are offered in Chapter 5. For teaching, it seems possible to use the mother tongue to teach/explain : 1) new concepts; 2) abstract ideas; 3) different points; 4) target language grammar; 5) translation skills; and 6) target language culture. Mother tongue is also very helpful for teachers in their compiling of teaching materials. On the other hand, students can use mother tongue in their learning; it helps them practise as well as gather historical and cultural background information.

<p>Syftet med min undersökning är att jämföra hur svenska pedagoger arbetar med sång och musik på en förskola med barn som har svenska som modersmål respektive en förskola med barn som har ett annat modersmål än svenska. Jag observerade och intervjuade tre kvinnliga förskollärare från två olika förskolor. Resultatet visade att pedagogerna på de båda förskolorna arbetade mycket med det språkliga, men på olika sätt. Pedagogerna som arbetade med barn med ett annat modersmål än svenska hade mer språkliga mål och syften med sitt sång- och musikarbete och framhävde mer den språkliga förståelsen medan pedagogen som arbetade med barn som hade svenska som modersmål mer såg på vikten av att göra det lättare för barnen att minnas, samt på utvecklingen av det sociala, exempelvis samspel och gemenskap. Pedagogen som arbetade med barn som hade svenska som modersmål, gav barnen mer utrymme för samtal och frågor än vad pedagogerna på den andra förskolan gjorde och gav mer utrymme för båda könen. Jag hoppas att detta arbete bidrar till ny kunskap hos de som läser det, när det gäller vikten av att ha sång och musik som en del i förskolan för barnens utveckling, inte bara språkligt utan även motoriskt och socialt.</p><p>The aim with my research is to compare how Swedish pedagogues work with song and music at a preschool with children who have Swedish as their mother tongue, with a preschool with children who has another mother tongue than Swedish. I observed and interviewed three female nursery-school teachers from two different preschools. The result showed that the pedagogues at both preschools worked much with the language but in different ways. The pedagogues who worked with children having another mother tongue than Swedish had more linguistic aims with song and music and brought out the linguistic understanding, while the pedagogue who worked with children who had Swedish as their mother tongue brought out the importance of making it easier for children to remember, and the social development. The pedagogue who worked with children having Swedish as their mother tongue, gave the children more time for conversation and questions than the pedagogues at the other preschool and gave more time for both gender. I hope that this work will contribute to new knowledge for the persons who read it when it comes to the importance of having song and music as a part for children’s development in preschools. Not just for their linguistic development but also for their motor learning and social development</p>

<p>The purpose of our examination was to survey how one preschool works with so called language groups, if the mother tongue is important and if the informants can see any complex of problems in the inclusive/exclusive way of working with language groups in the preschool. The literature review provides for example the three most important areas of mother tongue, which are the emotional, the social and the intellectual (Ladberg, 2000). Further it describes the difference between the conceptions integration and inclusion, when today the concept inclusion is preferred (Tøssebro, 2004). We were inspired by qualitative interviews as our method and from a phenomenographic perspective described the informants’ perceptions about the named phenomenon. Three preschool teachers and three mother tongue educationalists constitute the represented informants. The result of our examination shows a clear opinion about the great importance of mother tongue and that the mother tongue educational programme is not considered to be an excluded activity, since the children already are used to the constant groupings in the preschool. Our examination shows many areas in need of improvement, for example the engagement from the municipality and further education for the pedagogues. Further research of the subject is also of importance to be able to improve the mother tongue educational programme with didactic guidelines.</p> / <p>Syftet med vårt examensarbete var att kartlägga hur en förskola arbetar med så kallade språkgrupper, om modersmålet är viktigt och om informanterna uppfattar någon problematik med ett inkluderande/exkluderande arbetssätt i språkgrupperna i förskolan. Litteraturgenomgången pekar bland annat på modersmålets tre viktigaste områden, nämligen det emotionella, sociala och intellektuella (Ladberg, 2000). Vidare redogörs för skillnad mellan begreppen integrering och inkludering då det i dag föredras att använda begreppet inklusion (Tøssebro, 2004). Vi har inspirerats av kvalitativa intervjuer som metod och utifrån ett fenomenografiskt perspektiv redogjort för informanternas uppfattningar kring det nämnda fenomenet. Informanterna utgörs av tre förskollärare samt tre modersmålsstöd</p><p>1. Resultatet av vår undersökning visar en tydlig uppfattning om att modersmålet är otroligt viktigt och att modersmålsverksamheten inte uppfattas som exkluderande då barnen är vana vid förskolans konstanta gruppindelningar. Undersökningen visar även att det finns många förbättringsområden, exempelvis kommunens engagemang och pedagogernas vidareutbildning. Även vidare forskning inom ämnet är viktigt för att få en förbättrad verksamhet med didaktiska riktlinjer.</p>

<p>This essay shows how teachers adjust the literature studies in the mother tongue subject to their different classes in upper secondary school.</p><p>The study is based on interviews with two teachers and an analysis of two different school-books. The conclusion is that the subject of literary education in the vocational programs is a pragmatic subject with focus on the pupils’ needs and skills, and the subject in the theoretical programs has more focus on mediation of a literary heritage.</p>

<p>Students with foreign background do not reach the goals of mathematics education in the Swedish school to the same extent as students with a Swedish background, this is shown in a number of Swedish and international reports. Both Swedish and international research show that it takes many more years to learn a language so well that the student is capable of learning new school-related knowledge in this new language than just using the language for everyday speech. Students with foreign background are in danger of falling far behind their peers in school in for example mathematics where they language-wise are not able to acquire knowledge. One method for helping students with another native language than Swedish is to provide mathematics education in two languages, Swedish and the student's native language. In media a number of politicians have expressed negative and positive arguments about this method, the opponents have argued that the students' Swedish skills would be suffering. I have chosen to compare a school applying bilingual mathematics education and one which instead is working with a so-called study workshop (studieverkstad). This study focuses on grades in mathematics from grade 9 and results from the national tests in mathematics in grade 9, and two interviews with teachers, one teacher of mathematics and one mother-tounge language teacher. I have chosen to study grade and test statistics from these two schools during several years to see what effect is acquired by each method of working. The main finding of this study is that bilingual mathematics teaching tends to keep students' grades at a constant level while students' grades decrease when using the study workshop method.</p>

<p>This paper aims to examine the mother tongue subject and it´s existence and condition in a school located in the south of Stockholm. I have performed interviews with four teachers about their opinions and attitudes regarding the mother tongue subject in the school were they work. Two of the teachers are teachers in social studies and two of them are teachers in the mother tongue subject. My aim is also to examine whether an interest exists among the teachers to collaborate in between the subjects and what possibilities and conditions such collaboration would have in effect. I have applied a qualitative method based on personal interviews with semi-structured questions as my data acquisition method. I have also performed document studies to strengthen and support the qualitative interviews. The result, based on the interviews, shows that there was no existing collaboration between the teachers at the time of the interviews. All of the teachers said that they are willing to collaborate and that they believe that such collaboration would be profitable</p>

<p> </p><p>In today’s society teachers will face students of foreign origin. It is up to the teachers to help these students gain the knowledge they need to flourish in society. Despite the fact that mathematics is a universal topic with high status in many countries, studies have shown that mathematics is a subject where a large proportion of foreign students fails. The purpose of this study was to see wherein the problem lies and describe teachers' perceptions of the barriers and the opportunities in mathematics for students with Swedish as a second language. The method used was a literature review and interviews with three teachers in Swedish as a second language, who also partly teach mathematics and one remedial teacher in mathematics. The literature and interviews clearly showed that the language plays a major role in mathematics. There is an ignorance of this, which means that students do not get the right help. Considering that language plays such a significant role in the subject, teachers should work more with the mathematical language. It would lead to students getting an understanding of language while they learn about mathematics. The study also found an absence of collaboration between language teachers and mathematics teachers.</p><p> </p><p> </p>

This essay shows how teachers adjust the literature studies in the mother tongue subject to their different classes in upper secondary school. The study is based on interviews with two teachers and an analysis of two different school-books. The conclusion is that the subject of literary education in the vocational programs is a pragmatic subject with focus on the pupils’ needs and skills, and the subject in the theoretical programs has more focus on mediation of a literary heritage.

Syftet med min undersökning är att jämföra hur svenska pedagoger arbetar med sång och musik på en förskola med barn som har svenska som modersmål respektive en förskola med barn som har ett annat modersmål än svenska. Jag observerade och intervjuade tre kvinnliga förskollärare från två olika förskolor. Resultatet visade att pedagogerna på de båda förskolorna arbetade mycket med det språkliga, men på olika sätt. Pedagogerna som arbetade med barn med ett annat modersmål än svenska hade mer språkliga mål och syften med sitt sång- och musikarbete och framhävde mer den språkliga förståelsen medan pedagogen som arbetade med barn som hade svenska som modersmål mer såg på vikten av att göra det lättare för barnen att minnas, samt på utvecklingen av det sociala, exempelvis samspel och gemenskap. Pedagogen som arbetade med barn som hade svenska som modersmål, gav barnen mer utrymme för samtal och frågor än vad pedagogerna på den andra förskolan gjorde och gav mer utrymme för båda könen. Jag hoppas att detta arbete bidrar till ny kunskap hos de som läser det, när det gäller vikten av att ha sång och musik som en del i förskolan för barnens utveckling, inte bara språkligt utan även motoriskt och socialt. The aim with my research is to compare how Swedish pedagogues work with song and music at a preschool with children who have Swedish as their mother tongue, with a preschool with children who has another mother tongue than Swedish. I observed and interviewed three female nursery-school teachers from two different preschools. The result showed that the pedagogues at both preschools worked much with the language but in different ways. The pedagogues who worked with children having another mother tongue than Swedish had more linguistic aims with song and music and brought out the linguistic understanding, while the pedagogue who worked with children who had Swedish as their mother tongue brought out the importance of making it easier for children to remember, and the social development. The pedagogue who worked with children having Swedish as their mother tongue, gave the children more time for conversation and questions than the pedagogues at the other preschool and gave more time for both gender. I hope that this work will contribute to new knowledge for the persons who read it when it comes to the importance of having song and music as a part for children’s development in preschools. Not just for their linguistic development but also for their motor learning and social development

Students with foreign background do not reach the goals of mathematics education in the Swedish school to the same extent as students with a Swedish background, this is shown in a number of Swedish and international reports. Both Swedish and international research show that it takes many more years to learn a language so well that the student is capable of learning new school-related knowledge in this new language than just using the language for everyday speech. Students with foreign background are in danger of falling far behind their peers in school in for example mathematics where they language-wise are not able to acquire knowledge. One method for helping students with another native language than Swedish is to provide mathematics education in two languages, Swedish and the student's native language. In media a number of politicians have expressed negative and positive arguments about this method, the opponents have argued that the students' Swedish skills would be suffering. I have chosen to compare a school applying bilingual mathematics education and one which instead is working with a so-called study workshop (studieverkstad). This study focuses on grades in mathematics from grade 9 and results from the national tests in mathematics in grade 9, and two interviews with teachers, one teacher of mathematics and one mother-tounge language teacher. I have chosen to study grade and test statistics from these two schools during several years to see what effect is acquired by each method of working. The main finding of this study is that bilingual mathematics teaching tends to keep students' grades at a constant level while students' grades decrease when using the study workshop method.