published_or_final_version / Language Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

In recent years a paradigm shift has occurred in second language acquisition and applied linguistics, moving away from a monolingual approach toward a multilingual one that emphasizes the social, political, and historical contexts of languages in contact. Scholarly recognition of multilingualism has led to research studies focusing on multilingual practices such as code-switching in a range of contexts and genres, e.g., film, hip hop, advertising and social networking sites. These studies reflect a shift in research focus from spontaneous speech to scripted texts, and also from the communicative to the symbolic function of code-switching, as seen in studies of Mock Spanish (Hill, 1998) and linguistic fetishism (Kelly-Homes, 2005). The emphasis on the symbolic and ideational is reflected in an increased interest in multimodality and how language interacts with other semiotic codes (e.g., visual imagery, gesture, dress, body ornamentation, and soundtrack) to convey messages of identity and ideology. Recently, several scholars have called for an expanded framework that would incorporate systematic multimodal analysis in studies of multilingualism in popular culture texts (Androutsopoulos, 2012; Stamou, 2014). The present study responds to this call with a genre-based project incorporating a sociolinguistic and multimodal studies approach with critical discourse analysis and genre analysis, which focuses on a comparison of three different types of popular culture texts: 1) a bilingual English-Spanish film from the U.S. (From Prada to Nada), 2) multilingual music videos from Japan (by the artist Mona AKA Sad Girl), and 3) a bilingual television ad from the U.S. (by Taco Bell). The study adapts and extends O'Halloran et al.'s (2011) model of multimodal critical discourse analysis based on social semiotic theory (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2001) to examine how semiotic codes work together to either reinforce or challenge racial, linguistic, gender, and age-related stereotypes and dominant discourses. This model draws from Bakhtin's notion of heteroglossia and intertextuality and Barthes' concept of myth to examine how language and other multimodal features at the micro-level interact with macro-level discourses to create multi-layered meanings. The dissertation also explores how creators of popular culture texts utilize intertextual references to convey meaning through multiple semiotic codes and how texts become re-contextualized as they circulate globally. Taking into account the multiplicity of readings by diverse audiences, which in part depend on viewers' familiarity with intertextual references, this study addresses issues of reception by analyzing re-mediatized discussions about the texts in online comments, reviews, and articles, in order to gain added insights into the variety of ways the texts are interpreted. The findings of this study show how multilingual, multimodal features in popular culture texts cross genre, linguistic, national, and ethnic boundaries by means of global (re)circulation and local (re)contextualization through the agency of re-mediatization, which is made possible because of internet technology. In the process of recirculation these features become "semiotic metaphors" (O'Halloran 1999, 2008), representing discourses of identity and ideology which are in turn re-interpreted, influencing the way language, visual images and auditory modes are used to create new meanings in different contexts. By showing how semiotic metaphors cross many different types of borders, this study helps to account for emerging local-global hybrid identities and linguistic hybridization and supports previous calls for a more localized perspective of transnationalism (Lam & Warriner, 2012). Finally, it substantiates the need to move beyond traditional monolingual and monomodal notions of language and culture toward a more multi-dimensional view that transcends traditional boundaries.

This study investigates how the relationship between nationalism and language learning is manifested in discourse at an English language classroom facilitated in Nogales Sonora along the Mexico/US border. Employing ethnographically-sensitive critical discourse analysis, this study contributes to the fields of English Language Teaching (ELT), Border Studies, and Nationalism Studies by introducing three analytical terms that provide a means to document the social construction of nation-states (termed herein as imagined national communities of practice). The three terms are (1) nationalist practices, which refers to social practice that presupposes nationalist principles, (2) nationalist border practices, which refers to discerning self/other along nationalist lines, and (3) nationalist standard practices, which refers to the articulation of nationalist standards of language and subjectivity. The students attending the class under analysis comprise a unique population in that they are adults who occupy positions of economic and social privilege in the Nogales Sonora community because of their management-level employment at maquila factories. Reflecting their status, the students are invested in nationalist practices of border and standard in order to align themselves with nation-state institutions and to distance themselves from cultural and linguistic liminality (e.g., Mexican-American, paisano, code-switching, and Spanglish) characteristic of border regions. The classroom under observation upheld nationalist borders and standards, with important consequences. First, nationalist notions of border led classroom participants to disavow the bilingual language use that was clearly necessary for successful classroom operations, despite an English immersion classroom policy. Second, nationalist practices established the local classroom space as indexically linked to an imagined American community of practice, understood by students to be authentically monolingual, monocultural, and distinct from Mexico. Association with--but not full incorporation into--this particular understanding of the American nation-state is advantageous to students for maintaining their elevated social and economic positioning in the local Nogales Sonora community. Thus, this classroom serves as a site of nationalist border reproduction and the reinforcement of hierarchies of privilege. The study encourages teacher reflection on what nationalism can mean to formal language learning contexts and suggests directions for re-aligning classroom practice to approaches that embrace multilingual realities of language learning contexts.

The purpose of the essay was to investigate the way four different educators, at a pre-school with a bilingual profile, work towards strengthening the children’s bilingualism as well as their identity. The research questions concern which guidelines are being used, the educators perceptions concerning children’s bi- and multilingualism and in what way they believe that their pre-school distinguishes itself from others. Qualitative individual interviews and observations were conducted and the empirical data was analyzed using a theoretical framework, constructed of theories concerning language development, ethnicity and identity. The result presented in the study shows that the pre-school not only follows the national curriculum but also their own guideline. The guideline states that there should be both Spanish- and Swedish speaking personnel and that they are “responsible” for the education in their own language. The educators had predominantly two views concerning bi- and multilingual learning, the first one was that translation and repeating enhances the children’s language capability, whilst some pointed on the importance of communication and being attentive to the children’s needs, to enable a good learning environment. The main part of the educators stated, somewhat surprisingly, that the main criteria that distinguishes them from other pre-schools were of a cultural nature. Their opinion was that the “Latin culture” of the pre-school leads to a more loving and lively working climate.

The following essay describes a study made in Sweden in the autumn of 2010 at Södertörn University. The main purpose with this study is to find out and describe how people´s own understanding of being multilingual has influenced them. The objective behind this is to create a wider understanding for the phenomena. Therefore, the phenomenological perspective is used to describe the subjective reflection of a phenomena, in this case multilingualism. A qualitative method is being used for data gathering, implying conversational interviews with six multilingual people born in the 1970s and 1980s. The results show that the people interviewed mostly use their mother tongue in conversations with their parents and relatives today. Their multilingualism has not been particularly acknowledged in school, where Swedish has been the language of instruction. Some of the interviewees expressed a feeling of not knowing any of their languages perfectly. The results also show that the interviewees have a positive attitude towards their multilingualism on the whole and see several advantages with it. The results do nevertheless not show any pattern of differences between the people born in the seventies and the ones born in the eighties.

As Sweden has become a multicultural society the need for developing new educational approaches rises. The preschool is a crucial piece in this as it is the one of the first institutions where the children start to develop the language skills. The aim of this study is to investigate the language development approach as practiced by teachers, in their preschool programs, and determine if the teachers work methods can be considered intercultural. This is done to gain a deep understanding on several language development methods and analyze the teachers' approach within the framework of intercultural pedagogy perspective. The theoretical framework used in the study is the intercultural perspective. Qualitative research interviews with four preschool teachers were conducted in order to be able to answer the questions raised. The results showed that the teachers' are generally positive regarding bilingual children’s learning. The teachers’ language developing methods have proven to be quite consistent with what has been shown in previous research. The results of whether or not the methods used by the teachers’ are intercultural, show that some methods are in fact intercultural, as they are both practiced and kept in mind while working with the children, while others are not. There is a need for further intercultural development of teachers’ work methods. / I takt med att Sverige har blivit ett mer mångkulturellt samhälle har behov av nya undervisningsmetoder uppstått. Förskolan fungerar som barnens första och viktigaste lärandeinstans och därmed är det av yttersta vikt att lärandet sker utifrån ett interkulturellt förhållningssätt. Syftet med denna undersökning är att se på pedagogers förhållningssätt till flerspråkighet/flerspråkiga barns språkinlärning och vilka språkutvecklande arbetssätt som praktiseras av pedagogerna för att kunna avgöra om pedagogerna har ett förhållningssätt och arbetssätt som ligger inom ramen för interkulturell pedagogiskt perspektiv. Detta görs för att få en fördjupad förståelse för flera språkutvecklande arbetsmetoder och kunna se huruvida de intervjuade pedagogerna på valda förskolor i studien arbetar interkulturellt. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten i studien är det interkulturella pedagogiska perspektivet. Kvalitativa forskningsintervjuer med fyra förskolelärare har utförts för att kunna besvara frågeställningar i syfte. Resultatet visar att pedagogerna har en genomgående positiv syn på flerspråkiga barns språkinlärning.  Pedagogernas språkutvecklande arbetssätt har visat sig vara nästan desamma som tidigare forskning har visat. I frågan om hur interkulturella deras språkutvecklande arbetssätt är, kan många av de arbetssätt som pedagogerna använder anses stämma överens med teorin och andra stämmer halvdant eller inte alls. Det finns ett stort behov av att arbeta mer ur ett interkulturellt förhållningssätt.

Magistro darbe išanalizuota ir susisteminta Lietuvos ir užsienio autorių mokslinė literatūra, apžvelgti specialiosios pedagoginės pagalbos teikimo būdai ugdymo įstaigose.Iškelta hipotezė, kad švietimo įstaigų logopedai naudoja įvairius efektyvius pagalbos būdus bei pritaiko juos ugdant vaikus iš dvikalbės ir daugiakalbės aplinkos. / The analysis and system of nonfiction of foreign and Lithuanian authors is presented. Moreover, the methods of special pedagogical assistance in educational institutions are reviewed. The erected hypothesis says that a variety of effectiveways in training children from bilingual and multilingual environment is applied by speech therapists at educational institutions.

Magistriniu darbu „Daugiakalbystės galimybių realizavimo MOODLE aplinkoje modeliavimas“ buvo siekiama sukurti daugiakalbystės realizavimo modelius virtualiai mokymosi aplinkai (toliau – VMA) Moodle. Daugiakalbystė yra vienas iš svarbiausių prioritetų, renkantis virtualią mokymosi aplinką tarptautiniam bendradarbiavimui. Šiame darbe yra nagrinėjamos virtualios mokymosi aplinkos Moodle 2.3 daugiakalbystės realizavimo galimybės. Daugiakalbystės realizavimas nėra apibrėžtas Moodle aplinkos dokumentacijoje, todėl bus aptariami svarbiausi jo realizavimo modeliai. Aptariami Moodle 2.3 aplinkos kalbų pritaikymo būdai, vartotojų galimybės kiekvienu realizavimo atveju. Sukurti du daugiakalbystės realizavimo būdai. Pirmasis nereikalauja programavimo žinių, modeliu gali naudoti ir paprasti vartotojai. Antrajam daugiakalbystės įgyvendinimo būdui buvo sukurtas atskiras modulis skirtas Moodle 2.3 versijai. / The goal of Master thesis „The modeling of the multilingualism capabilities in Moodle“ is to create a multilingual realization models for virtual learning environment (hereinafter - VLE) Moodle. Multilingualism is a top priority when choosing a virtual learning environment in order to implement international cooperation. Possibilities of multilingualism realization in virtual learning environment Moodle 2.3 are analyzed in this thesis. The realization of multilingualism is not defined in Moodle documentation thus the most important models of its realization will discussed. The application techniques of languages in Moodle 2.3 environment will be discussed, as well as consumer outlets in each case. Two methods of realization of multilingualism have been designed. The first one does not require knowledge of programming and the model can be used by ordinary users. The second method of implementing multilingualism has been developed in a separate module for Moodle 2.3 version.