My intention with this study was to examine the concepts “mother tongue” and “mother tongue education” and how these concepts are understood by some parents. To reach this goal I’ve conducted a qualitative study, wherein I’ve interviewed eight parents with foreign backgrounds. The study is inspired by hermeneutics in its interpretation of results. From this study I can reach several conclusions. To begin with, all parents had a positive view of the mother tongue concept and mother tongue education. It is very important for their children. They need their mother tongue and mother tongue support to be able to communicate with others who speak the same language, and to strengthen their self confidence and achieve a strong personality and identity. Another thing the study shows is that there are some deficiencies in this area, for instance the insufficient amount of teaching hours, the unsuitable scheduling, large class sizes and mother tongue teachers not speaking the same dialect as the children. A third recurring result is the deficient communication between teachers and the parents in the study. The informants had a desire to improve these aspects to allow for the development of the childrens’ mother tongue.

<p>Syftet med uppsatsen var att utreda romska ungdomars skolsituation i Västerås samt att föra en diskussion om studiens resultat i förhållande till Europarådets ramkonvention om nationella minoriteter. Syftet utreddes dels genom intervjuer med åtta romska elever och tre lärare därefter tolkades resultatet utifrån ett intersektionellt perspektiv. Vidare diskuterades resultatet med utgångspunkt i relevanta delar av ramkonventionen. Studien är kvalitativ och empirin analyserades genom en hermeneutisk tolkningsprocess. Vad som framkom i resultatet är att majoritetssamhällets etnocentrism påverkar unga romers skolsituation i Västerås eftersom romernas särskilda rättigheter i egenskap av nationell minoritet inte beaktas. Skolsituationen försätter de romska ungdomarna i en marginaliseringssituation där de pendlar mellan majoritetssamhällets krav och familjens förväntningar.</p>

This paper investigates the methods used by teachers when teaching elementary mathematics to children with Swedish as their second language. The original mathematical terminology derives from Latin, Greek and Arabic, this terminology is not of great importance in this paper, the everyday language spoken in elementary classes when teaching mathematical concepts and calculations to younger children is. The use of everyday language is an advantage for children with Swedish as their second language as mathematical problems presented in a more plain language is easier to comprehend and solve than problems in mere numerals. Special teachers in home language classes often have the task of clarifying the mathematical concepts, introduced to the children during mathematical lessons, in the pupils first acquired language. A qualitative method was used in this study. The research material consists of interviews and observations. Two teachers and a home language teacher, all from one school, participate in the study. The research results show the importance of ordinary language terminology in mathematics for beginners. The participants of the study are aware of the importance of language in mathematics and actively work with the vocabulary in the languages involved. The various methodologies used to introduce mathematical vocabulary to the students differed among the teachers.

Syftet med uppsatsen var att utreda romska ungdomars skolsituation i Västerås samt att föra en diskussion om studiens resultat i förhållande till Europarådets ramkonvention om nationella minoriteter. Syftet utreddes dels genom intervjuer med åtta romska elever och tre lärare därefter tolkades resultatet utifrån ett intersektionellt perspektiv. Vidare diskuterades resultatet med utgångspunkt i relevanta delar av ramkonventionen. Studien är kvalitativ och empirin analyserades genom en hermeneutisk tolkningsprocess. Vad som framkom i resultatet är att majoritetssamhällets etnocentrism påverkar unga romers skolsituation i Västerås eftersom romernas särskilda rättigheter i egenskap av nationell minoritet inte beaktas. Skolsituationen försätter de romska ungdomarna i en marginaliseringssituation där de pendlar mellan majoritetssamhällets krav och familjens förväntningar.

The Swedish School Board reported in 2007 that students with a foreign background to a larger extent than Swedish students leave school without grades in one or more subjects in the ninth grade. The report also reveals that during the year 2007/2008 17 percent of elementary school pupils had the right to home language instruction. Students with an other mother tongue than Swedish are considered a separate group that doesn’t perform as well in school. My study investigates how eleven Arabic-speaking ninth-graders at age 15-16 perceive the importance of their mother tongue for learning and identity development. To this purpose I have conducted semi-structured interviews – one comprising six students in group and five individual – in a school in one of the suburbs of Stockholms. The theoretic point of departure for this study has been the social constructivist perspective. The result shows unambiguously that the students consider their mother tongue to be important for the learning and development of the second language. It is principally spoken Arabic that is used for attaining knowledge – the written language, which in Arabic is quite different from the spoken language, has its greatest significance in home language instruction. The result of the study also shows two informants identify themselves as arabs since Arabic is their mother tongue, while the rest of the students identify themselves with the Arabic culture, which constitutes a construction of ethnicity and contributes to demarcations between us and them. LyssnaLäs fonetisk Ordbok - Visa detaljerad ordbok

This research project is mainly a study of attitudes towards Afrikaans and its setworks by non-mother-tongue speakers in Grades 10 - 12 in an English Government school. The approach taken to this research was a combined one. This was as a result of gathering information through both qualitative and quantitative methods. Grade 10 - 12 learners completed questionnaires in which they indicated their attitudes which were then arranged according to qualitative research. Focus groups were also allocated that can be viewed as qualitative research. The Grade 10 - 12 learners were questioned in smaller groups as to their attitudes to language and their preferences regarding the teaching of poetry. The main research aims, answered in Chapter 4, are the following: <ul> <li>to determine whether non-mother-tongue learners in Grades 10 - 12 are negative towards the language Afrikaans,</li> <li>to determine the attitude of non-mother-tongue learners towards poetry,</li> <li>to determine the attitudes of non-mother-tongue learners regarding teaching methods, and</li> <li>to recommend which aims are acceptable when teaching poetry within a South African context to non-mother-tongue learners.</li> </ul> The research that involved the learners was completed in July 2006. One hundred Grade 12 learners were involved in the pilot study towards the end of their academic year in 2005. This study required the learners to indicate their feelings regarding their set poems. In 2006, two hundred-and-forty Grade 10 - 12 learners at the same school were involved in answering a more comprehensive questionnaire. This included: the themes they prefer; whether they ever read poetry by choice; and whether the teaching that they received at school, inspired them enough to become life-long poetry readers. The questionnaire also contained an attitude indicator which allowed learners to demonstrate whether they enjoyed something, felt neutral, or did not like it at all. This allowed their attitudes regarding teaching and assessment methods, as well as the compilation of a poetry syllabus with possible themes to be made known. After the information had been processed by the researcher’s statistic analyst, it was found that learners are generally more positive towards the language Afrikaans (61.59%), but are negative towards certain aspects of the poetry syllabus. The learners demonstrated that they did not enjoy group work. This is, however, a problem because this is a prerequisite for the Grades 10 – 12 syllabi. A recommendation was made that the educator must give thought to how he or she is going to implement group work. When learners are led in a meaningful way during group work sessions, they will feel that their interpretation is also validated. A further issue that the research highlighted as problematic are the types of poem that are currently prescribed. Learners did, for example, indicate that they did not enjoy analysing poems about death and war. However, the two poems “Begrafnis van ‘n ouma” and “Foto van man wat val” relating to these themes were positively received during the research. A recommendation is made that educators should not necessarily shy away from themes that learners dislike, but perhaps educators could spend the time looking at the type of poem on these themes that could be set. Chapter 5 suggests a model for the teaching of poetry to non-mother-tongue speakers. It offers questions suitable for Afrikaans First Additional Language and the poems were selected according to popular themes as indicated by learners. This research project suggests that non-mother-tongue learners can be motivated to enjoy Afrikaans poetry. This is dependent on the teaching methodology employed; the type of prescribed poems taught; and learners’ attitudes towards Afrikaans as a language. These factors influence their attitude towards Afrikaans in general. / Dissertation (MA (Afrikaans))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Afrikaans / unrestricted

In this dissertation I have examined bilingual families’ attitudes towards their children’s bilingualism and code switching. My research questions are how and when the informants’ children mix between their languages and if the parents have positive or negative attitudes towards their children’s language mixture. I have also asked what the bilingual families feel about bilingualism. As a method I have chosen to make qualitative interviews with my informants. Three families have been interviewed with different languages and backgrounds. The results indicate that bilingualism confers an increased interest for language and increased language awareness. Some of the informants state that their children often switch between the languages while others do not mix at all. The informants have a very positive attitude towards bilingualism and they do not see a problem in their children’s code switchingMother tongue, code switching, consecutive and sequential bilingualism, majority and minority language

Abstract The aim of the study was to examine how preschool teachers from two different municipalities are working with native language support. The method used in this study was a questionnaire survey were 58 preschool teachers participated. It has been shown in a study made in the USA by Galeano (2011) that families from other countries lose their native language faster during recent years than they did before, this may be because families let the English language dominate in the home instead of using their native language. When children start school they are offered mother tongue education, but often it’s not of much use since the students already have a basic speech in English (Galeano, 2011). A study conducted in schools in England showed that mother tongue education is deficient when students get questions on their native language but they choose to answer the teachers in English instead. This is one of the reasons how students lose the ability to speak their mother tongue but they still have the ability to understand what is being said (Cable, Drury &amp; Robertson, 2014). This study shows that many of the preschool teachers that were questioned in the study did not have enough experience when it comes to working with native language support. The preschool teachers felt that they didn’t have good enough guidance to how the work with native language support should proceed in the best way. They couldn’t bring up the issues of language support with parents or answer their questions without double checking with the preschool heads or principals. Most of the preschool teachers know the importance of language support as it makes it easier for kids to become part of the preschool group and that they easier learn Swedish as a second language. Many preschool teachers had to take own initiatives to give children support in their native language, this because many preschools do not have access to mother tongue teachers or interpreter. / Abstrakt Syftet med studien är att se hur förskollärare från två olika kommuner arbetar med modersmålsstöd Undersökningsmetoden som användes var en enkätundersökning där 58 förskollärare deltog. Det har visat sig i studier bland annat i USA att familjer med andra ursprungsland förlorar sitt modersmål snabbare i dagsläget än de gjorde förr då familjerna låter det engelska språket dominera i hemmet istället för att använda sig av modersmålet. När barnen kom upp i skolåldern så erbjöds de modersmålsundervisning men ofta så räcker inte modersmålsundervisning till i skolan då eleverna redan har ett grundläggande tal i till exempel engelska (Galeano, 2011). En studie som gjordes i skolorna i England visade att modersmålsundervisningen är bristfällig då eleverna får frågor på respektive modersmål men att de svarar läraren på engelska istället för modersmålet. Detta bidrar till att eleverna tappar förmågan att tala modersmålet men att de fortfarande har kvar förmågan att förstå vad som sägs (Cable, Drury &amp; Robertson, 2014). I följande studie kände många av förskollärarna att de inte hade någon riktig rutin kring arbetet med modersmålsstöd och de saknade bra vägledning till hur arbetet skulle gå tillväga på bästa sätt, de kunde inte själva ta upp frågorna kring modersmålsstöd med föräldrarna utan var tvungna att samtala med förskolechefer eller rektorer innan de kunde besvara föräldrarnas frågor. Samtliga förskollärare visste att det är viktigt med modersmålsstöd då det underlättar för barnen att komma in i verksamheten samt att de lättare lärde sig svenska som andra språk. Många förskollärare tar egna initiativ till att ge barnen stöd i deras modersmål då många förskolor saknar tillgång till modersmålspedagog eller tolk.

PhD (English) / Department of English / This research assesses how the choice of a particular medium of instruction supports Primary Class Three (P.3) pupils’ academic performance in literacy. The need for this research has been occasioned by the inconsistencies that exist in Ghana’s language-in-education policy. The current language-in-education policy allows for only the dominant language of the community, in which a school is situated, to be used as medium of instruction, even when pupils speak different languages in one P.3 classroom. The research adopts a mixed methodology approach and uses purposive sampling technique to select a total sample of 317 participants. This number comprises pupils, teachers, parents and other stakeholders in education from 8 schools within 3 municipalities in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Five (5) of the schools use English medium of instruction and three (3) schools use Ghanaian language or mother-tongue. Data collection tools for the research are interviews, participant’s observations, video recordings and diagnostic tests. The main finding, based on the test results of the research, establishes that when mother-tongue and English are compared as mediums of instruction from Kindergarten One (KG1) up to P. 3, there is no significant difference pupils’ academic results in literacy. In view of this, the research advocates for further debate on other factors that support pupils academic performance in literacy, in addition to mother-tongue and English medium of instruction in lower primary schools.

Syftet med uppsatsen är att få en djup förståelse kring pedagogers förhållningssätt till flerspråkighet.