The aim of this study is to investigate teachers’ opinions and experiences using analogue coursebooks in lower secondary school English teaching. The study was conducted using written interviews, interviewing 7 currently active teachers teaching English in the Swedish school system, with the participants’ answers being the material. Thematic Analysis was a method used to structure the results, and Sociocultural Theory was the theoretical perspective. The themes that were identified were: analogue coursebooks; digital coursebooks; more or less suitable activities for coursebook usage; the future of coursebook usage; and desirable qualities of a coursebook. The results of the study reveal that the participants have a positive outlook on using analogue coursebooks in the English classroom as a way of maintaining a certain level of difficulty and quality in the teaching, whilst also having something to fall back on as a source with varied content that can be used. There were no noticeable differences in the teachers’ opinion of what they could be used for but the extent to which they used them varied depending on their experience in the profession. Finally, the cost of coursebooks was mentioned as a key aspect in the process of selecting coursebooks, together with user-friendliness and flexibility.

Syftet med denna studie var att belysa vilka motivationsstrategier som lärare som undervisar i engelska för årskurs 4-6 använder sig av, samt vilka aktiviteter som lärarna anser mest motiverande för eleverna. Studien baseras på intervjuer med sex lärare verksamma i år 4-6, som alla undervisar i engelska och materialet analyserades sedan med hjälp av en tematisk analys.  Resultatet visar att lärarna ansåg att nivåanpassade uppgifter är den strategin som de upplever motiverar alla elever. Detta eftersom nivåanpassade uppgifter får elever att känna sig kompetenta och att de kan lyckas i skolan. Känslan av att lyckas i skolan ansåg lärarna vara betydelsefull för alla elever och en viktig faktor för att de ska vara motiverade till att vilja lära sig ännu mer. Utöver nivåanpassade uppgifter ansåg lärarna att undervisning som utformas med hänsyn till elevernas intressen upplevs som motiverande. Resultaten visar även att det är viktigt att klassrumsklimatet är positivt och accepterande. Lärarna i denna studie menar att ett sådant klassrumsklimat främjar elevernas lärande och motivation. / The present study focuses on the motivational strategies used by primary school teachers in their English classes as well as the tasks they find the most motivational for the students.  This study is based on interviews with six primary school teachers who teach English in grade 4-6, and the data was processed with the help of thematic analysis.   The results show that teachers motivate students by adjusting the tasks according on the students’ proficiency level in order to make the students feel more competent. By doing so the teachers argue that the students will feel more confident knowing that they can be successful in school, which will result in increased motivation. The results also highlight the importance for teachers to get to know their students and their interests. When creating learning activities based on the students’ interests, the teachers have seen an increase in the student motivation. Another crucial factor regarding students’ motivation is the classroom environment. The results also indicate that a positive and accepting classroom environment is beneficial for the students’ learning processes and for their motivation.

Contemporary education literature indicates that motivation can be a deciding factor in a student’s second language acquisition experience. The desire to learn more about the motivation of my own students in a second language learning setting sparked the onset of action research that led me to a better understanding of my subject area, myself as a professional, and most importantly, my students. My initial round of inquiry was a basic one from which the other branches of research evolved: finding out what students felt was motivational about my German class. Research, in each round, took place both through examining existing literature as well as through classroom based research focused on my students. The first round of action research led to the next research area pertinent to understanding and harnessing the power of motivation in my classroom: Using theory to re-shape practical classroom approaches in order to capitalize on motivational factors identified by students. As this round of action research took form, the need for further research became apparent: In order to truly understand what was happening in my German classroom concerning intrinsic student motivation, it was necessary to look more closely at why students were motivated by the factors they had indicated. As a classroom teacher, my initial goal was to optimize factors that I, as the classroom teacher, can control in order to make German language learning as motivational for students as possible. As Dörnyei says, (Dörnyei 2001 a, p. 2): “…99 percent of language learners who really want to learn a foreign language (i.e. who are really motivated) will be able to master a reasonable working knowledge of it as a minimum, regardless of their language aptitude.” Action research was the way for me to better understand a small slice of students’ motivational intricacies concerning German language learning - those which are based in my classroom itself and are under my control to influence. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies)

Many people with dyslexia find second language learning difficult (Gallardo, et al., 2015; Csizér, et al., 2010; DiFino & Lombardino, 2004; Simon, 2000). A language with a deep orthography has little correspondence between the spelling of a word and its pronunciation, and is said to cause a higher degree of faulty decoding by people with dyslexia (Lindgren & Laine, 2011; Rontou, 2012). English is one of the languages with the deepest orthography (Seymour, Aro & Erskine, 2003). In contrast, one study has found that some exceptional dyslectics read with greater ease and correctness in English compared to their mother tongue Swedish (Miller Guron & Lundberg, 2000). The aim of this study is to contribute to knowledge about how young adults with dyslexia have experienced learning English in primary and secondary school. It is a retrospective study with two participants, whose life histories are in focus. The research questions for this study are: -          What themes arise in the participants’ life histories, concerning the connection between dyslexia and second language learning in English? -          What perspectives of special education have pervaded the English teaching that the participants took part in? -          In which ways were the participants included in the English teaching that they took part in, seen from three aspects of inclusion: spatial-, social- and didactic inclusion? Firstly, the results show that despite having very different experiences of dyslexia and learning English in primary and secondary school, certain common themes arise when cross-analysing the participants’ life histories: -          Support at home and in school affects the motivation for learning English -          English is more difficult to learn compared to other school subjects -          Lower self-esteem/self-worth -          The need for repetition and time for learning English Secondly, the results show that it was mainly the compensatory- and critical perspectives that pervaded the teaching of English that the participants took part in. Only to a minor extent was the dilemma perspective noticeable. Finally, the results show that one of the participants mainly experienced two aspects of inclusion, spatial- and social inclusion, throughout primary and secondary school. Although, one specific teacher managed to include the participant according to all three aspects of inclusion. The other participant, on the other hand, did not experience being included according to any of the aspects. The participants of this study have shown that learning English is definitely a possibility for a person with dyslexia. However, it has not been a walk in the park for either of them but has required a lot of hard work and feelings of distress along the way.

Este estudio analiza las habilidades y necesidades comunicativas de 15 refugiados que asisten a clases de español como segunda lengua (EL2) en una organización no gubernamental (ONG) en España. Se ha utilizado un enfoque cuantitativo, empleando un cuestionario basado en las herramientas 25 y 31 proporcionadas por el proyecto de Integración Lingüística de Migrantes Adultos (LIAM) del Consejo de Europa. Los resultados revelan que los refugiados adultos que asisten a clases de EL2 valoran en gran medida la necesidad de comunicarse de manera efectiva en entornos laborales. Sin embargo, se sienten más seguros en sus habilidades comunicativas en situaciones relacionadas con restaurantes y compras. Además, los estudiantes perciben una discrepancia entre sus necesidades y habilidades comunicativas, especialmente en el uso de servicios legales y en entornos médicos, lo que indica que no se les está enseñando lo que específicamente necesitan y desean en el aula. Estos resultados sugieren la necesidad de que la educación de EL2 en España se adapte más a las necesidades específicas de los refugiados. El estudio subraya la importancia de desarrollar programas de idiomas que aborden las necesidades de comunicación únicas de los refugiados, facilitando en última instancia su integración en el país de acogida. / This study examines the communication abilities and necessities of 15 refugees attending Spanish as a Second Language (SSL) classes at a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Spain. A quantitative approach was employed, utilizing a questionnaire based on the Toolkits 25 and 31 provided by the Linguistic Integration of Adult Migrants (LIAM) project of the Council of Europe. The findings reveal that adult refugees attending SFL classes highly value the need to communicate effectively in work environments, however, they feel more confident in their communication abilities when it comes to scenarios related to restaurants and shopping. Moreover, students perceive a discrepancy between their communication needs and communication abilities, particularly in the use of legal services and in medical settings, indicating that they are not being taught what they specifically need and desire in the classroom. These results suggest the need for SFL education in Spain to be more tailored to the specific needs of refugees. The study underscores the importance of developing language programs that address the unique communication needs of refugees, ultimately facilitating their integration in the host country.

This study aims to expand on the existing knowledge of Swedish upper-secondary students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) in English and provide insight into how motivational strategies are used in some Swedish English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classrooms by the teachers. To gather data, four teachers were interviewed, and three of them observed in class, and 67 students answered a questionnaire. The majority of the teachers perceived their students’ WTC in the English classroom as low, and the students reported their WTC as low but also expressed some desire to improve it. In the classroom, the observed teachers showed nothing of what they claimed in the interviews to be doing to motivate their students to speak English in the classroom. The participating students suggested more speaking activities and opportunities to improve their WTC, as well as the teacher putting more pressure on them to speak English in the classroom.

<p>I collected two types of data throughout Weeks 1-14, with the original purpose of enhancing teaching and learning in ENGL620. The data included weekly assignment recordings and weekly surveys.</p><p>The primary data were students' speech data, which were collected through 14 weekly timed speaking assessments conducted from Week 1 to Week 14. These assignments were made available on Monday at midnight and were required to be completed and submitted by Sunday at midnight). The assignments were delivered, and responses were collected using Extempore (<a href="http://www.extemporeapp.com/" target="_blank">www.extemporeapp.com</a>), a website specifically designed to support oral English assessment and practice.</p><p>To conduct more comprehensive assessments of students’ performances, I incorporated two OEPT item types into the weekly assignments, including PROS and CONS (referred to as “PC”) and LINE GRAPH (referred to as “LG”). See Appendix B for the assignment items. The PC item presented challenging scenarios ITAs may encounter and required the test-takers to make a decision and discuss the pros and cons associated with the decision. An example item is “<i>Imagine you have a student who likes to come to your office hours but often talks about something irrelevant to the course. What would you do in this situation? What are the pros and cons associated with the decision?</i>”. The LG item asked students to describe a line graph illustrating two or three lines and provide possible reasons behind those trends. It can be argued that the two tasks targeted slightly different language abilities and background knowledge. The two item types were selected because they represented two key skills that the OEPT tests. The PC task focused on stating one’s decision and presenting an argument within a personal context, while the LG item assessed students’ ability to describe visual information and engage in discussions about broader topics such as gender equality, employment, economic growth, college policy. The PC and LG items are the most difficult items in the test (Yan et al., 2019). Therefore, progress in the two tasks can be a good indicator of improvement in the speaking skills required in this context. All the items were either taken from retired OEPT items or developed by the researcher following the specifications for OEPT item development. In particular, the design of the items aimed to avoid assuming prior specific knowledge and to ensure that students could discuss them without excessive cognitive load.</p><p>For each task, the students were allocated 2 minutes for preparation and a maximum of 2 minutes to deliver their response to the assigned topic. The responses were monologic, resembling short classroom presentations. During the preparation time, the participants were permitted to take notes. Each item only allowed for one attempt, which aimed to capture students’ online production of speech and their utilization of language resources. Table 2 presents the descriptive statistics of the responses.</p><p>The PC prompt was deliberately kept consistent for Week 2 and Week 12 randomly selected as time points at the beginning and end of the semester. This deliberate choice of using the same prompt at these two distinct stages serves multiple purposes. Firstly, it provides a valuable perspective for analyzing growth over time. This approach adds depth to the study results and conclusions by providing additional evidence and triangulation. Second, this approach addresses one of the specific challenges identified by Ortega and Iberr-Shea (2005) in studies involving multiple data collection points, as maintaining consistency in the prompt can minimize potential variations in task difficulty or topic-related factors.</p><p>After completing each speaking assignment, the students were requested to rate the level of difficulty for each item on a scale of 1 (Very Easy) to 5 (Very difficult). Additionally, they were asked to fill out a weekly survey using Qualtrics. The Qualtrics survey contained six questions related to the frequency of their English language use outside of the classroom and their focus on language skills in the previous and upcoming week. These questions were considered interesting as potential contributing factors to changes in their performances throughout the semester. Refer to Appendix C for the survey questions.</p>

<p>While pronunciation has previously been described as a neglected skill in the second language classroom, a growing body of literature has demonstrated that pronunciation training improves students’ productions (Derwing & Munro, 2005). Mispronunciations have been shown to impact comprehensibility, intelligibility, and accentedness (Derwing & Munro, 2009). As pronunciation instruction methods have begun to be the subject of empirical research, Visual Feedback (VF) has begun to emerge as a novel method for teaching pronunciation. This method has been shown to be particularly effective for teaching voice onset time (VOT), a characteristic of voiceless stop consonants (e.g., /p, t, k/). Worth noting, English and Spanish differ concerning VOT, with English employing long VOTs (30-100ms) and Spanish short VOTs (0-30ms) (Lisker & Abramson’s, 1964). Previous research has focused exclusively on employing VF for shortening VOT, although there are some compelling reasons to question whether the size and nature of the effect would be similar for lengthening VOT. The present study examines the potential effectiveness of VF as a means of lengthening the VOT of Spanish learners of English.</p> <p>The participants of the study were twenty-six students from a large Colombian university. The experiment design consisted of a pretest, three VF interventions, a posttest, and a delayed posttest. The tests were composed of two tasks, differing in their complexity: recording words in isolation and words in utterances. Stimuli consisted of English words (n= 4266) with word-initial voiceless stops (/p, t, k/). Stimuli were controlled for stress, following vowel, and word familiarity  and were measured for VOT using Praat (Boersma & Weenink, 2022).</p> <p>Results from statistical analysis coupled with a visual inspection of the data indicated that the experimental group performed similarly in the three stages of the study and that the visual feedback paradigm did not result in changes in VOT. However, some degree of variation was found among the participants concerning their average VOTs. While some participants showed an overall increase (i.e., improvement) in English VOTs for the three phonemes /p/, /t/, and /k/ over time, other participants did not. In general, most of the participants produced English-like VOTs in the pretest, constituting a degree of ceiling effects. The rate of exposure to the target language and the saliency of English are factors that could have played a role in the development of the VOT scores of the participants before the study. Therefore, the discussion focuses on both the nature of the individual variability and the theoretical implications of ceiling effects found in the current study versus the lack of ceiling effects in other studies with similar populations.</p>

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Gruppdynamik, självkänsla, motivation och läslust är några av de grundstenar sompositiva upplevelser av andraspråksinlärning bygger på (Gass &amp; Selinker, 2008)(Löthagen &amp; Staff, 2009). Min intention är att undersöka huruvida pedagogiskt dramaintegrerat i svenska som andraspråksundervisningen, kan användas som verktyg för attuppnå dessa förutsättningar. Denna studie är empirisk, där eleverna i en klass somstuderar svenska som andraspråk på grundnivå, delkurs 2 (3) inom komvux, under enperiod på tio veckor haft dramaundervisning en gång i veckan. Resultatet utgår fråndessa elevers upplevelser av denna period med pedagogiskt drama integrerat i svenskasom andraspråksundervisningen. Följaktligen är detta en kvalitativ, fenomenologiskstudie av andraspråkselevers upplevelser av denna erfarenhet. För datainsamlinganvändes ljudinspelningar av intervjuer i fokusgrupper som sedan transkriberades ochanalyserades. Resultatet av denna studie visar att drama kan utgöra ett verktyg för attfördjupa elevernas förståelse av litteraturundervisningen inom ramen för svenska somandraspråk på vuxenutbildningen. Vidare framläggs att pedagogiskt drama har enpositiv inverkan på samspelet i elevgruppen samt att pedagogiskt drama medför atteleverna upplever arbetet med skönlitteratur mer lustfyllt. / Group dynamics, self-esteem, motivation and a love of reading are some of thecornerstones on which positive experiences of second language learning are built (Gass&amp; Selinker, 2008) (Löthagen &amp; Staff, 2009). My intention is to investigate whethereducational drama integrated into Swedish as a second language teaching can be used asa tool to achieve these conditions. This study is empirical, where the students in a classstudying Swedish as a second language at primary level, part course 2 (3) withinkomvux, had drama lessons once a week for a period of ten weeks. The results arebased on these students' experiences of this period with pedagogical drama integratedinto Swedish as a second language teaching. Consequently, this is a qualitative,phenomenological study of second language learners' experiences of this experience.For data collection, audio recordings of interviews in focus groups were used, whichwere then transcribed and analyzed. The results of this study show that drama can be atool for deepening students' understanding of literature teaching within the frameworkof Swedish as a second language in adult education. Furthermore, it is presented thateducational drama has a positive impact on the interaction in the student group and thateducational drama means that the students experience the work with fiction more joyfully.