In South Africa learners do not achieve as well as their international counterparts on tests of literacy, and language proficiency is often blamed for their poor academic performance. In this study, the relationship between English language proficiency, reading ability and the academic performance of Grade 7 students in submersion contexts was investigated using quantitative methods. The participants of the study were Grade 7 students based in a former Model C school in the South African city of Johannesburg. Their English language proficiency and reading ability were measured by means of The Proficiency test English Second Language: Intermediate level and the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability tests respectively. The students’ performance on these tests was correlated with the students’ average summative assessment results using the Pearson-product moment correlation. Results showed that both English language proficiency and reading ability were significantly correlated with academic performance, with language proficiency having the most robust correlation. These findings indicate that teachers should aim at improving language proficiency by using multilingual teaching strategies that support home language as a cognitive tool. / English Studies / M.A. (TESOL)

In South Africa learners do not achieve as well as their international counterparts on tests of literacy, and language proficiency is often blamed for their poor academic performance. In this study, the relationship between English language proficiency, reading ability and the academic performance of Grade 7 students in submersion contexts was investigated using quantitative methods. The participants of the study were Grade 7 students based in a former Model C school in the South African city of Johannesburg. Their English language proficiency and reading ability were measured by means of The Proficiency test English Second Language: Intermediate level and the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability tests respectively. The students’ performance on these tests was correlated with the students’ average summative assessment results using the Pearson-product moment correlation. Results showed that both English language proficiency and reading ability were significantly correlated with academic performance, with language proficiency having the most robust correlation. These findings indicate that teachers should aim at improving language proficiency by using multilingual teaching strategies that support home language as a cognitive tool. / English Studies / M. A. (TESOL)

<p>Our work is based on a mathematics test which the students accomplished, interviews with student and teachers who are working on this program and the current literatures. The purposes of this work are to search the importance and the effect of the languages understanding in students learning of mathematic in the Individual high school curriculum. In total, sex students and three teachers took part in our study. Tow of the students is mother tongue language student and the remains are second language student. Our study should answer tow important questions:</p><p>• Do the student in the Individual high school curriculum have the fundamental knowledge in mathematic?</p><p><em><strong></strong></em></p><p>• How does the understanding of Swedish language effect in the understanding of the mathematic problems and in the students results in mathematic test?</p><p><em><strong></strong></em></p><p>In order to answer those questions, the students have to complete a mathematic test that consists of four parts. To answer the first questions the student must finish the first three parts of the test. It is about how to calculate addition, subtraction, multiplication and divisions problems and to account number in decimal and break shape. The mother tongue language student passed the test with excellence degree and they refused doing the fourth part. It was voluntary to participate and for this we couldn’t change there mind. Two students didn’t pass this test and they can not complete the fourth part. From the interviews we know that they have problem with concentration, they have ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity Disorder) and DAMP. For this they didn’t participate in the forth part. </p><p>Just two students finished the fourth part and they passed it with good degree. To analyse the difference in the test results between the students, we make some interviews with teachers and students in the IV program. From the final results of the test and interviews, we realized that the second language students’ difficulties are depended on the defect in the vocabulary in Swedish language, defect in understanding of concepts and expressions and some others factors which can effect in students learning.</p>

Our work is based on a mathematics test which the students accomplished, interviews with student and teachers who are working on this program and the current literatures. The purposes of this work are to search the importance and the effect of the languages understanding in students learning of mathematic in the Individual high school curriculum. In total, sex students and three teachers took part in our study. Tow of the students is mother tongue language student and the remains are second language student. Our study should answer tow important questions: • Do the student in the Individual high school curriculum have the fundamental knowledge in mathematic? • How does the understanding of Swedish language effect in the understanding of the mathematic problems and in the students results in mathematic test? In order to answer those questions, the students have to complete a mathematic test that consists of four parts. To answer the first questions the student must finish the first three parts of the test. It is about how to calculate addition, subtraction, multiplication and divisions problems and to account number in decimal and break shape. The mother tongue language student passed the test with excellence degree and they refused doing the fourth part. It was voluntary to participate and for this we couldn’t change there mind. Two students didn’t pass this test and they can not complete the fourth part. From the interviews we know that they have problem with concentration, they have ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity Disorder) and DAMP. For this they didn’t participate in the forth part.  Just two students finished the fourth part and they passed it with good degree. To analyse the difference in the test results between the students, we make some interviews with teachers and students in the IV program. From the final results of the test and interviews, we realized that the second language students’ difficulties are depended on the defect in the vocabulary in Swedish language, defect in understanding of concepts and expressions and some others factors which can effect in students learning.

Students who study through the medium of a second language often have reading/listening comprehension and general study problems. This study focuses on particular aspects of these problems only, namely, identification of main ideas, summarisation and note-taking. The aim of this study was w determine the effect of teaching L2 students a combination of metacognitive and cognitive strategies for reading and listening comprehension (the main idea, summarising and note-taking by means of dictation). An intervention programme was designed in order to teach students these skills. There were ten students in both the experimental and the control groups. Both groups were assessed before and after the intervention programme. The findings reveal that the intervention was successful, with the experimental group showing greater improvement than the control group. The findings of this study have implications for second language tertiary learning and teaching theory and practice / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)

Målet i detta examensarbete är att studera språkutveckling genom att undersöka hur den sociokulturella lärandeteorin och språkteorin SFL är framträdande i lågstadielärares berättande om sin undervisning inom de samhällsorienterade ämnena med andraspråkselever. Dessutom har jag undersökt hur multimodala medier används i SO-undervisningen med andraspråkselever enligt lågstadielärares berättande. Mina frågeställningar är följande: “Hur framträder den sociokulturella lärandeteorin och språkteorin SFL i den samhällsorienterande undervisningen med andraspråkselever utifrån lågstadielärares berättande?" och “Hur beskriver lågstadielärare användandet av multimodala medier inom den samhällsorienterande undervisningen med andraspråkselever?". Studien bygger på Lev Vygotskijs sociokulturella lärandeteori, Michael Hallidays systemisk-funktionella språkteori och teorier om multimodalitet. Studien är kvalitativ och den empiriska datan samlades in via semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem lärare från en högindex skola i Malmö. Resultatet visar att ett sociokulturellt förhållningssätt är att föredra med andraspråkselever, där kooperativt lärande lyfts som en framgångsrik lärmetod. Michael Hallidays teori (SFL) är gynnsam som grundar sig i att utgå från elevernas förkunskaper i undervisningen. Dessutom visar resultatet att en multimodal undervisning är viktigt för framgångsrikt lärande med andraspråkselever. I diskussionen presenteras resonemang och slutsatser utifrån resultatet som besvarar frågeställningarna. Vidare behandlar diskussionsdelen hur forskningen påverkar den framtida yrkesprofessionen och hur man kan forska vidare kring ämnet. / The goal is to study language development by investigating how the sociocultural learning theory and the language theory SFL are prominent in primary school teachers' narratives about their teaching in the socially oriented subjects with second language students. In addition, I have investigated how multimodal media are used in SO teaching with second language students according to primary school teachers' narratives. My questions are the following: "How does the socio-cultural learning theory and the language theory SFL appear in the social orientation teaching with second language students based on the primary school teachers' narration?" and "How do primary school teachers describe the use of multimodal media within the social orientation teaching with second language students?". The study is based on Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural learning theory, Michael Halliday's systemic-functional language theory and theories of multimodality. The study is qualitative and the empirical data was collected via semi-structured interviews with five teachers from a high index school in Malmö. The result shows that a socio-cultural approach is preferable with second language students, where cooperative learning is highlighted as a successful learning method. Michael Halliday's theory (SFL) is favorable, which is based on starting from the students' prior knowledge in teaching. In addition, the results show that multimodal teaching is important for successful learning with second language learners. In the discussion, reasoning and conclusions are presented based on the results that answer the questions. Furthermore, the discussion part deals with how the research affects the future professional profession and how to do further research on the subject.