This degree project aims to investigate if ICT has any influence as motivation for English foreign language learners. Furthermore, this study is to investigate in what way the motivation is affected, if it is affected at all. Today, computers and other digital tools such as tablets influence the society greatly and are a part of the learners’ everyday life. The data in this study is analyzed and collected through survey questionnaires. The participants are 45 third graders from a Swedish elementary school. Many students today have a great interest in computers and tablets since it is a part of their daily life. Andersson (2003) states that many are bored since the Swedish school still hold to the old traditions. Hence, this project aims to investigate if incorporating ICT in the EFL classroom can increase students’ motivation. The conclusion of this study is that the majority of students are affected by ICT in a positive way. Also, the collected data showed that students’ motivation increased because the lessons got more fun and they felt happier when incorporating ICT in the EFL classroom.

The issues relative to foreign accent continue to puzzle second language researchers, educators, and learners today. Although once thought to be at the root, maturational constraints have fallen short of definitively accounting for the myriad levels and rates of phonological attainment (Bialystok & Miller, 1999, p. 128). This study, a Posttest-only Control Group Design, examined how the pronunciation accuracy of adult, English language learners, as demonstrated by utterance length, was related to two input stimuli: auditory-only input and auditoryorthographic input. Utterance length and input modality were further examined with the added variables of native language, specifically Arabic and Spanish, and second language proficiency as defined by unofficial TOEFL Listening Comprehension and Reading Comprehension section scores. Results from independent t tests indicated a statistically significant difference in utterance length based on input modality (t(192) = -3.285. p = .001), while with the added variable of native language, factorial ANOVA results indicated no statistically significance difference for the population studied. In addition, multiple linear regression analyses examined input modality and second language proficiency as predictors of utterance length accuracy and revealed a statistically significant relationship (R 2 = .108, adjusted R 2 = .089, F(3, 144) = 5.805, p = .001), with 11% of the utterance length variance accounted for by these two factors predictors. Lastly, hierarchical regressions applied to two blocks of factors revealed statistical significance: (a) input modality/native language (R 2 = .069, adjusted R 2 = .048, F(2, 87) = 3.230, p = .044) and ListenComp (R 2 = .101, adjusted R 2 = .070, F(3, 86) = 3.232, p = .026), with ListenComp iv increasing the predictive power by 3%; (b) input modality/native language (R 2 = .069, adjusted R 2 = .048, F(2, 87) = 3.230, p = .044) and ReadComp (R 2 = .112, adjusted R 2 = .081, F(1, 86) = 3.629, p = .016), with ReadComp increasing the predictive power by 4%; and (c) input modality/native language (R 2 = .069, adjusted R 2 = .048, F(2, 87) = 3.230, p = .044) and ListenComp/ReadComp (R 2 = .114, adjusted R 2 = .072, F(2, 85) = 2.129, p = .035), with ListenComp/ReadComp increasing the predictive power by 4%. The implications of this research are that by considering issues relative to input modality and second language proficiency levels especially when teaching new vocabulary to adult second language learners, the potential for improved pronunciation accuracy is maximized. Furthermore, the heightened attention to the role of input modality as a cognitive factor on phonological output in second language teaching and learning may redirect the manner in which target language phonology is approached.

Research shows that there are several benefits that can be extracted from the usage of literature in EFL. The question is which benefits teachers tend to make use of in their classrooms. The present study set out to map upper secondary school teachers’ reflections on the topic of literature in EFL, in general as well as in relation to language learning. The three research questions were to find out (1) teachers’ views regarding opportunities as well as challenges of literature in the EFL classroom, (2) how EFL teachers reason around their own uses of literature in EFL, and lastly, (3) how EFL teachers reflect on literature in relation to language learning. The data was collected from semi-structured interviews with three teachers. The study found that, overall, the teachers viewed literature as an important part of EFL partly because it can be utilized to acquire tools for literary analysis, to learn about the world, to create a basis for discussion about difficult topics and lastly, to develop language proficiencies.

A growing number of studies has shown that collaborative writing tasks facilitate second language (L2) development by providing learners with opportunities to focus their attention on language and to collaborate in the solution of their language-related problems (e.g., Choi & Iwashita, 2016; Storch, 2013; Swain & Lapkin, 1998; Williams, 2012). However, most of these studies have focused almost exclusively on L2 learners, and particularly on English as a second language learners. In an effort to address this gap and drawing from a sociocultural framework, this study investigated the interactions of Spanish heritage language (HL) learners and Spanish L2 learners enrolled in the same class. Twenty-four intermediate-level learners of Spanish, organized in four HL-HL, four HL-L2, and four L2-L2 dyads, participated in the study. As part of their regular class work, they completed four collaborative writing tasks in pairs. Participants were also asked to individually complete a pretest and two posttests. The tasks and tests were intended to elicit the present subjunctive in nominal and adjectival clauses. The interactions between each pair were recorded and coded for the nature of the relationships the learners formed (Storch, 2002) and the quantity and quality of learners’ deliberations about language choice, using Language Related Episodes (LREs) (Swain & Lapkin, 1998) as units of analysis. Results showed that the most common type of patterns of interaction the learners developed was collaboration. Moreover, three pairs displayed a dominant/passive pattern of interaction and two pairs an expert/novice pattern. Results also indicated that overall, participants produced slightly more LREs focused on form than LREs focused on lexis. Furthermore, results showed that whereas all pairs produced morphosyntactic LREs, they were more frequent in HL-L2 dyads. Lexical LREs occurred more often in L2-L2 dyads, and orthographic LREs occurred only in HL-HL dyads. With regards to learning gains, results revealed that six participants obtained high scores in all tests and did not show a score change from pretest to delayed posttest. Five of these participants were identified as HL learners. However, data also showed that 16 participants scored higher on their delayed posttest than they did on their pretest. Overall, considering that most dyads developed a collaborative pattern of interaction and achieved learning gains after task-based interaction, the data suggest that despite the differences in linguistic and cultural backgrounds, learners in mixed and matched pairs provided assistance to one another and produced LREs associated with the target structure. These findings have important pedagogical implications and thus, future studies need to investigate the best practices for teaching HL and L2 learners simultaneously and the types of tasks that encourage collaboration. / Spanish

This study deals with the testing and grading of Swedish school leaving students’ oral proficiency in English, and with certain aspects of these students’ linguistic competence. The analyses and results are based on material drawn from an assessment project carried out at Gothenburg University in 1993. The 29 students taking part in the project were interviewed three times by three different interviewers in tests comprising three tasks, similar in structure but different in content. The interviewers were of three categories: school teachers of English, university teachers of English and native speakers of English. The student production was graded on a five-point scale according to a set of rating criteria. The interviewers assigned generally positive but often differing grades to the student performance. The grades were influenced by the students’ ability to communicate and speak with flow, and by gaps in vocabulary and by occurrences of grammatical errors. The students’ use of discourse phenomena and compensatory strategies was also of importance to the grades assigned. Many students were considered to have acceptable intonation and rhythm, but nevertheless an evident Swedish accent. The linguistic features studied comprised the verbal group, vocabulary, discourse markers and pronunciation. Differences could be observed between the members of the interviewer categories regarding the grades they assigned to student production. The school teachers seem to have paid special attention to grammatical accuracy, and the native speakers appear to have had a notion of communicative competence where accuracy plays a less important role. Differences in the grades assigned could also be explained by the order in which the interviews were made, by some students’ hesitant delivery, by the positive or negative effect of various fillers in the students’ speech, and by the interviewing methods used by the interviewers in the tests.

The aim of this study is to explore how six primary school teachers experience teaching grammar to non-Swedish speaking pupils and how their experiences correspond to theories and previous research on language development and second language acquisition. The method used was semi-structured qualitative interviews combined with mind maps. The result shows that the teachers had revised their view on grammar and adapted their teaching to the immigrant pupils, and in various ways followed the Swedish Education Agency’s recommendations on measure to take to facilitate second language learning, including using genre pedagogy.

Young students learn through active and playful encounters with their environment. The Curriculum for Compulsory School (Lgr11) states the importance of play in students’ active learning. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the role that has been ascribed to play in research on early English language learning. The main questions address how play can be used to promote language learning in the early primary English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom and other methods teachers may use that benefit students’ language development. The method used for this thesis is a systematic literature review with a qualitative approach. Six studies were included in the analysis. The analysis shows that playful methods of teaching can help the teacher to develop students’ English skills. Research has shown that playful encounters during language learning help students feel more motivated and dedicated to learning a foreign language. The results indicate the importance of the teacher having knowledge regarding what is being taught, how it is supposed to be learned, and why it is meaningful for the students in their own personal language development. Based on the thesis results further research is needed to understand the teachers’ methods of teaching English as a Foreign Language in the early primary classroom. / <p>Engelska</p>

Då strategier är vagt beskrivna i styrdokument och svåra att observera hos elever är studiens syfte att undersöka några lärares förmåga att uppfylla läroplanens krav när det gäller undervisning och bedömning av strategier i muntlig kommunikation i engelska och slutligen utifrån litteratur ge exempel på hur det kan konkretiseras i klassrummet. Genom kvalitativa metoder inom fenomenologin har observationer och intervjuer med tre lärare genomförts och analyserats. Resultatet visar att lärare är överens gällande styrdokumentens otydlighet. Dessutom är strategibegreppet vagt beskrivet och saknar gemensam definition bland forskare. Lärares metoder för att undervisa strategier sker både genom direkt och indirekt undervisning och båda metoderna får stöd i forskning. Materialet som ska bidra med mer förståelse till kursplanen, kommentarmaterialet, används inte av lärare. Det leder till att lärare inte blir medvetna om vilka strategier elever rekommenderas att använda och att bedömningen av kunskapskravet blir godtyckligt. Lärare anser dessutom att strategier är svåra att upptäcka då vissa strategier inte sker synligt eller att de sker i samband med att elever interagerar i par eller helklass. Problemet med att upptäcka vilka strategier som används av ”duktiga elever” gör att progressionen i kunskapskravet kan ifrågasättas. Resultatet visar på ett utvecklingsbehov av metoder för att undervisa strategier i muntlig kommunikation samt att resurseffektiva metoder för bedömning behöver identifieras. / When strategies are vaguely described in steering documents and difficult to observe with students, the aim of the study is to investigate the ability of some teachers to fulfil the curriculum's requirements in terms of teaching and assessing strategies in oral communication in English and finally based on literature giving examples of how it can be made concrete in classroom. Through qualitative methods in phenomenology, observations and interviews with three teachers have been carried out and analysed. The result shows that teachers agree on the obscurity of the steering documents. In addition, the strategy concept is vaguely described and lacks a common definition among researchers. Teachers' methods for teaching strategies take place through direct and indirect teaching and both methods are supported in research. The material that will contribute more understanding to the syllabus is not used by teachers. This means that teachers do not become aware of which strategies students are recommended to use and that the assessment of the knowledge requirement becomes arbitrary. Teachers also believe that strategies are difficult to detect, as some strategies are not visible or that they occur in connection with pupils interacting in pairs or in full class. The problem of discovering which strategies are used by "good students" makes the progression of the knowledge requirement questionable. The results show a need for development of methods for teaching strategies in oral communication and that resourceefficient methods of assessment need to be identified.

Swedes’ proficiency in English is often high up in the world rankings among the countries in which English is an L2[1]. Learners of English are routinely tested in the Swedish school system, using standardized national tests to measure how well students are doing nationwide, whilst also providing teachers with sometimes essential assistance in grading students’ language skills. At the end of year 9, students should have developed “all-round communicative skills”. But how do we determine what having “all-round communicative skills” constitutes? What are learners’ attitudes towards and perception of what they learn, how they learn it and their own present ability? What are some areas in which they believe they can improve the most, and is there a preferred way to learn a specific skill? Is communicative competence even focused on in the classroom, and if it is – how and how often? The purpose of this study is threefold: to identify how communicatively competent students in year 9 consider themselves in comparison to their peers; how much they believe that they work with communicative competence in school; and what they perceive to be their weakness and area of communicative competence that could be improved most. Secondarily, are there any differences in what is believed to be focused on in class between students and teachers? To answer these questions, an overview of the aspects that together constitutes being communicatively competent based on relevant previous research will be provided. The aims of English as a school subject in Swedish schools are studied in order to see what the goals are, according to the curriculum. After collecting data using interviews and a questionnaire, results indicate that students are not always aware of when and how classroom activities are designed to improve communicative competence. Students in general also seemingly have a varying opinion on what areas they have the most potential for improvement in. There is thus a disparity between learners’ expectations and perception of their own needs, and teachers’ opinions of what requires improvement and how learning of communicative skills is best done. [1] In the writing process, a decision was made to call English an L2 and not a FL throughout the study, since they are still trying to learn another language than their L1 in either case (Yule, 2014, p. 187).

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2015-10-27T15:52:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 MARIA DE FÁTIMA GONÇALVES_.pdf: 3046142 bytes, checksum: c952f0104cef4d5ae361f31ea57edc73 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-10-27T15:52:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MARIA DE FÁTIMA GONÇALVES_.pdf: 3046142 bytes, checksum: c952f0104cef4d5ae361f31ea57edc73 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-26 / Milton Valente / A partir da perspectiva sociocultural (VYGOTSKY, 1986), este estudo visa a investigar as interações entre uma professora de inglês e um grupo de dezoito alunos do sexto ano do ensino fundamental de currículo bilíngue, de uma escola privada do Sul do Brasil, durante a realização de três tarefas colaborativas propostas pela docente, focalizando fatores de mediação no diálogo colaborativo (SWAIN, 2000) produzido entre os interagentes (aprendizes entre si e aprendizes-professora), bem como verificar a contribuição desse diálogo para o ensino-aprendizagem de língua inglesa como L2 no contexto de educação bilíngue. Esta pesquisa baseia-se em princípios qualitativos, de caráter êmico e interpretativo. A geração dos dados ocorreu por meio de gravação em áudio e vídeo das interações dos participantes, além de uma entrevista semiestruturada com os aprendizes e professora, as quais foram transcritas e analisadas. Os resultados do trabalho colaborativo, por meio das tarefas, apontam para um maior engajamento dos aprendizes, uma maior produção de inglês como L2 e uma reflexão sobre a língua, a partir do seu uso. Verificou-se que o diálogo colaborativo mediou o uso da L2 e a aprendizagem da língua, no contexto de educação bilíngue. / Supported by the sociocultural perspective (VYGOTSKY, 1986), this study aims at investigating the interaction of eighteen English learners in the sixth year of elementary bilingual education (Portuguese-English) and an English teacher at a private school in Southern Brazil, during the execution of three collaborative tasks proposed by the teacher, focusing on collaborative dialogue (SWAIN, 2000) as a mediation factor. The goal is to see how the collaborative dialogue contributes to English learning as a second language in the bilingual context. This research is guided by qualitative principles, from an emic and interpretativist view. The data derived from the interactions of the participants were audio and video as well as a semi-structured interview which were recorded and transcribed. The results of the collaborative work through the tasks points to a greater learner engagement, greater production of English as L2 and a reflection on language, from its use. It was found that the collaborative dialogue mediated the solution of linguistic issues and language learning in the bilingual education context.