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This study aimed to investigate the relationships between how EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners positioned themselves and how they approached their learning in an English club. Three focuses formed the basis of this study: 1) the process of learners' enactment of different social positions in the English club meeting; 2) the relationship between learners' perceptions of the English club and their self-positioning in the English club meeting; 3) the relationship between learners' self-positioning and the meaning of learning in the English club meeting. This study adopted a case study approach focusing on 3 participants in an English club. Data were collected from a variety of sources for triangulation, including personal information survey, interviews, and field observations. Data collection was comprised of 2 stages of participant observation and 3 rounds of individual interviews. The observational data was approximately 54 hours in total. The interview data for the 3 focal participants was approximately 14 hours in total, while the interview data for the other club members was approximately 15 hours in total. Constant comparative method was employed to analyze collected data at the early stage. Zimmerman' s (1998) three identity categories (i.e., situated identity, discourse identity, and transportable identity) were adopted to be the analytical framework for future theorization. There were three major findings in this study: 1) the 3 focal participants demonstrated different forms of self-positioning in the English club meeting based on Zimmerman's three identity categories; 2) the 3 focal participants' perceptions of English clubs had a bearing on their self-positioning in the English club meeting; 3) the 3 focal participants made their own meaning of learning in relation to their self-positioning in the English club meeting. On the basis of the findings, the present study has six major discussion focuses: 1) shifting forms of self-positioning; 2) levels of self-positioning; 3) perceptions of English clubs and self-positioning; 4) meaning of learning and self-positioning; 5) continuum of a social community; 6) English club members as language users. To enrich the understanding of social positioning, the researcher suggest the following: 1) comparing the differences between how other members in an English club position the focal participants and how focal participants position themselves; 2) investigating EFL learners' social positioning in an English club with native English speakers; 3) exploring how EFL learners position themselves in two or more English clubs; 4) understanding how silent members think of their participation in an English club To enhance the participation in and usefulness of an English club, three practical suggestions are provided: 1) members should be granted enough freedom to adopt different routes of participation in an English club, such as being a listener, a story teller, or a merrymaker; 2) activities and practices in such an English club should be as diverse as possible to embrace and accommodate different types of members; 3) particular attention should be given to diversify the grouping of members.

The overall aim of the thesis is to examine young people’s languaging, including literacy practices, and its relation to meaning-making and social positioning. Framed by sociocultural and dialogical perspectives, the thesis builds upon four studies that arise from (n)ethnographic fieldwork conducted in two different settings: an institutional educational setting where bilingualism and biculturalism are core values, and social media settings. In the empirical studies, micro-level interactions, practices mediated by languaging and literacies, social positionings and meso-level discourses as well as their intertwinedness have been explored and discussed. The data, analysed through adapted conversational and discourse analytical methods, include video and audio recordings, field notes, pedagogic materials, policy documents, photographs as well as (n)ethnographic data. Study I illuminates the doing of linguistic-cultural ideologies and policies in everyday pedagogical practices and focuses on situated and distributed social actions as nexuses of several practices where a number of locally and nationally relevant discourses circulate.  In Study II, the focus is on everyday communicative practices on the micro and meso levels and the interrelations of different linguistic varieties and modalities in the bilingual-bicultural educational setting. Study III highlights young people’s languaging, including literacies, in everyday learning practices that stretch across formal and informal learning spaces. Study IV examines social positioning and identity work in informal and heteroglossic literacy practices across the offline-online continuum. Consequently, the four studies map the kinds of languaging practices young people are engaged in both inside and outside of what are labelled as bilingual school settings. Furthermore, the studies highlight the kinds of social positions they perform and are oriented towards in the course of their everyday lives. Overall, the findings of the thesis highlight issues of bilingualism as pedagogy and practice, the (un)problematicity of multilingualism across space and time and multilingual-multimodal languaging as a premise for social positioning. Together, the studies and the thesis form a descriptive-analytical illustration of “multilingual” young people’s everyday lives in and out of school in late modern societies of the global North. Overall, the thesis provides insights concerning the education and lives of a large, yet sparsely documented minority group in Sweden, i.e. the Sweden Finns. / Denna avhandling fokuserar på ungdomars språkande, inklusive literacy-praktiker, och dess relation till deras meningsskapande och social positionering. Avhandlingen tar avstamp i sociokulturell och dialogisk teoribildning och bygger på fyra studier som blivit till genom (n)etnografiskt fältarbete i två olika sammanhang: inom en skola där tvåspråkighet och bikulturalitet är viktiga värderingar, och sociala medier. I de empiriska studierna undersöks hur interaktion, språkande och literacy-praktiker och sociala positioneringar görs på mikronivå. Dessa fenomen studeras vidare i anslutning till och som en del av diskurser som drivs på meso-nivå. Avhandlingens data har analyserats med tillämpade samtals- och diskursanalytiska metoder och inkluderar video- och audioinspelningar, fältanteckningar, pedagogiska material, policy-dokumentation, fotografier samt (n)etnografiskt skapad data. I Studie I undersöks hur lingvistisk-kulturella ideologier och policys görs i vardagliga pedagogiska praktiker. Den fokuserar på situerade och distribuerade sociala handlingar som praktiknexus där flera lokalt och nationellt relevanta diskurser cirkulerar. Studie II intresserar sig för vardagliga kommunikativa praktiker på mikro- och meso-nivåer samt för samspelet av språkliga varieteter och modaliteter i den tvåspråkiga-bikulturella skolan. I Studie III studeras ungdomars språkande, inklusive literacies, i vardagliga lärandepraktiker som sträcker sig över tid och rum i formella och informella lärandemiljöer. Studie IV fokuserar på social positionering och identitetsarbete i informella och heteroglossiska literacy-praktiker både offline och online. Tillsammans kartlägger de fyra studierna olika slags språkandepraktiker som ungdomarna deltar i och bidrar till både inom och utanför vad som kallas för tvåspråkiga skolsammanhang. Vidare illustrerar studierna vardagslivets görande av olika slags sociala positioneringar och identitetsperformanser. Resultaten visar på hur tvåspråkigheten i skolans värld kan ses som både pedagogik och praktik, att flerspråkigheten är (o)problematisk för ungdomarna och för skolan och att språkandets karaktär som flerspråkig och multimodal är central för social positionering. Studierna och avhandlingen bildar tillsammans en deskriptiv-analytisk illustration av ”flerspråkiga” ungdomars vardag i och utanför skolan i ett senmodernt nordiskt samhälle. Vidare bidrar avhandlingen till kunskapsbasen gällande utbildningsfrågor och vardag för en av Sveriges nationella minoriteter, sverigefinländare. / LIMCUL / DIMuL

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Using social positioning theory and the concept of the liminoid, the objectives of this qualitative research project were three-fold: 1) investigate how social positioning affects the information behaviour of volunteer tourists; 2) determine what effects cultural confusion (aka culture shock), physical location, gender, technical skill, and previous intercultural education and/or experiences have on the information behaviour of volunteer tourists; and finally, 3) suggest how non-governmental organizations can use the research findings to assist volunteer tourists to successfully undertake their placements. These questions were explored through observation and semi-structured interviews with fifteen volunteer tourists in Thailand. Previous travel experience proved to be a significant predictor of participants information behaviour. Volunteer tourists reported more consciousness of the embodiment of information and the concept of face than they did at home. The results emphasize the importance of developing a theory of liminoidal information behaviour, in order to explore how people in the liminoid a place between cultures where identities are often suspended interact with information.

The purpose with this thesis has been to see how interaction due to a campaign that led to reactions can be a trigger for individuals making comments and responding on social media. To see how interaction on a campaign that brought up reactions between individualsunfamiliar with each other. To see which positions that can be discovered. To see how interaction on social media can be understood through a social and a technical perspective. To see in what way interaction on social media can work as a way to define what you think or where you stand. And also to see what it is in Suitsupply ́s campaign that creates reactions and provocates. With focus on a qualitative method a content analysis was conducted on three social media sites, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. With the gathered result it shows that campaigns in this case has created reactions on Facebook and Instagram can be a way for individuals to interact with one another. By commenting they clarify what they will say and which position they take. On the studied platforms the individuals has commented and the creation of interactivity has been understood by the chosen theory. The results showed that the interaction differs on Twitter.

Abstract The purpose of this essay is to discover the driving forces in top athletes, concerning training, body image and social positioning. Furthermore the object is to study how important being fit is for social reasons in today’s society. The athletes have been interviewed face-to-face and described their personal drive regarding training, their goals and the significance of the sport. They have also described how they see the image of the ideal body that currently exists within the field of sport and society and how training affects their own body image. The interviews also covered views of the physically inactive as a group and their personal thoughts concerning this. Status varies regarding driving forces and some are considered more favorably than others, in other words they are the ‘good driving forces´. The most important positive driving forces that have been highlighted are the pleasure principle and the challenge principle . The pleasure principle is characterized by the sport itself having its own intrinsic value, while possible positive effects connected with or after training are secondary. The activity alone is a real pleasure. The challenge is characterized by a desire to test oneself and see how far one can go. Competing is connected with personal achievement and not with comparisons with others. At the same time the feeling of winning is emphasized as an important driving force and these factors (challenge and win) tend to act simultaneously. Driving forces that are seen to be low-status, i.e. the ´bad driving forces’ are aesthetic reasons as well as winning for competitive reasons. Training for aesthetic reasons in order to be body beautiful is not considered a positive driving force. On the other hand it is pointed out that looking fresh and healthy is desirable. This is described as personal characteristics such as ´nice’ or ‘fresh’ and not as a physical description of someone’s body. Competitions are essential but should be seen first and foremost as proof that training gives results, and not to prove oneself better than anyone else. However the thrill of winning a competition is described as important and worthwhile. Top athletes inspire each other and are not only seen as role models but also help form one’s own identity and social position. Being physically active in sports is seen as a lifestyle and is the most important part of a social group and its identity. This is emphasized by distancing oneself from the physically inactive as a group and their characteristics. This group is described in terms of being overweight, unhappy and unsocial. They use food and alcohol excessively, do not take personal responsibility for their future health and are unwilling to change. Keywords: Sports, training, the ideal body, social positioning.

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abstract: This qualitative study investigates the experiences of ten focal youth who came to the United States as refugees and were placed in Structured English Immersion (SEI) programs in Arizona high schools. The educational language policy for Arizona’s public schools (during the 2014-2015 school year) mandates SEI include four 60-minute classroom periods devoted to reading, writing, grammar, oral English exclusively. Students in SEI thus have restricted access to the full-range of general education courses required for graduation, as well as limited opportunities for social interaction with peers enrolled in the “mainstream” curriculum. The study investigates how youth understand and navigate the school language policy, practices and discourses that position them, and specifically seeks to learn how being identified as an “English Language Learner” interacts with youth’s construction of academic and social identities. Adopting a critical sociocultural theory of language policy (following McCarty, 2011), employing ethnographically-informed research methods, and using social-positioning as an analytic lens, I aim to learn from an emic youth perspective and to amplify their voices. Eight Somali and two Iraqi students took part in two individual in-depth interviews; five students participated in a focus group; and all engaged in numerous informal conversations during 22 researcher site visits to an ethnic community-based organization (ECBO) and a family apartment. Narratives recounting the participants’ lived experiences in the socio-cultural context of high school provide powerful examples of youth asserting personal agency and engaging in small acts of resistance to contest disagreeable positioning. The findings thus support the conceptualization of youth as creative producers of hybridity in response to their environments. This work also confirms the perennial significance of social categories and “othering” in high school. Though the institutional structure of separate classrooms and concomitant limited access to required courses hinder the study participants’ academic progress, the youth speak positively about the comfort of comradery and friendship in the shared safe space of the separate SEI classroom. The dissertation concludes with participants’ recommendations for educators, and the people refugee youth interact with in the context of high school, to improve refugee youth’s experience. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2016

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to examine how parents in Sweden at the beginning of the twenty-first century use the process of naming as a resource to contribute to the creation of various identities for both themselves and their child. It is based on a two-component study — a postal survey and qualitative group interviews, both conducted in the city of Göteborg, Sweden — and includes parents with children born during 2007 and 2008. By combining different sources (names, surveys and interviews) and different methods (quantitative and qualitative), this study attempts to elucidate how first names and choices of first names can be given various social meanings. In contrast to previous socio-onomastic studies, this study considers not only whether naming contains any social variation, but also how and why such variation arises. The theoretical framework is a combination of onomastic, sociolinguistic, identity-theoretical and interactional theories. The results demonstrate that parents’ choice of first names for their children is an important social act. Through name choices and discussions of these choices, parents create what is known as social positioning, which in turn contributes to the creation of certain identities both for themselves and their child. A number of resources are identified which are used by parents to create different social positionings. This study also demonstrates how both macro-societal structures and interactional aspects influence this social positioning. Finally, this study argues that the observed social variation is best explained by the parents’ desire to identify with and contribute to the creation of different models for society, in which varying social values and attributes are important.