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In 2008, Sweden changed its labor migration legislation and allowed for labor migrants from non EU/EEA countries to migrate to Sweden, which had been heavily restricted since the 1970s. This shift in labor migration policy is mirrored in Swedish integration policy where the focus in recent years has been on labor market integration. This thesis aims to investigate the sociocultural integration of migrants who are employed and, in the Swedish context, assumed to be integrated. In addition, sociocultural integration is related to employment and length of stay. Sociocultural integration is measured by three indicators: knowledge of Swedish language, having Swedish friends, and membership in organizations. The data was collected through sixteen semi-structured interviews of highly educated migrants with employment in Sweden and analyzed using four integration theories.The study reveals that employed migrants are only partially socioculturally integrated. Respondents presented low levels of Swedish-language knowledge, which can be explained by their short stay in the country as well having international workplaces where mostly English is spoken. However, these workplaces also offer respondents opportunities to meet natives and most respondents met their Swedish friends through work. There is a need for further studies of integration, in particular those that would explore multiple dimensions of integration and incorporate migrants who are already economically integrated.

Grounded in sociocultural theory, peer feedback can help students engage in interaction and negotiation of meaning, which serve as a basis for the construction of knowledge (Vygotsky, 1978). It can also contribute to the development of self-regulation, as well as of reflection on one's own learning (Doolittle & Hicks, 2003). Its strategic incorporation into foreign language instruction can help students use the language they are in the process of acquiring to mediate language acquisition (Shrum & Glisan, 2005). Research shows that peer feedback can help students develop and advance their Zone of Proximal Development through their engagement in collaborative interaction with their peers (De Guerrero & Villamil, 1994, 2000; Donato, 2004; Lantolf, 2004; Lantolf & Thorne, 2006; Liu & Hansen, 2005). Peer feedback can also help students improve their writing proficiency, including organization of their texts and awareness of the mechanics of the language necessary for successful communication of the intended message (Kinsler, 1990; Hu, 2005; Williams, 2005). Framed within a sociocultural perspective on foreign language learning and development, and following a manuscript approach, this dissertation consists of a series of studies that aim to explore: (a) whether participation in a peer feedback experience has a positive impact on students’ foreign language writing proficiency; (b) whether guidelines plus training in how to provide meaningful feedback have a different impact on students’ foreign language writing proficiency than guidelines alone; (c) around what themes students focus the feedback they provide to their peers; and (d) what students’ perceptions of the peer feedback experience are. The results of the first the study, which consisted of a pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design, showed that students significantly improved their writing proficiency after participating in a peer feedback experience, regardless of training. Further the results of this study indicated that, on average, trained and untrained students provided written peer feedback focused mainly on global aspects rather than local aspects. The results of the second study, which consisted of a mixed methods approach, showed that, on average, students had high perceptions of the peer feedback experience and that they perceived that their partner's feedback had helped them improve the global aspects of their composition more than the local aspects. Students expressed that what they liked the most about the experience was getting a different perspective on their writing, and what they liked the least was that they felt they were not proficient enough in the foreign language to provide meaningful feedback to their peers. / Ph. D.

The present study examined five Korean elementary students' English learning experiences in the United States. By examining Korean students' experiences while they were living in the United States, the study aimed to explore what the students themselves thought about regarding what they had learned while living in an English-speaking community and the students' perceptions of how these experiences influenced their English learning. Specifically, the study investigated the linguistic, cultural, and attitudinal impact of living temporarily in the United States on Korean elementary students. Interviewing was the primary means of collecting data for the study. These data was supplemented by a short survey, classroom observation, and relevant documentation about the children's learning, such as samples of the children's schoolwork. The analysis of data for this study began with organizing a description of each case, then, analyses were constructed to construct themes that cut across the data, and these themes have been utilized to generalize about what significant experiences constituted the development of English as a second language. This document reports the findings concerning the nature of the processes of learning and development that five Korean children experienced in learning English in the United States; teacher and student interaction; student and student interaction; meaningful learning experience; and classroom activities. / Ph. D.

This qualitative study examined seven Korean students' language and culture learning experiences in a study abroad context. The purpose of this study is to gain insight about the processes of students' social interactions and development of communicative competence outside the classroom. My understanding and learning was guided by the framework of various communicative competence models, interactional practices, sociocultural theory, and cultural learning processes. The findings of the study show that participation in outside-the-classroom interactions enhances students' language and culture learning in study abroad situations. However, living or working with native speakers did not necessarily mean that there were meaningful interactions. Social interaction with native speakers was challenging for language learners because of the cultural distances, discontinuity, and conflicts between them. Despite the difficulties in social and cultural interactions in the target culture, active participation in social interactions was still an important factor in language and culture learning. Verbalizing cultural issues such as cultural differences, misunderstandings, and observations of the target culture was an indication of the learners' cultural awareness and development. Students believed that knowledge of grammar was an important factor for successful communication. At the same time, students were anxious about misunderstandings and miscommunication. I found that students easily engaged in interactions with their international peers, and these were less stressful than interactions with native speakers. This peer interaction eventually created opportunities for language learning. Students expected native speakers to correct their errors and to take roles as teachers of the target language even outside the classroom, but they also learned to initiate self-repairs and to ask for help. Engagement is the key to making a good conversation. The underlying condition for engagement is negotiation between two interlocutors to understand meanings. / Ph. D.

In 2009, the National Academy of Sciences called for a dynamic approach to teaching and learning in colleges of agriculture. In response, innovative faculty at colleges and universities are implementing new frameworks for undergraduate education in the agricultural sciences. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to explore the experience of faculty teaching and learning in sustainable agriculture education curricula at a land grant university. A qualitative research methodology employing a case study approach was utilized. Methods of data collection included semi-structured interviews, participant/observer field notes, and secondary data analysis. This study contributed to understanding faculty work as learning by illustrating the triad approach to teaching and learning in the Civic Agriculture and Food Sytems (CAFS) minor comprising core areas of experiential learning, interdisciplinary teaching and learning, and community engagement. This triad approach to teaching and learning brings together a framework for understanding faculty work as a social practice and the inherent learning that occurs. CAFS faculty upheld the land-grant mission of their institution by promoting community engagement, experiential learning, and interdisciplinary collaboration toward teaching and scholarship. CAFS faculty learned from interactions with other faculty outside and within their disciplinary and departmental homes, which enhanced their teaching/learning experience. Collaborative work was described as a practice where faculty from different disciplinary perspectives and cultural practices engage in a collaborative teaching model that communicates value for resources to administrative leadership and clarifies navigation of faculty reward structures. Additionally, these faculty members were able to participate in an emerging pedagogical practice where service-learning and community partners were embedded in the curriculum, which legitimized the role of the community partner as educator. The findings from this research are expected to be useful for implementation in other sustainable agriculture education programs at other universities. This study may also serve as a catalyst for the adoption of collaborative and interdisciplinary teaching in colleges of agriculture. The implications of this research can inform an assessment methodology for agriculture education programs, as well as to create a framework whereby the essential tenets of the sustainable agriculture education movement in higher education can be promulgated in different disciplines. / Ph. D.

Few classroom measures of English language proficiency have been evaluated for reliability and validity. Researchers have examined the concurrent and predictive validity of an oral language test, titled A Developmental English Language Proficiency Test (ADEPT), and the relationship to the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) in the receptive/listening and expressive/speaking domains. Four years of retroactive data representing 392 student records were obtained from a local urban school district in Los Angeles County with a significant proportion of English language learners. After preparing the data file for analysis, data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) system. Cronbach’s alpha was used to analyze the internal consistency of ADEPT. Pearson r analysis was performed to examine concurrent validity and predictive validity. Findings indicated moderate to high correlation coefficients of internal consistency in the first three levels of ADEPT. Concurrent validity results varied depending on the school year. In the most recent school year, 2012–2013, positive moderate to strong correlations were found. This relationship was weaker in each previous year. Overall, correlations increased and remained positive as sample size increased but predictive validity was weak for all three sets of comparative years. These findings support the use of ADEPT as a multiple measure, as a monitoring tool and to inform instruction.

The aim of this study is to reach profound knowledge about reading comprehension strategies that teachers in grade 1–3 use in their reading instruction classes. The relevance of the study is motivated due to Swedish students’ declining results at the latest PISA examination and the lack of Swedish studies regarding grade 1–3. With the qualitative research methods, observations and interviews, the study examines which reading comprehension strategies teachers use in their classroom and how they use them. Through a thematic analysis, two main themes are identified with three sub-themes respectively. The results are then analyzed through sociocultural theory. It is concluded that students should be able to interact with each other during reading comprehension strategy instruction and teachers should be more explicit. Reciprocal teaching of strategies can be implemented among younger students, although summarizing and questioning is more difficult. Note-taking strategy instruction could be implemented in grade 3. Concretization of strategies by the use of characters is favourable for younger students, although teachers must be aware of the risks. Concretization by the use of hand placements and movements should be implemented with younger students.Nyckelord:

[pt] Construções de Paulo Santos apresenta a tese de que em sua obra de história - reflexo das formações em arquitetura e em história - estão implícitas duas intenções primordiais: estabelecer novo modo de escrever e de ensinar a história da arquitetura no Brasil e fundar uma historiografia brasileira da disciplina, vinculando o ensino da arquitetura ao seu projeto historiográfico. O fio condutor do processo de formação de Paulo Santos como historiador da arquitetura foi a docência na FNA/UB, pois, professor catedrático da cadeira Arquitetura no Brasil, consolidaria a articulação entre aqueles campos do conhecimento, estabelecendo, assim, o traço singular e marcante de sua trajetória profissional. O trabalho segue eixo temporal entre 1946 e 1985, referente à época de produção dos estudos históricos por ele realizado. O tema é tratado tendo em vista a formação de Paulo Santos como engenheiro-arquiteto e, mais tarde, como docente em sua relação com os contemporâneos; o texto analisa a estruturação de seu pensamento histórico a partir do diálogo com autores da historiografia brasileira e do estabelecimento de sua visão de historiador da arquitetura, fomentada pela interlocução com o arquiteto Lucio Costa. / [en] Paulo Santos´ constructions presents the thesis in which his history works is based on - reflex of the formations in architecture and in history - are implicit two intentions: to settle a new way to write and to teach the history of architecture in Brazil and to found a brazilian historiography of the subject, linking the teaching of architecture to his historiography project. The conductor line of the formation process of Paulo Santos as an historician of architecture was teaching at FNA/UB, because, as the cathedratic professor of Arquitetura no Brasil subject, he would consolidate the articulation between those knowledge fields, creating, that way, a singular and a brilliant trace of his professional trajetory. This work follows the time line between 1946 and 1985, according to the time production of the historic studies made by him. The subject is treated pointed to the formation as an engineer-architect and, later, as a professor in his relation with the contemporaneous; the text analyzes the structuration of the historic thought based on the dialog with brazilian historiography´s authors and establishing the his vision of architecture historician, stimulated by the interlocution with the architect Lucio Costa.