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The thesis aims to describe teachers’ opinions about the role grammatical com-petence plays in communicative language teaching. Since the breakthroughs of the Sixties in functional, meaningful and communicative foreign language teaching, instruction of grammatical structures has changed. In addition, the Swedish national syllabus offers poor descriptions of possible models for pedagogy of grammar; as a consequence, it is likely that the importance of grammatical competence varies in Swedish foreign language classrooms. Subject matter didactic theories (Pedagogical Content Knowledge) combined with Teacher Thinking research, form the theoreti-cal framework. Thirteen Spanish teachers were interviewed about their instructional values, dilemmas and ideas. The patterns that were found indicate that all teachers emphasize the importance of the grammatical structures for language learning and a communicative goal for the courses. Most of the informants practiced or strived for a focus on form approach. The how, what and when questions concerning the role of the grammar were for some teachers important to discuss and a tighter connection to research is suggested to develop and deepen teachers’ practice. Most of the teachers interviewed emphasized subject matter didactics instead of a more general didactic view when it came to the design of their lessons when teaching grammar. It was found that teachers mainly draw upon their own experiences as pupils, stu-dents and teachers when the role of grammar in learning a language was to be con-cretized in actual lessons. It was further discovered that hardly any influences from teacher education programs or other research results were referred to. These results indicate the need to take into account the professional knowledge and teachers’ questions as a basis for improvements in language teaching more firmly upon peda-gogical content knowledge. The results also raise the question whether shared pro-fessional content knowledge should (or should not) be represented in the national syllabus.

<p>Slutgiltigt godkännandedatum: 2022-01-16</p>

In this essay, I have analysed the novel Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler through a Marxist lens to investigate how ideological oppression is depicted through Capitalism and religion. To examine these ideologies, I analysed Lauren Olamina, the first-person narrator and her half-brother, Keith. The analysis of Lauren shows how the process of critical inquiry granted her a degree of autonomy and agency in her own life. The strengths of the social hegemony and its predominant ideologies are however also revealed insofar as Lauren does not seem able to completely reject the religious mindset into which she has been socialised, as her own creation of the Earthseed belief system reveals her autonomy as being only relative. Additionally, the analysis of Lauren’s brother Keith shows a cautionary tale of individualistic ideologies such as the capitalist American Dream, where the self stands above all else and competitiveness is chosen over the community. Keith poses as both a perpetrator and victim in the novel, as he is both the vulnerable victim of his circumstances yet preys on others in ways that are motivated by the self-serving worldview that he has internalized. I have also argued for using dystopian literature such as Parable in the Swedish upper secondary ESL classroom to develop and exercise the students’ critical thinking. Critical thinking is a fundamental life skill that needs to be developed, encouraged and exercised in the school system and dystopian texts can provide both enjoyable and viable teaching material with which the students can exercise this skill. As critical thinking is a social practice, this collaborative and social aspect needs to be reflected in teaching methods and pedagogy. I end this essay on the note that the implementation of an engaged, thoughtful and guiding pedagogy that leaves room for the students to explore their thoughts, values and opinions amongst their peers and to have them validated is necessary for teachers to help in educating critical and responsible youths. This pedagogy will hopefully result in students who are more prepared, able and eager to evaluate the world critically and engage with the world in a similar spirit to make the world a better place. / <p>Slutgiltigt godkännandedatum: 2022-01-16</p>

This project’s aim was to examine how the institutionalization of rape and sexual violence becomes problematic if analyzed through the conceptual lens of consent and complicity. After this close reading of consent and sexual violence, the answers are still not clear or easily discerned. A wish would be that the concept of consent is uncomplicated and apparent, but even the theory regarding consent is complex and disagreed upon. Beres stresses this complexity, which in many cases forces readers to rely on assumed definitions of consent (105). These conflicting definitions also need to be considered when examining consent in The Handmaid's Tale. Thus, the discourse regarding the gray area becomes highly important. In reality, it might be challenging to judge and convict a rapist and an abuser, and in the fictional world such as Atwood has created, men are not solely responsible for the victimization of women, which arguably mirrors what happens in the real world. This conflict opens up an array of difficulties regarding complicity and consent. Whether in the context of ‘good girls’ or ‘bad girls’, Handmaids or Wives, this project concludes that the categories which divide women into either victims or accomplices regarding concepts of consent are often shaped and controlled by men, essentially forcing women to operate within a constricted world constructed by a patriarchal society. As discussed throughout this project, the problem concerning consent resides in the gray area, and the inconsistency in Offred’s narrative makes her unreliable as an ideal example of trauma. Instead, she projects traumatic experiences, which at times appear deceptive. Her repeated complicity in aiding a patriarchal government’s continuous oppression against women creates a problematic space where sexual violence becomes debatable. However, after analyzing the novel, a conclusion could be made that the focus should not be on whether sexual violence occurring in a gray area of consent is harmful or not, and although we can distinguish unfair sex from sexual assault, this does not negate the fact that it is a socially destructive phenomenon (Cahill 758). Instead, what has been examined here and what should be further examined in the future are the structures and ideologies that problematize consent theory, such as Atwood does with Gilead’s theocratic ideology. Another valuable insight when reading Atwood’s novel is the revelation of complex structures and hierarchies within the feminist movement. Offred, along with other women in19the novel, challenges an often-stereotypical feminist image of women united to fight sexism and unequal rights. Thus, these characters represent a more accurate view of how men and women contribute to female oppression. In the novel, the commanders appear almost omniscient, their presence shaping and controlling the world that women inhabit, but they do their work from the shadows. Instead, women play an integral part in forming the misogynist structures and views that uphold female oppression, the Aunts perhaps the most. What is essential then to discern is why and how. Atwood herself, in an interview with PBS News Hour, refers to her novel as “speculative fiction” rather than science fiction, stating, “‘[i]t’s not me who has come up with it, it’s the human race over the past 4,000 years’” (Atwood). In The Handmaid’s Tale, the why and how are presented in an arguably hyperbolic way, but still, it strongly resonates with what has happened repeatedly throughout history and what was presumably happening during Atwood’s writing process. These conflicted strains within a movement as important as feminism are also vitally connected to the discourse surrounding consent. Suppose women do not comply or fall in line with patriarchal ideologies. In that case, the stigma surrounding rape might become reduced, and the parameters regarding consent might also be discussed more extensively since it profoundly affects how sexual violence is approached and handled. Lastly, as mentioned in the beginning, Cixous firmly states, “[w]oman must write woman” (877), and just as the fictional Offred writes her own story and becomes the voice for thousands of silent women, so must “real women” in order to reshape patriarchal structures and reevaluate what parts females inhabit when oppressive ideologies are taking over instead of remaining silent. It is silence, which makes Offred complicit in Janine’s abuse. It is silence, which makes her pursue a relationship with Nick, despite the threats to her safety, and it is silence that fuels the false sisterhood. Although readers are aware that women have little to no power in this novel, it is the silent culture in Gilead that serves as an example of the complex discourse surrounding consent, and it is how this concept is defined that remains highly important and invaluable when examining trauma narratives and sexual violence. No means no, and yes means yes, is the ideal definition of consent, but in Offred’s world, just as for many non-fictional women, this definition is simply a construction. It is in the gray area, in the gaps between stories, that consent and complicity shape the outcome of sexual violence. / <p>Slutgiltigt godkännandedatum: 2022-01-16</p>

The purpose of this study was to examine how graphic novels and comic strips can be used in English education for the grades 4-6. The results of the previous research presented in this study show a wide range of areas, and approaches, where graphic novels and comic strips can be used to further develop several aspects of pupils’ language development. The low participation of this study makes it impossible to make any generalizable conclusions about the use of graphic novels in Swedish schools, but it can give some insight into how individual teachers’ use this resource. The research questions of the study have been answered, based on previous research and the limited group of respondents. The respondents come from different parts of Sweden, and this suggests that the use of graphic novels is not concentrated to a single part of the country but is spread over a large part of it. However, the low participation in this study suggests to me that the use of graphic novels is not so widespread among individual teachers. I believe that the teachers who chose to participate in this study already have a connection to graphic novels. They probably replied because they had a particular interest in this topic, and the teachers who chose not to participate did not find the topic interesting or current for their teaching situation. The fears and prejudice I have raised earlier may be an underlying cause of this, as well as the fact that graphic novels are not specifically mentioned as a way of connecting with literature in the curriculum. What I gather from the previous research and the result of the survey is that graphic novels and comic strips are potentially very useful tools to be used in language development, as a complement to the traditional textbook. The fact that the respondents in my survey have listed several noticed development areas in their pupils, such as vocabulary, reading comprehension, pronunciation, and an increased motivation to read, indicates that graphic novels and comic strips are an excellent tool to use for pupils’ language development. The versatile approaches that can be used to work with graphic novels and comic strips in the language learning classroom points to a broad development possibility. / <p>Slutgiltigt godkännandedatum: 2022-01-16</p>

The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency and the figurative meaning senses of out-PVs in two contemporary novels read in Swedish secondary schools. The study was delimited to PVs with the particle out. The aim was further to find out how potential misunderstandings or misinterpretations of figurative meaning sense of PVs by L2 learners of English can be prevented. Furthermore, an aim was to raise awareness of different figurative meaning senses that could make the reading and understanding richer for English L2 learners. There were raised three research questions concerning the frequency of out-PVs and the interpretation of the figurative meaning sense of some selected out-PVs that resulted in three investigative steps concerned with each of the research questions. The hypothesis was that out-PVs can have different figurative meaning senses at the same time in the closer or nearer context in the novels investigated in this study. Therefore, it was seen as important for English L2 learners to learn how to interpret the figurative meaning senses. Furthermore, it was seen important to consider which PVs are the most frequent ones and how the frequency might be a relevant factor for teaching implications. A corpus-based analysis was used to investigate the selected out-PVs. Four different studies, discussed in section 2, were used as models and approaches to investigate the out-PVs in three different ways: the most frequent out-PVs in Gardner and Davies (2018) and Garnier and Schmitt (2016), the figurative meaning senses for some out-PVs listed in Garnier and Schmitt (2016) and Kang (2020) and the six meanings for the particle out in out-PVs in the cognitive approach in Liao (2020). The three approaches were investigated in three steps and were later compared. Furthermore, the study concentrated on the main part, step 2, to analyze the figurative meaning senses of some selected out-PVs. The idea of a metaphor for out-PVs, the movement out of a ‘container’, named by Liao (2020) and Walková (2015), was found to be helpful for many cases with out-PVs, but not for all. In some cases, this metaphor could even cause confusion. Similar to this it was found that analyzing the out-particle’s meaning of an out-PV separately also could lead to a misunderstanding for the L2 learner. Some meanings of the particle out were not found for the six meanings listed by Liao (2020). The present study was limited. Therefore, it would be necessary to make a larger study in order to determine if this approach might be effective or not. The raised awareness that PVs need extra attention and that some PVs are more likely to be used in certain texts can help L2 learners in understanding and producing PVs in different texts and text types. It can also make their understanding of a text richer by finding the right figurative meaning sense of a PV in a certain context. / <p>Godkänt datum 22-03-09</p>

This exploratory study examines the use of modal verbs and pronouns in medication packageinserts (MPIs). The study focuses on the translation of MPIs from English to Swedish. MPIsare leaflets that provide information about medications. They are divided into two sections: aprovider section and a patient section. The results of the study show that modal verbs andpronouns are more common in the patient section compared to the provider section. This ismost likely due to the two sections having different main functions. The provider sectionaims to inform, whereas the patient section aims to direct. One of the differences noted in thetranslation of MPIs is that modal verbs are more frequent in the Swedish provider sectioncompared to the English provider section. One explanation for this is that hedging isgenerally more common in English than in Swedish. With hedging, passive constructions andagentless sentences are sometimes used instead of modal verbs (Kranich 2011:80). A seconddifference noted is the lack of one-to-one translation relating to modal verbs. Context andculture become deciding factors when electing which modal verb to use in a translation.Should, for example, has at least three different translations in Swedish depending on themodal verb strength that needs to be conveyed. In regard to pronouns, the main differencebetween English and Swedish is the fact that English MPIs have started to use I in the patientsection of the MPI in an attempt to engage the patient in a fictional question-answer scenario.Swedish MPIs have stayed with using du for a more informal conversation style address.

<p>Godkänt datum 2020-10-01</p>

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