<p>The purpose of this study has been to examine reading habits and the use of the library by pre­school teachers in a mainly multicultural community, and also explore to what extent activities in the local library are aimed at preschoolers.</p><p>The study used a sociocultural approach based on Vygotsky’s theories of learning and development and Söderbergh’s theory of early childhood language development, and was carried out during the summer 2009. The methodology used was both quantitative and qualitative, with a combination of questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were sent out to each section of the municipal pre­schools within the catchments area of the local public library in a multicultural suburb of Uppsala. Three short interviews were carried out with staff at the local and main library branches, as well as library staff at the County Council.</p><p>The results show that, although preschool teachers find reading important in their work, many teachers read spontaneously and/or sporadically. Many also find that visiting the library is difficult, seeing distance and the age of the children as factors preventing them from going. The library studied has little or no mutual activities with the preschools. General activities aimed at young children are story time in Swedish and several other languages as well as theatre and music events, book talks aimed towards parents visiting early year’s centres and, for preschools since 2008, theme bags involving popular topics such as nature, friends, and seasons. Conflicts exist between the control documents for the libraries and the present law of education in Sweden.</p>

Syftet med mitt arbete är att undersöka högläsningens roll i barns sätt att lära sig läsa och förstå vad läsning innebär. Många föräldrar läser sagor för sina barn kanske utan att tänka på den positiva inverkan det har. Det är just dessa faktorer jag vill lyfta fram. Genom litteraturstudier och intervjuer framkommer det att högläsning har en märkbar påverkan på ett barns förmåga att lära sig läsa. Genom att iaktta läsarens samspel med t.ex. en bok eller tidning kan ett barn komma underfund med att dessa föremål innehåller något som väcker läsarens intresse. Barnet kan observera läsaren interaktion med boken och texten vilket ger barnet en läsmodell eller förebild att följa. Högläsning tillsammans med ett eller flera barn ger också möjlighet för barnen att utöka sitt ordförråd samt att diskutera både texter och för dem okända ord. Just i detta syfte kan gruppens storlek ha olika påverkan. / The purpose with my essay is to explore the role of reading aloud in children’s way of coming to terms with what reading is. Many parents might read stories for their children without realizing its positive influence. These are the aspects I would like to address. Through literature studies as well as interviews it shows that where is a noticeable deferens between children that have or have not been read to in their ability to learn how to read. Through observing the readers interaction with for example a book or a paper the child can realize that these objects contain something of interest to the reader. The child can note the reader’s interactions with the book or a text which provides the child with a foundation in its understanding of what reading is and the child also gets a role model. When you read aloud to one or several children, it also gives them the opportunity to expand their vocabulary and furthermore to discuss both different texts and to them unknown words. For this particular reason the size of the group might have different affects.

This essay is about how and why teachers use fiction litterature as a teaching method. It´s based on a study among eight teachers in year 4-6 at a school in Mariehamn in the Åland Islands. The results show the high importance of using fiction litterature in education. Fiction literature is highly valued in all subjects as it stimulates the students development of language, empathy and fantasy. The curriculum´s aim of using fiction litterature is to stimulate the pleasure of reading. This essay shows that the teachers are valueing the language develpoment as the most important reason.

Denna studie avser att undersöka och analysera fyra verksamma lärares uppfattningar om det vidgade textbegrepp som uttrycks i kursplanen i svenska 2000 och vilken betydelse deras uppfattning om det begreppet får för elevers undervisning i svenskämnet. Studien ska dessutom undersöka och analysera deras uppfattningar om hur ett vidgat textbegrepp kan förstås och relateras gentemot styrdokumenten i svenskämnet. För att fånga fyra lärares uppfattningar om ett vidgat textbegrepp och vilken betydelse deras uppfattning får för deras elevers svenskundervisning, har intervjuer genomförts i grundskolan med fyra lärare i år 6-9. Förhoppningen var att dessa intervjuer skulle ge en bild av verksamma lärares uppfattning om ett vidgat textbegrepp och hur det gestaltas i deras undervisning. Resultatdelen i uppsatsen upplyser om de fyra lärarnas olika uppfattningar om ett vidgat textbegrepp och vilken betydelse det får för elevers undervisning i svenskämnet. The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the understanding, of four teachers, about the wide text concept as it is put in the Swedish curriculum of 2000, and what meaning their opinion has for their teaching in Swedish arts. Furthermore it will look into and analyze their comprehension about how a wide text concept can be understood and be related to the governing documents in Swedish arts. In order to catch the opinion about the wide text concept of four teachers and to see what significance their comprehension about it shows in their teaching, we have interviewed four teachers of Swedish arts in the years 6-9. The expectation was that these interviews should picture active teachers understanding about a wide text concept and how it is shown in their teaching. The result part in this essay informs about these four teachers different comprehension about a wide text concept and what significance it gets for the teaching of their students in Swedish arts.

Det här är en studie gjord på en småbarnsavdelning där det går nio barn och arbetar två pedagoger. Studiens syfte är att studera hur små barn, 1-2 år, kommunicerar i samspel med varandra och sin omgivning i förskolans miljö. Studiens tillvägagångssätt är en kvalitativ undersökning genom deltagande observation med fältanteckningar. Den tidigare forskning tenderar att i huvudsak studera antingen verbal kommunikation eller samspel, medan min studie in båda aspekterna. Det som framkommit i studien är att pedagogen och omgivningens inverkan är stor för små barns verbala utveckling och deras möjligheter att kunna samspela med andra. Men även att det verbala inte alltid behöver vara enda sättet att kommunicera och förstå varandra. Barnen på avdelningen hade ett eget språk som kom att visa sig väldigt effektivt mellan dem. Att kunna göra sig hörd och sedd är således viktigt bland små barn.

Arbetets syfte är att undersöka vad ett avgränsat urval pedagoger verksamma inom förskolan berättar om språkutveckling. Undersökningens fokus ligger på de villkor och arbetssätt pedagogerna beskriver som signifikanta för gynnsam språkutveckling. Det empiriska materialet som undersökningen bygger på har samlats in genom öppna intervjuer som sedan transkriberats. Ett för studien relevant urval av teoretiska perspektiv och tidigare forskning har använts för att analysera och problematisera kategoriseringar av intervjumaterialet. Arbetet visar att språkutveckling kan förstås i termer av en betydelsefull dialog med barnet och dess hem som kännetecknas av ett tryggt men utmanande förhållningssätt där tid i förskolans kontext utgör ett mångfacetterat och komplext villkor för kvalitén i den språkliga utvecklingen. Pedagogerna beskriver hur ett medvetet användande av gruppen i kombination med intresserade och lyssnande pedagoger används för att synliggöra språkliga strukturer med utgångspunkt i barnens förförståelse och reflektion över sitt eget språk och användningen av det. This paper discusses language acquisition as it takes place in the Swedish preschool context. The study analyzed interview data in combination with previous research, educational theories and models for language acquisition. The conclusion focus on the importance of time, dialogue, home environment and the dualities of challenge and security as fundamental conditions to accomplish favorable language development. Issues regarding teaching methodology concern the use of group, language structure, enthusiasm, inventory of comprehension and reflecting over the use of language.

Syftet med min undersökning är att jämföra hur svenska pedagoger arbetar med sång och musik på en förskola med barn som har svenska som modersmål respektive en förskola med barn som har ett annat modersmål än svenska. Jag observerade och intervjuade tre kvinnliga förskollärare från två olika förskolor. Resultatet visade att pedagogerna på de båda förskolorna arbetade mycket med det språkliga, men på olika sätt. Pedagogerna som arbetade med barn med ett annat modersmål än svenska hade mer språkliga mål och syften med sitt sång- och musikarbete och framhävde mer den språkliga förståelsen medan pedagogen som arbetade med barn som hade svenska som modersmål mer såg på vikten av att göra det lättare för barnen att minnas, samt på utvecklingen av det sociala, exempelvis samspel och gemenskap. Pedagogen som arbetade med barn som hade svenska som modersmål, gav barnen mer utrymme för samtal och frågor än vad pedagogerna på den andra förskolan gjorde och gav mer utrymme för båda könen. Jag hoppas att detta arbete bidrar till ny kunskap hos de som läser det, när det gäller vikten av att ha sång och musik som en del i förskolan för barnens utveckling, inte bara språkligt utan även motoriskt och socialt. The aim with my research is to compare how Swedish pedagogues work with song and music at a preschool with children who have Swedish as their mother tongue, with a preschool with children who has another mother tongue than Swedish. I observed and interviewed three female nursery-school teachers from two different preschools. The result showed that the pedagogues at both preschools worked much with the language but in different ways. The pedagogues who worked with children having another mother tongue than Swedish had more linguistic aims with song and music and brought out the linguistic understanding, while the pedagogue who worked with children who had Swedish as their mother tongue brought out the importance of making it easier for children to remember, and the social development. The pedagogue who worked with children having Swedish as their mother tongue, gave the children more time for conversation and questions than the pedagogues at the other preschool and gave more time for both gender. I hope that this work will contribute to new knowledge for the persons who read it when it comes to the importance of having song and music as a part for children’s development in preschools. Not just for their linguistic development but also for their motor learning and social development

The purpose of this study has been to examine reading habits and the use of the library by pre­school teachers in a mainly multicultural community, and also explore to what extent activities in the local library are aimed at preschoolers. The study used a sociocultural approach based on Vygotsky’s theories of learning and development and Söderbergh’s theory of early childhood language development, and was carried out during the summer 2009. The methodology used was both quantitative and qualitative, with a combination of questionnaires and interviews. Questionnaires were sent out to each section of the municipal pre­schools within the catchments area of the local public library in a multicultural suburb of Uppsala. Three short interviews were carried out with staff at the local and main library branches, as well as library staff at the County Council. The results show that, although preschool teachers find reading important in their work, many teachers read spontaneously and/or sporadically. Many also find that visiting the library is difficult, seeing distance and the age of the children as factors preventing them from going. The library studied has little or no mutual activities with the preschools. General activities aimed at young children are story time in Swedish and several other languages as well as theatre and music events, book talks aimed towards parents visiting early year’s centres and, for preschools since 2008, theme bags involving popular topics such as nature, friends, and seasons. Conflicts exist between the control documents for the libraries and the present law of education in Sweden.

The purpose of this project is to examine how educationalists work with children’s language development in a Reggie Emilia- and in one Montessori preschool. I am going to compare these two educational philosophies and search for differences and similarities in how they approach language development. The background of the study is the key role that language development plays when preparing children for later studies in comprehensive school. Information has been gathered both through present specialist literature as well as through interviews with educationalists from the different educational philosophies.  I have also made direct observations of some of the different activities performed by the educationalists. It was harder than I thought to get answers for the questions at issue because language developement in preschool is an extensive field of study and there is much to examine. The analysis and result has been carried out and presented according to language expert Veli Tuomelas principles in language. The study shows that there are some differences but that the preschools mainly operate in similar ways.

This essay presents and discusses a study that was performed in a multicultural school, where the teachers, since August 2004, have obtained internal training in how to work with language development. The objective with this essay is to investigate how the connection between language development and the development of knowledge can be understood and apprehended by teachers working in this school, and furthermore, to show how a language developing way of work can be accomplished in the teachers daily work. Moreover, I have studied which objectives and strategies, the three language developers in charge of the training of the teachers, have concerning this work, furthermore I have looked into if these objectives and strategies differ from what the teachers understand and practically perform. Pauline Gibbons book, Stärk språket, stärk lärandet (2006), has become a base for this school’s work when it comes to language development. Gibbons presents theories and practical exercises which have their origin from Vygotskij, Halliday and Cummins. Their theories have also become my theoretical base in this study. I have made qualitative interviews with four teachers working in this school, and with one of the language developers. The results, from the teacher’s views and opinions in this subject, are presented individually. The spread between the teacher’s thoughts, when it comes to the connection between language development and knowledge, is quite extensive and so are the methods they choose, consciously or unconsciously, to work in a language developing way. The most important result, drawn from this study, is that all four teachers give examples of how to work in a language developing way, but only one presents a more well-thought-out method of how to work, and also explains why these methods develops the students knowledge and not only the language development. Consequently, there is a gap between the awareness of how important language development is in the process of developing ones knowledge, and how this is performed in the teachers’ daily work with the students’. This could be of interest for the school to investigate further.