The purpose of this study is to investigate the difficulties newly arrived students encounter when they learn English, both from the perspective of students and of teachers, and how these difficulties materialise in the classroom. The study was carried out through interviews with teachers and newly arrived immigrant students on the language introductory program at an upper secondary school. Interviews were used to investigate teachers' and students' experiences and attitudes. The results show that the most significant difficulties the students encounter occur in connection with listening comprehension, and these appear when the students are tested in hearing comprehension. Important factors that influence students’ listening skills are, among other things, that the students learn two languages simultaneously, and also that they have not developed strategies for listening comprehension. It also emerged that both teachers and students use tools such as pictures in order to facilitate learning. Students also use Google to translate, to some extent. When examining both teachers' and students' responses, it was revealed that they have a negative attitude to learning Swedish and English simultaneously.  This is explained by the fact that they lose focus, and everything becomes confusing. In conclusion, the result shows that there are no advantages to having newly arrived students learn two languages at the same time. According to the participating teachers, the students must be well-grounded in the Swedish language before they start with English.

AbstractThe aim of this essay is to identify English out-of-school activities among students with an immigrant background to find out to what extent English out-of-school activities have an impact on the students’ results at the National Test of English.An additional aim is to find out if English out-of-school activities are a way of integration outwards or vice versa if the lack of English out-of-school activities is a sign of integration inwards. The present study is based upon a questionnaire with closed questions, which was filled in by 54 third graders enrolled in the Child and Recreation Programme. The informants are divided into two groups, one of which is a control group of native Swedish students. The study showed a tendency that students with an immigrant background who are not involved in English out-of-school activities obtain lower grades in English and that they integrate inwards by using their native language on the Internet, listening to music and watching films from their home country. Furthermore, the study showed that there is a slight difference between native Swedish students and students with an immigrant background as regards computer habits.Keywords: English out-of-school activities, integration, third language acquisition, informal learning, computer habits, National Test of English, the third culture

Interest in Portuguese has steadily increased over the last decade in universities across both North and South America (Carvalho 2002, 2011), principally among Spanish speakers. Generally speaking, Portuguese for Spanish-speakers courses have been designed around the theory that Spanish-speaking students will benefit from cross-linguistic influence (CLI, or transfer) due to the typological similarity that exists between Portuguese and Spanish (see Júdice, 2000). Related to this, the Typological Primacy Model, or TPM (Rothman, 2011), states that CLI in L3 acquisition principally comes from the language that is perceived to be typologically similar to the target language (psycho-typology, see Kellerman, 1983), resulting in both positive and negative transfer. Although there is a high degree of typological similarity between Spanish and Portuguese, it is unknown whether or not this linguistic proximity is equally salient to all learners and whether or not learners view this linguistic proximity as an advantage or a disadvantage when learning Portuguese. Furthermore, some studies have suggested that the context in which one's Spanish is acquired may play a role in the different types of CLI evident among different Spanish-speaking learners of Portuguese (e.g., Carvalho & da Silva, 2006; Johnson, 2004; Koike & Gualda, 2008). Consequently, Carvalho (2002, 2011) has called for more empirical evidence to shed light on the nature of CLI between Spanish and Portuguese. This dissertation, consisting of three main studies, seeks to answer this call by examining the effects of language background on L3 Portuguese acquisition among three groups of Spanish-speaking bilinguals: L1 Spanish (L1S) bilinguals, L2 Spanish (L2S) bilinguals, and heritage speakers of Spanish (HS bilinguals). Results from both quantitative and qualitative analyses of questionnaire data from the first study suggest that although all participants view Spanish as the principal source of CLI in L3 Portuguese acquisition, L2S bilinguals and HS bilinguals perceive the role of Spanish as significantly more facilitative when learning Portuguese than do L1S bilinguals. The second and third studies used a sentence completion task and a preference/grammaticality judgment task (see Ayoun, 2000) to measure bilingual students' knowledge of mood distinctions in Spanish in obligatory and non-obligatory contexts, respectively, and how they transfer that knowledge to Portuguese. Results indicate that the L2S group scored significantly lower on both measures of mood distinctions in obligatory contexts in Spanish, but transferred over more of their knowledge to Portuguese than either the L1S or HS groups. Similarly, results suggest that L2S bilinguals do not understand the variable nature of mood distinctions in non-obligatory environments, but show almost identical strategies of mood selection in both Spanish and Portuguese. In contrast, L1S and HS bilinguals display knowledge of the variable nature of mood distinctions in Spanish in these contexts but show marked differences in mood selection between the Spanish and Portuguese tasks. The results of these studies contribute to L3 acquisition literature by emphasizing the complexity involved in determining the role of the background languages in CLI and by highlighting the importance of the context of acquisition in CLI. In addition, the results provide more empirical evidence regarding the differences between how different groups of Spanish-speaking bilinguals transfer their knowledge when acquiring L3 Portuguese.

This paper is dedicated to the investigation of receptive transfer with a special focus on the comprehension of spoken utterances in nonfamiliar Slavic languages. It investigates the possibility of applying the concept of passive multilingualism to the field of Slavic languages. It is often assumed that closely related languages provide ideal conditions for mutual intelligibility. By means of positive transfer from a previously known language of the group, one can achieve a certain degree of passive knowledge in related languages, even if these have never been learned consciously. In this paper, however, it will be shown that spontaneous intercomprehensibility of spoken utterances within the group of Slavic languages is rather restricted. After a short outline of the peculiarities of receptive and auditive transfer phenomena, as opposed to productive and written transfer, the paper provides empirical evidence for the failure of comprehension at different stages of the perception process. / Series: WU Online Papers in International Business Communication / Series One: Intercultural Communication and Language Learning

This thesis aims at exploring what linguistic challenges and opportunities multilingual students experience when reading in English. This paper has a qualitative approach and consists of focus group interviews as the method for collecting data. The participants were students in compulsory school, ninth grade, studying English as a foreign language. A total of nine multilingual were divided into three groups. Firstly they received a piece of informative text to read, containing a picture and a heading, and secondly they answered and discussed questions about their use of reading strategies. The results from the present study show that they tended to use top-down strategies when reading. The picture was not regarded as important as the heading; yet it was clear that they transferred already developed strategies from other languages. Previous research has shown that a reading ability developed in a student´s first language will be transferred to other languages, through an underlying proficency. Likewise it was expected in this study that the students would use their first language in order to understand English as a foreign language, but unpredictably findings show that Swedish was the preferred language when translating. In conclusion, one can therefore argue for Swedish as the strongest academic language and therefore important in scaffolding multilingual students.

No description available.

Over the past decade, there has been a noticeable increase in the enrollment of foreign-born children in Swedish schools. While Swedish as a second language has its own curriculum, there appears to be a lack of emphasis on teaching English to new arrivals. Despite English being a compulsory subject in the Swedish education system, there is inconsistency among teachers in their approaches to teaching it to new arrivals. This study specifically focuses on children of Middle Eastern descent, whose native language is Arabic. It investigates whether new arrivals are effectively accommodated in the classroom while learning English as a third language, and if so, what specific accommodations are provided. To achieve the results of this study, interviews with teachers and student questionnaires have been conducted to assess and compare the alignment of teaching methodology between them. As a result, plurilingual teachers, proficient in multiple languages, seem to have a significant advantage in teaching and communicating with new arrivals, particularly if they share the same native language. The objective of this study is to investigate the possible advantages which plurilingual teachers have within the Swedish school system.

Notre recherche doctorale, qui s’inscrit dans le champ de l’acquisition d’une troisième langue et du plurilinguisme, a pour objectif d’apporter une meilleure compréhension du fonctionnement de la compétence plurilingue. Elle cherche plus particulièrement à déterminer si les langues d’un plurilingue jouent des rôles distincts dans l’acquisition d’une nouvelle langue au niveau des interactions translinguistiques lexicales et syntaxiques et si ces phénomènes sont associés. Elle examine également les activités métalinguistiques et translinguistiques permettant aux apprenants de gérer et d’appréhender la langue cible. Pour ce faire, nous avons réalisé onze études de cas de locuteurs de l’espagnol et de l’anglais avec des niveaux variés en français L3+. Ces participants ont été soumis à trois tâches de production orale. Afin prendre en compte la nature complexe des interactions lorsque les langues en contact sont typologiquement proches et lorsque différents domaines linguistiques sont examinés, nous avons adopté une approche mêlant travaux menés dans le champ de l’acquisition d’une L3 à ceux menés dans l’étude des contacts de langues. Par le biais d’une analyse quantitative et qualitative, notre travail a mis en évidence le fonctionnement de la compétence plurilingue de nos participants. Ils activent en effet toutes leurs langues à des degrés divers, au niveau de différents types d’ITL, propriétés syntaxiques et domaines linguistiques. Nos participants mobilisent, par ailleurs, leur conscience métalinguistique et translinguistique afin de mieux appréhender la LC et gérer leur production en recourant à des cognats, à des consultations translinguistiques et à des inférences. / This research is set within the fields of third language acquisition and multilingualism with a focus on developing our understanding of how multilingual competence functions. The research attempts to determine if the languages of a multilingual play distinctive roles in the acquisition of a new language specifically regarding the lexical and syntactic components in crosslinguistic interactions, and whether there is convergence between these phenomena. The research also examines the metalinguistic and crosslinguistic activities which allow learners to manage and comprehend the target language. The data for this research was collected from eleven case studies of speakers of Spanish and English with a variety of levels of proficiency in French. Participants were required to complete three speaking tasks. Approaches sourced from research from the fields of third language acquisition and language contact were utilised and developed to capture the complexity of the interactions, the typological relationship among the languages in contact, and the varying levels of the languages under examination. Using quantitative and qualitative analysis this research demonstrates how multilingual competence operates. The data indicates that participants activate all their languages to different degrees relating to different types of crosslinguistic interactions, syntactic properties and level of language. Participants also typically resort to their metalinguistic and crosslinguistic awareness to help them comprehend the target language and manage their output by the use of cognates, crosslinguistic consultations and inferences.

Ce travail doctoral porte sur l’enseignement/apprentissage (E/A) du FLE avec un manuel de français langue étrangère (FLE) en Jordanie où le français a le statut de discipline scolaire, de deuxième langue étrangère après l’anglais. Faute d’avoir des manuels conçus pour ce public arabophone apprenant le FLE langue 3, cet E/A se fait avec des manuels de langue importés.Notre recherche doctorale s’est intéressée à leur réception auprès d’un public majoritairement bilingue (arabophone et anglophone). Dans le cas de la Jordanie, comme mentionné par Blanchet , cela ne peut se faire sans prendre en compte la culture pédagogique et éducative jordanienne (arabo-musulmane) mais également les dynamiques sociolinguistiques locales, le rapport à l’écrit et à l’image, les représentations dont le français et son enseignement obligatoire ou facultative font l’objet, la formation préalable des enseignants, etc. Grâce à ce travail d’enquête sur le terrain et les rétroactions des apprenants et des enseignants concernant l’ E / A du FLE avec ces manuels, ce travail propose des pistes sur comment intervenir dans l’acte d’ E/A du FLE. Seule une contextualisation de l’intervention didactique peut répondre aux insuffisances communément admises des « placages » de dispositifs comme les manuels et leurs contenus sur des contextes pour lesquels ils n’ont pas été conçus (Blanchet, op.cit.). / This Phd work has focused on the process of teaching/learning of French as a foreign language using a French textbook for this purpose in Jordan where French is taught in schools as a second foreign language after English. Actually, there is a lack of textbooks teaching French as a foreign made especially for Arabic speaking public, this is why the process of teaching/learning is done by using imported textbooks from other languages speakers. And our research examined the way of learning and getting the information from these textbooks when most of the public is bilingual (English and Arabic).In the case of Jordan, as mentioned by Blanchet, this cannot be done without taking in consideration not only the Jordanian educational culture (Arab-Muslim) but also the local sociolinguistic dynamics, the link between writing and its represented image, the representations of subjects - mandatory and optional - of French and its teaching, and the previous training of teachers, etc.Because this work is a kind of a field work and a survey based on the feedback of teachers and learners of these textbooks, it suggests ways to deal and to act in the process of teaching/learning of French as a foreign language. Only contextualization of educational process can meet the commonly accepted shortcomings of positioning things such as manuals and their contents depending on the contexts in which they were not designed (Blanchet, op.cit.).

In vielen Staaten unterscheidet sich die Leistung von Schülern mit und ohne Migrationshintergrund. Schüler mit Migrationshintergrund sprechen eine Minderheitensprache sowie die Zielsprache des Wohnlandes, das führt zu einem gewissen Grad der Zweisprachigkeit. Die Zweisprachigkeit ist mit Entwicklungsmustern verbunden, die das Fremdsprachenlernen der bilingualen Schüler positiv beeinflussen können. Diese Dissertation untersucht die Beziehung zwischen Zweisprachigkeit und Fremdsprachenlernen. Die erste Studie untersuchte die Wirkung der Zweisprachigkeit von Schülern mit Migrationshintergrund auf das Erlernen von Englisch als Fremdsprache. Die Ergebnisse zeigen einen positiven Trend zwischen Zweisprachigkeit und Lernerfolg. Dieser Trend unterschied sich deutlich zwischen Gruppen verschiedener Heimatsprachen mit den Kenntnissen der Unterrichtssprache als stärksten Prädiktor. Die zweite Studie betrachtete die Wirkung von Zweisprachigkeit auf die Leistung in Englisch als Fremdsprache von der Grundschule bis zur weiterführenden Schule. Die Analysen zeigen, dass, ein wesentlicher Vorteil der Zweisprachigkeit in der Grundschule vorliegt, dieser aber in der Sekundarstufe I verschwindet. Dies führt zu unterschiedlichem Leistungszuwachs von zweisprachigen und einsprachigen Schülern. Die dritte Studie untersuchte die Wirkung der Zweisprachigkeit auf das Erlernen von Englisch als Fremdsprache unter Berücksichtigung der Auswirkungen von Methode und Abfolge des Erlernens der Zweitsprache sowie des Sprachgebrauchs. Die Ergebnisse zeigen Leistungsvorsprünge in der Drittsprache für Zweisprachige, die in ihrer Minderheitensprache unterrichtet werden, beide Sprachen simultan erwerben und häufiger zwischen beiden Sprachen wechseln. Diese Dissertation gibt weitere Hinweise darauf, dass unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen Zweisprachige mit Migrationshintergrund im Vergleich zu einsprachigen Schülern Vorteile im Fremdsprachenlernen haben, obwohl sich dieser Befund im Laufe der Zeit verändert. / There is a large achievement gap between students with immigrant background and their peers. Many students with immigrant backgrounds speak a minority language at home as well as the majority language of the larger society, resulting in some level of bilingualism. Bilingualism is associated with unique patterns of development that may affect their foreign language learning (FLL) in positive ways. This thesis explores the relationship between bilingualism and FLL, focusing on factors that affect this relationship. The first study investigates the effect of immigrant bilingualism on English FLL, examining confounding background variables and the effect of instructional language proficiency. The results showed a general positive trend between bilingualism and FLL. This positive trend differed between bilingual groups with different home languages with the strongest predictor for FLL being instructional language proficiency. This second study considers the effect of bilingualism on the FLL from elementary to secondary school. Although a significant advantage of bilingualism is found in elementary school, it disappeared as students proceed into secondary school, yielding differential gains for the language minority and monolingual groups. The level of exposure to the minority language played an important role for the FLL development. The third study examines the effect of bilingualism on FLL, considering the impact of manner and age of bilingual acquisition as well as language use practices. The results showed higher FLL for bilinguals who received formal instruction in their minority language, had acquired both languages simultaneously, and switched more often between their two languages, when compared to their other bilingual and monolingual peers. The findings of this thesis add to the evidence that under certain conditions, some bilinguals from immigrant communities have advantages in FLL compared to their monolingual peers although this pattern does change over time.