The purpose of this study is to examine how specialist teachers relate to content- and language-integrated learning, as well as examine if and how they work with developing the pupils' language and subject knowledge in the tutoring in order to benefit for the pupils learning process. The intention is also to examine which lingual challenges the teachers see in their subject. To answer the research questions, a qualitative method is used, and semi-structured interviews. In total, five senior high school teachers from one school in Västra Götaland have been interviewed and the subjects represented are physical education, social science, history, religion, sociology, mathematics and natural science. The result shows that teachers support content- and language integrated learning in their tutoring and they also believe that it is important to develop the pupils' lingual ability in order for them to develop in their specific subject. However, the result shows that the old subject tradition is still evident to some extent, but the perception of the role as a specialist teacher is changing. Moreover, the result shows that the teachers work with content- and language integrated learning in their specific subject, with an emphasis on terms and the understanding of concepts. It is evident that Vygotskys socio-cultural perspective and Hallidays systemic-functional grammar is seen in how teachers work, but the conclusion is that teachers to a large extent work according to these theories without being aware of it, and thus rather makes it right by coincidence. Further, the result shows that the teachers are aware of what lingual challenges the pupils' come across in their specific subject, and they agree on that there are mainly the cognitive abilities that challenge the pupil. / Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur ämneslärare förhåller sig till språk- och kunskapsutvecklande arbetssätt, samt undersöka om och hur de i så fall arbetar med att utveckla elevens språk och ämneskunskap i undervisningen för att gynna elevens lärande. Intentionen är även att undersöka vilka språkliga utmaningar lärarna anser att eleven möter i deras ämnen. För att besvara studiens frågeställningar har en kvalitativ inriktad metod valts, i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Sammanlagt intervjuades fem gymnasielärare från en skola i Västra Götaland och ämnena som representeras är idrott och hälsa, samhällsvetenskap, historia, religion, sociologi, matematik och naturvetenskap. Resultatet visar att lärarna är positivt inställda till språk- och kunskapsutvecklande arbetssätt i ämnesundervisningen och att de tycker att det är viktigt att utveckla elevens språkliga förmåga för att eleven ska kunna utvecklas i deras ämnen. Dock visar resultatet att den gamla ämnestraditionen fortfarande finns kvar till viss del, men att synen på ämneslärarens roll likväl håller på att förändras. Vidare visar resultatet att lärarna arbetar med språk- och kunskapsutveckling i sina ämnen, med fokus på främst termer och begreppsförståelse. Det går tydligt att se Vygotskys sociokulturella perspektiv och Hallidays systemisk-funktionella grammatik i lärarnas arbetssätt, men slutsatsen blir att lärarna till stor del arbetar omedvetet utifrån teorierna och mer råkar ”träffa rätt”. Vidare visar resultatet att alla lärarna är medvetna om vilka språkliga utmaningar som eleven möter i deras ämnen och de är överens om att det främst är de kognitiva förmågorna som är en utmaning för eleven.

<p>I have in this study examined, through qualitative interviews, how adults with foreign background that are pupils in adult education in Sweden, understand the concepts democracy and dictatorship. Their expressed understandings have been compared with their former life experiences as well as with the aim of the social studies to create a qualitative understanding of essential social concepts. My starting point is theories about the adult in leaning processes. It has been assumed that the adult interprets the world much through former life experiences. I have also relied on the idea that having a qualitative, more scientific, understanding of essential subjects is important for the adult as a member of society and participator in the on-going political debate. It should therefore be a central aim for educators in the social subjects within adult education to support a development of more qualified concept understandings among their pupils. In this study I have used the criterions of dr Roland Severin to define a qualified understanding of concepts. Such an understanding includes richness in meaning, structure, general description of cause and relation as well as the capacity to relate to different levels of abstraction. My conclusion is that the pupils in my study have very individual understandings of the concepts, especially the understandings of democracy. Their expressed understandings of dictatorship are in general less rich in meaning. I have found that their understandings are clearly influenced by former life experiences. In comparison to a qualitative understanding of concepts the pupils’ understandings both have strengths and weaknesses. The main strengths in their understandings lies in that they have structure and focus important meanings of the concepts. The pupils can also express their understandings in a concrete manner. The main weaknesses lay in that they lack sufficient meanings of the concepts to give them a exhaustive description. The pupils also tend to give more of concrete and less of general descriptions of the concepts. I have concluded that to support adult pupils in the development of more qualitative, and therefore more useful, social concepts educators should make use of the pupils’ collective experiences. By doing so more meanings of the essential concepts can be revealed and individual experiences can be connected to those of others to create generality in the pupils understandings.</p>

I have in this study examined, through qualitative interviews, how adults with foreign background that are pupils in adult education in Sweden, understand the concepts democracy and dictatorship. Their expressed understandings have been compared with their former life experiences as well as with the aim of the social studies to create a qualitative understanding of essential social concepts. My starting point is theories about the adult in leaning processes. It has been assumed that the adult interprets the world much through former life experiences. I have also relied on the idea that having a qualitative, more scientific, understanding of essential subjects is important for the adult as a member of society and participator in the on-going political debate. It should therefore be a central aim for educators in the social subjects within adult education to support a development of more qualified concept understandings among their pupils. In this study I have used the criterions of dr Roland Severin to define a qualified understanding of concepts. Such an understanding includes richness in meaning, structure, general description of cause and relation as well as the capacity to relate to different levels of abstraction. My conclusion is that the pupils in my study have very individual understandings of the concepts, especially the understandings of democracy. Their expressed understandings of dictatorship are in general less rich in meaning. I have found that their understandings are clearly influenced by former life experiences. In comparison to a qualitative understanding of concepts the pupils’ understandings both have strengths and weaknesses. The main strengths in their understandings lies in that they have structure and focus important meanings of the concepts. The pupils can also express their understandings in a concrete manner. The main weaknesses lay in that they lack sufficient meanings of the concepts to give them a exhaustive description. The pupils also tend to give more of concrete and less of general descriptions of the concepts. I have concluded that to support adult pupils in the development of more qualitative, and therefore more useful, social concepts educators should make use of the pupils’ collective experiences. By doing so more meanings of the essential concepts can be revealed and individual experiences can be connected to those of others to create generality in the pupils understandings.