This independent project investigated which teaching activities were used by teachers of English in Swedish classrooms in order to teach vocabulary, if there were any differences between secondary school and upper secondary school and how the teachers assessed that their activities had worked. Four teachers, two at secondary school and two at upper secondary school, were interviewed. The teachers answered ten predetermined questions about different aspects of vocabulary and how it is taught in a Swedish setting. The results showed that there are both similarities and differences between the educational levels. Teachers at secondary school preferred to use the coursebook and grammar-translation, even though the syllabus is communicative. The preferred activity amongst the upper secondary school teachers was to use reading in order to expand their students’ vocabularies. The teachers assessed their learners in various ways, for example through grammar-translation, book-talks, and national tests.

English language learning is an indispensable part of Chinese students’ education. As a core subject tested in the high-stakes national college entrance examination, English plays a decisive role in Chinese upper secondary students’ schooling. According to the Canadian social psychologist, Robert Gardner, when learning another language as a formal school course, motivation is a critical determinant of successful learning outcomes. Studies on motivation to learn English in China give precedence to tertiary education; empirical studies of secondary education are underrepresented. Drawing on a comparative perspective, this study investigated Chinese upper secondary students’ motivation to learn English from the aspects of genders, age, and majors. A questionnaire survey was undertaken to assemble data from 120 participants in an upper secondary school in Chengdu city. The results indicated that, the participants at large were positively motivated to learn English, and their motivation was preponderantly instrumentally oriented (e.g., educational qualification, occupational prospect, etc.). A statistically significant difference in motivation between the female and male participants was identified, namely that the females demonstrated a stronger motivation and were willing to expend more effort and perseverance to learn English. Neither age nor major was found to make any significant difference to motivation. The pedagogical implications suggested in this study, sheds light on tackling the issues of developing a long-term strategy for promoting sustainable motivation, as well as underpinning the English language pedagogy in Chinese upper secondary education.

Syftet med vår uppsats är att, utifrån begreppen roll, status och auktoritet, lyfta fram gymnasieläraryrkets förändring under perioden 1960-2000. Vi använder oss av en kvalitativ undersökning, baserad på intervjuer med fyra pensionerade gymnasielärare. I vår analys av utvecklingen använder vi oss av teorier från Annales-skolan samt Karl Marx teorier kring generation och arv. Våra resultat visar att det skett flera stora förändringar i gymnasieläraryrket, men att det även finns vissa beståndsdelar som under utvecklingen varit bestående. I vår analys av begreppen roll, status och auktoritet är vår slutsats att gymnasielärarens roll är den del som förändrats mest, men att det även här finns många bestående delar. Statusen är ett element i yrket som också genomgått stora förändringar och minskat betydligt. Auktoriteten har på ett formellt plan avtagit betydligt, medan vi fortfarande kan skönja en bestående reell auktoritet. / The purpose of this essay is to analyse the development of the teacher profession in the upper secondary school during the time period 1960-2000, with regard to the concepts role, status and authority. The investigation has been carried out using a qualitative method with material that has been gathered during interviews with four retired teachers. The analysis has been inspired by the theories of the Annales school as well as the generation and inheritance theories developed by Karl Marx. Our results show that the teacher profession has gone through a number of considerable changes, but also that there are components of the profession that have remained unchanged. In our analysis of the concepts role, status and authority, we have come to the conclusion that the role of the teacher has been the subject of most changes, although many respects of the profession are left unchanged. The status of the profession has also undertaken major changes and decreased severely. Formally, the authority has decreased as well, although in reality a certain authority level can still be perceived.

This study examines what motivates newly arrived students to study English while atthe same time immersed in and studying Swedish as a second language, both coresubjects and necessary to attend higher education. The question arises since manystudents fail to pass the English course in secondary school but at the same time manageto pass the course in Swedish as a second language. The study was performed with help of a questionnaire with close-endedquestions that was handed out to 30 students studying Swedish as a second languageand English as a third language, in upper secondary school. The motivational theoryused in the study was the L2 Motivational Self System, which is divided in threemotivational categories: the Ideal L2 Self, the Ought-to L2 Self and the L2 learningexperience, in this study referred to as the Ideal L3 Self, the Ought-to L3 self and the L3learning experience. The result shows that what primarily motivate these students are the L3 learningexperience. The study also shows that these students seem to see English as somethingthat is important only if they have an intention to travel, study or work overseas.

Framväxten av artificiell intelligens (AI) och generativ AI har lett till lanseringen av AI-baserade chatbottar som OpenAI:s ChatGPT. Det är i stort sett fortfarande oklart vilken effekt användningen av dessa verktyg har på undervisning i engelska som främmande språk. Den empiriska undersökningen som presenteras i detta examensarbete har därför syftet att undersöka vilken effekt ChatGPT-feedback har i jämförelse med lärarfeedback på svenska gymnasieelevers komplexitet, korrekthet och flyt i skriftlig produktion på engelska. Ett ytterligare mål med denna studie var att undersöka om elevernas språkliga kompetens påverkar dessa effekter. Studien genomfördes genom att undersöka 56 gymnasielevers argumenterande texter före och efter feedback. Studiens resultat pekar på att båda feedbackmodaliteter har liknande effekt på elevernas komplexitet, korrekthet och flyt. Statistiskt signifikanta ökningar går att se i dimensionerna för korrekthet, lexikal komplexitet och flyt för båda feedbackmodliteter. För dimensionen syntaktisk komplexitet har endast ChatGPT gruppen nått en statistiskt signifikant ökning, och för korrekthet har Lärarfeedback haft en större effekt med statistiskt signifikanta ökningar inom alla fyra analytiska mått för dimensionen. Vidare visar studien att elever med lägre språklig kompetens gynnas mer av feedbacken än elever med högre språkliga kompetens. Studien belyser även behovet av att framtida forskning fokuserar på ChatGPT-feedbacks effekter på texters generella kommunikativa funktion för att bättre förstå vilka effekter AI-genererad feedback har på skriftlig produktion i engelska som främmande språk.

Recent numbers on English Proficiency Index (2018) indicate that Sweden is in the lead ofEnglish proficiency, whereas Turkey is lagging far behind. Vocabulary plays a vital role inlanguage learning, and research confirms that learners become more confident and proficientusers of English when they receive enough support to expand their word knowledge. Thiscomparative study is twofold: one aspect focuses on how the steering documents in Swedenand Turkey support integration of vocabulary teaching through a content analysis, and theother is on what teachers, in qualitative interviews, report they do to help their learnersincrease their vocabulary knowledge. Although Sweden is in the lead of proficiency, thesupport for vocabulary teaching in the syllabus is relatively absent, whereas the Turkishsyllabus puts an emphasis on teaching and learning words. Furthermore, Swedish and Turkishteachers incorporate vocabulary in their classrooms differently as a result of how theyinterpret what the respective syllabus require. However, neither of these syllabuses areexemplary in describing vocabulary teaching and learning, and one could argue for combiningthe approaches in the two syllabuses, which could perhaps lead to a decrease in the gapbetween “word poor” learners and “word rich” learners.

The aim of the study is to investigate how upper secondary school teachers of Swedish work with female authors writing in the period 1900–1940. The research questions concern how upper secondary school teachers work with the female authors, how their work interacts with steering documents and textbooks, whether the teachers show any similarities and differences in their work, and how female authors are treated in the textbooks and steering documents that are used. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with three upper secondary school teachers and one textbook per teacher was analysed together with the steering documents. The study reveals clear similarities and differences in the teachers’ work. The teachers work chronologically, period by period, and they deal with female authors in terms of a societal context, but they do not think that the work with women has any intrinsic value. Textbooks and steering documents have a central role to play in the teaching and are used together with other teaching material. The textbooks have an over-representation of male authors and the female authors are treated on their own, separated from the rest of the text and viewed in relation to male authors. The textbooks maintain a gender system where the man is the norm and the sexes are kept apart. The steering documents explicitly deal with female authors to a small extent and are shown to dictate of fundamental principles for what is considered valuable to consider in school work.

Our study examining how well the guidelines, from Skolverket (School Department), aboutgrades in the course "Samhällskunskap A" are implemented in the Swedish Upper SecondarySchool. The study focus on both teachers and students. To discover which knowledge the bothgroups have, we have used two different methods. The students have answered a survey,which was based on the phrases from the course plan "Samhällskunskap A" about grades. Thesurvey wanted to see how well the students could match the correct phrases with the gradesteps (the Swedish school uses three grade steps). To see the teacher’s knowledge andopinions about the implementation, we used a shorter version of the survey that the studentsgot. We also complemented the survey with interviews to get the chance to ask more openquestions about the positive and negative aspects of the implementation. Our theory is basedon Lundquist (1992) about implementation, Rothstein (red. 2008 & 2010) about legitimacyand Lipsky (2010) about teachers as Street level bureaucrats. The conclusions of the study arethat the implementation, with some exceptions, works well from the top (parliament and government) to the bottom (the students). Some of the teachers also pointed out that thecourse plan "Samhällskunskap A" is formed in a bad way. / Uppsatsen har som syfte att undersöka hur välimplementerad skolverkets riktlinjer för kursenSamhällskunskap A samt betygsättning i denna kurs är hos lärare och elever igymnasieskolan. Som teoretisk grund för denna studie utgår vi dels från Lundquist (1992)som på ett för skolverksamheten mycket applicerbart sätt beskriver implementeringen somprocess samt förutsättningar för denna. Dels från Rothstein (red. 2008 & 2010) som beskriverregeringens behov av likvärdig och effektiv implementering för att bibehålla legitimitet. Dettaantagande att toppen av implementeringskedjan det vill säga riksdag och regering har etttydligt intresse av att implementeringen ska vara effektiv och likvärdig har varitgrundläggande för studien då samtliga tecken på brister i implementeringen bör tolkas som ettmisslyckande av dessa. Slutligen består studiens teoretiska beskrivning av Lipsky (2010) sombeskriver närbyråkraternas (lärarna) roll för implementeringen i verksamheten och derasbehov av frihet.Studieobjekt för studien har 40 elever ur den svenska gymnasieskolan bestående av tvåklasser från två olika skolor varit. Även tre lärare från två olika skolor har deltagit i studien.Som metod för att studera eleverna användes enkäter som även i en något nerbantad formbesvarades av lärarna för att utgöra en jämförelse. Lärarna i studien intervjuades i enhalvstrukturerad intervju som spelades in och återfinns som transkriberad bilaga tilluppsatsen.Förutom en öppen fråga ställd till eleverna via enkäten, samt de frågor rörandeimplementering samt förutsättningar för denna som ställdes till lärarna i intervjuerna utgårstudien från de så kallade nyckelord som beskriver efterfrågad kunskap för de olikabetygsstegen i Samhällskunskap A. I studien görs en oförberedd kontroll på hur väl lärare ochelever känner till dessa nyckelord och kan placera in dessa i korrekt betygssteg.Slutsatserna som studien visade på är bland annat att implementeringskedjan löpte hela vägenfrån toppen (riksdag och regering) till botten (eleverna). Denna slutsats var möjlig att dra dåeleverna visade på tydliga kunskaper om betygskriterierna i Samhällskunskap A. Övrigaslutsatser vi kunde dra utifrån det insamlade materialet pekade på olika typer av brister, varoch en i olika delar av implementeringskedjan. Vi vågar även påstå att det tolkade materialetkan tolkas som så att den absolut övervägande delen av implementeringskedjan har gjort deansträngningar som förväntas av dem för att åstadkomma en effektiv implementering. Vimenar att de brister som vi trots detta har lokaliserat beror på den enligt studien stora frihetsom lärare åtnjuter och att implementeringen inte låter sig tas längre med bibehållen frihet förlärarna. I studien har det även framkommit tecken på att brister i implementeringen beror påatt det material som ska implementeras (kursplanen) är dåligt anpassat till den verklighet somär reell i skolan. Felet återfinns i detta fall i toppen av implementeringskedjan då man harförsökt att implementera något som är bristfälligt anpassat till den verklighet som det syftartill att reglera.

The syllabus for upper secondary school states that interaction and communication are important for students’ oral production skills development. Also, the contemporary view on learning is that people learn a language by using it. This study examines how students and a teacher experience the ways in which classmates influence each other’s willingness to speak English in the classroom, if they believe it affects their oral production skills development, and moreover whether they think that some sort of ability grouping could support oral production skills development. The study was carried out among a total of eight students and one teacher at an upper secondary school located in Southern Sweden, using a qualitative methodology based on personal interviews. Four English 6 students belong to the natural science program, and four English 7 Cambridge Advanced English students belong to various academic programs. The teacher teaches both courses. The results showed that classmates is the factor in the classroom which affects students’ willingness to speak English the most in their different language proficiency, personality, attitude, focus, willingness to communicate in English, and relationship with each other. The students experience that these differences between them often affect their WTC negatively and thereby their oral production skills development. They want to interact with other students who are at their level or slightly above them, who want to speak English, who share the communication space, and who take the lessons seriously. Therefore, the students and teacher have a positive attitude toward some form of ability grouping in all English courses.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka i hur stor utsträckning undervisning i improvisation är ett bra verktyg för att uppnå syfte och mål för ämnesplanen i Musik i gymnasieskolan, hur lärare tolkar begreppet improvisation och hur de arbetar med det i klassrummet. Intresset för ämnet ligger i möjligheterna med improvisation som verktyg för att utveckla ett konstnärligt och personligt uttryck. I rollen som lärare upplevs att improvisation som verktyg inte används i den utsträckning som det kanske borde. Tre verksamma gymnasielärare i musik har ur ett hermeneutiskt perspektiv med kvalitativ intervju som metod intervjuats om deras definition av och arbete med improvisation. Resultaten visar att elevers musikaliska utveckling främjas av improvisationsundervisning. Resultaten visar också att lärare har en bred förståelse för begreppet improvisation, att de har insikt i hur det främjar elevernas musikaliska utveckling men att de inte helt och hållet utnyttjar improvisationsundervisningens potential. De vill införa sådan undervisning tidigare i elevernas utbildning men de vet kanske inte riktigt hur de ska gå tillväga. Slutligen diskuteras om improvisationsundervisning bör användas mer, hur undervisningen kan utformas samt när det är lämpligt att börja med improvisationsundervisning. Kopplingen i Skolverkets styrdokument mellan improvisationsundervisning och måluppfyllelse i ämnet diskuteras också. / This study aims to examine to what extent teaching of music improvisation is a good tool for achieving the purpose and objectives of the syllabus of Music in upper secondary school, how teachers interpret the concept of music improvisation and how they apply it in the classroom. The interest in the subject lies in the possibilities of improvisation when being a tool for developing an artistic and personal musical expression. In the role as a teacher improvisation as a tool is perhaps not used to that extent it should. Three music teachers have, from a hermeneutic perspective using qualitative interview as a method, been interviewed on their definition and application of improvisation. The results show that students' musical development is promoted by the teaching of music improvisation. Furthermore, the results show that teachers have a broad understanding of music improvisation and that they have an insight into how it fosters students' musical development. However, they do not fully utilize the potential of improvisation teaching. They want to introduce it earlier in students' education, but they may not quite know how to. Lastly why the teaching of music improvisation should be used more is discussed as well as how it can be designed and when it is suitable to start with. The link between improvisation teaching and attainment in the subject of music in Skolverket's policy documents is also discussed.