Through a series of studies, this thesis investigates the learning of definiteness in Russian-speaking students of Swedish. A communicative oral-production task elicited modified and non-modified noun phrases in indefinite and definite contexts. Study I describes the development of the morphosyntactic structure through which Swedish encodes definiteness, the association between this structure and its meaning, and the relationship between those two tasks over time. Using an English version of the elicitation task and a test of metalinguistic knowledge, Study II examines the relationship between the learners’ explicit knowledge of article semantics and their actual use of English articles. Adding a test of language-learning aptitude, Study III then explores both the influence of second-language English and that of aptitude on the development of Swedish. Finally, Study IV discusses the role of complexity and input frequency. 

The main findings include that, at the onset of Swedish study, the learners had minimal knowledge of the morphosyntactic structure but were generally sensitive to the meaning of definiteness. However, knowledge of form developed over time while knowledge of meaning did not, and the two learning tasks did not appear to be directly related to each other. In addition, the learners were seldom aware that choosing between indefinite and definite articles requires the speaker to take the hearer’s perspective, but this lack of metalinguistic understanding did not seem to affect their use of articles. Further, previous knowledge of English appeared to facilitate the development of a Swedish morpheme that is structurally similar to its English counterpart, while aptitude was associated with the development of a morpheme whose English counterpart is structurally different. Finally, the learners used high-frequency morphemes more consistently than low-frequency ones, and morphemes were more likely to be supplied in frequent constructions than in infrequent ones. These findings are discussed in relation to a modular, cognitive framework for language learning and use. 

Research in SLA has traditionally involved mainly well-educated language learners. Therefore, scholars have recently pointed out the need to investigate more diverse populations of L2 learners (Andringa & Godfroid 2019). The present project responds to this call by examining the role of educational background in vocabulary-learning-strategy use and vocabulary knowledge in immigrants studying L2 Swedish. Research on individual differences in SLA suggests that strategy use may affect learning outcomes and that strategies might also be successfully instructed (Griffiths, 2022). Hence one can speculate that well-educated learners have generally more efficient strategies, giving them an advantage compared to less educated learners. However, findings are inconclusive with regard to the relationship between educational background and strategic behavior (LaBontee 2019). The present study addresses this knowledge gap.

In this ongoing project, a questionnaire was distributed to 42 adult immigrants studying L2 Swedish at the A2 level. The group was heterogeneous with regard to age (Mdn = 35; IQR = 2545), length of residence in Sweden (Mdn = 4; IQR = 2–5), years of education (Mdn = 10; IQR = 9–14), and language background; the most represented L1s among the participants were Arabic, Kurdish and Farsi. Vocabulary knowledge was measured with a modified version of Bokander’s (2016) SweLT test, with items selected to match the participants’ level of L2 Swedish. Use of vocabulary-learning strategies was examined with a modified version of Labontee’s (2019) SVLSS 2.0 test. Together, these data enable us to explore interactions between educational background, vocabulary knowledge, and strategy use, while controlling for participants’ age, time of residence, and language background.

Data collected so far indicate that learners with a shorter education generally use fewer vocabulary-learning strategies, compared to learners with longer education. Importantly, learners with shorter education also appear to prefer basic strategies, like writing and rehearsing wordlists, and this preference is negatively correlated with vocabulary knowledge. In contrast, learners with longer education prefer contextual strategies, like guessing the meaning of new words, and this preference is positively correlated with vocabulary knowledge. In other words, while lesseducated learners appear to focus on rehearsing words, more well-educated learners strive to learn new words in an autonomous way, which may enable them to acquire a larger vocabulary. These results suggest that research on vocabulary-learning-strategy use in well-educated L2 learners cannot be directly generalised to other populations. In addition, the findings may be helpful for L2 teachers aiming at individualising their strategy-use instruction. 

Cross-linguistic influence and language-learning aptitude in L3 acquisition of functional morphology

Two factors suggested to influence second-language acquisition are cross-linguistic influence (CLI) and language-learning aptitude. However, the relationship between the two has rarely been investigated, and it is unclear to what extent the relative importance of CLI and aptitude depends on the degree of similarity between source and target language (cf. Bokander 2021; Skehan 1998; Tolentino & Tokowicz 2014). The present study addresses this issue by examining the longitudinal development of definiteness marking in Russian-speaking learners of Swedish who had previously acquired English. Unlike Russian, English and Swedish obligatorily express definiteness using dedicated functional morphology. While the English indefinite article (a park) is structurally similar to its Swedish counterpart (en park ‘a park’), the English definite article (the park) is structurally dissimilar to its Swedish counterpart, a nominal suffix (park-en ‘the park’). This enables us to investigate the role of cross-linguistic influence and aptitude in third-language acquisition of functional morphology.

Definite and indefinite noun phrases were orally elicited from native speakers of Russian (n=18) during two terms of a beginner-Swedish course. At data point 1, their use of English articles and their aptitude were also tested (Meara 2005). Further, data were collected from native speakers of Swedish (n=26) and English (n=17). The participants’ use of indefinite and definite morphemes was analysed separately. Two linear mixed-effects models revealed that the learners’ developing use of the Swedish indefinite article was associated with their command of the English indefinite article, which is structurally similar. By contrast, their developing use of the Swedish definite nominal suffix, which is structurally dissimilar to its English counterpart, was moderated primarily by aptitude. This suggests that learners may capitalise on previously acquired linguistic knowledge primarily when source and target languages are similar, while language-learning aptitude appears to play a more important role in the acquisition of qualitatively new morphology.

References

Bokander, Lars (2021). Language aptitude and crosslinguistic influence in initial L2 learning. Journal of the European Second Language Association 4(1), s. 35–44. 

Meara, Paul (2005). LLAMA Language Aptitude Tests: the manual. Swansea: Lognostics. 

Tolentino, Leida C. & Natasha Tokowicz (2014). Cross-language similarity modulates effectiveness of second language grammar instruction. Language Learning 64(2), s. 279–309. 

Skehan, Peter (1998). A cognitive approach to language learning. Oxford University Press.

Bearing in mind the big role media plays in shaping public opinion and the importance of understanding how ideologies can be conveyed to the public through language, this study uses qualitative analysis to investigate the discursive representation changes around the existence of the Taliban or what they call themselves now, the Islamic Emirate, in the Afghan media before and after the power shift. In specific, it illustrates how linguistic devices are used to transmit the discourse changes through the used language in the Afghani newspaper to legitimize or delegitimize having the Taliban in Afghanistan. The primary data of this study consists of articles published in English from a digitalized newspaper published in Afghanistan. This study uses Corpus Linguistics to organize the findings around the representation of the Taliban in the gathered data. Findings results were analyzed through CDA and Fairclough, the three-dimensional model, to reveal the alteration that occurred to the discourse, which can, in turn, show the way how language devices are used to circulate the Taliban’s various images among the recipients.

This paper focuses on peer reviewing as part of the writing process and as a pedagogical strategy that can help students develop their writing and critical thinking skills. To do so, it examines the extent to which peer reviewing can develop English as a foreign language (EFL) students’ ability to evaluate and reflect on their writing in upper secondary school. Moreover, this study investigates whether digital tools can help to facilitate the peer review process. By reviewing and synthesizing ten empirical studies from the period 2013-2020, the study found that students who engage in peer reviewing in writing develop critical thinking skills, self-regulation and evaluation. It further shows that there is a consensus between researchers regarding the usefulness of peer review in developing critical thinking skills. However, the findings indicate the importance of including guided peer review training before peer review activities. Furthermore, there is a strong indication that digital tools can help facilitate the peer review process if used appropriately. Digital tools help engage students in the peer review process since they are able to interact with each other’s texts online. Lastly, the findings of the study are in line with the Swedish national curriculum and the English syllabus for upper secondary school. Therefore, teachers in Sweden should consider the use of familiar digital tools to engage students in peer review to develop their writing and critical thinking skills.

Gaming is an activity that many second language students engage in during their free time, however, games are for more than just playtime. The aim of this literature study is to analyse in what way MMORPGs can have a positive impact on ESL and EFL learners' confidence in using English as well as help develop socialization skills. We found relevant empirical studies by using educational databases like ERIC. A total of 9 empirical studies were included, of which 8 focused on the topic of socialization and 6 on confidence. Multiple authors in this study claim that players engage in game-play that involves social interaction, collaboration, and autonomous learning in the MMORPG context. It was concluded throughout this study that playing MMORPGs has a positive effect on players' socialization skills as well as their confidence in using English as a second language. However, few to none of these studies presented the potential risks with MMORPGs.

This paper aims to analyse how discourse mediates change in the Danish pharmaceutical company M. The core research method used in this study is nexus analysis, with a focus on discourse analysis, which is an integral part of navigating the nexus of practice. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used in the study. Following Scollon & Scollon’s practical fieldguide for mediated discourse analysis reveals the mediated actions, social actors and discourses in place in M’s transformation journey, as well as how these elements interact with each other in the creation of discourses about transformation. Through engagement in the nexus of practice at M, a number of nexus points/key incidents are identified. The discourses throughout these nexus points are then identified and classified via thematic analysis and evaluated from a critical discourse analysis perspective. For a quantitative analysis, two specialized corpora are created from internal communication materials in M: a leadership corpus and an employee corpus. The analysis reveals the many ways in which the communication department mediates transformation communication in M. The study also identifies gaps in the transformation communication – both between leadership and employees of M, but also between leadership communication and M’s language policy.

The aim of this research is to investigate the representation of the female gender in theTerminator franchise and to examine whether there has been an evolution in thisrepresentation throughout the years. For this purpose, the representation of the lead femalecharacter, Sarah Connor, has been examined in the films The Terminator (Cameron, 1984),Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Cameron, 1991) and Terminator Genisys (Taylor, 2015), inwhich Sarah Connor is the only main female character. The thesis begins by providing athorough presentation of the situational, specific and the theoretical background of the threefilms analysed. Then, the methodology used in the research is described and linguistic, visualand contextual data are provided. These data are then analysed and discussed in relation tothe background of the films and to the objectives set at the beginning of the research. Inparticular, the linguistic aspect of gender representation is explored based on the waylanguage is used to represent women in the Terminator films. After a thorough analysis ofdata collected and discussed, the research concluded that there has, indeed, been an evolutionin female gender representation in the Terminator films, which reflects an evolution in theperception of gender by society itself.

This study's purpose is to investigate formative assessment/feedback in elementary school.

According to the Curriculum (2018), it is essential to use formative feedback in the

classroom because it helps students progress in their learning. The aim is to see how

formative assessment is conducted in English as a second language/English as a foreign

language classroom. The research questions that we used were to what extent is formative

feedback used in the elementary classroom? Furthermore, are there different ways of giving

formative assessment in an English classroom? The primary method used has been

electronic searches in two databases, such as Education research complete and ERIC. The

study results will show that the teachers know that formative assessment is beneficial for

the students' learning process. However, they do not use it due to the lack of experience,

time and knowledge. We investigated the teachers' role in formative assessment and

discussed how essential time and prioritizing are.

Ordförråd är en central komponent i andraspråksinlärares kommunikativa språkfärdighet. Forskning har visat att ordförrådsutveckling påverkas av inlärares användning av ordinlärnings-strategier och att sådana strategier kan läras ut. Därför är det rimligt att anta att andraspråks-inlärares skolbakgrund inverkar på deras strategianvändning och ordförrådsutveckling. Denna pilotstudie fokuserade på strategianvändning och ordkunskap hos 42 sfi-elever med varierande skolbakgrund. Alla läste kurs D och var alltså på ungefär samma språkliga nivå. Med modifierade versioner av Bokanders (2016) ordkunskapstest och LaBontees (2017) strategi-användningstest utforskade vi samband mellan deltagarnas skolbakgrund, strategianvändning och ordkunskap. Resultaten visade att sociala strategier, som att använda nya ord i kommunikativa situationer, korrelerade positivt med ordkunskap. Skolbakgrund tycktes inte påverka elevernas benägenhet att använda sådana strategier. Strategier för att befästa redan bekanta ord föredrogs i högre utsträckning av elever med kortare skolbakgrund. Denna preferens korrelerade negativt med ordkunskap. Strategier för att utvidga ordförrådet, exempelvis genom att utifrån kontexten gissa vad okända ord betyder, föredrogs av elever med längre skolbakgrund. Denna preferens korrelerade positivt med ordkunskap. Dessutom var elever med längre skolbakgrund mer benägna att planera sin ordinlärning. En viktig implikation av studien är att sfi-elever med kortare skolbakgrund behöver stöttas i att använda strategier som syftar till att utvidga ordförrådet och inte bara till att befästa redan kända ord. Dessa elever behöver även stöttas för att planera en långsiktigt hållbar ordförrådsutveckling. 

The literature on the influence of L2 orthography on abilingual’s pronunciation allows one to make predictions on what features of L2 pronunciation are likely to be impacted by it. This paper analyses the speech of 10 L1 Swedish L2 English late bilinguals performing one reading task and two tasks involving free speech in English. The speakers were predicted to realize /z/ as [s] when <s> represented /z/. All instances of /z/ spelled <s> were retrieved and transcribed in PRAAT. The number of substitutions for each speaker was calculated as a proportion of the total number of instances separately for reading and spontaneous speech. A 2-sample two-tailed z-test for proportions (p<0.05) was used to assess whether the two proportions were different. No difference was found in all speakers. This suggests that the degree of orthographic influence is fixed regardless of the presence of immediate orthographic input. Previous studies’ findings have contradicted these results, and this is discussed as a result of this study’s data containing connected speech as opposed to isolated words and phrases.

Abstract:

In this thesis, the general use and specific instances of F-words in modern music lyrics have been studied based on the corpora extracted from songs in Billboard year-end charts from 2013 to 2022, which represented the most popular songs in English-speaking countries. By screening the actual meaning and contexts of those F-words in the lyrics, I extracted those special instances in which F-words were used to express rebellious feelings to challenge social norms and fight against authority powers. The theme of those rebellious F-words was first studied by the quantitative analysis by years, which shows a clear time dependence associated with the social and political environments. Notably, there was a significant increase in the use of rebellious F-words in lyrics during the intense social and political crises of 2019-2020. A comparative investigation was then carried out across four distinct music genres: rap, rock, R&B, and pop. Among these, rap music stood out with a higher prevalence of rebellious F-words. However, the impact of these words was diminished due to their frequent occurrence, resulting in a reduced level of audience reaction and shock value. The following textual analysis of grammatical features and literary devices associated with those F-words provided evidence that more assertive and aggressive expressions, such as imperative sentences, were favored when incorporating rebellious F-words in the lyrics. This study provides a comprehensive overview of how modern pop music expresses and conveys rebellious power through the use of profanity. 

This qualitative study explores student learning progression through reflective writing on a tertiary-level course in social work. The study is based on the content analysis of three sets of data: student reflective writing, instructor formative feedback on this writing, and student end-of-course reflections. Our findings demonstrate that structured, scaffolded reflection and continuous formative feedback stimulated learning progression, increased awareness of one’s own learning strategies, and supported the adoption of an explorative, reflective stance in students. Therefore, the experimental course design with several reflective tasks created the sought-after intersection of the academic and professional literacies. This design stimulated student engagement and resulted in high attendance. This design is particularly suitable in heterogeneous classrooms and promotes student inclusion and active learning.

Genericization is a form of semantic broadening that occurs in brand names. In contemporary language and discourse, the word Photoshop has broadened to not only refer to the particular Adobe software but also to the action of manipulating or altering an image. This study aims to investigate the evolution of Photoshop and how it developed from having a specific referent to broaden and be used as a generic term within the category dealing with digital images and their alteration. The study investigates this by applying Clankie’s (2002) four hypotheses to a data set of 798 concordance lines collected from COCA. The first, second and fourth hypotheses explain the possible “triggers” that can lead to the genericization of a brand name. The third hypothesis puts forward a model that suggests a regular pattern observed within brand names that go through genericization. The investigation concluded that of the three hypotheses regarding the cause of genericization, only one was considered a possible reason for generic use. The other two were not relevant to the case of Photoshop. The results produced for the third hypothesis suggest a separate pattern of genericization. These observations brought forward the issues regarding capitalization as a symbol of generic use.  

This study investigates LOVE Conceptual Metaphors in the music group ABBA’s song lyrics, by employing the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) and utilising Corpus Linguistics to identify the Conceptual Metaphors of LOVE that appear in the ABBA song lyric corpus. The study has located 11 Conceptual Metaphors related to LOVE in the corpus of ABBA song lyrics, with (THE OBJECT OF) LOVE IS (APPETISING) FOOD, THE OBJECT OF LOVE IS AN INFANT/CHILD, and (THE OBJECT OF) LOVE IS A VALUABLE OBJECT being the most frequent Conceptual Metaphors. Across albums, the study found that ABBA conceptualises LOVE as a VALUABLE OBJECT the most, with the source domain appearing in a total of five out of seven albums. Thus, through the analysis of the linguistic patterns and contexts of the Conceptual Metaphors found, this research shows that ABBA mostly conceptualises LOVE as something sweet, in need of care, and precious. The findings of this study contribute not only to the understanding of ABBA's lyrical artistry but also to the broader discourse on how metaphors shape our conceptualisation of the emotion LOVE in popular music.

This study investigates the effectiveness of adopting a Creative Writing method to motivate and develop vocabulary learning in an ESL/EFL (English as a second language/English as a foreign language) context. This research also investigates the effectiveness of adapting CW as a teaching method and its approaches for facilitating vocabulary learning for upper-secondary English students. From this, we analyzed 12 empirical research from the year 2006 to 2021 by research reviewing studies on CW and synthesizing the commonalities. Our study showed promising results, which indicates that CW is a beneficial asset for teachers to increase student engagement and vocabulary acquisition for ESL/EFL learners overall that is applicable in Sweden.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka och utforska hur boksamtal uppfattas och tillämpas i undervisningen för att främja läs- och språkutveckling hos andraspråkselever. Frågeställningen som ligger till grund för vår studie är följande: Hur upplever F-3 lärare att boksamtalet gynnar andraspråkselevers läsförståelse? Upplever lärare att boksamtalet är en språkutvecklande aktivitet? För att få svar på vår frågeställning utgår vi från en kvalitativ metod och semistrukturerade intervjuer. Datainsamlingen sker via intervjuer av fem grundskollärare i Skåne. Utgångspunkten för det teoretiska ramverket är den sociokulturella teorin som anser att elevers språk utvecklas genom interaktion och samspel med andra samt genom lärarens stöttning. Vidare utgår vi från den pragmatiska teorin, vilken ser på undervisningen som ett medel för att förbereda eleverna att verka i det demokratiska samhället. Resultatet i studien visar att lärare upplever en viss progression i elevernas läsförståelse eftersom de är mer aktiva och självständiga vid diskussioner, samt uppvisar en större lust att läsa. Därmed drar vi slutsatsen att boksamtal som aktivitet i undervisningen kan gynna andraspråkselever i deras språkutveckling. Kontinuerlig användning av boksamtal i undervisningen kan även stödja och möjliggöra andraspråkselevers utveckling av läsförståelseförmågan.

Recension av: Judith Butler, Genus ogjort : kropp, begär och möjlig existens, Stockholm : Norstedts akademiska förlag, 2006. ISBN 91-7227-457-3

This paper presents an analysis of how three interlocutors sequentially organize and accomplish mutual understanding in naturally occurring audiovisual recordings of therapy sessions. The analysis is in keeping with microanalysis of face-to-face dialog (MFD) and follows operational definitions of three-step micro-processes that interlocutors use when they calibrate new information; that is, how they agree that they have understood each other's words and actions well enough for current practical purposes. Pointing to some of the complexities that characterize triadic interactions, the analysis contributes with new documentations of 'suspended', 'nested', 'branched', 'multi-paced', and 'mixed interpretations' calibrations. The analysis also demonstrates how interlocutors may calibrate the 'tone' of an utterance before the topical content is mutually understood. The results and their implications may be relevant to practitioners of institutional talks at large, where the quality and outcome of, for instance, assessments and interventions largely rely on accomplishing mutual understanding.

The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent teachers in Swedish EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classrooms need to adapt their teaching methods and strategies to best handle students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). According to Skolverket (2020), a lot of students diagnosed with ASD fail to reach the knowledge requirements for a pass in their English classes in school. The paper presents relevant research retrieved from databases ERIC and EBSCO and discusses the findings in relation to the research questions and the Swedish curriculum. The research presented show students with ASD often struggle with attention, anxiety, and primarily listening comprehension in the classroom.  Methods researchers argue counteracts the obstacles for the autistic students aim to reduce anxiety, enhance communication, and complement verbal instructions with visual support. 

This volume investigates the ways in which Q methodology can uncover and foreground new perspectives and contribute to language education and language policy research. It demonstrates the flexibility of this research methodology in addressing dynamic and complex language issues across a variety of educational topics and geographical contexts. The chapter authors use Q methodology to explore topics such as identity, motivation, cognition, emotion, pre-service and in-service teacher beliefs and to evaluate language programmes, curricula and policies. These contributions highlight Q methodology's potential to inform theoretical developments by revealing fresh perspectives on contemporary issues and generating new hypotheses. They foster further Q methodology research, demonstrating how it can contribute to a science of subjectivity and allow researchers to value the perspectives of all stakeholders for more inclusive research. This book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in language education and language policy research and those in the broader field of social sciences looking to expand their knowledge of the methodology and how it can be used to study contemporary, dynamic and complex issues.

Multilingual approaches to collaborative creativity can be seen as one form of resistance to inequality and neo-colonialism, through the potential to decentre the English language, unsettle entrenched linguistic hierarchies, and open up spaces of linguistic hospitality (Ricoeur, 2006). This article will share a song written in collaboration with displaced young people, in order to reflect on ways in which multilingualism in creative processes and performance might play a role in fostering solidarity and mutual care. The song, the writing process and the participants' reflections together act as a lens through which to observe small but significant shifts that can happen when linguistic repertoires beyond the dominant language are welcomed into a shared creative space. Multilingual approaches here are not seen as a quick-fix solution to systemic injustice, but as one way to illuminate questions of power and audibility in socially-engaged arts practice.

Detta examensarbete utforskar uppfattningarna hos nyanlända högstadieelever inom undervisningen i engelska i Sverige och i sina hemländer. Samtidigt undersöks strategierna som eleverna beskriver att de använder för att förbättra och utveckla sina språkkunskaper i engelska. Teori som används för att analysera det insamlade materialet är Cummins modell om språkundervisning som fokuserar på språkets innehåll som berör och engagerar, kunskap om språksystemet och fokus på språkanvändning i tal, skrift eller andra representationer. Detta är en kvalitativ studie baserat på kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer med öppna frågor med fyra nyanlända högstadieelever. Studien resultat visade en positiv uppfattning av undervisningen i engelska bland nyanlända högstadieelever i jämförelse med deras hemländer när det gäller den påverkan av engagerade lärare och positiv klassrumsmiljö där det finns interaktion, samt användningen av målspråket och olika resursmedel på lektionerna.

Trots detta framkom utmaningar och brister i undervisningen i Sverige, särskilt avseende ämnesinnehåll och engagemang. Elevernas önskan om mer varierade och intressanta övningar indikerar att lektionerna ibland saknar stimulerande innehåll. Bristen på efterföljande aktiviteter efter glosförhör kan hämma elevernas effektiva tillämpning av nya ord i olika språkliga sammanhang, vilket begränsar deras förmåga att skapa djupa kopplingar mellan ordförståelse, korrekt användning och grammatik. Denna brist kan också leda till en mekanisk inlärningsprocess och riskera att elever ser språket som en uppgift snarare än ett verktyg för meningsfull kommunikation. Elever använder olika strategier för språkutveckling, inklusive samarbete, interaktion och användning av modersmål för förståelse och digitala resurser.

The Murderbot Diaries is a series of science fiction books that deal with the experiences of Murderbot, a human-machine construct. This study uses a corpus stylistics methodology to analyse the language of the books and looks for changes that occur in said language. The paper attempts to answer the question of how the development of the main character can be ascertained through the use of corpus stylistics methods. Using tools like the exploration of keywords, type/token ratio, semantic prosody, clusters and collocations, this thesis attempts to bridge the divide between quantitative and qualitative literary. From the application of these toolkits, insights such as Murderbot’s neurotic actions, love-hate relationships, and unusual vocabulary choices can be observed. This could serve as a starting point for further research that could be carried out on this series so as to arrive at further conclusions that might prove to be useful within the study of the science fiction genre.

This thesis investigates the use of metalanguage and its relation to learning outcome in group discussions. Metalanguage is defined as a language about language, a way to talk about the features of a language using a specific vocabulary with great precision. It is suggested that metalanguage is necessary in order to develop the pupils' awareness when text analyses are carried out in school. The purpose of the study is to understand how pupils take on the task presented by the teacher, how they reach consensus, if and how they make use of some kind of metalanguage, and to what degree their discussions can be regarded as learning conversations. Twelve conversations in groups were recorded on video. The pupils were in the first or the final year of upper secondary school and they all attended either Natural Science Programme or Technology Programme. The conversations took place without the teacher being present. In three groups the conversation was observed by the researcher. The task was to talk about a phishing mail using questions provided by the teacher. The three observed conversations were transcribed following principles from Conversation Analysis, CA. The rest of the conversations were transcribed following a key close to written language in order to simplify the reading. Two analyses were carried out. First, the conversations were analysed regarding how to take on the task, interaction and use of metalanguage. Secondly, the structures of the conversations were analysed using concepts from systemic functional grammar. The results show that the conversations are symmetrical and co-operative and that the pupils are focused on solving the task. No metalanguage is used by the students; the discussions are performed using colloquial speech and dramatizations and referring to experiences. The absence of metalanguage is contrasted in effectiveness by the using of terms from the field of information technology. Using experiences from texts outside school proves to be a way of dealing with the task. However, experiences and results are not abstracted into scientific terms and no learning concerning language and text seems to take place. The using of concepts from systemic functional grammar shows that the pupils are mainly concerned with interpersonal aspects of the text, somewhat concerned with ideational aspects – especially logical – and to a less degree concerned with textual aspects. It is suggested that the lower degree of textual focus is related to the absence of metalanguage. It is also shown that the pupils discuss features of the text focusing on various strata of language. Although the pupils' frequent use of experiences from text encounters should be regarded as a great potential from a pedagogical point of view, the results indicate the need of a metalanguage to achieve precision and effectiveness in discussions about texts. Also, the need of instructions guiding the pupils to make use of metalanguage is indicated. The possibility of using concepts from systemic functional grammar is pointed out and further research is suggested.

This paper explores language practice in early childhood education for children new to the majority language, discussing how language practice can be transformed through actions such as reflexive dialogues with educators. In a Swedish action-research project, educators and researchers collaborated in reflexive dialogues to develop language practice in a preschool with large linguistic diversity. Various activities forming the basis of the dialogues were implemented, including photography by children enabling them to share their experiences. The results indicate that the educators positioned themselves between two common approaches to language practice for migrant children, i.e. multilingualism and monolingualism, a positioning evident in their language practice. Although striving for a multilingual approach, the educators' daily activity structure and talk about the children recalled monolingual norms, assuming that people with access to several languages must master one before learning another. Through implementing actions including children's perspectives and introducing 'translanguaging', language practice developed towards multilingualism, focusing increasingly on language as a process for expression and meaning-making rather than a tool for mastering the majority language. This approach turned educators away from deficit assumptions, instead emphasising children's skills and agency.

Relative clause extractions generally yield so-called island effects (degraded judgments) across languages (Ross, 1967), (1). However, Swedish and the other Mainland Scandinavian languages comprise famous exceptions to this pattern (Engdahl and Ejerhed, 1982), cf (2):

(1) * Those books I know a girl that writes.

(2) S ̊ana bo ̈cker ka ̈nner jag en tjej som skriver. such books know I a girl who writes

The origin of island effects is under debate. Sprouse et al. (2012) found superadditive effects in judgments of island violations in English – combined effects greater than the sum of the individual costs for extraction and complexity (island structure). Because no correlation was found between participants’ working memory (WM) span (measured via serial recall and n-back) and the superadditive effects, they concluded that island effects must be deri- ved from violations of syntactic constraints rather than processing limitations. In contrast, Hofmeister et al. (2014) did find a correlation between WM span (measured via reading span) and superadditivity in a rapid serial visual presentation experiment. They also found superadditive effects in fully grammatical, but hard to process sentences, suggesting that processing factors do play a role in superadditivity and hence in island effects.

In our talk, we report on the results from an acceptability judgment experiment that was designed to look for superadditive effects in relative clause extractions in Swedish. We investigated the (super)additive effect of clause type (that-clause (3a), (3c), vs. relative clause, (3b), (3d)), and extraction type (short, (3a)–(3b), vs long, (3c)–(3d)). We also tested whether any such effects correlate with WM span, as measured via an n-back and a reading span task. As a control condition, we also included garden-path sentences and their non- garden-path counterparts, as the processing of garden-paths has been shown to correlate with performance on n-back (Novick et al., 2014).(3)

a. Det var Anna som anma ̈lde att en kille snattade s ̊ana chokladkakor it was Anna who reported that a guy stole such chocolate bars i godisaffa ̈ren.from candy store-the

 b.Det var Anna som anma ̈lde en kille som snattade s ̊ana chokladkakor iit was Anna who reported a guy who stole such chocolate bars from godisaffa ̈ren.candy store-the

c. Det var s ̊ana chokladkakor som Anna anma ̈lde att en kille snattade i it was such chocolate bars that Anna reported that a guy stole in godisaffa ̈ren.candy store-the

d.Det var s ̊ana chokladkakor som Anna anma ̈lde en kille som snattade i it was such chocolate bars that Anna reported a guy who stole in godisaffa ̈ren.candy store-the

Unexpectedly, we found superadditive effects for the relative clause extractions, but no cor- relation with WM, and significantly different ratings for garden-path and non-garden-path sentences, but again no relation with WM. However, since there was no relation between the ratings of garden-paths and WM it is evident that the relation between offline acceptability judgements and WM measure is more complex than assumed in the literature. We therefore cannot conclude that the lack of correlation between the superadditive effect and WM for the extraction data is due to syntactic violations. Rather, we conclude that what causes superadditive effects is still an open question that requires further investigation.

Referenser

Engdahl, Elisabet, and Eva Ejerhed, ed. 1982. Readings on unbounded dependencies in Scandinavian languages. Ume ̊a: Ume ̊a University.

Hofmeister, Philip, Laura Staum Casasanto, and Ivan A. Sag. 2014. Processing effects in lin- guistic judgment data: (super-)additivity and reading span scores. Language and Cogni- tion 6:111–145. URL http://journals.cambridge.org/articleS1866980813000070.

Novick, Jared M., Erika Hussey, Susan Teubner-Rhodes, J. Isaiah Harbison, and Michael F. Bunting. 2014. Clearing the garden-path: improving sentence processing through cogni- tive control training. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience 29:186–217.

Ross, John Robert. 1967. Constraints on variables in syntax. Doctoral Dissertation, MIT, Cambridge, Mass. [published as ‘Infinite syntax’. 1986].

Sprouse, Jon, Matt Wagers, and Colin Phillips. 2012. A test of the relation between working- memory capacity and syntactic island effects. Language 88:82–123.

This paper presents the results of a questionnaire based on students´views of their language skills, learning strategies and how language is used in their undergraduate programmes. Both concern science education: the science teacher programme, School of Teacher Education, and the biomedical analyst programme, School of Health and Society. A total amount of 34 studentrs answered the questionnaire, nine of which are teacher students and 25 biomedical analyst students (translation of the questions and the results in percentage: See appendix). The answers give an interesting hint of two rather different language cultures at these two undergraduate programmes.

Persuasive advertising is almost always, successful advertising. This is a qualitative analysis of two of the Weiden+Kennedy advertising agency’s highly persuasive product commercials; Nike’s 1988 ‘Just do it’ ® sports shoe commercial, and Procter & Gamble’s 2010 ‘The man your man could smell like’ Old Spice body wash commercial. Videos of each commercial were analyzed with the aim of identifying the most persuasive strategies used in successful commercials, in hopes that advertisers can use them to increase sales. This research used rhetorical criticism and Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze para-linguistic and linguistic features (including phonetic marketing techniques), semiotic (non-verbal) devices, including props, and socio-cultural and power constructs, and concluded that they all impacted persuasiveness by comically challenging oppressive cultural norms and persuading viewers to associate each brand with positive and ideal qualities. The research shows target audiences react positively and are more likely to want to purchase products when commercials have characters and imagery they find desirable or lifestyles they may aspire to – a phenomenon known as ‘aspirational marketing’.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how online food delivery companies changed the language in their advertising and took advantage of lockdown restrictions when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020. Using advertising technique theory and Norman Fairclough’s three dimensional framework for analyzing advertising discourse, this study scrutinized the Twitter advertising of four major online food delivery companies in the United States and the United Kingdom (Uber Eats, DoorDash, Deliveroo, and Just Eat) from 1 February 2020 to 30 April 2020 for the purposes of understanding how these companies advertised on Twitter just before the pandemic began and how they pivoted to new advertising techniques and discourses at the beginning of the pandemic. The results show that before the pandemic began, the online food delivery companies’ Twitter advertising generally depended on self-indulgence and giving audiences an excuse to use their service. When the pandemic began, however, the results of this study show the online food delivery companies' conscious efforts to leverage the economic struggle of the food industry caused by the pandemic to their benefit by shifting their advertising techniques and discourses in various ways. 

The marine environment’s evolving discourse on oil pollution in the High Seas since the 1958 Convention on the High Seas and the Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Resources of the High Seas is of great significance. This research aims to investigate the changes and developments in this discourse, shedding light on the importance of addressing oil pollution and its impact on the marine environment. By examining the changes in discourse, the study aims to highlight the difficulty of the problem and the potential implications of its resolution. The approach involves analyzing the 1958 Conventions, GESAMP reports, and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The findings indicate that the 1982 treaty successfully addressed the semantic ambiguity of the terms ships and oil found in the 1958 Conventions. The inclusion of the term vessels in the treaty provided a more comprehensive definition, ensuring coverage of all types of ships. Furthermore, the discourse expanded beyond a singular focus on oil, encompassing a broader range of pollutants and environmental concerns. These results signify progress towards a more holistic approach to combat oil pollution in the high seas. The implications of these findings underscore the importance of ongoing efforts to protect and preserve the marine environment. 

This research paper analyzes the impact of AI-generated text on academic writing, specifically on authorship and voice. OpenAI's ChatGPT, a large language model, is used as a representative case study. The rise of AI in education has sparked debates regarding its advantages and disadvantages. The use of AI in written assessments and its potential impact on traditional notions of authorship, originality, and academic integrity are key concerns. The present study compares an essay written by a student for an English literature course with an equivalent essay generated through ChatGPT. It investigates whether AI can meet the formal requirements of academic writing and the distinctiveness of voice in the generated text, through the lens of assertiveness, self-identification and authorial presence. The present study also highlights the difficulties involved in generating such text. The results show that ChatGPT can produce seemingly appropriate context-based texts, but it requires assistance with factual accuracy and the nuanced characteristics of authorship found in human writing. The AI-generated text lacks the depth, specificity, and accurate source referencing present in human-generated text. The present study concludes that although AI has potential as a tool, its current capabilities, particularly in generating academic text, are limited.

This study analyses and discusses the evolution of the word bitch in Twitter discourse between the years 2010 and 2020. From its beginnings as a derogatory term used to criticise women’s appearance and behaviour in 2010 to being used as an empowering term for women to find a sense of community in 2020, this study notes the significant meanings identified in a specialised social media corpus.

Swedish relative clause (RC) extractions are allegedly acceptable despite a universal constraint on NP extraction (Erteschik-Shir, 1973). In two eye-tracking experiments, we investigated the processing of RC extractions in Swedish by manipulating the plausibility of NP fillers relative to RC predicates. A similar study on English RCs (Traxler & Pickering, 1996) found plausibility effects in English for non-island but not island conditions, indicating a lack of integration in islands.

Experiment 1 tested for plausibility effects in extractions from RCs (alleged non-islands), that-clauses (non-islands), and non-restrictive RCs (islands; Engdahl, 1997). We expected that only the first two would show sensitivity to plausibility. Surprisingly, we found effects, and thus integration for all three structures. Experiment 2 tested for plausibility effects in RCs embedded in subjects (islands) vs. objects (non-islands). The RC verbs (optionally transitive) provided a potential gap and were hypothesized to allow for integration in the object condition only. A following clause provided the real gap. Again, we found plausibility effects for both conditions at the RC verb, suggesting integration. Our study calls into question the correspondence between acceptability- and processing-based metrics of Swedish islandhood and raises the possibility of cross-linguistic variation with regard to the processing of island violations.

The present chapter is a study of the system of olfactory expressions in Georgian, Megrelian, and other Kartvelian languages, including questions of etymology and semantic extensions. Olfactory expressions in the Kartvelian languages are explored with Viberg (1984) as a point of departure, making a division into activity, experience and copulative (source-based) expressions. The study largely relies on data from text corpora of Standard Georgian as well as Georgian dialects. The Kartvelian languages are shown to exhibit specific olfactory terminology, but show numerous examples of expressions being used in several perception modalities. 

From Struwwelpeter to Peter Rabbit, from Alice to Bilbo—this collection of essays shows how the classics of children’s literature have been transformed across languages, genres, and diverse media forms. This book argues that translation regularly involves transmediation—the telling of a story across media and vice versa—and that transmediation is a specific form of translation. Beyond the classic examples, the book also takes the reader on a worldwide tour, and examines, among other things, the role of Soviet science fiction in North Korea, the ethical uses of Lego Star Wars in a Brazilian context, and the history of Latin translation in children’s literature. Bringing together scholars from more than a dozen countries and language backgrounds, these cross-disciplinary essays focus on regularly overlooked transmediation practices and terminology, such as book cover art, trans-sensory storytelling, écart, enfreakment, foreignizing domestication, and intra-cultural transformation.

The purpose of this independent project is to give teachers of young ESL-students a collected knowledge of what kind of digital extramural activities the students often do on their spare time and what consequences this have for the formal primary classroom and students’ vocabulary skills. The studies used are found on EBSCO’s ERIC and SwePub, peer reviewed, published between 2010 and 2020, and all available in full text through Malmö university. Informal learning is shown to have a big impact on formal learning, especially for boys who learn mainly through gaming. Girls still score higher on English tests within formal learning, though boys who are frequent gamers score higher within the studies. Gaming seems to help boys keep up with girls in formal English as a second language. The main skill which gaming gives the students is to communicate, hold a conversation and increase their vocabulary. Since gaming is the extramural activity which seems to give the student the most, and at the same time there are students whose families could not afford to game due to costs of computer, tv, games and, in some cases, internet. This could become a socioeconomic factor which the school and the teacher need to consider, especially since results from some of the studies claim gaming to be how the boys keep up with the girls. Not to forget the students who, thanks to informal learning, speak English on a higher level and their right to be educated at their own level.

This position paper takes the dichotomy between the unified context for teaching writing and writing research in North America and the diversified contexts for writing in Europe as its point of departure to outline several challenges such diversification in Europe may present to students and staff in higher education. The paper further argues for the need of unifying initiatives and describes the rationale for NB!Write, The Nordic and Baltic Network for Writing in Higher Education, and outlines the goals of this initiative. The network strives to determine how the Nordic and Baltic institutional, national, and cultural contexts may help find possible answers to common pedagogical questions and develop sustainable solutions for writing support.

Review of Marianne Hundt, Nadja Nesselhauf and Carolin Biewer (eds.): Corpus linguistics and the web. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi. 2007. ISBN 978-90-420-2128-0.

Diachronic and synchronic studies of linguistic landscapes of central streets and markets were conducted in five cities in Ukraine with different language use preferences in 2015 and 2017–19. The relationship between a monolingual state language policy and the reality of language use in public spaces was investigated. This study focuses on the dynamics of the linguistic landscape of Odesa, a Russian-speaking city with a weak historical connection to the state of Ukraine, and compares them with the linguistic landscapes of central Kyiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Lviv. Linguistic landscape data are complemented with semi-structured interviews investigating de jure policies, de facto practices, and beliefs of individuals who make their language choices in public signage, often contesting the official language policy regulations. Linguistic data can deliver messages about power, values, and the salience of languages used in public places. This mixed-methods research is grounded in a critical ethnographic approach to the study of language policy, politics, and planning. The linguistic landscape in Odesa, a polyethnic city, is exceptionally dynamic in reflecting the de facto language policy in the city. The effects of globalization and language commodification were marked by compliance with the official policy on the central street, but proof of inhabitants’ identity with the Russian language as the lingua franca was evident as the data collection site moved away from the city centre. This synchronic and diachronic studies of languages in Odesa is compared with the languages spoken in four Ukrainian regions and marks a proportional increase in the presence of two main languages—Ukrainian and Russian—independent of the Ukrainization efforts of the state at the time of war. It also suggests that an increase in the use of English, as observed in Odesa, is a way to avoid using the state language.

The article describes how different text types are expressed in the Swedish syllabuses for English. It also accounts for the role text types and genres may play for the development of a broad linguistic repertoire. Finally, it discusses the relationship between teacher support and students' ability to express themselves more freely.