There is a lot of research made on second language (L2) learning (Jesney, 2004). However the relationship between foreign accent, intelligibility and acoustics within pronunciation tutoring is quite an unresearched area (Thorén, 2008). The aim of the study was to analyze how a course in Swedish pronunciation affected foreign accent, intelligibility and acoustics among L2-learners of Swedish. A total of 41 people participated in the study: 16 L2-learners, 4 native Swedish speakers consisting a control group and 21 perceptual assessors with Swedish as native language. The L2-learners foreign accent and intelligibility were rated by the listeners before and after a course in Swedish pronunciation on an eight-point Likert-scale.

In view of the difficulty of recruiting staff to care profession and in terms of the increasing need to find ways of ensuring a good language level in the profession, have an interest in language tests been revealed. The purpose of this paper is therefore to highlight the use of language tests for admission to the care courses for adults in Värmland. What provided This is a survey of the prevalence and an examination of the validity of the test. The issue that this study assumed is: How is language test in connection with admission to the certified health and social care courses for adults in Värmland? How well correlates intent of the use of the language test with the test's validity and reliability?The methods used to seek answers to these questions has been a combination of questionnaires and experiments.

This study examines implementation from national law in to local practice in the district of Kalmar to assure newly arrived immigrants orientation in civics. The study takes its starting point in Lipskys theory about street-level bureaucracy.  Questions that are discussed are about how  the education is understood by refugee?s coordinators, civic communicators and the new immigrates, how the organization has been and what role the demography and economic structures has played for the organization. It is a case study where interviews and enquete has been used.

The purpose of this essay is to examine the importance of personal election for candidates of foreign background. I made this, first, by map and comparing the candidates of foreign background in the recent Swedish and Finnish parliamentary election. Second, I analyze what conceptions candidates of foreign background, who was nominated in the 2006 municipal election in Örebro, have about the personal election. The result from the first study shows that personal election had a negative impact on candidates of foreign background in both the Swedish and Finnish parliamentary elections. The result from the second study shows that candidates of foreign background have both positive and negative conceptions about the personal election.

The purpose of this study was to investigate into the praxis based sociocultural tools that are utilized to enhance language development in early childhood education. Four pre-school teachers were involved in this study. Two were recruited from an independent pre-school "Maria Montessori", practicing the pedagogical philosophy developed by Maria Montessori. Two were from a public pre-school herein named "Kvasten", which has no official philosophy but where the teachers (like in many Swedish pre-schools) work in a general alignment with the principles of Reggio Emilia pedagogics. The theoretical fundament of the study lies in the general theories of language development and education of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotskij, and the comparative element mainly concerns the variations in pedagogical praxis between the two pre-schools, and the way the teachers reason about language development.

This research shows and analyses how pupils in ninth grade in the nine-year compulsory school look at being multilingual, at the Swedish language and at Swedish as a second language. I also want to know if language and culture knowledge are taken care of in school as it says in official documents for the Swedish school and as it also is desired in an intercultural education. For my research I do eight interviews in a suburb school south of Stockholm.My work includes a limited account for the current research about being multilingual, Swedish as a second language and about the close relationship between language and culture. The applied theory is a social constructivist theory which in short can be explained like that we construct social structures that have consequences on the individual as well as on the society.I show in my research how the view of the world around the pupils influences their view on their languages, their school and their neighbourhood. I also draw conclusions from my interviews that language knowledge is little appreciated in school and that Swedish as a second language has a low status..

This study is about how teachers of history at different upper secondary schools in Uppsala think and talk about the role language plays in the classroom and in education in general. In order to find this out, interviews were carried out with five teachers of history at four different upper secondary schools in Uppsala. This study has an analysis of the statements by and interviews with the teachers in a wide context by using a previous study carried out in Uppsala, which categorizes the upper secondary schools of Uppsala into a social field based upon what assets their students have. These assets are estimated by using Bourdieu?s theory of symbolic, social and cultural capital.

The main purpose of my essay is to inquire into the situation in the preparatory classes. The focus of interest in the essay is to see how new arrived pupils/children from Iraq integrate in the new school environment, foreign culture and what difficulties they come across during their period at the preparatory class. Such as language difficulties and how they manage with the traumatic memories from the war and the effect of that in their learning.I choose to do a qualitative survey and taking part in observing a preparatory class to see how they work. Thereafter, to see from a different perspective and understand the pupils more and perhaps go deeper with some questions I choose to interview some of the pupils. The responds I received gave me a more comprehensible idea of the struggle these children have been through and still go through in a daily basis.The result of this study illustrates the character of a preparatory class, and the central factors that occur in their education.

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine if the Swedish policy of foreign affairs has been changed due to the Swedish enter as members in the European Union. The research method used for this essay has been a comparative case study between the Swedish and Norwegian declared policy of foreign affairs and it strives to answer the research question, which is if the Swedish declared policy of foreign affairs has been changed in character due to the Europeanization. The theoretical framework of this study consists of Europeanization as a comprehensive theoretical perspective. I order to answer the research question a classification schedule has been elaborated to examine the objectives of the Swedish and Norwegian declared policy of foreign affairs. The analytical method of this part has been a quantitative and qualitative approach.

This essay investigates the pupils, in Swedish upper secondary school in the greater Stockholm area, who choose to study the Russian language as a foreign language. The essay asks; who are these students, and what is motivation behind their language choice? In order to answer these two questions the essay uses both interviews and paper survey. The theoretical background ofth is essay is based on the works and theories of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, and thus the question; who are these students is aimed at the students' social and economical background in lines with Bourdieu's theories. The essay also uses the earlier study of Swedish sociologist Mikael Palme, in which he maps the different schools and programs in the greater Stockholm area, in a socio-economical context based on habitus.

Then the language learning process and the approach in a preparatory class differs itself from a general class. The methods conducted in a preparatory class are not just focused on teaching as in a more traditional method. Achieving the objectives in a preparatory class depends on the individual student and the cohesion in the group. Students have different backgrounds and knowledge level, therefore it is extremely important that the teachers use different work methods in order to achieve and to promote the students' language development. The aim with this survey is to get the knowledge about what education methods is being used by teachers in a preparatory class.

This study attempts to look into and discuss if there are motivation factors involved whentrying to achieve a seeond language, which might effect the acquisition in any direction. Theeducation provided in Halmstad in Swedish as a seeond language is also studied on bases ofthe IDs (Individual Differences) that might occur. The study is carried out by interviews witheight informants. The interviews are analyzed and the results, which support previous researchin the area, are presented; and finally, in the conclusion part, suggestions for future researchare given, along with propos als on how to expand a study in this area..

The purpose of this study is to chart and describe which content and different models that teachers use when teaching English as a foreign language at upper secondary school in Sweden. The study was performed through a phenomenonographic point of view, where the aim is to present and compare different understandings within a certain area. Our study emanates in Lars-Göran Malmberg?s theories about different teaching models used when teaching Swedish, which have been transferred and modified by Bo Lundahl into teaching English as foreign language. On the basis of this theory, six individual interviews with different teachers at upper secondary school were carried out with concern of discussing the content and aim of English teaching.

This study is an attempt to shed light on the importance of fiction as a bridge between different cultures and traditions. The objective of this essay is threefold. First it explores the potentiality of fiction as a communication channel between different cultures, societies and social groups. Secondly, it studies the availability of foreign fiction in Swedish language. And thirdly it tries to approach and analyze the structures and mechanisms behind that availability.

The purpose of these studies is to see how the reception and education of non-Swedish speaking newcomers are organized in a small county, and what you can do to improve this process to achieve a better and quicker integration into the Swedish language and society. To do this, interviews have been performed with four headmasters and different categories of teachers representing all schools in the actual county.In the result it was clear that both headmasters as teachers saw a need to change   and improve reception to provide consistent but flexible support. The headmasters wanted to create written instructions to assure equivalence between the different schools. The majority of teachers wanted to change the current system whereby some pupils, based on their origins, were placed in a preparatory class to learn the language whilst others were placed directly into a Swedish class. All teachers also thought that the help the non-Swedish speaking newcomers were offered was insufficient.The conclusion is that the county must decide and create instructions according to Skolverket?s recommendations and it also ought to offer all pupils the possibility of learning the basis of the language in a preparatory class.