Previous research has confirmed that the ability to repeat non-words has a close connection to a child?s language acquisition (Adams & Gathercole, 2000; Gray, 2003; Sahlén, Reuterskiöld-Wagner, Nettelbladt & Radeborg, 1999). It is also known that a repetition task is aided if the word is well known to the child (Roy & Chiat, 2004; Sahlén, m.fl., 1999). A relatively under-investigated area is that of the influence of prosodic variables on repetition of words and non-words.In the current study, 44 Swedish children between the ages of four and six years with typical language development were tested regarding word- and non-word repetition abilities. The words and non-words were matched based on stress, tonal word accent and number of syllables.

The purpose of our master thesis was to investigate how a multicultural society is reflected in childrens books picture books, books for children and young people, published in 2002. We found this issue interesting since children of today experience a change in society, where people of many ethnicities, cultures and religions live together to a greater extent than before. Since children in their everyday life are exposed to these different cultures, we think they also should be exposed to them in the books they read. In order to enhance an understanding of why such books are important to children, especially immigrant children, we have in our thesis included a passage with childrens linguistic development, identification and stereotypes. Other passages concern libraries and their roles in a multicultural society.

This master?s thesis deals with the issue of children?s theatre at the public library. I want to examine what purpose children?s theatre play for the children according to the children?s librarians, what different factors that may influence the purchase of plays to the public library and what the children?s librarians think of the children?s theatre at the public library at present and in the future. Interviews have been conducted with four children?s librarians, at different libraries, who are somehow involved in the purchase of children?s plays to the library.

Recently I discovered that preschool education has evolved from integration of various subject contents and working methods. The purpose of my study is to investigate preschool teachers' attitudes and ways of working with a theme-oriented approach. I also want to examine their opinions regarding the integration of subject content in terms of mathematics and science subjects (NO) in preschools theme-oriented work approach.My questions for this study are:What is a preschool teacher's attitude and their ways of working to a thematic-oriented approach?What is a preschool teacher's opinions regarding the integration of subject content, especially in mathematics and science subjects (NO) in their pre-schools theme-oriented work approach?I have used myself a qualitative method of investigation to produce materials for my research project. I collected my empirical material for my study from the semi-structured interviews that was done with four preschool teachers in two preschools in Botkyrka municipality.

The purpose with this study was to find out about the preschool toddler?s peer-cultures. I also wanted to understand how these peer-cultures were shown.My questions are as following:What is it that the children interpretive and reproduce in their play?How do children gain access to play?How do children exclude each other?What position of status can be seen in children´s play?I used observations as the method to find the answer to these questions. These observations where implemented during five occasions at two different preschools.

The starting point for the present study is that the physical environment can enhance the learning processes of children. We want to contribute to more focus being placed on this within library and information sciences. Our main aim is to illustrate how the physical environment can facilitate the learning of children. In order to achieve our aim, we examine a concrete physical environment, namely the children?s department at the main library in Kungsbacka.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to investigate the notions and use of non fiction literature of children 9-11 years old. Moreover, this study tries to dissect the underlying concepts that exert influence over the target groups notions and use of non fiction literature. The method and empirical basis of this study is qualitative, with interviews of eight children within the target group. We use a theory of reading exchange to highlight the different areas of usability of non fiction for children. To emphasize how children use non fiction as representative for actual facts, or as non fiction with fictional content, we use a four-field correlation model.

AbstractIn this essay, I have performed a study on peer cultures and how these peer cultures are expressed in a group of pre-school children. My questions are as following:What positions/power positions can be seen in children?s play, and how will these be expressed?How do the children gain access to play?How do children act when they want to exclude other children?In order to understand this I have chosen to do observations as a method. In order to investigate these questions I chose to spend six whole mornings with a group of pre-school children, closely observing their behavior. The focus was on children, three years of age or older.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to review Swedens unique law against TV-commercials intended for children under twelve years old. The law has to be abided by TV 4, but not by Kanal 5, so the aim is also to compare TV 4 and Kanal 5 and to see in what different ways commercials are shaped in the two channels. The cultural policy analysis is based on our aim and problem. We have also had the terms semiotic and intermediality in mind together with a model made by the researcher in semiotics Roman Jakobson. The model consists of six different communicative functions.

The purpose with this qualitative text analysis was to study how the sex roles of children are presented in children's books published in 2004 in comparison with children's books published 1972-74. The focus was to find patterns and differences. The study embraces eight books intended for children aged 5-9.The main results of the study showed that the girls were described to have a greater bent to take care, while the boys in general were more aimed to perform and achieve. In both today's and the books from the 70´s, the boys were described as aggressive and independent and the girls were often looked upon as princesses by fathers and boys. Violent rowdy behaviour was the essential thing among boys in especially the books from the 70´s.

There is an ongoing discussion in Sweden about child perspective and child?s perspective.The municipalities? family law units are required to include these perspectives in their investigations. But how do they affect the outcome of custody investigations? This essay addresses that issue. I have looked at how much say children have and how much they participate in their custody investigations.

The aim of this study is to investigate parents attitudes towards picture books and childrens reading. The study is based upon qualitative interviews with seven parents, 29-44 years of age, who have children between 3 and 6 years of age. The study is hermeneutic. The conceptual framework used in this study, is Uffe Seilmans categories of different kinds of attitudes towards childrens sparetime occupations, for example reading. These are the authoritarian, the laissez-faire and the democratic attitudes.

All small- and medium-sized family owned enterprises need to sooner or later undergo a change of ownership. When the elder generation is approaching their retirement they have to make a choice; either hand over the business to the younger generation or sell it to an outsider. The succession of the family owned business can create a life long dilemma for the entrepreneur. From the view of taxation there are, according to current legislation, no reasons to plan the succession to the younger generation. If no preparation has been done, the optional law system concerning inheritance will divide the property left.

In my study I have chosen to examine the mathematics in children's free play and everyday situations, with focus on sorting and classification. The purpose of the study was to see how children express their mathematical knowledge. I have chosen to use a qualitative method in my examination, here I did observations in a children's group where the children were between three and six years old. I also did interviews with the teacher's on the department to see how they relate to the mathematics and how they formulate the department to achieve as good a learning environment as possible.The result shows that the teacher's approach is incredible important to the children's learning ability and that they are always present to challenge and discuss together with the children. The observation indicates that children use mathematics all the time in their everyday situations and that it is the interaction between individuals and environment that affects children's development. .

Through interviews with children of ages 4-5 years old and by observing children children at play at three preschools with different types of outdoor surroundings, I have investigated if the preschools outdoor surroundings have any influences on the children´ choice of play. The hypothesis was that natural surroundings can entice children´s interest in nature being in it and play. I have also investigated if the children know why it is important to be outdoors and if they know it has a positive influence on their health.The result of my investigation is that the children play about the same games at the three different preschool gardens, but at the preschool with more natural surroundings, the children have more contact with plants and animals, and could learn of the different phenomena of nature by the preschool teacher answering their questions. Most of the children in the interviews know it´s useful to be outdoors and be on the move and get fresh air, but many of them thought it was most important to play. By being outdoors the children get exercise, fresh air, play and at the same time they establish an understanding of the nature and a healthier life..