SPRÅK OCK INTERAKTION 2

Lindholm, Camilla & Lindström Jan (red.) (2010) Språk och interaktion 2. Nordica Helsingiensia 19. Helsingfors: Helsingforsuniversitet

Video calls as a nexus of practice in multilingual translocal families

This study explores how daily video calls were used by two multilingual family constellations to keep in contact with members located elsewhere. A three-stage data collection and analysis protocol was developed together with the two main participants, two single mothers each with a 4-year-old child. The results show that active collaboration among all members of the family was needed to get the activity going. The families employed a de facto family language policy where the focus was on successful communication and nurturing emotional bonds rather than developing language skills. At the same time, the regular video calls added a significant amount of time spent together and increased the amount of language input, factors conducive to language transmission. The study shows the urgent need to include digital practices in family language policy research

Språkpolicy vid svenskspråkiga daghem i Finland: tvåspråkiga barns handlingar och agens

The aim of this article is to examine communicative actions of nine Swedish-Finnish bilingual children enrolled in Swedish-medium early childhood education and care in Finland. We discuss the interplay between declared monolingual language policy, and the ideology of supporting the language background of the bilingual child. As a result we found a dual practiced language policy. With the agency and actions of bilingual children we could identify both monolingual policy being practiced, but also a bilingual policy being constructed at the same time. Neither of the practiced dual policies seemed to be explicitly resisted either by the children or the pedagogical practitioners. The communicative actions of the nine children showed that they are individuals and they all constructed their bilingual policies in varied ways, some of the children even, quite clearly, preferring the monolingual policy in their communicative actions.peerReviewe

Assessment of Written Proficiency: Finnish-speaking University Students Writing in Swedish

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Språkval och vägval – en valfråga 2011?

Kirjoittaja pohtii artikkelissaan ruotsin valinnaisuutta vaalikysymyksenä Hufvudstadsbladetin uutisointia analysoimalla.nonPeerReviewe

Fräsande huvuden och passionerade eldar: Självporträtt gjorda av svenskstudenter

Inledning: Studenter som läser svenska som bi- eller huvudämne vid universitetet med sikte på att bli lärare har själva rikligt med erfarenheter av att vara inlärare. Med detta följer att man har individuella uppfattningar vad gäller språkinlärning och språkundervisning (se t.ex. Kalaja & Barcelos 2003). Huhtala (2008) fångade dessa uppfattningar hos en grupp direktvalda svensklärarstudenter genom narrativa analyser av studenternas egna skrivna berättelser. Hon kunde bland annat urskilja att studenterna hade olika upplevelser av universitetsstudierna, olika inställning till svenska språket samt synen på lärarens roll. Kalaja, Alanen, Palviainen och Dufva (u.u.) använde å sin sida enkäter med öppen svarsrymd där svensk- och engelsk studenter skriftligen fick besvara frågor rörande deras erfarenheter och uppfattningar av språkinlärning och språk undervisning i och utanför skolan (sevidarenedan).I båda dessa studier analyserades således studenters verbala (skriftliga) framställningar. I denna artikel kommer jag istället att analysera ett slags visuella berättelser (Kalaja,Alanenoch Dufva 2008:189), nämligen elva självporträtt utförda av studenter som läser svenska på sitt första år på universitetet.nonPeerReviewe

Video calls as a nexus of practice in multilingual translocal families

This study explores how daily video calls were used by two multilingual family constellations to keep in contact with members located elsewhere. A three-stage data collection and analysis protocol was developed together with the two main participants, two single mothers each with a 4-year-old child. The results show that active collaboration among all members of the family was needed to get the activity going. The families employed a de facto family language policy where the focus was on successful communication and nurturing emotional bonds rather than developing language skills. At the same time, the regular video calls added a significant amount of time spent together and increased the amount of language input, factors conducive to language transmission. The study shows the urgent need to include digital practices in family language policy research.peerReviewe

The Proficiency in Swedish of Finnish Speaking University Students : Status and Directions for the Future

All Finnish-speaking students in Finland are obliged to study Swedish at lower and upper secondary school. At university, students taking a degree must obtain a Civil Service Language Proficiency (CSLP) Certificate in Swedish, for which spoken and written proficiency corresponding to at least level B1 on the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) must be demonstrated, along with the proficiency necessary for the professional field in question. This article aims to empirically examine the extent to which university students demonstrate the requested level of written proficiency when entering university, and to discuss potential actions to meet the challenges of the current situation. A total of 490 university students participated in the study, representing seven faculties at a Finnish-speaking university. Those 490 students wrote an essay in Swedish when beginning a course leading to obtaining a CSLP Certificate; three independent raters evaluated all the essays according to the CEFR scale. The results show that 52.9 % of the essays were marked below B1. This article concludes by discussing the need for increased consistency in assessment procedures at all educational stages. Possible actions for improving general level of skills at lower and upper secondary schools are suggested, as is a reconsideration of the need for everyone to obtain the CSLP Certificate as part of university study

Att utveckla en Jyväskyläidentitet: Undervisning på svenska i en finskdominerad miljö

I denna text görs ett nedslag i en svenskspråkig klass i en officiellt enspråkig finsk kommun (Jyväskylä i Mellersta Finland). Utav kommunens 131 000 invånare är ca 300 registrerade som svenskspråkiga. Den svenska klassen – som har funnits sedan 2003 i Pohjanlammen koulu – är en av nära trehundra svenskspråkiga skolor eller klasser som finns i Finland idag och följer samma läroplaner. Samtidigt är undervisningen på flera sätt helt unik.nonPeerReviewe

The Proficiency in Swedish of Finnish speaking University Students: Status and Directions for the Future

All Finnish-speaking students in Finland are obliged to study Swedish at lower and upper secondary school. At university, students taking a degree must obtain a Civil Service Language Proficiency (CSLP) Certificate in Swedish, for which spoken and written proficiency corresponding to at least level B1 on the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) must be demonstrated, along with the proficiency necessary for the professional field in question. This article aims to empirically examine the extent to which university students demonstrate the requested level of written proficiency when entering university, and to discuss potential actions to meet the challenges of the current situation. A total of 490 university students participated in the study, representing seven faculties at a Finnish-speaking university. Those 490 students wrote an essay in Swedish when beginning a course leading to obtaining a CSLP Certificate; three independent raters evaluated all the essays according to the CEFR scale. The results show that 52.9 % of the essays were marked below B1. This article concludes by discussing the need for increased consistency in assessment procedures at all educational stages. Possible actions for improving general level of skills at lower and upper secondary schools are suggested, as is a reconsideration of the need for everyone to obtain the CSLP Certificate as part of university study