Developing and evaluating the feasibility of the Mobile Intervention for Breastfeeding counseling in maternity care

Despite the strong evidence of breastfeeding benefits for mothers’ and newborns’ nutrition and health, breastfeeding is not practiced according to current recommendations. Digital solutions such as the mobile applications have produced promising results to promote successful breastfeeding in maternity care. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the feasibility of a Mobile Intervention for Breastfeeding counseling (MIBFc) by collecting information on the usability, utility, and recommendations of the solution from mothers. The MIBFc was based on World Health Organization recommendations for breastfeeding. This study was a cross-sectional descriptive design that used an electronic survey to collect data from sample of 39 Finnish mothers in 2018 (n=13, Group 1) and 2019–2020 (n=26, Group 2). The data were analysed using descriptive statistical analysis, while qualitative responses were grouped into themes based on their similarities of the content. The results showed that most of the mothers (over 92%) felt that the mobile intervention was easy to use and 88% of the mothers felt that the mobile intervention’s content was adequate. Mothers’ experiences with the utility of the mobile intervention were relevant, that is, they felt that the mobile intervention supported their oral guidance (89%) and helped to breastfeed for up successfully exclusively to six months (n=7, 41%). Most of the mothers used the mobile intervention primarily during pregnancy. The mothers were satisfied with the intervention’s layout, and they recommended it to other mothers in same situation, although there were some technical problems with links. This study indicated that the feasibility of the MIBFc, including usability and utility was good, based on the mothers’ overall evaluation. Using the mobile intervention can increase mothers’ knowledge of breastfeeding and support for lactation. The study highlights a need for future evaluations of the effectiveness of MIBFc in large populations

Aika kielipolitiikassa. Päivälehtien nettikeskustelujen historiakäsitysten analyysi

This article focuses on the arguments for and against the compulsory study of Swedish in the Finnish school system by analyzing Internet discussion forum debates of three daily newspapers. We particularly focus on arguments utilizing consciousness and conceptions of history and time. The data has been collected from the Internet discussion fora of Helsingin Sanomat, Hufvudstadsbladet and Vasabladet between October 8–14, 2010. The debates have been analyzed both textually and from an historical perspective in relation to the past, present and future time. A prominent characteristic in the debates is a denial of the significance of history as a language political argument. Another significant result is the use of globalization, as opposed to a Nordic orientation, as an argument against compulsory Swedish. A third result is the strong individualistic argumentation, which links with the denial of the significance of history. Our results suggest there is a need for the development of history education at schools, emphasizing the history of ideas and cultural history beside political and economic history, and integrating the teaching of languages and history.Analysoimme tässä historiantutkijan, koulutustutkijan, kielentutkijan ja kielikoulutuspolitiikan tutkijan yhteistyönä syntyneessä artikkelissa ruotsinopetuksen pakollisuuteen ja vapaaehtoisuuteen liittyviä argumentteja Helsingin Sanomien, Hufvudstadsbladetin ja Vasabladetin verkkokeskustelupalstoilla ajalla 8.14.10. 2011 käydyissä keskusteluissa. Keskitymme historiaan perustuvien argumenttien käyttöön ja niiden kyseenalaistamiseen sekä nykyhetken ja tulevaisuuden näkymien tuottamaan aikajatkumoon ja sen katkoksiin. Yksi keskeisimmistä keskustelun juonteista on historian merkityksen kieltäminen kielipoliittisessa argumentoinnissa. Toinen näkökulma liittyy globalisaation käyttöön argumentoinnin tukena silloin, kun ruotsin pakollisuutta vastustetaan ja pyritään irrottautumaan suuntautumisesta Pohjoismaihin. Kolmas tapa perustella näkemyksiä on yksilön henkilökohtaisten kokemusten käyttö argumentoinnin voimana. Myös tämä keino liittyy historian merkityksen kieltämiseen. Tuloksemme viittaavat siihen, että historian opetuksessa olisi painotettava politiikan ja talouden rinnalla myös aate- ja kulttuurihistoriallisia näkökulmia, ja samalla huomioitava kielen ja kielenkäytön keskeinen identiteettiä rakentava tehtävä

Vieraskielisen opetuksen monet tahot ja toimijat

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Monipuolisesti puhuttelukäytännöistä

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Hands-on tasks in CLIL science classrooms as sites for subject-specific language use and learning

This paper is concerned with content and language integrated learning (CLIL), i.e. classrooms where a foreign or second language (L2) is used as the means of instruction and where content and language learning objectives merge. More specifically, it explores the potential of hands-on tasks in CLIL chemistry and physics lessons to serve as sites for using and learning subject-specific language, conceptualised as both special concepts and terminology as well as subject-specific ways of constructing meaning. Using discourse analysis, attention was directed to hands-on tasks as well as pre-task and post-task phases. The findings indicate that despite the evident content orientation in the tasks, language matters feature in the handling of the tasks. The pre-task and post-task phases seem more conducive to students engaging in subject-specific language use than the action-oriented hands-on tasks that involved highly indexical language use. Overall, the orientation to language of the subject remained implicit rather than explicit throughout. This indicates the importance of awareness raising so that CLIL teachers can better come into terms with their specific remit in language education as ones in charge of making the language of their subjects visible and approachable to students.peerReviewe

School‐Relevant Language As a Meaning‐Making Activity : A CLIL Perspective : A Commentary on “Midadolescents’ Language Learning at School : Toward More Just and Scientifically Rigorous Practices in Research and Education”

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Englanti oppimisen kohteena ja välineenä : katsaus luokkahuoneinteraktioon

This paper approaches classroom interaction from a pragmatic perspective. More specifically, it concentrates on two different types of classrooms where English is either the object or the medium of study. Rather than assessing students’ linguistic skills, the purpose is to analyse how English is put to use in these two settings, for what kinds of social and interactional purposes. The fi ndings show how the different institutional role of English is refl ected at the level of interaction. In brief, in EFL classes English is constructed as the focus of attention through abundant use of Finnish and the materials dependent use of English which renders English pragmatically rather detached from the speakers. In the content-based classrooms, English serves a broader array of pragmatic functions and more often reflcts speakers’ views and perceptions, which makes interaction more interpersonally involved.peerReviewe

On the role of peer discussions in the learning of subject-specific language use in CLIL

Introduction: Language learners’ discourse, the theme of this volume, is approached in this chapter from the viewpoint of content and language integrated learning, known as CLIL (e.g. Coyle, Hood & Marsh 2010). The context is Finland, with data from secondary level history classes taught in English. More specifically, this chapter explores learner discourse in a hitherto underexplored context: group-work situations where students are involved in peer discussions without the presence of the teacher. While reaching a research-based understanding of the dynamics of teacher-student interaction in CLIL settings continues to be important for the whole CLIL enterprise and a goal worth pursuing further, it is also worthwhile to direct an analytical gaze at group-work situations and at learners’ joint processes of negotiation and interaction, because we know less about the value of these contexts for learning. What further characterizes this chapter is that rather than focusing on how students learn or how well they master the target language as a system (i.e. paying attention to the correctness of formal aspects of language), the purpose is to explore what students’ group-work interaction reveals about content and language integration, a crucial concern in CLIL given its dual and overlapping goals. In so doing, it seeks to investigate students’ joint processes of meaning making and the extent to which their discursive practices reveal any orientation to subject-specific language use. The focus is thus on the very notion of subject and language integration, how students co-construct understanding of a subject-specific activity, and the type of language this requires. Theoretically, the study is based on a discourse-pragmatic orientation to interaction which emphasizes both the necessity of situated exploration of the details of talk and attention to the social-interpersonal dimensions inherent in any communicative encounter (for more details, see Nikula 2005, 2008). As regards the approach to learning, the study draws on socio-constructivist understandings of learning, according to which it is useful to see learning as social accomplishment and meaning making as a joint construction rather than a process undertaken solely by individuals (e.g. Lantolf & Poehner 2008).peerReviewe