The Language Awareness of Finnish and German EFL Senior High School Learners and Student Teachers Regarding English Grammar and Its Teaching

The aim of this study is to examine and contrast the language awareness of Finnish and German EFL senior high school students and student teachers regarding aspects of English grammar and its teaching. Data was collected from Finland and Germany during the academic school years of 2015–16 and 2016–17. It consists of the responses to twosurvey questions of 1st year EFL senior high school students (n = 200 from Finland, n = 200 from Germany) andstudent teachers (n = 118 from Finland, n = 118 from Germany). The study utilizes both qualitative (content analysis) and quantitative (frequencies, percentages, cross tabulation [χ2-test]) research methods. The results show that the subjects’ awareness of English grammar and its teaching was mainly based on intuitive, implicit knowledge. It was difficult for both senior high school learners and student teachers to build a cognitive understanding that would increase their awareness of English grammar, and, as a result of this, its teaching, and respectively their grammar-related didactical competences.The aim of this study is to examine and contrast the language awareness of Finnish and German EFL senior high school students and student teachers regarding aspects of English grammar and its teaching. Data was collected from Finland and Germany during the academic school years of 2015–16 and 2016–17. It consists of the responses to two survey questions of 1st year EFL senior high school students (n = 200 from Finland, n = 200 from Germany) and student teachers (n = 118 from Finland, n = 118 from Germany). The study utilizes both qualitative (content analysis) and quantitative (frequencies, percentages, cross tabulation [χ2-test]) research methods. The results show that the subjects’ awareness of English grammar and its teaching was mainly based on intuitive, implicit knowledge. It was difficult for both senior high school learners and student teachers to build a cognitive understanding that would increase their awareness of English grammar, and, as a result of this, its teaching, and respectively their grammar-related didactical competences.Peer reviewe

Cancer Risk Near a Polluted River in Finland

The River Kymijoki in southern Finland is heavily polluted with polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans and may pose a health threat to local residents, especially farmers. In this study we investigated cancer risk in people living near the river (< 20.0 km) in 1980. We used a geographic information system, which stores registry data, in 500 m × 500 m grid squares, from the Population Register Centre, Statistics Finland, and Finnish Cancer Registry. From 1981 to 2000, cancer incidence in all people (N = 188,884) and in farmers (n = 11,132) residing in the study area was at the level expected based on national rates. Relative risks for total cancer and 27 cancer subtypes were calculated by distance of individuals to the river in 1980 (reference: 5.0–19.9 km, 1.0–4.9 km, < 1.0 km), adjusting for sex, age, time period, socioeconomic status, and distance of individuals to the sea. The respective relative risks for total cancer were 1.00, 1.09 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.04–1.13], and 1.04 (95% CI, 0.99–1.09) among all residents, and 1.00, 0.99 (95% CI, 0.85–1.15), and 1.13 (95% CI, 0.97–1.32) among farmers. A statistically significant increase was observed for basal cell carcinoma of the skin (not included in total cancers) in all residents < 5.0 km. Several other common cancers, including cancers of the breast, uterine cervix, gallbladder, and nervous system, showed slightly elevated risk estimates at < 5.0 km from the river. Despite the limitations of exposure assessment, we cannot exclude the possibility that residence near the river may have contributed to a small increase in cancer risk, especially among farmers

Cross-Linguistic Influences of Learning German in Finnish and German Upper Secondary Schools

The aim of this study is to find out what importance upper secondary school learners of German attach to the cross-linguistic influence (CLI) regarding specific aspects of German language learning in Finland and Germany. Cross-linguistic learning gives learners additional skills to learn and understand structures and words in their mother tongue, a second language or a foreign language. The Finnish students (n=100) participating in our survey spoke Finnish as their mother tongue and studied German as a foreign language. German students spoke German either as their mother tongue (n=40) or as a second language (n=60), but they studied German as a native language. The survey data consisted of students' answers to one identical question that they were asked in the school years 2017-2020: 'How does the knowledge of the languages studied at school (Swedish, English, French, Spanish, Latin – cross-linguistic learning) affect their learning of German?' Our research methods were both quantitative and qualitative. The main results showed that the positive transfer on learning German was based on the perceived (objective) similarity of languages while the negative transfer was based on assumed (subjective) similarities which were in conflict with actual (objective) differences in German language learning processes and experiences of language learning. Skills in other languages contributed to learning German, but they also interacted positively and negatively with each other's learning. Learning to learn was found to be a unifying factor in language learning