Search results for " Swedish"
showing 10 items of 10 documents
The Slave Coasts. Transnational Sexual Exploitation from Nigeria to Italy. From human trafficking to human rights
2019
This research intends to open a global debate on the current strong link between migration and prostitution on the basis of the reality observed in Palermo in the timespan 2015-2017. The main three elements emerging from the analysis are criminality, poverty and exploitation. As data suggests, Italy is the favorite destination of the Nigerian sexual exploitation market. In particular, Sicily plays a major role in the sexual exploitation ring involving Nigerian migrants, besides headquartering the Italian as well the Nigerian mafia. The agreement between Cosa Nostra (Sicilian Mafia) and the two organizations known as Black Axe and Eye (Nigerian mafia) represents the starting point for sexual…
Eighth-graders' attitudes towards studying English : A study of the effect of language choices and the differences between the genders
2009
Asenteilla ja suhtautumisella on suuria vaikutuksia kielenoppimiseen, niin motivaation kuin yleisen innostuksenkin kannalta. Kieliasenteita on tutkittu paljon etenkin motivaation piirissä ja asenteiden vertailua on tehty esimerkiksi eri sukupuolten ja ikäryhmien välillä. On kuitenkin monia tekijöitä, joiden yhteydestä kieliasenteisiin ei ole paljon tietoa. Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena oli selvittää millä tavoin pitkän valinnaisen kielen opiskelu vaikuttaa englannin kieleen suhtautumiseen kahdeksannella luokalla sekä millä tavoin nuo vaikutukset eroavat tyttöjen ja poikien välillä. Luonteeltaan kvantitatiivinen aineisto kerättiin kyselylomakkeen avulla yhteensä 45 kahdeksasluokkalaiselta.…
Teaching classic put to the test: Do tongue twisters work for L2 pronunciation?
2023
Tongue twisters are a controversial pronunciation teaching classic. Whereas some see tongue twisters difficult and frustrating for learners, others find them fun and motivating. This study was inspired by these opposing views and the fact that previous studies have failed to offer convincing proof of whether this technique works for L2 pronunciation learning. This study approaches the question with a teaching experiment. Participants were 28 learners of L2 Swedish. Half of them trained with tongue twisters and half with authentic sentences. Training focussed on two sounds typically difficult for the learners, who were tested before and after the training period. Further, the participants we…
Sähköpostiviestien aloitukset ja lopetukset oppijansuomessa ja oppijanruotsissa
2013
This study examines interpersonality and audience awareness of initial greetings and leave-taking formulae in 1,041 e-mails (523 Finnish, 518 Swedish) written by Finnish (n = 222) and Swedish (n = 174) language learners in basic education, secondary education and at university level in Finland. The results reveal that there are certain communicative differences between the two groups. The e-mails contain different levels of formality: Swedish learners use more initial greetings and their messages are slightly more coherent than those of Finnish learners. The initial greeting hei/hej is commonly used in different contexts, regardless of the language. Learners’ audience awareness is indicated…
Becoming a Language Teacher: A dream come true or a source of anxiety?
2015
In this qualitative study the author examined personal narratives written by 14 Finnish speaking student teachers of Swedish, in order to find out what they tell about their thoughts and feelings concerning their future work as language teachers. The following three themes were in focus: firstly, what university students tell about their reasons for wanting to become teachers in the first place; secondly, what kinds of worries concerning their future work they mention in their narratives; and thirdly, how student teachers could be supported during transition from teacher education to teaching. According to the study, students choose teaching for reasons that are related to: (a) teacher iden…
Comparing speaking situations in three different language tests
2013
The purpose of this study was to compare learner outcome when five similar speaking situations were offered in the speaking subtest in Finnish, Swedish and English intermediate level tests in the Finnish National Certificates language testing system. The overall aim was to investigate the tasks by comparing learner outcomes across the three tests and to seek explanations for the outcome in the learners’ selfreported demographic, language, educational and professional background.The speaking situations were selected from the NC item bank meaning that they have undergone the Item Response Theory based analyses which indicate that the tasks function well in all tests. More information was need…
Prosody and fluency of Finland Swedish as a second language: Investigating global parameters for automated speaking assessment
2023
This study investigates prosody and fluency of Finland Swedish as a second language (L2). The main objective is to investigate global measures of prosody and fluency as predictors of overall oral proficiency, fluency, and pronunciation ratings. We analyzed parameters related to temporal fluency, timing (based on syllable durations), and f0 change from spontaneous speech produced by 30 native and 235 non-native speakers of Finland Swedish representing proficiency levels from beginner to intermediate. We used pairwise comparisons to investigate the differences between native speech (L1) and L2 samples from different proficiency levels. To study the predictability of ratings with acoustic para…
Key Electoral Institutions and Rules Influencing Proportionality and Partisan Bias in Spanish Politics
2021
The current paper focuses on the Spanish electoral rules governing political competition for the central “Congreso de los Diputados”. It is well-documented that the system as a whole has traditionally favoured one or the other of the two main political parties (PP and PSOE) at the expense of proportionality and the remaining political parties. This paper focuses on some key Spanish electoral rules and investigates how much the observed biases could be altered by introducing some alternative rules taken from the Swedish electoral system, ceteris paribus. Measures of disproportionality are made through the Loosemore–Hanby index and the Gallagher index. The electoral raw data used for our esti…
Begripligheten av finskspråkiga gymnasisters svenska uttal: lyssnarvärderingar
2018

 
 
 The aim of this study is to investigate how comprehensible L1 Finnish speakers’ L2 Swedish is considered to be and whether any listener- or speaker-specific background factors relating to the comprehensibility judgements can be found. The research material consists of Swedish read-aloud texts by 21 Finnish-speaking upper secondary school students. Judgements are given by 64 native Swedish-speakers (Finland-Swedish n = 35, Sweden-Swedish n = 29) using a verbalized scale from 1 to 7. The study shows that L2 Swedish, pronounced by L1 Finnish speakers, is on average considered to be comprehensible but the listener has to concentrate closely. Both Finland-Swedish and Sweden-…
Challenges in developing in-service teacher training: Lessons learnt from two projects for teachers of Swedish in Finland
2017
Teacher education in Finland is widely respected and of high quality. However, there is a recognised need to develop the educational continuum from pre-service education to in-service training. This article deals with challenges connected to in-service teacher training. Based on two projects, consisting of seven one-month courses for teachers of Swedish in Finland, we reflect on the challenges we encountered during the three-year process. In our research, theory and practice, but also data and methods, have been intertwined, as we have studied the phenomenon by using exploratory practice (Allwright, 2003). The projects and the study were based on a thorough literature review. During the pla…