Non-challenging education and teacher control as factors for marginalization of students in diverse settings

This article discusses teachers’ attitudes towards immigrant students in poor settings and the effect these attitudes have on organization of education on classroom level. It draws on results from two ethnographic studies where some primary school classes in Sweden were followed with participant observation and interviews as main research methods. The article focuses on classroom activities and teachers’ attitudes towards immigrant students and students with low socio-economic status. In the article is argued for the importance of presenting students in poor settings with demanding tasks and challenging education. In these cases, intellectually undemanding tasks in combination with little room for students’ own initiatives resulted in low enthusiasm among students regarding schoolwork and accordingly low learning, while classroom work that demanded active involvement by students in combination with high level of students’ influence on what took place in classrooms resulted in high level of students’ engagement and high outcome.

Contemporary Approaches to Translation in the Classroom : A study of students' Attitudes and Strategies

The purpose of this study is to explore the strategies and attitudes of students towards translation in the context of language learning. The informants come from two different classes at an Upper Secondary vocational program. The study was born from the backdrop of discussions among some English teachers representing different theories on translation and language learning, meeting students endeavoring in language learning beyond the confinement of the classroom and personal experiences of translation in language learning. The curriculum and course plan for English at the vocational program emphasize two things of particular interest to our study; integration of the program outcomes and vocational language into the English course - so called meshed learning – and student awareness of their own learning processes. A background is presented of different contrasting methods in translation and language learning that is relevant to our discussion. However, focus is given to contemporary research on reforms within the Comparative Theory, as expressed in Translation in Language and Teaching (TILT), Contrastive Analysis and “The Third Space”. The results of the students’ reflections are presented as attempts to translate two different texts; one lyric and one technical vocational text. The results show a pragmatic attitude among the students toward tools like dictionaries or Google Translate, but also a critical awareness about their use and limits. They appear to prefer the use of first language to the target language when discussing the correct translation as they sought accuracy over meaning. Translation for them was a natural and problem-solving event worth a rightful place in language teaching.

Active cooling of low-concentrating hybrid PV/Thermal collectors

A series of measurements on the performance of solar cell string modules with low-concentrating CPC reflectors with a concentration factor C ˜ 4X have been carried out. To minimise the reduction in efficiency due to high cell temperatures, the modules were cooled. Four different way of cooling were tested:1) The thermal mass of the module was increased, 2) passive air cooling was used by introducing a small air gap between the module and the reflector, 3) the PV cells were cooled by a large cooling fin, 4) the module was actively cooled by circulating cold water on the back. The best performance was given with the actively cooled PV module which gave 2,2 times the output from a reference module while for the output from the module with a cooling fin the value was 1,8.Active cooling is also interesting due to the possibility of co-generation of thermal and electrical energy which is discussed in the paper. Simulations, based on climate data from Stockholm, latitude 59.4°N, show that there are good prospects for producing useful temperatures of the cooling fluid with only a slightly reduced performance of the electrical fraction of the PV thermal hybrid system.

Students' views on the learning of kanji : A study the views and experiences of students at the Swedish universities concerning the teaching and learning of Chinese characters as used in Japanese

Kanji, the Chinese characters adopted to write the Japanese language, is often mentioned as one of the most difficult aspects of mastering said language. This is especially said about people from outside the Sinosphere i.e. PRC, Taiwan, North and South Korea, Japan and Vietnam. In the following thesis 12 students studying the Japanese language at Swedish universities were interviewed about their experiences when it comes to learning and being taught about kanji. A chapter summarizing some of the research that is relevant to this thesis is also included. Topics touched upon in this and the result chapter include the desire for more structured approach to kanji learning based on breaking down the characters into elemental components, spaced repetition (SRS), mnemonics.