About Collaboration, Interaction, and the Negotiation of Meaning in Synchronous Written Chats in L2-German

Open Access

Relative durations of post-vocalic consonants in readaloud Spanish by native Swedish L2-learners

Prosody is said to be a persistent feature in foreign accents, particularly in the speech of adult learners. Native Swedish speakers have been reported to lengthen vowels in Spanish as well as post-vocalic consonants in English and German, more than native speakers of the respective languages. The aim of the present study is to examine whether native Swedish learners of Spanish produce increased postvocalic consonant durations in a reading aloud exercise. The text contains certain words that could be expected to trigger complementary consonant lengthening in native Swedish speakers. The result shows that there is no general tendency for native Swedes to lengthen post-vocalic consonants more than native speakers of Spanish in the present speech material. There are examples of longer consonant durations in the speech of the native,Swedish subjects, but it could be a coincidence. A conclusion is that the text used in the study, and probably Spanish as a language, contains few words that are ideal for triggering lengthening of post-vocalic consonants in native Swedish speakers.

The priority of temporal aspects in L2-Swedish prosody : Studies in perception and production

Foreign accent can be everything from hardly detectable to rendering the second language speech unintelligible. It is assumed that certain aspects of a specific target language contribute more to making the foreign accented speech intelligible and listener friendly, than others. The present thesis examines a teaching strategy for Swedish pronunciation in second language education. The teaching strategy “Basic prosody” or BP, gives priority to temporal aspects of Swedish prosody, which means the temporal phonological contrasts word stress and quantity, as well as the durational realizations of these contrasts. BP does not prescribe any specific tonal realizations. This standpoint is based on the great regional variety in realization and distribution of Swedish word accents. The teaching strategy consists virtually of three directives: · Stress the proper word in the sentence. · Stress proper syllables in stressed words and make them longer. · Lengthen the proper segment – vowel or subsequent consonant – in the stressed syllable. These directives reflect the view that all phonological length is stress-induced, and that vowel length and consonant length are equally important as learning goals. BP is examined in the light of existing findings in the field of second language pronunciation and with respect to the phonetic correlates of Swedish stress and quantity. Five studies examine the relation between segment durations and the categorization made by native Swedish listeners. The results indicate that the postvocalic consonant duration contributes to quantity categorization as well as giving the proper duration to stressed syllables. Furthermore, native Swedish speakers are shown to apply the complementary /V: C/ - /VC:/ pattern also when speaking English and German, by lengthening postvocalic consonants. The correctness of the priority is not directly addressed but important aspects of BP are supported by earlier findings as well as the results from the present studies.

English as the target language : A literature study on teachers’ and L2 learners’ language use in the upper elementary classroom

Even though English is a subject where Swedish pupils do well compared to pupils in other countries, research indicates that pupils are not always motivated to learn in the English classroom. Therefore, the aim of this study is to find research relating to the use of the target language in classrooms for pupils at the upper elementary level, particularly language learners in Sweden. The focus of this thesis is to find out what benefits and challenges accompany the use of the target language during English lessons, as well as what pupils’ opinions are on the consistent use of the target language in the classroom. This literature review of five research articles shows that it is beneficial for pupils’ language development to have lessons where mainly the target language is used. It is for example beneficial for pupils’ ability to speak, their pronunciation, vocabulary and ability to use language strategies. The results show that there are challenges as well, especially for the teachers, since use of the target language presumes that the teacher has good language skills and is capable of scaffolding each pupil at their individual level and in their zone of proximal development. Furthermore, there are challenges like differences in pupils’ skill level, creating tasks that both motivate and stimulate, and creating a safe learning environment. Even though the results in this thesis are limited, it is still obvious that it is an important area, where more research is necessary in order to assist teachers in how to teach English as effectively as possible.

Humming as a mean of communicating during meal time situations : A Single Case study involving a women with severe dementia and her caregiver

Objective: ‘Music Therapeutic Caregiving’, when caregivers sing for or together with persons with dementia during morning care situations, has been shown to increase verbal and nonverbal communication between persons with dementia and their caregivers, as well as enhance positive and decrease negative emotions in persons with dementia. No studies about singing during mealtimes have been conducted, and this pilot project was designed to elucidate this. However, since previous studies have shown that there is a risk that persons with dementia will start to sing along with the caregiver, the caregiver in this study hummed such that the person with dementia did not sing instead of eat. The aim of this pilot project was threefold: to describe expressed emotions in a woman with severe dementia, and describe communication between her and her caregivers without and with the caregiver humming. The aim was also to measure food and liquid intake without and with humming. Method: The study was constructed as a Single Case ABA design in which the ordinary mealtime constituted a baseline which comprised a woman with severe dementia being fed by her caregivers in the usual way. The intervention included the same woman being fed by the same caregiver who hummed while feeding her. Data comprised video observations that were collected once per week over 5 consecutive weeks. The Verbal and Nonverbal Interaction Scale and Observed Emotion Rating Scale were used to analyze the recorded interactions. Results: A slightly positive influence of communication was shown for the woman with dementia, as well as for the caregiver. Further, the women with dementia showed a slight increase in expressions of positive emotions, and she ate more during the intervention. Conclusion: Based on this pilot study no general conclusions can be drawn. It can be concluded, however, that humming while feeding persons with dementia might slightly enhance communication, and positive expressed emotions in persons with dementia. To confirm this, more studies on group levels are needed. Because previous studies have found that caregiver singing during caring situations influences persons with dementia positively it might be desirable to test the same during mealtime.