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Syftet med denna artikel är undersöka elevers karaktärsemotionella inferenser (Graesser, Singer & Trabasso, 1994) av en litterär text utifrån deras skriftliga sammanfattningar av lästa kapitel ur romanen, Stjärnlösa Nätter av Arkan Asaad (2015). Studien genomfördes inom undervisningen i svenska som andraspråk på det individuella programmet Språkintroduktion på gymnasiet med två deltagande lärare och tretton deltagande elever, 16–20 år. Analysen visade att många elever återberättat huvudkaraktärens känslor: hat och kärlek i relation till fadern, ilska över diskrepanser mellan generationer och kulturer samt ensamhet i att inte tillhöra eller få förståelse för en kultur. Med utgångs-punkt i resultatet föreslår artikelförfattarna att skriftligt återberättande skulle kunna tas i bruk i litteraturundervisningen för att skapa insikter om elevernas förståelse för huvudpersonens känslor såväl som för sina egna samt som ett led i arbetet med demokrati och identitetsutveckling. Slutsatsen är att denna didaktiska potential bör tas tillvara i arbetet med litteratur.

This article examines classroom work with literature in the Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) programme in which adult migrants study Swedish at a basic level. The participants were a teacher and a group of students with limited previous education. The study explores practices that the participants applied during classroom work with an easy-to-read novel. The theoretical and analytical framework includes the four resources model, transactional theory and the concepts of translanguaging and embodied literacy practices. Data for the study were collected in a large action research and linguistic ethnography project by means of classroom observations and focus group conversations with teachers. Findings show that decoding and meaning-making practices were most prominent, while text-using and text-analysing practices were scarcer. Aesthetic reading and efferent reading were in different ways integrated with the different families of practice. Aesthetic reading was connected to multimodal aspects and embodied literacy practices. Efferent reading was found at many levels in the reading and was interconnected with all families of practice. Translanguaging practices often intersected with meaning-making practices.

In this study, we investigate linguistic diversity in teacher educationin the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, a setting where discourses on emigration and re-emigration are strong. The aim is to explore social discourses on linguistic diversity as constructed in teacher training programmes for teaching English to primary and secondary school pupils, in course descriptions at two universities, and the implications of these discourses for the suggested teaching practices. Four discourses were identified:double monolingualism, contrastive perspective, linguistic diversity as one of many types of diversity and English as a gateway to future possibilities. Students’ earlier linguistic resources in other languages were treated as negative for the development of their English-language skills. English and Kurdish were treated in ways that suggest they should be kept separate and skills in other languages were rendered invisible. This is likely to have an impact on students’ teaching in the future, making them less inclined to recognise their pupils’ prior knowledge of other languages. We conclude that, more research is needed focusing on issues of circular migration and diaspora, and on other themes than those dominant in the West and the Global North, such as high number of immigrants and issues of integration and assimilation.

This paper explores the construction of language ideologies and language learning within English-language education in a Language Introduction Program (LIP) in Sweden. LIP is an individual transitional program for newly arrived migrant students that seeks to quickly transition adolescents into further education or the job market. High proficiency in English is important in Swedish society and insufficient knowledge of English might lead to consequences for individuals, but also long-term consequences for society regarding inequality and inequity. The methodology is based on linguistic ethnography, with observations and interviews at two schools. Data from interviews with English teachers and principals at LIP are analyzed using Foucauldian perspectives to discuss power and individualization. Our results show that LIP is organized in a manner that reduces teachers' possibilities to cooperate and assist each other in planning, assessing, and in developing teaching practices. To a certain extent, principals withdraw from their responsibility and place a significant amount of organizational responsibility on individual English teachers. Furthermore, monolingual ideologies are prominent in educational practices, and LIP is often positioned as different from the rest of the school which increases isolation.

This paper explores the ethical challenges and possibilities of conducting responsible and transformative translanguaging pedagogy in adult education for second language learners with limited previous experience of schooling. We identify and explore ethical dilemmas in teachers’ interaction and multilingual teaching practices. The data was produced in a linguistic ethnography and action research project. It consists of classroom observations and interviews with teachers who teach in the programme Swedish for Immigrants (SFI). The teachers express and embody ambivalence in relation to the students’ use of their whole linguistic repertoires and the students are not always treated as competent to make informed decisions about their own use of linguistic repertoires. This touches on issues of citizenship and democracy and here the framework ethics of care offers context-specific ways of understanding and responding to the ethical challenges of multilingual teaching.

This special issue draws attention to literacy and basic literacy education for adult and adolescent migrants with limited or no previous school background, who are learning a second language. This introduction addresses issues closely related to literacy education for this group of migrants, namely human mobility and immobility, including both horizontal (geographical and spatial) and vertical (social) mobility, as well as the interrelation between the two. Whereas some people’s mobility is considered a threat that must be regulated and restricted, other people’s mobility is encouraged. While mobility and diversity have always been intrinsic aspects of human societies, it can be concluded that social, economic and technological changes have intensified migration, the movement of artifacts and communication between people over vast distances. As mobility and diversity have increased, theoretical perspectives and research in applied linguistics and education have emerged. In this special issue, we bring together seven studies of second language and literacy education for adolescent and adult second language learners in different contexts, illustrating both similarities and differences between educational domains. The studies were conducted in Canada, Norway and Sweden. We are happy to say that the authors’ efforts have resulted in a body of work that contributes to research on literacies and literacy education for adults and adolescents with limited previous education. It is also our hope that the articles will inspire additional research in the area in the coming years.

Syftet med detta kapitel är att bidra till en dialog gällande forskningsetik utifrån såväl juridiska som humanistiska aspekter. Exempel hämtas från dilemman som uppstått i etnografiskt inriktade studier där deltagarna är andraspråksanvändare av svenska och där många har begränsad erfarenhet av formell utbildning och användning av skrift. Det kan vara svårt att ge forskningsinformation på ett sätt som elever med olika bakgrund förstår, särskilt vad gäller konsekvenserna av informationen, av att delta i forskningen och vad det betyder att vara anonym. En utgångspunkt för kapitlet tas i begrepp som rör etisk omtanke samt i begrepp som rör samtycke och som utvecklats inom forskning om och med barn: inlärtsamtycke och samtycke som pågående process. Samtliga begrepp behandlar på ett eller annat sätt den makt forskaren har i relation till deltagarna. Vidare diskuteras hur deltagares eventuella utsatthet eller sårbarhet behöver ses i relation till denaktuella kontexten snarare än utifrån på förhand definierade kategorier. Avslutningsvis belyses forskares ansvar för att hela tiden göra etiska överväganden i sin profession och att dessa innebär en ständig och systematisk reflektion och en mängd val. Vi ser ett samhällsintresse i att etnografisk forskninggenomförs i andraspråkssammanhang där deltagarna i olika avseenden kan betraktas som i en utsatt position. Detta ställer krav på utveckling av nu använda former för samtyckesförfarande.

In this article, focus is on students’ oral production in two classrooms in Swedish for immigrants (SFI). The study focuses on practices with interaction patterns where students are involved in negotiation of meaning. Theoretical basis is the importance of interpersonal interaction for language development, with a focus on students’ use of varied speaker roles and speech actions. Data were obtained through observations, field notes, and audio and video recordings. The examples presented here demonstrate that students were involved in the negotiation of meaning and had space to try different speaker roles and speech actions, such as (among others) initiating, agreeing, dissenting, arguing, interrupting, and taking the floor. These examples only constituted a restricted part of class time, and most of the teaching was of a type where little oral or written interaction took place. Overall, we think that SFI education could be improved by developing teaching that stimulates and allows for negotiations of meaning and language production and also allows for use of different types of digital media, both for oral and written interaction.