DOCSLIB.ORG

JSSE Journal of Social Science Education

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
JSSE Journal of Social Science Education Journal of Social Science JSSE Education : Journal of Social Science Education : ..................................... ................... ..................................................... .............................. : .............. .... Journal of Social Science Education Volume 13, Number 2, Summer 2014 DOI 10.2390/jsse-v14-i2-1373 Jennifer Bruen, Tilman Grammes Editorial: The Social Sciences in Higher Education How we see ourselves as teachers is just as important as the competence and insight that we develop over time. It is crucial that as teachers in Higher Education we reflect on and update our practice, monitor and develop our own professional impact, and draw on evidence and research in order to inform our practice. (Slowey, Kozina, and Tan 2014, 8) Keywords: social sciences. Furthermore, most of the discourses Specialised Didactics [Fachdidaktik], Higher Education, within the cited journals are located within a US context Transformative Learning, Bildung, Learner-Centred of college education (Nilson 2003). Thus, it is the inten- Pedagogy, Critical Pedagogy, Citizenship Education, tion of JSSE at this point to shift the focus to European Documentation and Description, Critical Incidents, discourse on Social Science Education. As such, this issue Lesson Study builds on a previous issue of JSSE (2009-2) in which the focus was on the training of teachers in the social 1 sciences including those involved in the teaching of PART I: Towards specialist didactics [Fachdidaktik] for civics, politics and economics. In particular, JSSE 2009-2 the social sciences in the Higher Education classroom. focused on developing the concept of specialized didactics (or Fachdidaktik) for the social sciences in 1 Introduction teacher training. The purpose of this issue is to continue Specialized journals examine the teaching and learning of this debate and the process of developing principles the social sciences in Higher Education. These include, for which would form the core of such specialized didactics example, the highly regarded Teaching Sociology, or, designed to improve the learning experience of students more recently the Journal of Political Science Education, engaged in the study of the social sciences. Journal of Legal Education and International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education, to name but a few. These journals capture a significant amount of know- 2 “Bildung” and transformative learning ledge and experience. However, there is little coherence The classical German understanding of the term Bildung in terms of research and a lack of a well-developed can be equated with the notion of the transformation of academic sub-discipline around Higher Education in the the learner through education or “transformative lear- ning”. The process of transformation [Bildungsprozess] Jennifer Bruen is a Lecturer and differs significantly from the process of learning. Accor- Director of Research in the School ding to Hans Christoph Koller (2011), current Chair of the of Applied Language and German Educational Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft Intercultural Studies, Dublin City für Erziehungswissenschaft www.dgfe.de), while learning University. Her research interests can be seen as the acquisition of new information, include language policy, language transformation or Bildung is a higher order form of teaching and learning, and political learning which involves a change in the way in which and citizenship education. School information is processed. Bildung involves a fundamental of Applied Language and transformation of the whole person, or what Pierre Bourdieu refers to as a change in the socialized norms Intercultural Studies, Dublin City University, Dublin Ireland that guide behavior and patterns of thought [Habitus- email: [email protected] wandel], and not just the acquisition of particular competencies. Of significance is also the stimulus for the Tilman Grammes is Chair of process of Bildung. It can be viewed as a form of reaction Educational Science/Social Studies to a crisis as a critical incident [fruchtbarer Moment] Education at Hamburg University which poses new challenges which cannot be adequately and Editor of JSSE. dealt with by existing means. Transformation is Research interest among others: associated with what is foreign, what is new and un- comparative and intercultural known, what has not been previously experienced, and education, qualitative research. as such disturbs the “taken for granted” perspective and University of Hamburg, Faculty of Education Science , FB 5 Von-Melle-Park 8 20146 Hamburg, Germany email: tilman.grammes@uni- hamburg.de 2 Journal of Social Science Education ©JSSE 2014 Volume 13, Number 2, Summer 2014 ISSN 1618–5293 the epistemological framework of everyday knowledge. Wendt and Cecilie Ase of the Department of Education In other words, transformation or Bildung results from and the Department of Political Science, Stockholm engaging with discomfort and dissonance (Koller 2011; University, in Sweden. In their contribution, Liberal see also Ricken and Maaschelein 2010). Liability: Understanding students’ conceptions of gender structures, Murstedt et al focus on students’ pre- 3 Reflection on teaching and learning using case-study conceptions and conceptions of gender structures. Their research interest lies in the learning processes at work when According to the recent OECD Institutional Management students engage with course content which has a gender in Higher Education study on quality teaching, the vast perspective. In particular, they consider the influence of majority of initiatives intended to support teaching any pre-conceptions regarding gender equality and quality address institutions’ needs at a given point in inequality on such learning processes.2 time while initiatives inspired by academic research are Operating within a conceptual change framework, rare (Hénard 2010, p. 5). This is regrettable. Clearly, Murstedt et al consider students’ attempts to offer short-term practical needs must be addressed. However, alternative interpretations of media images of male and changes in teaching and learning should also be research- female politicians based on explanations other than a informed if they are to result in longer term benefits. structuralist gender perspective, which focuses on Therefore, a core principle of specialized didactics for the gender-based, structural social inequalities. Murstedt et social sciences in Higher Education concerns the need to al note in their findings that their students frequently empower teachers in the social sciences to gather lose sight of the structuralist perspective in their group information relating to their own teaching, reflect on it discussions. Instead, they operate within a liberal and communicate the results to their peers. In other paradigm interpreting some of the images as represent- words, it relates to a need to enable teachers to view tative of individual discrimination, individual personality their teaching and its impact on their students as or demographics, or individual choice, rather than as a research and to investigate and document it accordingly. reflection of social norms and structures. Murstedt et al This is a particular strength of all four contributions to suggest that the automatic adoption of a liberal the first section of this issue. framework impedes interpretation from a structuralist perspective. They recommend explicit teaching about 4 Exploring experimental methods: Simulating reality both frameworks in order to enable students to conduct In their paper, Professor Yu-Wen Chen, of the Graduate analysis from more than one perspective. This is an School of Public Policy, Nazarbayev University, approach supported by Louise-Lawrence (2014) who Kazakhstan, and her co-researchers, Lena Masch and grapples with similar issues in her classroom and makes Kristin Finze, explore the value of “dictator games” or similar suggestions in terms of the refinement of more generally the use of simulations in postgraduate pedagogic practice in gender studies. teaching. Chen observes and reports on the impact of Enhancing the ability of the social sciences student to their use of such methods to investigate the possible view issues from multiple perspectives should be a existence of discriminatory tendencies among non- further key element of specialized didactics in this field. It Muslims in Germany towards Muslims. Chen argues at has perhaps been more developed in the political the outset that such experimental methods have distinct sciences to date than in other areas of social science advantages over other research methods. Specifically, education. This is evidenced by use of methods in this this paper documents the experimental design, data field such as Structured Academic Controversy or collection, data analysis and report writing processes and Structured Controversial Dialogue in the classroom to assesses the learning outcomes associated with such an enable students to view issues from different angles, to approach. Recommendations as to how the approach engage in informed debate and to reach reasoned might be used to even greater effect conclude the article. consensus (D’Eon and Proctor 2001; Hahn 2009; For classroom games in economic education see Bostian Moloney and Pelehach 2014; Zainuddin and Moore and Holt 2013. 2003). These approaches are gradually being adopted in other disciplines in the social sciences, however, inclu- 5 The learner as a point of departure ding, for example, in the teaching and learning
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Is Spoken Danish Less Intelligible Than Swedish? Charlotte Gooskens, Vincent J
    Is spoken Danish less intelligible than Swedish? Charlotte Gooskens, Vincent J. van Heuven, Renée van Bezooijen, Jos J.A. Pacilly To cite this version: Charlotte Gooskens, Vincent J. van Heuven, Renée van Bezooijen, Jos J.A. Pacilly. Is spoken Danish less intelligible than Swedish?. Speech Communication, Elsevier : North-Holland, 2010, 52 (11-12), pp.1022. 10.1016/j.specom.2010.06.005. hal-00698848 HAL Id: hal-00698848 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00698848 Submitted on 18 May 2012 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Accepted Manuscript Is spoken Danish less intelligible than Swedish? Charlotte Gooskens, Vincent J. van Heuven, Renée van Bezooijen, Jos J.A. Pacilly PII: S0167-6393(10)00109-3 DOI: 10.1016/j.specom.2010.06.005 Reference: SPECOM 1901 To appear in: Speech Communication Received Date: 3 August 2009 Revised Date: 31 May 2010 Accepted Date: 11 June 2010 Please cite this article as: Gooskens, C., van Heuven, V.J., van Bezooijen, R., Pacilly, J.J.A., Is spoken Danish less intelligible than Swedish?, Speech Communication (2010), doi: 10.1016/j.specom.2010.06.005 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication.
    [Show full text]
  • Comments Received for ISO 639-3 Change Request 2015-046 Outcome
    Comments received for ISO 639-3 Change Request 2015-046 Outcome: Accepted after appeal Effective date: May 27, 2016 SIL International ISO 639-3 Registration Authority 7500 W. Camp Wisdom Rd., Dallas, TX 75236 PHONE: (972) 708-7400 FAX: (972) 708-7380 (GMT-6) E-MAIL: [email protected] INTERNET: http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/ Registration Authority decision on Change Request no. 2015-046: to create the code element [ovd] Ӧvdalian . The request to create the code [ovd] Ӧvdalian has been reevaluated, based on additional information from the original requesters and extensive discussion from outside parties on the IETF list. The additional information has strengthened the case and changed the decision of the Registration Authority to accept the code request. In particular, the long bibliography submitted shows that Ӧvdalian has undergone significant language development, and now has close to 50 publications. In addition, it has been studied extensively, and the academic works should have a distinct code to distinguish them from publications on Swedish. One revision being added by the Registration Authority is the added English name “Elfdalian” which was used in most of the extensive discussion on the IETF list. Michael Everson [email protected] May 4, 2016 This is an appeal by the group responsible for the IETF language subtags to the ISO 639 RA to reconsider and revert their earlier decision and to assign an ISO 639-3 language code to Elfdalian. The undersigned members of the group responsible for the IETF language subtag are concerned about the rejection of the Elfdalian language. There is no doubt that its linguistic features are unique in the continuum of North Germanic languages.
    [Show full text]
  • THE SWEDISH LANGUAGE Sharingsweden.Se PHOTO: CECILIA LARSSON LANTZ/IMAGEBANK.SWEDEN.SE
    FACTS ABOUT SWEDEN / THE SWEDISH LANGUAGE sharingsweden.se PHOTO: CECILIA LARSSON LANTZ/IMAGEBANK.SWEDEN.SE PHOTO: THE SWEDISH LANGUAGE Sweden is a multilingual country. However, Swedish is and has always been the majority language and the country’s main language. Here, Catharina Grünbaum paints a picture of the language from Viking times to the present day: its development, its peculiarities and its status. The national language of Sweden is Despite the dominant status of Swedish, Swedish and related languages Swedish. It is the mother tongue of Sweden is not a monolingual country. Swedish is a Nordic language, a Ger- approximately 8 million of the country’s The Sami in the north have always been manic branch of the Indo-European total population of almost 10 million. a domestic minority, and the country language tree. Danish and Norwegian Swedish is also spoken by around has had a Finnish-speaking population are its siblings, while the other Nordic 300,000 Finland Swedes, 25,000 of ever since the Middle Ages. Finnish languages, Icelandic and Faroese, are whom live on the Swedish-speaking and Meänkieli (a Finnish dialect spoken more like half-siblings that have pre- Åland islands. in the Torne river valley in northern served more of their original features. Swedish is one of the two national Sweden), spoken by a total of approxi- Using this approach, English and languages of Finland, along with Finnish, mately 250,000 people in Sweden, German are almost cousins. for historical reasons. Finland was part and Sami all have legal status as The relationship with other Indo- of Sweden until 1809.
    [Show full text]
  • Sixth Periodical Report Presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in Accordance with Article 15 of the Charter
    Strasbourg, 19 February 2018 MIN-LANG (2018) PR 1 EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES Sixth periodical report presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter GERMANY Sixth Report of the Federal Republic of Germany pursuant to Article 15 (1) of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages 2017 3 Table of contents A. PRELIMINARY REMARKS ................................................................................................................8 B. UPDATED GEOGRAPHIC AND DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION ...............................................9 C. GENERAL TRENDS..........................................................................................................................10 I. CHANGED FRAMEWORK CONDITIONS......................................................................................................10 II. LANGUAGE CONFERENCE, NOVEMBER 2014 .........................................................................................14 III. DEBATE ON THE CHARTER LANGUAGES IN THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG, JUNE 2017..............................14 IV. ANNUAL IMPLEMENTATION CONFERENCE ...............................................................................................15 V. INSTITUTE FOR THE LOW GERMAN LANGUAGE, FEDERAL COUNCIL FOR LOW GERMAN ......................15 VI. BROCHURE OF THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR ....................................................................19 VII. LOW GERMAN IN BRANDENBURG.......................................................................................................19
    [Show full text]
  • Authentic Language
    ! " " #$% " $&'( ')*&& + + ,'-* # . / 0 1 *# $& " * # " " " * 2 *3 " 4 *# 4 55 5 * " " * *6 " " 77 .'%%)8'9:&0 * 7 4 "; 7 * *6 *# 2 .* * 0* " *6 1 " " *6 *# " *3 " *# " " *# 2 " " *! "; 4* $&'( <==* "* = >?<"< <<'-:@-$ 6 A9(%9'(@-99-@( 6 A9(%9'(@-99-(- 6A'-&&:9$' ! '&@9' Authentic Language Övdalsk, metapragmatic exchange and the margins of Sweden’s linguistic market David Karlander Centre for Research on Bilingualism Stockholm University Doctoral dissertation, 2017 Centre for Research on Bilingualism Stockholm University Copyright © David Budyński Karlander Printed and bound by Universitetsservice AB, Stockholm Correspondence: SE 106 91 Stockholm www.biling.su.se ISBN 978-91-7649-946-7 ISSN 1400-5921 Acknowledgements It would not have been possible to complete this work without the support and encouragement from a number of people. I owe them all my humble thanks.
    [Show full text]
  • An Update and Extension of the META-NET Study “Europe’S Languages in the Digital Age”
    An Update and Extension of the META-NET Study “Europe’s Languages in the Digital Age” Georg Rehm1, Hans Uszkoreit1, Ido Dagan2, Vartkes Goetcherian3, Mehmet Ugur Dogan4, Coskun Mermer4, Tamás Varadi5, Sabine Kirchmeier-Andersen6, Gerhard Stickel7, Meirion Prys Jones8, Stefan Oeter9, Sigve Gramstad10 META-NET META-NET META-NET META-NET DFKI GmbH Bar-Ilan University Arax Ltd. Tübitak Bilgem Berlin, Germany1 Tel Aviv, Israel2 Luxembourg3 Gebze, Turkey4 EFNIL, META-NET EFNIL, META-NET EFNIL NPLD Hungarian Academy of Sciences Danish Language Council Institut für Deutsche Sprache Network to Promote Ling. Diversity Budapest, Hungary5 Copenhagen, Denmark6 Mannheim, Germany7 Cardiff, Wales8 Council of Europe, Com. of Experts Council of Europe, Com. of Experts University of Hamburg Bergen, Norway10 Hamburg, Germany9 Abstract This paper extends and updates the cross-language comparison of LT support for 30 European languages as published in the META-NET Language White Paper Series. The updated comparison confirms the original results and paints an alarming picture: it demonstrates that there are even more dramatic differences in LT support between the European languages. Keywords: LR National/International Projects, Infrastructural/Policy Issues, Multilinguality, Machine Translation 1. Introduction and Overview This paper extends and updates one important result of the work carried out within the META-VISION pillar The multilingual setup of our European society im- of the initiative, the cross-language comparison of LT poses societal challenges on political, economic and support for 30 European languages as published in the social integration and inclusion, especially in the cre- META-NET Language White Paper Series (Rehm and ation of the single digital market and unified informa- Uszkoreit, 2012).
    [Show full text]
  • Does the Nordic Region Speak with a FORKED Tongue?
    Does the Nordic Region Speak with a FORKED Tongue? The Queen of Denmark, the Government Minister and others give their views on the Nordic language community KARIN ARVIDSSON Does the Nordic Region Speak with a FORKED Tongue? The Queen of Denmark, the Government Minister and others give their views on the Nordic language community NORD: 2012:008 ISBN: 978-92-893-2404-5 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.6027/Nord2012-008 Author: Karin Arvidsson Editor: Jesper Schou-Knudsen Research and editing: Arvidsson Kultur & Kommunikation AB Translation: Leslie Walke (Translation of Bodil Aurstad’s article by Anne-Margaret Bressendorff) Photography: Johannes Jansson (Photo of Fredrik Lindström by Magnus Fröderberg) Design: Mar Mar Co. Print: Scanprint A/S, Viby Edition of 1000 Printed in Denmark Nordic Council Nordic Council of Ministers Ved Stranden 18 Ved Stranden 18 DK-1061 Copenhagen K DK-1061 Copenhagen K Phone (+45) 3396 0200 Phone (+45) 3396 0400 www.norden.org The Nordic Co-operation Nordic co-operation is one of the world’s most extensive forms of regional collaboration, involving Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland. Nordic co-operation has firm traditions in politics, the economy, and culture. It plays an important role in European and international collaboration, and aims at creating a strong Nordic community in a strong Europe. Nordic co-operation seeks to safeguard Nordic and regional interests and principles in the global community. Common Nordic values help the region solidify its position as one of the world’s most innovative and competitive. Does the Nordic Region Speak with a FORKED Tongue? The Queen of Denmark, the Government Minister and others give their views on the Nordic language community KARIN ARVIDSSON Preface Languages in the Nordic Region 13 Fredrik Lindström Language researcher, comedian and and presenter on Swedish television.
    [Show full text]
  • Danish University Lecturers' Attitudes Towards English As the Medium of Instruction Ibérica, Núm
    Ibérica ISSN: 1139-7241 [email protected] Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos España Jensen, Christian; Thøgersen, Jacob Danish University lecturers' attitudes towards English as the medium of instruction Ibérica, núm. 22, 2011, pp. 13-33 Asociación Europea de Lenguas para Fines Específicos Cádiz, España Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=287023888002 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative 01 IBERICA 22.qxp:Iberica 13 21/09/11 16:59 Página 13 Danish University lecturers’ attitudes towards English as the medium of instruction Christian Jensen and Jacob Thøgersen University of Copenhagen (Denmark) [email protected] & [email protected] Abstract The increasing use of English in research and higher education has been the subject of heated debate in Denmark and other European countries over the last years. This paper sets out the various positions in the national debate in Denmark, and then examines the attitudes towards these positions among the teaching staff at the country’s largest university. Four topics are extracted from the debate – one which expresses a positive attitude towards English and three independent but interrelated topics which express more negative attitudes. The responses from the university lecturers show that a majority agree with all positions, negative as well as positive. This finding indicates that the attitude may not form a simple one-dimensional dichotomy. The responses are broken down according to lecturer age and the proportion of teaching the lecturer conducts in English.
    [Show full text]
  • Perspectives on English Language Education in Sweden
    四天王寺大学紀要 第 52 号（2011 年 9 月） Perspectives on English Language Education in Sweden Koji IGAWA & Shigekazu YAGI [Abstract] This is a literature review on current situations of English language education at compulsory schools in Sweden. By examining a variety of literature, the study is to investigate the 9-year English education system in Sweden’s compulsory primary schools (ages 7 - 16) as well as to explore the issue from the following four (4) diverse perspectives that are supposed to impact English education in Sweden: (1) Linguistic affinities between L1 (First Language: Swedish) and TL (Target Language: English), (2) Swedish culture’s historical compatibilities with and current assimilation by Anglo-American culture, (3) Language policies motivated by Sweden becoming a member of the European Union (EU) in 1995, and (4) EU’s recommended language teaching approach of “Content and Language Integrated Learning” (CLIL). A brief set of implications for English language education in Japan are gleaned from the results of this study. [Keywords] English Education in Sweden, EU’s Language Policy, CLIL I. Introduction The harmonious co-existence of many languages in Europe is a powerful symbol of the European Union's aspiration to be united in diversity, one of the cornerstones of the European project. Languages define personal identities, but are also part of a shared inheritance. They can serve as a bridge to other people and open access to other countries and cultures, promoting mutual understanding. A successful multilingualism policy can strengthen life chances of citizens: it may increase their employability, facilitate access to services and rights and contribute to solidarity through enhanced intercultural dialogue and social cohesion.
    [Show full text]
  • There Is No Time Like the Past Retro Between Memory and Materiality in Contemporary Culture Handberg, Kristian
    There is no time like the past Retro between memory and materiality in contemporary culture Handberg, Kristian Publication date: 2014 Document version Early version, also known as pre-print Citation for published version (APA): Handberg, K. (2014). There is no time like the past: Retro between memory and materiality in contemporary culture. Det Humanistiske Fakultet, Københavns Universitet. Download date: 26. Sep. 2021 FACULTY OF HUMANITIES UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN PhD thesis Kristian Handberg There’s no time like the past Retro between memory and materiality in contemporary culture Academic advisor: Mette Sandbye Submitted: 09/05/2014 Institutnavn: Institut for Kunst og Kulturvidenskab Name of department: Department of Arts and Cultural Studies Author: Kristian Handberg Titel og evt. undertitel: There´s no time like the past Title / Subtitle: Retro between memory and materiality in contemporary culture Subject description: A study of retro in contemporary culture as cultural memory through analyses of site-specific contexts of Montreal and Berlin. Academic advisor: Mette Sandbye, lektor, Institut for Kunst og Kulturvidenskab, Københavns Universitet. Co-advisor: Will Straw, Professor, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Submitted: May 2014 2 Contents AKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 7 There’s no time like the past: Presenting the project
    [Show full text]
  • Variation Versus Standardisation. the Case of Norwegian Bokmal: Some
    Eskil Hanssen Variation versus standardisation The case ofNorwegian bokmàl: some sociolinguistic trends Abstract The articIc deals with the devclopment of the Norwegian standard bokmäl and the language situation in Norway at present. Bokmäl came to light during the laller half of the 19th century, through refonns of the prevailing wrillen Danish, at the same time as the other Norwegian standard, the dialcct-based nynorsk. The prin­ ciplcs and ideologies of the bokmäl refonns arc discussed. The second part of the article deals with the interaction between wriUen and spoken varieties, and their status in society. Examples of prescnt-day linguistic changes and the sociolinguistic forces behind them are discussed. Historical background of bokTrnU Norway has been characterised as a "laboratory" for language planning (Vik~r 1988:7), and this metaphor may seem appropriate for more than one reason. The history of language standardisation is much shorter than in most other European countrics, only about 150 years old. On the other hand, language planning in the modem sen sc of the word (Fishman 1974:79, Haugen 1979:111) has been very actively pursued, and has concerned both wriUen and spoken language. The language planning activities in the 19th century were conducted along two main lines, resulLing in two wrillen standards, presently called bokmal and nynorsk.! It is not possiblc to go into detail about the historical background within the limited scope of this article. (An extensive overview is given by Haugen 1966, sec also Venäs 1990.) Instead I shall discuss the case of bokmal, sketching its origin, development, and present status.
    [Show full text]
  • English in Scandinavia: Monster Or Mate? Sweden As a Case Study 1
    1 English in Scandinavia: Monster or Mate? Sweden as a Case Study Catrin Norrby Introduction When Swedish Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel recently became parents, the prince explained his feelings at a press conference, hours after their daughter was born, with the following words (cited from Svenska Dagbladet, 23 February 2012): Mina känslor är lite all over the place. När jag gick från rummet så låg den lilla prinsessan på sin moders bröst och såg ut att ha det väldigt mysigt [My feelings are a bit all over the place. When I left the room the little princess was lying on her mother’s breast and seemed to be very cosy] The use of English catchphrases and idioms in an otherwise Swedish lan- guage frame is not unusual and it is no exaggeration to say that English plays a significant role in contemporary Scandinavia. The following areas of use at least can be distinguished: (1) English taught as a school subject; (2) English used as a lingua franca; (3) English in certain domains; (4) English as an act of identity; and (5) English in the linguistic landscape. The term ‘Scandinavia’ is used in this chapter as shorthand for Denmark, Norway and Sweden (where Scandinavian languages are spoken) as well as for Finland (which is part of the Scandinavian peninsula together with Sweden and Norway). English is taught as a mandatory subject in schools throughout Scandinavia, usually from Grade 3 or 4, meaning that school leavers normally have 9–10 years of English teaching. In recent years there has been an increase of CLIL (content and language integrated learning), where content subjects are taught in English (see, for example, Washburn, 1997).
    [Show full text]