Previous projects in English Linguistics

Here you can find information about previous projects in the research field English Linguistics.

  • The use of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) in digital interaction (Sebastian Malinowski). PhD project; 2016–2022
    ELF describes the use of English as a communication tool by speakers of different native languages. The central aim of this dissertation project is to identify and describe language practices in ELF communication with a focus on spoken interactions in an online setting (Skype recordings). This study will examine how second language (L2) English speakers from different first language (L1) backgrounds communicate with each other. The areas that are of interest to this study are conceptual metaphors, communication breakdowns, cultural identities as a resource in ELF and code-switching.

  • Family language policy in Swedish–English bilingual families (Tim Roberts); PhD project, 2017–2022
    This project investigates the interplay between practiced, perceived, and declared family language policies in Swedish–English bilingual families in Sweden and the UK.
     
  • From monologues to dialogues (Silvia Kunitz; Jessica Berggren (project manager) Karina Pålsson Gröndahl, Anette Resare Jansson) Funded by the City council of Stockholm. 2018-2021.

    The project involves a collaboration with in-service teachers of English and Modern Languages in Swedish schools and it targets the design of oral tasks. The participating teachers are engaged in iterative cycles of task design, task implementation, and task revision. Conversation Analysis is used as an analytical tool to explore students' interactions during the accomplishment of the various versions of the tasks.
     
  • Language cafes as social venues and arenas for language training (Silvia Kunitz; Ali Reza Majlesi, Stockholm University; Gunilla Jansson, Stockholm University) Funded by the Swedish Research Council. 2018-2021.

    The project focuses on language cafés as social arenas where newcomers can develop social relationships with members of the local community and practice their Swedish. In these cafés it is possible to explore the endogenous organization of language learning and/or training as it emerges in the interaction between café-organizers and café-goers, in specific material and social ecologies of today’s multilingual Sweden.
     
  • Studies in workplace interaction and professional learning environments (Erica Sandlund; Helen Melander Bowden, Uppsala University, Department of Education). Funded by Uppsala University, Department of Education (2018-2019)

    Our focus on workplace interaction focuses specifically on topics such as knowledge, competence, organizational change, and workplace learning. 
     
  • MultiLingual Spaces? Language practices in English classrooms (Erica Sandlund, Pia Sundqvist)
    Funded by the Swedish Research Council (reg. no 2016-03469). The project is a collaboration with Lund University. 2017–2021.

    This project focuses on language practices in multilingual English classroom spaces in Swedish secondary schools. Using a large-scale survey, ethnographic methodology, and conversation analysis to study language practices in English classrooms, and experimental intervention and quantitative methods to measure L2 vocabulary learning over time, the project aims to contribute to the development of evidence-based language practices in English teaching in multilingual classrooms. 
     
  • Equity in the Assessment of Language Abilities (Erica Sandlund, Pia Sundqvist). 2017–2018.
    This project is carried out within the research groups Rose - Research on Subject-specific Education and CSL - The Centre for Language and Literature Education.

    This project examines (a) what roles co-assessment and rater training may have on developing equity in assessment of various learner language abilities and (b) the construction of the school subject English through formal didactic transpositions. Using data from a rater training program, we investigate the interpretation and application of scoring rubrics in the assessment of L2 English oral proficiency, aiming to shed light upon the construction of the subject of English among in-service teachers as well as test constructors. 
     
  • Making sense of holistic assessment: Teachers’ development of their own matrices for assessing oral proficiency in the national test of English (Liliann Byman Frisén, Pia Sundqvist, Erica Sandlund). Funded by CSL – Centre for Language and Literature Education, Karlstad University. 2017–2019.

    Based on teachers’ own understandings of national assessment instructions, the project aimed to generate new and increased knowledge of 1) how teachers in their daily practice have constructed their interpretations of the assessment instructions from the National Agency for Education and the test designer, 2) how teachers’ interpretations harmonised or differed from each other, 3) how teachers’ interpretations concurred with or differed from the syllabus and current knowledge requirements/grading criteria, and 4) the extent to which concordance in assessment was affected by these interpretations.
     
  • Back and Forth: Children’s linguistically motivated sojourning (Andrea Schalley). 2016-2018.

    This project investigates the experiences of Australian Taiwanese-background children who sojourn to Taiwan for short periods of time in order to improve their skills in the host country’s language. In our study, we explore social and affective factors related to the sojourn experience of primary school aged children. The study is carried out in collaboration with Australian and Taiwanese scholars.
     
  • Interactional competence: The full instructional cycle (Silvia Kunitz; Kevin Garcia Cruz, Sage Hill School; Katharina Kley, M. Rafael Salaberry and Meng Yeh, Rice University). Funded by CLIC - Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication (2015-2016).

    This project had two goals: (a) expose in-service university teachers to the action-based view of language that is typical of Conversation Analysis (CA); and (b) explore the CA-inspired instructional activities designed by the same instructors in order to teach and test L2 interactional competence.
     
  • Developing and assessing interactional competence from the beginning level (Silvia Kunitz; Katharina Kley and Meng Yeh, Rice University). Funded by CLIC - Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication (2015-2016)

    This project was designed as an intervention study that allowed us to verify the effectiveness of instruction targeting L2 interactional competence (IC) in Chinese classrooms. Our findings suggest that the IC-instructed group was able to accomplish the targeted interactional practices more consistently.
     
  • Bridging the Gap between English In- and Outside School (Pia Sundqvist). Funded by the Swedish Research Council(reg. no 2013-785). 2014–2017.

    The purpose of this project was to identify and analyze examples of good practice in which learners’ out-of-school English experiences are utilized in classroom teaching. The aim was to lay the foundations for a pedagogical practice in which learners’ out-of-school experiences are used as a resource for goal-focused learning and to disseminate this knowledge to teachers and researchers.
     
  • Academic writing in English as a second language: conventionalised expressions and interdisciplinary variation (Ying Wang). Funded by the Swedish Research Council (ref.no 437-2014-6696). 2014–2017.

    The aim of the project was to clarify the extent of conventionalised expressions in academic discourse, and to investigate whether the use (in terms of form and function) differs between disciplines and between authors with different language backgrounds (native speaker or second language user).
     
  • Testing Talk (Erica Sandlund, Pia Sundqvist). Funded by the Swedish Research Council (reg. no 2012-4129). 2013–2016

    The project "Testing Talk: Interactional organization and assessment practice in paired L2 oral proficiency tests" centered on interaction in the oral proficiency part of the national test of English (9th grade) in Sweden, and the assessment of oral proficiency and interaction. Testing Talk had three main areas of interest: (1) interaction in L2 speaking tests, (2) standardized testing and formal assessment of oral language proficiency, and (3) professional development for teachers regarding L2 oral proficiency testing and assessment. A number of studies have been conducted and published.
     
  • Informal learning of English among young learners (preschool class – grade 6) (Pia Sundqvist; Liss Kerstin Sylvén, University of Gothenburg)Funded by the Erik Wellander Foundation and CSL - Center for Language and Literature in Education, Karlstad University. . 2011-2012

    The project "Informal learning of English among young learners (preschool class – grade 6)" aimed to gain new knowledge about the use of extramural English among young learners, from pre-school class to grade 6.
     
  • Relations between extramural English and (a) achieved learning outcomes in school and (b) motivation among young learners in grades 4–6 (Pia Sundqvist). 2010

    The aim of the project was to map the relation between extramural English and L2 English learning outcomes in school among young learners in middle school.
     
  • Using ontologies to access pragmatic phenomena through spoken corpora (Andrea Schalley). 2012–2017

    This project investigates pragmatic phenomena in spoken corpora and how ontologies can support the interoperability between spoken corpora and help in the identification of candidates for pragmatic phenomena under consideration (e.g. utterance-final or, or specific instances of laughter). 
     
  • Vocabulary and extramural English: focus on digital gameplay (grade 9) (Pia  Sundqvist). The project was carried out within CSL - The Centre for Language and Literature Education. 2011–2017.

    The main objective of this project is to deepen the knowledge about the relation between vocabulary (receptive and productive) and the use of extramural English, with a focus on digital gameplay (type of games played and frequency of gaming).
     
  • EqualGrowth (Erica Sandlund, Lena Gonäs, Gerd Lindgren, m.m.). Funded by Karlstad University, EU Regional Development Fund and Region Varmland [id 147243] 2008-2011.

    The EqualGrowth (JämVäxt) project was an interdisciplinary project on gender and sustainable development co-funded by Karlstad University. In one subproject,we studied performance appraisal interviews (Sw. medarbetarsamtal) in three organizations, with a particular interest in institutional norms in talk and action.