För att barn ska kunna följa med i undervisningen i förskola och senare i skola behöver de behärska det svenska skolspråket. I dagens förskolor med stor mångfald finns det grupper av barn som av olika skäl inte är motiverade att lära sig svenska som andraspråk (SvA), utan i stället visar hög motivation för att lära sig engelska. Den låga motivationen för SvA gör det svårt för förskolans personal att säkerställa att barnen får de förutsättningar de behöver för att senare kunna lära sig på svenska i skolan. I detta kapitel ger vi en kort bakgrund om motivation och språkinlärning, och presenterar därefter resultaten från ett digitalt frågeformulär med fokus på SvA och motivation. Målet med kapitlet är att väcka lärarstuderandes intresse för olika aspekter av och motivationen till svenska som andraspråk. 

There is a misconception that pictures are easy to comprehend, which is problematic in pedagogical practices that include pictures. For example, if a child has difficulties with verbal narration to picture sequences, it may be interpreted as specific to spoken language even though the child may have additional difficulties with comprehension of visual narratives in the form of picture sequences. The purpose of the present study was therefore to increase our understanding of semantic processing in the pictorial domain in relation to semantic processing in the verbal domain, focusing on 9–13 years-old children with typical language development. To this end, we measured electrical brain responses (event related potentials, ERPs) in 17 children to (i) pictures (panels) that were predicted versus unpredicted in sequences of panels that conveyed visual narratives and (ii) words that were predicted versus unpredicted in sentences that conveyed verbal narratives. Results demonstrated similarities as there were no significant difference in the magnitude of the N400 effect across domains. The only difference between domains was the predicted difference in distribution, that is, a more posterior N400 effect in the verbal domain than in the pictorial domain. The study contributes to an increased understanding of the complexity of processing of visual narratives and its shared features with processing of verbal narratives, which should be considered in pedagogical practices. 

This study investigated second language (L2-English) phonological processing in 31 Spanish-English bilingual, 6- to 8-year-old schoolchildren in an event-related potential (ERP) auditory pseudoword rhyming paradigm. In addition, associations between ERP effects and L2 proficiency as measured by standardized tests of receptive language and receptive vocabulary were explored. We found a classic posterior ERP rhyming effect that was more widely distributed in children with higher L2 proficiency in group analyses and was larger for children with better L2 proficiency in correlation analyses. In contrast, the amplitude of an early (75–125 ms) auditory pos- itivity was larger in children with lower L2 proficiency. This pattern suggests differential use of early and late auditory/phonological processing resources in the pseudoword rhyme task associated with L2 proficiency, which is consistent with the predictions of the lexical restructuring model in a bilingual context. 

Negation is frequently used in natural language, yet relatively little is known about its processing. More importantly, what is known regarding the neurophysiological processing of negation is mostly based on results of studies using written stimuli (the word-by-word paradigm). While the results of these studies have suggested processing costs in connection to negation (increased negativities in brain responses), it is difficult to know how this translates into processing of spoken language. We therefore developed an auditory paradigm based on a previous visual study investigating processing of affirmatives, sentential negation (not), and prefixal negation (un-). The findings of processing costs were replicated but differed in the details. Importantly, the pattern of ERP effects suggested less effortful processing for auditorily presented negated forms (restricted to increased anterior and posterior positivities) in comparison to visually presented negated forms. We suggest that the natural flow of spoken language reduces variability in processing and therefore results in clearer ERP patterns.

At the heart of democracy is being able to be a part of the society at large which requires sharing the dominant language. In recent years, we have lectured on language learning and specifically second language learning and multilingualism for teachers in Sweden, from Malmö in the south to Umeå in the north. While teachers at all levels need to have knowledge of second language acquisition and learning it becomes apparent in discussions that teachers often meet children who are not motivated to learn Swedish. As a result, the children have not acquired the language used in, for instance the preschool curriculum, nor do they have the necessary skills in Swedish to acquire new knowledge when they start school. 

This means that the research we present to our teacher students and to practicing teachers is relevant to language learning but cannot fully address the challenges faced by the profession. Further knowledge and research are needed on how to work with Swedish as a second language, such as in the preschool context where 25% of children have another language besides Swedish as their first language (SCB, 2021) and, crucially, their motivation to learn the language is low. Language proficiency in preschool predicts subsequent grades in school in for instance math and reading (Murphy et al., 2016; Pace et al., 2019). Therefore, knowledge about how to motivate children (and parents) is a prerequisite for making a linguistic intervention so that children's Swedish skills are sufficient to absorb the education in preschool and later knowledge acquisition in school which is important for being a part of the society at large. 

We will present previous studies of motivation for language learning (Lamb et al., 2021) and our preliminary data from questionnaires and interviews with personnel in preschools and adult learners of Swedish as a second language focusing on motivation to learn the language. Against this background, we will introduce our ideas of “language learning motivation interventions” (LLMI) in school settings. We will claim that it is crucial for teachers to have a better grasp of how to motivate learning Swedish. This understanding can result in the inclusion of children and students in school and the society on equal bases for learning and thus for democracy in their current setting but also in future settings. 

References

Lamb, M., Csizer, K., Henry, A., & Ryan, S. (2021). The Palgrave Handbook of Motivation for Language Learning. Springer Nature Switzerland AG. 

Murphy, K. A., Farquharson, K., Language, & Reading Research, C. (2016). Investigating profiles of lexical quality in preschool and their contribution to first grade reading. Reading and Writing, 29(9), 1745-1770. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-016-9651-y 

Pace, A., Alper, R., Burchinal, M. R., Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2019). Measuring success: Within and cross-domain predictors of academic and social trajectories in elementary school. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 46, 112-125. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.04.001 

Statistiska Central Byrån. (2021). Demografi: Antal personer med utländsk eller svensk bakgrund (fin indelning) efter region, ålder och kön (år 2002-2020). 

Children immigrating to Sweden are not motivated to learn the host language Swedish and learn English instead. We gathered information on what positively or negatively affects children’s motivation to learn Swedish to develop a “motivation-intervention” in collaboration with early-childhood teachers. Previous intervention studies of children’s motivation typically focus on learning a foreign language in school (García & Pérez-Llantada, 2015). We need to gain a better understanding of the effects of motivational interventions on particularly immigrant children learning a host language in early childhood. Our interventions are based in the theory of self-determination and included but were not limited to activities such as goal setting, self-reflection, and self-evaluation, that previously showed positive effects on students' motivation and attitudes towards learning a foreign language (Dörnyei & Csizér, 1998; MacIntyre & Noels, 1994). Early-childhood teachers answered a questionnaire focusing on children's motivation to learn Swedish and factors affecting this motivation. Development of interventions were based on the results from this questionnaire. To reduce the concern that not all children have access to the effective intervention we will invite childcare personnel in the area to a presentation and discussion of results. The main finding was the importance of the caregivers as role models. If they acquired Swedish, and found the language acquisition important for their children, children would be more motivated and would also attend childcare more frequently. Including teachers into the development of interventions led to relevant interventions that easily can be integrated with the regular curriculum in contrast to intense researcher-implemented interventions.

With current trends in population migration, international mobility, and connectedness, an understanding of the factors that lead to optimal second language acquisition is increasingly important. Based on Helen Neville’s work, this chapter discusses some of the neurocognitive research on second language processing with a focus on studies utilizing event-related potentials (ERP). The chapter is structured around phonology, semantics, and syntax. For each of these subsystems of language, there is a focus on three factors important for second language processing: age of acquisition (AoA), proficiency, and cross-linguistic influence. We argue for a shift in ERP research from a focus on AoA as a sole factor for describing differences in processing languages to a more comprehensive approach, including proficiency and cross-linguistic influence.

About a fifth of all children in Sweden learn the societal language Swedish outside of the home, i.e., they have Swedish as a second language (L2). Many of these children have lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, which predicts lower language proficiency. The aim of the present study is twofold: to contribute to a greater understanding of L2- Swedish proficiency in preschoolers with lower SES backgrounds, and to find out how proficiency tests should be adapted for bilingual children such that the tests are valid, i.e., unbiased to the language status (L1 or L2). We investigate test performance on a Swedish receptive language proficiency test (the Comprehension scale of The New Reynell Developmental Language Scales, NRDLS) which has a monolingual norming sample. The participants are 51 bilingual children (3-5-years of age) with Arabic as their L1, and who attend preschools in Swedish neighborhoods with lower SES. Results indicate that in contrast to the norming sample, bilingual children’s raw scores for subsections of the test are not progressively more difficult. Thus, we need to be aware that bilingual children’s high proficiency in a particular aspect of the language does not necessarily imply that they are proficient in aspects that would be considered easier from a monolingual perspective. In addition, there are indications that unfamiliarity with L2 lexical items, that are typically acquired early in L1, causes bilingual children to fail on tasks aimed at assessing syntactic skills, even though they appear to understand the syntactic pattern. We conclude with suggestions for special considerations and adaptations to assess individual L2- comprehension in preschoolers more accurately, such that practitioners in turn can support the children’s language development.

Second language (L2) learners experience challenges when word meanings differ across L1 and L2, and often display crosslinguistic influence (CLI) in speech production. In contrast, studies of online comprehension show more mixed results. Therefore, this study explored how L2 learners process fine-grained L2 verb semantics in the domain of caused motion (placement) and specifically the impact of having similar vs. non-similar semantics in the L1 and L2. Specifically, we examined English (20) and German (21) L2 learners of Swedish and native Swedish speakers (16) and their online neurophysiological processing and offline appropriateness ratings of three Swedish placement verbs obligatory for placement supported from below: satta "set," stalla "stand," and lagga "lay." The learners' L1s differed from Swedish in that their placement verbs either shared or did not share semantic characteristics with the target language. English has a general placement verb put, whereas German has specific verbs similar but not identical to Swedish, stellen "set/stand" and legen "lay." Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while participants watched still frames (images) of objects being placed on a table and listened to sentences describing the event with verbs that either matched the image or not. Participants also performed an offline appropriateness rating task. Both tasks suggested CLI. English learners' appropriateness ratings of atypical verb use differed from those of both native Swedish speakers' and German learners, with no difference in the latter pair. Similarly, German learners' ERP effects were more similar to those of the native Swedish speakers (increased lateral negativity to atypical verb use) than to those of the English learners (increased positivity to atypical verb use). The results of this explorative study thus suggest CLI both offline and online with similarity between L1 and L2 indicating more similar processing and judgments, in line with previous production findings, but in contrast to previous ERP work on semantic L2 processing.

Studies of native syntactic processing often target phrase structure violations that do not occur in natural production. In contrast, this study examines how variation in basic word order is processed, looking specifically at structures traditionally labelled as violations but that do occur naturally. We examined Swedish verb-second (V2) and verb-third (V3) word order processing in adult native Swedish speakers, manipulating sentence-initial adverbials (temporal idag ‘today’, spatial hemma ‘at home’ and sentential kanske ‘maybe’) in acceptability judgements, in simultaneously recorded event-related potentials (ERP) to visually presented sentences and in a written sentence completion task. An initial corpus study showed that the adverbials differ in frequency in fronted position (idag > kanske > hemma), and although all occur mainly with V2 word order, kanske occurs more frequently with V3 in natural production than both idag and hemma. The experimental results reflected these patterns such that V2 sentences were overall more frequently produced and were deemed more acceptable than V3 sentences. The ERP results consisted of a biphasic N400/P600 response to V3 word order that indicated effects of word retrieval and sentence reanalysis. We also found consistent effects of adverbials. As predicted, V3 was produced more frequently and judged as more acceptable in Kanske sentences than in sentences with the other two adverbials. The ERP analyses showed stronger effects for idag and hemma with V3, especially regarding the P600. The results suggest that the naturally occurring word order ‘violation’, V3 with kanske, is processed differently than V3 with other adverbials where the V2 norm is stronger. Moreover, these patterns are related to individuals’ own production patterns. Overall, the results suggest a more varied native word order processing than previously reported.