Mid Sweden University

The purpose of this study is to attempt to answer if, and if so, which phase of the democratization process Iran is in, and what the country’s prerequisites for democracy look like. The study is a qualitative case study and is mainly based on Dankwart Rustow’s transition theory, Ron Eyerman and Andrew Jamison’s social movement theory and Sharon E. Nepstad’s theory about revolutions and non-violent movements. I also present Robert A. Dahl’s polyarchy theory to explain the overarching definition of democracy the study is based on and to find out the level of democracy in the Iranian society. The primary purpose is thus to present if, and if so, which phase has been fulfilled, according to Rustow’s transition theory. I will also present the social movements in the context of the ongoing protests and if and how social media has had an impact.

Iran does almost fulfil the two first phases in Rustow’s transition theory, and the social movements can be interpreted as mostly nonviolent, which is a normal way to go to reach a democratic transition. But with the empirical basis it seems that the state is not interested in talks and use violent methods against the protesters. Certain democratic principles are followed, but these at limited through a complex system which almost completely limits the possibility to fulfil Dahl’s institutions. Being located among authoritarian states doesn’t neither improve the possibilities for a democratic transition, and despite a more united population than before it can be stated, due to a excluding opposition, that an Iranian democracy is out of reach and the underlying reasons are mainly due ethnic, religious and political differences.

The purpose of this study is to acquire a profound understanding of the current criminal policy through an analysis of the political parties in the Swedish Parliament, namely the Social Democrats, the Moderate Party, the Sweden Democrats, the Christian Democrats, the Liberals, the Center Party, the Left Party, and the Green Party. The focus lies on the parties' perspectives on crime and how these perspectives can be explained within the theoretical framework comprising strain theory and rational choice theory. Additionally, the aim is to identify the differences in their views. This will be accomplished through a qualitative text analysis, specifically employing a self-developed analytical framework based on these two theories. The development of this analytical framework stemmed from the need to efficiently work with the countless amount of text presented in each party's election manifesto. By utilizing the analytical framework, the emphasis was placed on causes and measures. In other words, how do the parties explain the causes of crime, what measures are proposed, and how can these causes and measures be linked to the respective strain theory or rational choice theory? The results of this study reveal intriguing differences concerning causes and measures. While the majority of the parties' explanations of crime align more closely with strain theory, the majority of their proposed measures bear closer resemblance to rational choice theory. This finding is supported by previous research in the field, which has observed a political shift regarding attitudes towards crime. There has been a transition from a social liberal perspective to a more restrictive perspective on criminality, characterized by a shift in focus from the victim to the offender.

Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka Sverigedemokraternas ideologiska utveckling och dess koppling till högerpopulism övertid. Genom att analysera partiets principprogram från 1989, 2011 och 2023 samt relevanta teoretiska ramverk för populism, presenterar uppsatsen en fördjupad förståelse för partiets politiska förändringar över tid. Studien integrerar teoretiska perspektiv från forskare som Mudde (2017), Eatwell och Goodwin (2018) för att analysera Sverigedemokraternas utveckling inom ramen för de olika idealtyperna av populism. Dessutom granskas tidigare forskning för att belysa partiets politiska strategier och ideologiska förändringar. Resultaten pekar på en ökad betoning av högerpopulistiska ståndpunkter inom Sverigedemokraterna, särskilt när det gäller invandringsfrågor och nationalistisk retorik. Samtidigt diskuteras de potentiella konsekvenserna av denna förändring för politisk polarisering och social stabilitet i Sverige. Slutligen ger studien insikter i högerpopulismens växande inflytande som fenomen, både nationellt och globalt, och understryker vikten av att främja demokratiska värderingar och social sammanhållning för att möta dessa utmaningar på ett konstruktivt sätt.

I denna undersökning har syftet varit att undersöka historieskrivningen och textens struktur i tre olika historiska läroböcker om den europeiska stormaktstiden. Utefter textens narrativa struktur har det varit möjligt att undersöka vilken mening som förmedlas i läroböckerna. Jag har tillämpat ett tema kring makt och maktförhållanden för att kunna resonera kring läroböckernas övergripande mening. Resultatdelen i undersökningen innefattas av en redogörelse för de olika infallsvinklarna som tas i läroböckerna. Eftersom läroböckerna inte är upplagda på samma sätt stötte jag på ett metodologiskt problem, där infallsvinklarna skiljer sig ganska mycket från varandra. Tabellerna används som ett komplement för att indelningen ska bli tydligare, med hjälp av dessa har jag radat upp vad som får störst utrymme i respektive lärobok. Tabellerna används också i den andra delen av resultatavsnittet där maktförhållanden diskuteras. Maktförhållandena och drivkrafter till makt har kommit att spela en viktig roll i undersökningen eftersom detta tema präglar samtliga texter. Valet av tema har känts relevant för en undersökning om texter som behandlar europeisk stormaktstid eftersom denna period präglades av en maktkamp mellan de europeiska stormakterna.

Infallsvinklarna skiljer sig åt i de olika läroböckerna, och det har visat sig att de har fått stor betydelse för läroböckernas meningsskapande. Graninger & Tägil lade upp texten utefter fyra olika stater: Tyskland, England, Frankrike och Sverige. I denna uppdelning fick Sverige störst plats, fokuset låg på både inrikes-och utrikespolitik. Krigen står i fokus i denna historiska framställning, och de maktförhållanden som presenteras var i huvudsak mellan de olika stormakterna. I denna bok förmedlas en bild av ett Europa i ständigt krig med pågående maktkamper. Brolin, Dannert & Holmberg ger Sverige och framför allt Frankrike stort fokus, och även de olika staternas relation till varandra. Denna lärobok fokuserar på att ge bakgrund till de olika händelserna, snarare än åt att utförligt förklara olika händelser. I denna lärobok ligger fokuserat snarare på att beskriva hur ett envälde kom att uppstå och fungera. Ekonomiska aspekter får stort utrymme, framför allt kopplade till Frankrike. Eftersom Frankrike får så stort utrymme i läroboken blir resultatet att Frankrike framställs som Europas absolut mäktigaste land, de andra stormakterna hamnar lite i skymundan och framställs som att de ständigt behöver förhålla sig till Frankrike. Hildingson & Samuelson har en del likheter med Brolin mfl. i sin framställning. Frankrike hamnar även här i fokus. Brolin mfl. redogör däremot för bakgrunden till olika skeenden i mycket högre utsträckning än Hildingson & Samuelson. Maktförhållandena som framkommer i denna bok utgår från Frankrike och Frankrikes relation till andra stater.

I undersökningen blev det tydligt att textens struktur har en stor påverkan på vilken mening som förmedlas. Graninger & Tägil visar exempel på detta, texten lägger stort fokus på krig, och konflikter mellan olika stater, den är således ganska ensidig i sin framställning. Det blir då naturligt att den mening som förmedlas av läroboken har att göra med ett Europa i kris med ständiga krig. Samma princip gäller Hildingson & Samuelson som redogör för Colbert och ekonomins utveckling i Europa, och hur detta påverkade Europa. Resultatet blir att Frankrike framställs som Europas mittpunkt, som grunden till ekonomisk utveckling och kärnan för makt. Texterna består av olika byggstenar som på olika sätt påverkar den mening som förmedlas, där det ekonomiska perspektivet och Colbert är ett exempel på detta. I Graninger & Tägil är det extra tydligt hur maktförhållandena och infallsvinklarna med fokus på krig och konflikter går hand i hand med meningen som förmedlas kring ett kaotiskt Europa.

Tidigare forskning har fastslagit att det finns en tendens att porträttera Sverige som en moraliskt överlägsen stat i förhållande till andra stater, och att det går att utläsa ett underliggande syfte i de historiska framställningarna i läroböcker, som grundar sig i olika drivkrafter. Ammert menar på att de historiska läroböckerna från 80-talet fokuserade mycket på “vanliga människors liv”. Dessa slutsatser går inte direkt att bekräfta i denna undersökning. En problematik som uppstår har att göra med avgränsningen förundersökningen. Med tanke på att det endast är vissa delar som har plockats ut ur läroböckerna för undersökningen finns det en möjlighet att resterande delar av läroböckerna bekräftar den tidigare forskningens resultat. I undersökningen är det inte möjligt att påstå att någon av läroböckerna förmedlar en mening kring att Sverige skulle vara moraliskt överlägset andra stater. Det finns inte heller någon stark nationalistisk underton, som Danielsson Malmros menar på att det fanns i äldre läroböcker. Det är istället makten somstår i centrum snarare än moralen, på grund av detta kom maktförhållandena att spela en viktig roll.

När det kommer till skildringarna av “vanliga människors liv”, är detta inte något som fick särskilt mycket plats. Periodisering är dock något som tillämpats i läroböckerna, det finns dock en avsaknad på kvalitativ periodisering där människor som kollektiv står i centrum snarare än individer. De olika aktörerna står i centrum för skildringarna, framför allt i Hildingson & Samuelson 1982, och Brolin mfl. 1981. Detta aktörsperspektiv går samman med temat kring makt, eftersom de aktörer som står i centrum skildras som starka makthavare. I Graninger & Tägil gavs Sverige stort utrymme, texterna innefattas till större del av skildringar av vanliga människor jämfört med Brolin mfl. och Hildingson & Samuelson. Med denna undersökning önskar jag bidra till forskningsläget kring läroböckers narrativa struktur och meningsskapande. Genom att redovisa hur textens struktur är uppbyggd i dessa tre slumpvis valda läroböcker, vill jag belysa att och hur läroböcker som gavs ut under samma tidsperiod kan förmedla olika mening på olika sätt baserat på hur texten är uppbyggd och var fokuset i texten ligger. Jag har en förhoppning om att denna undersökning öppnar uppför ny forskning om historieskrivning och meningsskapande. Ett förslag är att utforska jämförelser mellan äldre läroböcker och nutida läroböcker, och undersöka hur den mening som förmedlas skiljer sig åt.

Kapitel XIX är ett av de avslutande kapitlen i The Authoritarian Personality. Här summerar Theodor W. Adorno de resultat som framkommit vid analysen av intervjuerna med de personer som fått högst respektive lägst poäng på den så kallade F-skalan och alltså uppvisar mest eller minst av de fördomar och auktoritära attityder som skalan mäter. De två grupperna av high scorers och low scorers grupperar Adorno sedan ytterligare i en typologi med ett större antal undergrupper. Grupperna definieras som psykologiska syndrom enligt den av freudiansk psykoanalys inspirerade teori som vägleder hela undersökningen. Gruppen med högst poäng delas upp i ytligt förbittrade, konventionella, auktoritära, rebeller eller psykopater, excentriker och manipulativa. Gruppen med lägst poäng delas upp i rigida, protesterande, impulsiva, lättsamma och genuina liberaler. Kapitlet inleds med en kritisk diskussion av typologibegreppet så som det användes vid tiden för studien i konventionell – och i nazistisk – psykologi, där Adorno redogör för sitt eget angreppssätt.

Publiceringshistorik: Översättning av kapitel XIX, ”Types and syndromes”, i Theodor W. Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel J. Levinson & R. Nevitt Sanford, The Authoritarian Personality (Harper & Brothers 1950). Publicerad med tillstånd från rättighetsinnehavaren American Jewish Committee, https://www.ajc.org/.

An examination of Samuel Huntington's study, _Third Wave Democratization_ (1991), indicates as to why countries such as Tunisia have succeeded in their goal to democratize, while countries such as Egypt, Yemen, and Libya have not. An economic crisis which left an unbearable amount of unemployment and corruption had sparked protests; starting with a 26-year-old fruit salesman who lit himself on fire, leading to a resistance movement known as the _Arab Spring_. The protests were initially successful, removing corrupt authoritarian regimes in all four countries, though that was only the first step. The civilians knew they had to fight for a long-term solution, democratization. While Tunisia had seen success in its transition to democratize, Egypt was not as fortunate. Military resistance loosened civilian grip in Egypt's push to democratize. Both Yemen and Libya have failed in democratization as well, both with military intervention resulting in a civil war. Huntington's criteria for the study included regime legitimacy, economic modernization, and religious change. Tunisia did not face religious, economic, and military resistance in the same way Egypt did, leading to its modern-day success as a democratic state.

This thesis investigates the growing phenomenon of vanishing centrist politics in societies experiencing increased polarization. This thesis seeks to analyse and understand moderation of political parties and electorates in Europe. The research employs two linear regression models based on data from the Eurobarometer and Chapel Hill Expert Survey, to examine which factors influence political moderation.

This thesis finds that electoral support is associated with more extreme ideological positions. Parties with higher past vote shares often solidify their base by adopting more pronounced positions rather than moderating their views. The analysis further examines the role of social and cultural values in shaping party ideologies, finding that parties emphasizing these values tend to adopt more extreme stances. Economic beliefs also significantly influence political positioning, with parties maintaining strong economic views becoming more ideologically extreme. Future expectations play a crucial role, with optimistic left-leaning and pessimistic right-leaning voters showing a tendency towards moderation, while contrasting outlooks may lead to more extreme positions. The study also explores how opinions on the country’s economy affect political orientation, noting that negative economic perceptions generally push individuals towards more extreme ideologies, whereas positive views can sometimes encourage moderation. Perceptions of the country's direction exhibit a paradoxical effect, with positive views leaning towards right-leaning ideologies that emphasize stability, and negative views leading to left-leaning ideologies advocating for significant reforms.

Syftet med denna studie är att få en inblick i hur genus framställs i läseböcker som används i skolans läsundervisning och vad genusframställningen kan säga om flickors och pojkars handlingsutrymme i skola och samhälle. Studien inbegriper även att sätta genusframställningen i relation till olika pedagogiska strategier för att utröna skolans betydelse i förändringsarbete kring genus. Litteraturanalysen visar att det både finns karaktärer, föremål och händelser som bryter mot de traditionella könsnormerna och sådant som bekräftar dem. I många fall kan genusframställningen därför bidra till att bredda handlingsutrymmet för de barn som läser böckerna, men i andra fall minska det. För att hjälpa till vid barnens identitetsskapande kan pedagoger genom att göra välgrundade bokval aktivt arbeta med samtal om normer och därigenom försöka bredda barnens begreppsvärld.

The series of recent crises (EURO, refugees, backsliding, Brexit) challenge the self-portrayal of the European Union (EU) as a community of shared values. Against this backdrop, we analyse European Values Study data from 1990 till 2020 to assess the level and change in publics’ acceptance of the EU’s officially propagated values: personal freedom, individual autonomy, social solidarity, ethnic tolerance, civic honesty, gender equality and liberal democracy. We find that EU publics support these values strongly and increasingly over time. The EU-member publics are also remarkably distinct culturally from Eastern European non-EU-nations, especially concerning individual freedoms and gender equality. Simultaneously, however, member nations internalize EU-values at different speeds–alongside traditional religious fault lines that continue to differentiate Europe–in the following order from fastest to slowest: (1) Protestant, (2) Catholic, (3) Ex-communist and (4) Orthodox countries. In conclusion, the EU writ large evolves into a distinct value-sharing community at different speeds. 

This essay examines how Sweden's security policy relationship with the People's Republic of China has changed over the past two decades during the 21st century. This is due to China's increasing role on the international stage, both economically and militarily. The study is based on realist theory, and through a textual analysis of defense preparedness reports. It is concluded that China's stronger position on the international stage has influenced Sweden's security policy relationship with the country, and that China is increasingly seen as a threat to Swedish security.

This article focuses on girlhood in one of the youth subcultures of rural Sweden, EPA greasers. The EPA, a car that Swedes aged 15 and older can legally drive, is at the centre of EPA culture. In this uniquely and previously male Swedish youth greaser culture, there has been a recent increase in the number of Swedish girls driving EPAs. Previous research has shown how EPA culture and EPA girlhood are shaped through distancing from hegemonic urban and middle-class norms and ideology. In this article, we seek to develop an understanding of EPA culture, specifically the ways in which it has been adopted by girls. Starting out from their online performances, we will explore how place, femininity and resistance intersect. The findings demonstrate how EPA girls use a playful way of troubling norms in their online performances, understood here as space and outlet to resist and mess around with dominant discourses and prejudice. This can also be understood as a way of talking back to masculinity, the majority society and urbanity.

Through a netnographic qualitative research, an incel forum is analyzed in this study using a thematic analysis to investigate users on the incel forum and their views on sexual and violent crime. By using Sykes and Matza's (1957) techniques of neutralization, this study shows how the users on the forum may justify their positive views on violent and sexual crime. Two main themes were identified and deemed interesting and relevant to this study's research questions. The first main theme Society consists of two sub themes, Anti-modern society and Against feminism and women’s rights. The second main theme Violence consists of the three sub themes Revenge, Praises, glorifies and normalizes violence and Rape and violence is their only option. This study, as well as previous research, shows that users on incel forums tend to be very misogynistic and that they often praise, glorify, normalize and advocate violence towards people or social groups they dislike, for example women or men who are more successful in having relationships with women. The findings in this study also shows that users on the incel forum regularly seem to be seeking societal change because they don't agree with feminism and women's rights in modern society. Therefore, they seek change or revenge through violence, since this is the only way they believe they can achieve this. The users on the forum also seem to think that sexual harassment or rape is the only way they can get physically close to women, and that this combined with their misogynistic view justifies the sexual crime they discuss.

I dagens samhälle har mottagningen av nyanlända gjorde att bostadsbristen och de flesta kommuner har hamnat i bostadsbrist vilket anses vara ett relativt stort samhällsproblem idag, därför valde jag att studera på vilket sätt Malmö kommun/stad har hanterat bostadsfrågan för nyanlända i Malmö utifrån den universella och selektiva systemen. Den valde teorin är i form av både litteratur och vetenskapliga artiklar, teorin handlar om att bostad är en rättighet där alla medborgare har rätt till och att det ska vara jämn fördelningen av bostäder. För att kunna besvara frågeställningen har jag valt kvalitativa intervjuer där jag intervjuade sex personer som består av fyra politiker av socialdemokratierna och moderaterna. De andra två är tjänstemän som är ansvariga för integrationen i Malmö kommun/stad. Resultat av studien har visat att Malmö kommun har flera orsaker som har påverkat deras mål. Målet är att kunna lösa bostadsfrågan genom att bygga flera bostäder. Kommunen tar emot flera nyanlända sedan leder detta till att kommunen växer och sedan placera nyanlända i flera områden.

The aim of this essay was to investigate the narrative, humour and content of Slaughterhouse-Five in order to address the ambiguity of the novel. As has been shown, Slaughterhouse-Five is unclear about how many narrators it has, and the reliability of the main narrator proves dubious when source criticism is applied to the narrator as a source. Billy, who appears to be the narrator’s primary source, is possibly damaged by physical or mental trauma to the extent that he has become deluded, and rebuilt the world to fit the mold of an insane predeterminism. Even if one accepts the information given by the narrator and Billy at face value, the story in itself can be seen as being in opposition to predeterminism and war, due to the novel’s apparent use of humour and its focus on the Second World War and the bombing of Dresden’s civilian population. Nevertheless, the novel contains elements that nurture the interpretation that the novel is not in opposition to the idea that wars and its horrors are unavoidable. In conclusion, Slaughterhouse-Five is a contradictory novel, with its aspects fighting each other, hindering a clear definite reading of the work’s message as a whole.

Dealing with environmental problems has become one of the most challenging political issues of our time. Since the Brundtland report in 1987, environmental policy integration (EPI) that is, the mainstreaming of environmental issues in all policy sectors has emerged as a viable policy solution. This has meant that responsibility for implementing environmental policy rests to a large extent on local authorities where environmental problems with both local and global consequences are expected to be handled. However, there is still a disagreement on what EPI means in day-to-day decision making. With a theoretical framework drawing from theory on policy change, policy entrepreneurship and the neoinstitutional “logic of appropriateness” the aim of this dissertation is to analyze how the integration of environmental considerations manifests itself in local policy processes, highlighting what factors foster or hinder EPI. To reach this aim, I have followed two urban development processes in Kristianstad. This research offers insights on how EPI varies through the policy process and how focus is placed mainly on certain environmental issues and chiefly defined as of local importance. My study suggest that arenas for coordination are critical to overcoming the perceived “gap” between EPI on a strategic level and its implementation. This can help to clarify responsibility allocation among bureaucrats and their leeway for interpretation when new issues comes up continuously during the processes and affect the conditions for EPI. Furthermore, the dissertation gives insights on how acting “entrepreneurially” can enable an environmental issue to be included and given priority. This can also be a barrier if the ones acting entrepreneurially are not part of the entire process because the issue might receive less attention. In addition, if too much attention is given to one issue it might overshadow other environmental issues. Conversely, acting according to “the logic of appropriateness” can enable EPI by enhancing a more all-encompassing perspective on environmental considerations and also function as a cautious approach to radical change by preventing measures taken in absence of democratic legitimacy. By using the two theoretical perspectives, “entrepreneurial” and “appropriate” agency, this dissertation offers important insights into how different ways of acting interact and affect EPI and its outcome.

Syftet med studien har varit att  skapa kunskap om hur användarna av Östersunds kommuns integrationsinsatser för nyanlända upplevs av användarna själva. Eftersom insatserna från integrationsservice varierar beroende på hur den nyanlända har kommit till kommunen har urvalet av informanter skett utifrån kategorierna: anläggningsboende (ABO), eget boende (EBO), anhöriginvandrad eller kvotflykting. Avsikten med studien är att dess resultat ska kunna användas för att utveckla integrationsservice verksamhet. Östersunds kommun har valt att organisera en del av integrationsarbetet med nyanlända genom integrationsservice.  Det innebär att integrationsservice har ett särskilt ansvar för mottagandet av nyanlända kommunplacerade flyktingar som kommit genom anvisning från Migrationsverkets anläggningsboende (ABO) eller som kvotflykting. 

Ett varmare och i vissa regioner torrare klimat ökar risken för omfattande skogsbränder som hotar mänsklig säkerhet. Men extrema väderhändelser leder inte nödvändigtvis till att klimatförändringarna får ökad uppmärksamhet. Vad som sätts i fokus avgörs istället av hur händelsen ramas in. Studier av de omfattande skogsbränderna i Sverige 2014 och 2018 visar att orsakerna gärna definieras inom ramen för vad man lokalt kan påverka. 

This presentation considers the contribution made by women to English language teaching and learning in early 20th century America. Following the arrival of large numbers of immigrants to the USA in the early 1900s, there was a requirement for the incoming population to learn English as part of the “Americanization Movement”, to learn the U.S. Constitution, understand the laws and government of their new country and become assimilated into American culture (Cavanaugh 1996). Although policy may have been male-driven, documentation from the period demonstrates that women played a large role in implementing these language policies through both teaching and the publication of language teaching manuals for night schools, shop and settlement classes. 

This study examines five female-authored English teaching manuals published between 1906 and 1915. The teaching approaches taken are typical of this period in the USA, influenced by Sauveur’s Natural Method and Berlitz’s commercially successful Direct Method (Howatt 1984). However, the themes and contextualisation of target language in these books offer insights into this period, and in some cases demonstrate a uniquely female perspective on learners’ needs (e.g. Austin 1913). The texts will be explored using a corpus-based approach, referenced against male-authored manuals from the same period.

There has been much discussion about the persistent gap between research and practice in the use of corpora in the classroom (Frankenberg-Garcia 2012; Chambers 2019 among others), despite strong evidence of its benefits (Boulton 2017). The majority of studies into data-driven learning (DDL) have been carried out by those with a particular interest and skill level, predominantly in higher education, and the need to complement these with a broader base of studies involving practising language teachers in a school environment has been highlighted (e.g., Boulton 2010; Chambers 2019). For such studies to take place, however, more school teachers need to be made aware of DDL and its potential for use in the classroom.

This article discusses what we can learn from research into DDL with younger learners and teacher training in this context in order to shape a teacher training programme. It describes a pilot project introducing DDL to a group of secondary school student teachers (STs) of English at a Swedish university, and their responses to it regarding the feasibility of including it in their future teaching practice. The need for further training, particularly in practical pedagogical applications suitable for their learners, was apparent, echoing the outcomes of previous studies. It is suggested that integrating a range of classroom-focused DDL activities throughout their remaining course may be an effective approach. This also provides an opportunity to raise awareness of pre-prepared resources and novel approaches to DDL more likely to appeal to their learners, and practical examples of this are discussed.

There has been much discussion about the persistent gap between research and practice in the use of corpora in the classroom (Chambers 2019; Frankenberg-Garcia 2012 among others), despite strong evidence of its benefits (Boulton 2017). Chambers (2019) points out that the majority of studies into data-driven learning have been carried out by those with a particular interest and skill level, predominantly in higher education. Developments in corpus training in teacher education courses (e.g. Farr 2008; Naismith 2017; Zareva 2017) may lead to change, but so far there is little evidence that this results in corpus use directly informing teaching practice, or even that it is reasonable to assume that it should (Naismith 2017).  Nevertheless, the need to complement studies on data-driven learning by research-focused practitioners with a broader base of studies by practising language teachers has been highlighted (e.g. Boulton 2010; Chambers 2019). It seems, though, that this will only happen if such teachers find an accessible way to integrate corpus use into classroom practice, and are convinced of its value to students. 

With this in mind, I examine our experience with second level student teachers of English at MidSweden University, and their engagement with corpora. Although these students often carry out corpus-based research in final independent projects, corpus applications tend to be perceived as a research tool and play little to no part in their subsequent teaching practice. To encourage an alternative perspective, at an early stage in their course one new student teacher group was assigned specific teaching-related corpus-based tasks using web-based software, with limited-size corpora provided. They were then asked to consider the feasibility of using similar methods in their teaching practice. I discuss their reactions and evaluate this as a possible step towards normalising corpus use among teachers.    

Boulton, A. 2010. “Learning outcomes from corpus consultation.” In M. M. Jaén, F. S. Valverde, & M. C. Pérez (Eds.), Exploring new paths in language pedagogy: Lexis and corpus-based language teaching, 129–144. London: Equinox.

Boulton, A. 2017. “Corpora in language teaching and learning.” Language Teaching 50: 483–506. DOI:10.1017/S0261444817000167

Chambers, A. 2019. “Towards the corpus revolution? Bridging the research-practice gap.” Language Teaching 52: 460–475. DOI:10.1017/S0261444819000089

Farr, F. 2008. “Evaluating the use of corpus-based instruction in a language teacher education context: Perspectives from the users.” Language Awareness 17:25–43. DOI: 10.2167/la414.0

Frankenberg-Garcia, A. 2012. “Raising teachers’ awareness of corpora.” Language Teaching 45: 475–489. DOI:10.1017/S0261444810000480

Naismith, B. 2017. “Integrating corpus tools on intensive CELTA courses.” ELT Journal 71: 273-283. DOI:10.1093/elt/ccw076

Zareva, A. 2017. “Incorporating corpus literacy skills into TESOL teacher training.” ELT Journal 71: 69-79. DOI:10.1093/elt/ccw045

In the same way that individual words may be acquired, collocations can be learned incidentally through repeated encounters in context (Webb et al., 2013), or by more explicit methods such as using concordancing tools. Graded readers can be used for both of these approaches, either  through gaining exposure to vocabulary through extensive reading of graded readers (Horst, 2005) or concordancing using a graded corpus (Cobb, 2019). However, it is unclear whether graded readers offer sufficient exposure to frequent collocations to facilitate acquisition. Word frequency and structural complexity are taken into account when simplifying texts, but the effect of such grading on the phraseology of the language used has not been widely explored. 

One corpus study of graded readers at two levels (Allan, 2016) showed that restricting grammatical structures and vocabulary range intensified lexical patterning in simplified texts and thereby led to a higher concentration of common lexical bundles. However, this was found to be optimal with a higher level corpus of graded readers (2,300 headwords), and diminished with more restricted readers (1,700 headwords). 

The present study further explores the effects of text simplification, focusing on verb noun collocations. Three sets of texts are examined, consisting of an unabridged original version and corresponding versions graded to three levels of difficulty. Corpus software is used to identify the frequency and contextual use of the target collocations at the different levels. Tracing their use in this way can shed light on both the number of encounters offered and their transparency to the learner (e.g. through contiguous and non-contiguous use), features which are relevant both to incidental and explicit learning approaches. 

This poster presents an ongoing project at Mid-Sweden University which aims to develop asearchable digital database of complete past papers of the Swedish National Test in English.Swedish school students are required to take National Tests in English, similar to StandardisedAchievement Tests (SATS), in years 6 and 9. These assess students’ productive and receptiveskills in written and spoken English through a range of tasks: an oral test carried out in pairs,listening and reading comprehensions with a range of texts and tasks, and a writing test.Assessment is carried out at individual school level, with national guidance provided, includingtest specifications, commented answers and authentic samples of benchmarked oral and writtenperformance, cut-off scores etc. (Erikson 2020).

This article describes a collaborative project involving the construction of a corpus of graded year 9 National Tests in written English. National Tests are standardized high stakes tests which are an important part of the Swedish education system because the results provide an indication of performance at national level, and also feed into pupils’ overall assessment. The grading of National Tests in written English has been found to be problematic for teachers, and a need for assessment training identified (Erickson and Tholin 2022). By providing a searchable database of graded written texts, together with the teacher feedback, this project aims to create a resource to support pre- and in-service teachers in interpreting knowledge requirements and assessment guidelines, and providing effective feedback. The corpus will also provide a resource for research into the features of student writing at different grade levels. To create the corpus, past papers from collaborating schools have been anonymized, digitized and coded. As a result, pupils’ texts can be easily sorted by a range of criteria, for example, year, gender, education type, grade achieved on the written paper and overall grade for the National Test. Teacher feedback can be accessed similarly. We outline potential research areas provided by this resource, and demonstrate how some of these might be explored. We also give examples of how the developing corpus has already been used as a resource for English teacher training programmes, and outline future plans for the project.

This essay is about trust and mistrust in different medias and analyzes the Swedish people attitudes towards media. The study uses different theories about political trust and tries to explain if political trust has an impact on Swedish people's trust towards media. This is an interesting subject to study regarding the upcoming election in Sweden in autumn of 2022. The amount of fake news about and towards politics has had an uprising in the previous decades and this phenomenon might have an impact on the upcoming election. This study brings out political trust as a strong factor for the trust in media and contributes to the established theories about how political trust and the trust in media works. The result from this study shows that it exists a correlation between political trust and the trust in media in Sweden.

Sweden is one of the most equal countries in the world. Despite this studie show that every fifth woman is subjected to serious sexual violence and 14 percent of women have been subjected to threats of physical violence. Men’s violence against women is a global, societal problem and occurs in all cultures throughout the world. To stop men’s violence against women the Swedish government have made an equality policy goal named “men's violence against women must end”. This essay will examine how Länsstyrelsen Västernorrland och Länsstyrelsen Västra Götaland use the national policy about men’s violence against women. With Carol Bacchi's What's the problem represented to be method and poststructuralist theory, the problem representations of the county administration policies, their underlying assumptions and their effects are analyzed. The results show that the problem represented in the county administrations' documents is: lack of routines as a problem, insufficient competence and knowledge as a problem and women as a problem. The analysis also shows that the problem representations originally come from the national strategy and that they create different effects that affect society.

The purpose of the essay was to have an increased understanding of violence in close relationships and its impact in everyday life and how the individual is affected by social norms and cultural factors when it comes to violence in close relationships. The survey was conducted with a qualitative content analysis and semi-structured interviews with people from different ages, cultures, and backgrounds.The study showed that violence in close relationships has a major impact on the individual's everyday life and can lead to both physical and psychological damage. Social norms and cultural factors can also play a large role in how violence is perceived and tolerated by society. It was found that there is a tendency to trivialize or ignore violence in certain cultures and societies, which can lead to a culture of silence around the subject. The study also showed how isolation within the relationship led to a lost sense of normality. This, in turn, can lead to victims not daring to seek help or report the crime. The study points to the need to increase awareness of violence in close relationships and how it affects individuals and communities, as well as to break the culture of silence around the subject. The conclusion of the study was that it is important to increase awareness of violence in close relationships and its impact on the individual. It is also important to offer support and help to people who are exposed to violence in close relationships and to increase knowledge about how to prevent violence in relationships.

This chapter takes the form of a case study of constitutional and political life in Belau, a tiny Pacific island state, which gained independence as recently as 1994. The case of Belau is indicative of the fact that relations between environment, constitution, and institutions are multifaceted and operate in many directions. The presidential elections in Belau are, however, one of the very few Pacific instances of electoral boundaries that run through the country; if the organization of elections would count, more than most Pacific states, Belau would experience the blessings and shortcomings of nationwide party politics. The data are from the 1988 and 1992 elections to the National Congress of Belau, the Olbiil Era Kelulau, which is divided into the Senate and the House of Delegates. As for the elections to the House of Delegates, there is little variation between electoral districts in the values for the independent variable. 

This study examines what it means to be a Russian LGBTQ emigrant in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The study follows a phenomenological research approach that differs from the commonly used scientific approach that strives for objective knowledge. Through a qualitative study consisting of 5 participants who identify themselves as Russian LGBTQ emigrants, this research examines findings via affect theory, queer theory, and theories of social and cultural trauma to ask what it means to be a Russian LGBTQ emigrant, how the LGBTQ emigrant is constructed, and how the construct of being a Russian LGBTQ emigrant affects the subject. The study shows how the meaning of being a Russian LGBTQ emigrant is constructed through the effects of affect and how these effects create a collective, social, and cultural trauma that manifests in their everyday lived experiences while shaping their prospects for the future.