In a European context, where member states of the European Union share a common language policy, multilingualism and foreign language (FL) learning are strongly promoted. The goal is that citizens learn two FLs in addition to their first language(s) (L1). However, it is unclear to what extent the multilingual policy is relevant in people's lives, at a time when the English language is established as a lingua franca. This survey-based study contributes insights into the relevance of the EU multilingual policy in an intra-European migration context, by focusing on Swedish migrants (n = 199) in France, who are L1 speakers of Swedish. We investigated the perceived importance of skills in FL French, FL English, and L1 Swedish, for professional and personal life. The quantitative analyses showed that participants perceive skills in French and in English to be equally important for professional life, whereas skills in Swedish were perceived to be less important. For personal life, skills in French were perceived as the most important, followed by skills in English, and then Swedish. In conclusion, the European multilingual language policy appears to be reflected in Europeans' lives, at least in the case of Swedish migrants in France.

This study aims to compare the discursive construction of Chilean migrants who arrived in Sweden from the 1970s until recently regarding their own linguistic trajectories at the micro level of social activity, the meso level of sociocultural institutions and communities and the macro level of ideological structures. The analysis of the latter level is based on Critical Discourse Studies, in particular, the strategies of de/legitimisation and the macro strategies of perpetuation or transformation The research questions concern (a) the semiotic resources used in multilingual contexts of action and interaction (at a micro level), (b) expressions of belonging and language identity (at a meso level) (c) and the de/legitimisation of events, processes and social actors in the construction of different ideologies (at a macro level). The method is qualitative and interpretative and is based on critical discourse analysis. The findings showed that the de/legitimisation of policies is associated with access to and acquisition of L2 (Swedish) and maintenance of L1 (Spanish). Well-prepared teachers, the communicative setting of the multicultural language classroom and the linguistic mediators were legitimised, while the process of adaptation and volunteers without sufficient preparation were delegitimised. Societal changes were identified as macro strategies that resulted in the transformation or perpetuation of what was being legitimised or delegitimised.

A growing body of research on bilingual word recognition suggests that lexical access is language non-selective in nature. This claim aligns with the Dynamic Systems Theory (DST) approach to (multilingual) language acquisition, according to which complex systems involve a large number of elements that interact. In language learners, these interactions lead to the creation and dissolution of patterns as the tasks and environments around them change. In this study, we extend the scope from previous research on word recognition to include the role immersion plays on the transfer of grapho(-phonic)-phonological patterns among (Brazilian Portuguese–French–English) trilinguals. Two groups of participants—one group living in their L1 environment and the other in an L2 setting—were presented with a primed lexical decision task. Besides revealing a high impact of L2 immersion on the processing of grapho(-phonic)-phonological related primes, our results provide further support for the notion of language non-selective access to the lexicon, which seems to generalize to trilingual word recognition. Implications for the DST view of multiple language acquisition are briefly discussed.

The ability to read is important for studies, work and social life, and therefore, reading needs to be central in all school subjects. The purpose of this article is to shed light on the factors that either facilitate or limit second-language students in a transitional program at an upper secondary school in Sweden in terms of their reading and reading comprehension skills. Observations of teacher-initiated reading practices and interviews with teachers about reading and texts, which were analyzed using Bernhardt’s compensatory model for second-language reading, show that all teachers highlight the importance of reading and the fact that reading in the subject they teach can help students to become competent readers of Swedish texts. Despite this, the amount of reading and processing of texts varies—in some classes, students do not read at all, and in other classes, they read a great deal. The only teacher who seems both to include the processing of texts and to choose texts that interest students is the teacher of Swedish as a Second Language (SSL).

This article discusses the loss of the creole languages on São Tomé Island and the societal move from multilingualism to monolingualism in Portuguese. It argues that recognizing the ideologies attached to these languages is key in understanding the language shift, but also the processes leading toward monolingualism. This qualitative study is based on three main theories: Language as social practice, language ideology, and monoglot standardization. Data comes from ethnographic fieldwork and sociolinguistic interviews with 56 speakers from the capital of São Tomé and Príncipe. I argue that the existence of multilingualism on São Tomé Island is not valued at a societal level because of the pejorative ideologies that have been held about the creole languages since colonial times. Also, the use of the creole languages stood as a problem for the creation of a unified Santomean nation, as the different racial groups on the islands had their own creole. Results show how ideologies about the Portuguese language and its association with national unity, modernity, and European-ness favored its expansion on São Tomé Island and a move toward monolingualism.

Assessment of foreign/second language (L2) oral proficiency is known to be complex and influenced by the local context. In Sweden, extensive assessment guidelines for the National English Speaking Test (NEST) are offered to teachers, who act as raters of their own students' performances on this high-stakes L2 English oral proficiency (OP) test. Despite guidelines, teachers commonly construct their own NEST scoring rubric. The present study aims to unveil teachers-as-raters' conceptualizations, as these emerge from the self-made scoring rubrics, and possible transformations of policy. Data consist of 20 teacher-generated scoring rubrics used for assessing NEST (years 6 and 9). Rubrics were collected via personal networks and online teacher membership groups. Employing content analysis, data were analysed qualitatively to examine (i) what OP sub-skills were in focus for assessment, (ii) how sub-skills were conceptualized, and (iii) scoring rubric design. Results showed that the content and design of rubrics were heavily influenced by the official assessment guidelines, which led to broad consensus about what to assess-but not about how to assess. Lack of consensus was particularly salient for interactive skills. Analysis of policy transformations revealed that teachers' self-made templates, in fact, lead to an analytic rather than a holistic assessment practice.

This article explores processes of place-making through the study of the linguistic landscape of a small-size town in Northern Sweden. The analysis of signs is used as a tool for examining the role and visibility of actors in the landscape. For this purpose, we examine who the authors are, what forms of multilingualism can be observed, and who has agency in the place-making of the public space. Our documentation consists of photos and fieldnotes from observations, encounters, and conversations with people during ethnographic fieldwork in 2019. Using a mixed-methods approach, all signs were first analysed quantitatively according to the categories of authors and function. Regression analysis was used to explore correlations between the categories. Secondly, multilingual signs were analysed qualitatively regarding their function and purpose in relation to their contexts. Our results illustrate a city centre with a strong presence of the Swedish language. Multilingual signs target specific groups and are intended for information, advertisement, rules and regulations; moreover, our findings indicate that the opportunities for private actors to influence the linguistic landscape are limited. The form of multilingualism in this context—visible multilingualism present mainly through English—is different from the one we can see in the socio-demographic data.

We present a parallel corpus study on the expression of the temporal construction ‘not…until’ in a sample of European languages. We use data from the Europarl corpus and create semantic maps by multidimensional scaling, in order to analyze cross-linguistic and language-internal variation. This paper builds on formal semantic and typological work, extending it by including conditional constructions, as well as connectives of the type as long as. In an investigation of 7 languages, we find that (i) languages use many more different constructions to convey this meaning than was expected from the literature; and (ii) the combination of polarity marking (negation/assertion) strongly correlates with the type of connective. We corroborate our results in a larger sample of 21 European languages. An analysis of clusters and dimensions of the semantic maps based on the enlarged dataset shows that connectives are not randomly distributed across the semantic space of the ‘not…until’-domain.

It has been noted that examples with extractions out of relative clauses that have been attested in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish are judged to be unacceptable in Icelandic and Faroese. We hypothesize that this may reflect whether or not speakers tend to prepose unstressed object pronouns as a way of establishing a coherent discourse. In this article we investigate to what extent pronoun preposing is used in Swedish, Icelandic and Faroese and whether there is any correlation with the acceptabilty of extractions from relative clauses. We show that Icelandic speakers use pronoun preposing to a very limited extent whereas Faroese speakers often prepose the VP or sentential anaphor tao. In both languages extraction from relative clauses is mainly judged to be unacceptable, with Faroese speakers being somewhat more accepting of extraction from presentational relatives. A crucial factor seems to be whether preposing is associated with a marked, contrastive interpretation or not.

Adult L2 acquisition has often been framed within research on the Critical Period Hypothesis, and the age factor is one of the most researched topics of SLA. However, several researchers suggest that while age is the most important factor for differences between child and adult SLA, variation in adult SLA is more dependent on social and psychological factors than on age of onset. The present qualitative study investigates the role of migratory experience, language use/social networks, language learning experience, identity and attitudes for high performance among Swedish L1 French L2 users in France. The study constitutes an in-depth thematic analysis of interviews with six high-performing individuals and four low-performing individuals. The main results show that the high performers differ from the low performers on all dimensions, except for attitudes towards the host community. High performers are above all characterized by self-reported language aptitude and an early interest in languages, which appears to have led to rich exposure to French. Also, they exhibit self-regulatory behaviors and attribute importance to being perceived as a native speaker of French—both for instrumental and existential reasons.

Language learners’ play with language can be a useful and effective tool for learning. Since language play generally involves deviating from the norms, one potential source for it can be multiword units of language known as formulaic sequences. This study is informed by sociocultural perspective and Bakhtinian dialogism and investigates language play with sequences among young foreign language learners in a classroom context. A class of 11 pupils (aged 9 to 11), in Iran, was observed and video recorded for 16 × 90 min sessions. Across recordings, episodes where pupils were engaged in language play were identified and analyzed qualitatively to document patterns of use and participation. Additionally, formulaic sequences were identified based on pre-established criteria. Results revealed that the young learners of the present study were recurrently engaged in different types of language play with formulaic sequences such as playing with sounds, manipulating some units of sequences or using a sequence to play a role. The data provide examples illustrating the role of language play in generating occasions for learners to practice, repeat, explore, and interact with the language in a more lively and low stress environment. 

How does bimodal bilingualism-a signed and a spoken language-influence the writing process or the written product? The writing outcomes of twenty deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children and hearing children of deaf adults (CODA) (mean 11.6 years) with similar bimodal bilingual backgrounds were analyzed. During the writing of a narrative text, a keylogging tool was used that generated detailed information about the participants' writing process and written product. Unlike earlier studies that have repeatedly shown that monolingual hearing children outperform their DHH peers in writing, there were few differences between the groups that likely were caused by their various hearing backgrounds, such as in their lexical density. Signing knowledge was negatively correlated with writing flow and pauses before words, and positively correlated with deleted characters, but these did not affect the written product negatively. Instead, they used different processes to reach similar texts. This study emphasizes the importance of including and comparing participants with similar language experience backgrounds. It may be deceptive to compare bilingual DHH children with hearing children with other language backgrounds, risking showing language differences. This should always be controlled for through including true control groups with similar language experience as the examined groups.

This article focuses on language education policy for language learners in Sweden by building on a synthesis of findings from a research project on the school subject Swedish as a second language (SSL). The project was located in three upper secondary schools and one primary school with a large proportion of migrant students, of whom a majority studied SSL. We present previously published core findings, as well as revisit data for new analyses. The overarching aim is to contribute new knowledge on the complexities of arranging for sustainable, equitable and high-quality language educational provisions that include the teaching and learning of the language of schooling, through the lens of SSL. First, we outline and discuss the relatively unique design of SSL and discourses surrounding the subject, and also make some international comparisons with English as an Additional Language. Secondly, we discuss the role of pedagogical scaffolding of advanced literacy and literary content, and of multilingual aspects in SSL, as well as examine policy frictions in the data. We conclude by reflecting on the role of teacher competences and research methodology. Researching a second language subject is to stand in the crossroad of macro policy, the theory and practice of language education, and equity. All these aspects need to be considered to reach sustainable educational goals.

Summative assessments are an exercise of authority and something that pupils cannot easily appeal. The importance of teachers being able to assess their pupils correctly is consequently both a question of national equivalence and individual fairness. Therefore, summative assessment is a paramount theme in teacher education, and we aimed to investigate the perceptions and competence of student teachers regarding common summative assessment practices. The study was conducted at three universities, two in Sweden and one in Finland involving prospective language teachers responding to an online survey (N = 131). In addition, interviews were carried out with 20 Swedish and 6 Finnish student teachers. The analysis of the data indicates that student teachers value practices that enhance communication and collaboration as well as the curricular alignment of summative assessments. With respect to perceived competence, the respondents in general felt most confident with deploying traditional forms of summative assessment, while they were more uncertain about process evaluation and oral skills. Regarding significant differences in the participants’ perceptions of competence among the three universities, Finnish university students reported higher levels in all variables. However, room for improvement was found at all universities involved. 

This study serves to fill a research gap in the written feedback practices of teachers in a second language (L2) writing by focusing on adult beginners, previously uninvestigated in feedback studies. For investigating this, a feedback analysis model was developed. Unlike previous models in L2 contexts, in this study feedback is divided into two main areas, focus (what the teachers comment on) and manner (how the comments are given). The study was conducted in a web-based Swedish as a second language course and included three experienced teachers and their L2 students. The analysis of teachers’ written comments on 60 texts from 12 of the students revealed that in the two main areas both new and previously used categories of feedback were identified. In the area focus five new subcategories were identified within language accuracy, and in the area manner politeness, and reinforcement of learning outcomes were identified as new categories. Within the area, focus, the teachers concentrated on language accuracy, and within the area, manner, all three teachers mostly provided information, but also made a range of suggestions. There was also individual variation among teachers. The analysis of feedback strengthens the importance of applying the main distinction between ‘focus’ and ‘manner’ in L2 contexts 

Maximum performance tasks have been identified as possible domains where incipient signs of neurological disease may be detected in simple speech and voice samples. However, it is likely that these will simultaneously be influenced by the age and sex of the speaker. In this study, a comprehensive set of acoustic quantifications were collected from the literature and applied to productions of sustained [a] productions and Alternating Motion Rate diadochokinetic (DDK) syllable sequences made by 130 (62 women, 68 men) healthy speakers, aged 20-90 years. The participants were asked to produce as stable (sustained [a] and DDK) and fast (DDK) productions as possible. The full set of features were reduced to a functional subset that most efficiently modeled sex-specific differences between younger and older speakers using a cross-validation procedure. Twelve measures of [a] and 16 measures of DDK sequences were identified across men and women and investigated in terms of how they were altered with increasing age of speakers. Increased production instability is observed in both tasks, primarily above the age of 60 years. DDK sequences were slower in older speakers, but also altered in their syllable and segment level acoustic properties. Increasing age does not appear to affect phonation or articulation uniformly, and men and women are affected differently in most quantifications investigated.

This study addresses a pedagogical practice-based issue, that is, difficulties with eliciting student–student co-constructed oral interaction in the EFL classroom. The study was conducted with a bottom-up approach to pedagogical research through the close collaboration of teachers and researchers who were equal partners in the research team. It was observed that students often engage in parallel monologues or unauthentic question–response sequences when accomplishing oral activities; thus, the research team aimed to design tasks providing opportunities for meaningful, co-constructed talk. The research design involved an iteration of task design and classroom testing in three cycles, and the student–student interaction was analyzed using conversation analysis. Findings show that the divergent problem-based task designed in this process did elicit purposeful and collaborative oral interaction, as the students engaged in co-constructed talk by visibly attending to each other’s turns-at-talk and by formulating fitting turns that fostered the progressivity of the activity. The task also included artifacts (i.e., material objects), the manipulation of which played an important role in the emerging collaborative interaction. These findings suggest that the implementation of open-ended problem-based tasks can develop students’ interactional competence, while the use of artifacts can help students make their reasoning tangible and visually accessible.

This study addresses a pedagogical practice-based issue, that is, difficulties with eliciting student–student co-constructed oral interaction in the EFL classroom. The study was conducted with a bottom-up approach to pedagogical research through the close collaboration of teachers and researchers who were equal partners in the research team. It was observed that students often engage in parallel monologues or unauthentic question–response sequences when accomplishing oral activities; thus, the research team aimed to design tasks providing opportunities for meaningful, co-constructed talk. The research design involved an iteration of task design and classroom testing in three cycles, and the student–student interaction was analyzed using conversation analysis. Findings show that the divergent problem-based task designed in this process did elicit purposeful and collaborative oral interaction, as the students engaged in co-constructed talk by visibly attending to each other’s turns-at-talk and by formulating fitting turns that fostered the progressivity of the activity. The task also included artifacts (i.e., material objects), the manipulation of which played an important role in the emerging collaborative interaction. These findings suggest that the implementation of open-ended problem-based tasks can develop students’ interactional competence, while the use of artifacts can help students make their reasoning tangible and visually accessible.

A growing body of research investigating cross-linguistic influence on the acquisition of a third phonological system suggests that first (L1) and second (L2) languages concur in influencing oral production in the target third language (L3). Yet, there are also claims of either a more noticeable effect of the L2 on the L3, or a prevailing influence from the L1. This study further explores whether the L1 and the L2 compete or converge on exerting influence on L3 pronunciation. To do so, we examine the production of voice onset time for voiceless stops by adult advanced learners of L3 Spanish divided into two groups (15 L1 English-L2 French, and 15 L1 French-L2 English speakers). Three monolingual control groups were also tested. Participants were recorded reading word lists that contained voiceless stops in stressed onset position. A Kruskal-Wallis test uncovered significant differences traceable to the L1-English speakers, which puts them at a slight disadvantage vis-à-vis their Francophone counterparts. These results favor claims of a more decisive role for the L1 in L3 pronunciation. We compare our results to findings from previous studies targeting intermediate learners, and find proficiency in the L3 may account for the observed differences.

With the availability of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) courses, an increasing number of international students have been joining Swedish universities. However, the language use in Swedish EMI courses may display unique features; while many Swedish students have high English language proficiency, code-switching between Swedish and English is reported as a common practice by both lecturers and students, even when international students are present. Moreover, the term “international students” is often used to include students of various statuses and linguistic abilities, and the experiences and perspectives of short-term exchange students towards the language use in Swedish EMI courses are rarely documented. The current study investigates the perspectives of short-term exchange students from Japan enrolled in EMI courses at a university in Sweden. Questionnaire and focus group interview confirmed previous studies regarding the language-use practices in the classrooms. Moreover, the rate of speech, turn-taking, and background knowledge were found to hinder the learning and participation of the exchange students. The findings suggest the need to raise awareness of the language practices in Swedish EMI courses to students, lecturers, and other universities in order to support the learning experience of short-term exchange students

With the availability of English as a Medium of Instruction (EMI) courses, an increasing number of international students have been joining Swedish universities. However, the language use in Swedish EMI courses may display unique features; while many Swedish students have high English language proficiency, code-switching between Swedish and English is reported as a common practice by both lecturers and students, even when international students are present. Moreover, the term “international students” is often used to include students of various statuses and linguistic abilities, and the experiences and perspectives of short-term exchange students towards the language use in Swedish EMI courses are rarely documented. The current study investigates the perspectives of short-term exchange students from Japan enrolled in EMI courses at a university in Sweden. Questionnaire and focus group interview confirmed previous studies regarding the language-use practices in the classrooms. Moreover, the rate of speech, turn-taking, and background knowledge were found to hinder the learning and participation of the exchange students. The findings suggest the need to raise awareness of the language practices in Swedish EMI courses to students, lecturers, and other universities in order to support the learning experience of short-term exchange students

English medium instruction (EMI) has been increasing in higher education with broad intentions of stimulating internationalization and cross-cultural learning experiences. This form of education presents opportunities and challenges for teachers and students alike. Key challenges involve various levels of second language (L2) speaking and listening abilities among teachers and students operating in EMI contexts. This exploratory study therefore examines the relationship between the main ideas two EMI lecturers in Sweden intended for their students to learn during lectures and the main ideas that EMI students report learning in the same lectures. Prior to six lectures, the teachers summarized to the researcher the main ideas to be included in the respective lecture. Immediately following the lecture, students provided their own summaries of the main ideas. A keyword analysis comparing the teachers' intended messages and students' reports shows that students may not be recognizing and acquiring the main ideas that the teacher intends. Further analysis distinguished two sub-groups of students: those with self-reported Swedish as a first language (L1) and those with self-reported L1s other than Swedish. A binomial proportion test showed that L1 impacted the amount of lecture main idea key words reported by the students in this study. The paper closes with a pedagogic perspective encouraging EMI lecturers to monitor student uptake on a regular basis and adjust their lecture delivery to support better learning and retention of content delivered via EMI.

English medium instruction (EMI) has been increasing in higher education with broad intentions of stimulating internationalization and cross-cultural learning experiences. This form of education presents opportunities and challenges for teachers and students alike. Key challenges involve various levels of second language (L2) speaking and listening abilities among teachers and students operating in EMI contexts. This exploratory study therefore examines the relationship between the main ideas two EMI lecturers in Sweden intended for their students to learn during lectures and the main ideas that EMI students report learning in the same lectures. Prior to six lectures, the teachers summarized to the researcher the main ideas to be included in the respective lecture. Immediately following the lecture, students provided their own summaries of the main ideas. A keyword analysis comparing the teachers’ intended messages and students’ reports shows that students may not be recognizing and acquiring the main ideas that the teacher intends. Further analysis distinguished two sub-groups of students: those with self-reported Swedish as a first language (L1) and those with self-reported L1s other than Swedish. A binomial proportion test showed that L1 impacted the amount of lecture main idea key words reported by the students in this study. The paper closes with a pedagogic perspective encouraging EMI lecturers to monitor student uptake on a regular basis and adjust their lecture delivery to support better learning and retention of content delivered via EMI.

This article takes a look at the linguistic landscapes of the Stockholm archipelago with the aim to discuss if, and how, a specific sense of place is produced or reflected in the signs, building on Lefebvre’s concept of social spaces. Signs collected from two islands, Nämdö and Svartsö, are used in qualitative analysis. Firstly, the construction of such a (rural) linguistic landscape is discussed, focusing on the languages used as well as the emplacement and general functions of signs. Secondly, a closer look at some examples from the linguistic landscape provides insight into signs that are speaking to locals and visitors. The analysis shows that the linguistic landscape is almost exclusively made up of signs in Swedish. Functionally, a variety of different signs can be found, partly centred by local businesses, and on bulletin boards, but many signs with general information and instructions can also be found throughout the landscape. Examples of signs addressing both permanent residents and visitors can be identified, but the general sense of place the linguistic landscapes reflect is that of more organic places, not overly produced or touristic ones.

For novice students, developing disciplinary literacy in literature courses in English as a Foreign Language education (EFL) at university entails mastering a number of skills. The purpose of this small-scale action research study is to investigate the extent to which two different oral exam formats can serve to make explicit commonly held warrants in the discourse community of literary studies. The material consists of observation notes from Socratic seminars and Thought-Question-Epiphany (TQE) seminars, both of which are analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results show that most students adopt disciplinary conventions, such as building on each other's ideas, using critical lenses, showing contextual awareness, and supporting claims with textual evidence. While the Socratic seminar format generates lively discussions, the sole focus on questions prevents students from preparing textual evidence for specific literary elements in the analysis. In the TQE seminar, some students react negatively to the forced inclusion of an epiphany, but the format also gives an opportunity to identify significant quotes in advance and to expand on interpretative ideas prompted by the three components.

The study examines how prototypes and typological relationships between the L1, the L2 and the target language (TL) interact with TL proficiency in learning Italian as additional language. Low-proficiency and high-proficiency undergraduate learners of Italian (N = 25) with Swedish as L1 performed an oral retelling story test, aiming to elicit the Italian aspectual contrast perfective-imperfective. Their tense selection was analyzed considering the predicates' lexical aspect and the learners' knowledge of a Romance L2, or lack thereof. The findings show that the typological proximity between the L2 and the TL exerts a differential role depending on TL proficiency. Initially, it is beneficial for accelerating the overall emergence of the imperfetto as an aspectual marker. However, the prototype factor and, more specifically, the predicates' dynamicity influences the selection of past inflectional morphology. At more advanced stages, knowledge of a Romance language helps learners move beyond prototypical associations with the passato prossimo, but it does not seem to influence the use of the imperfetto among high-proficiency learners. These results are discussed in the light of research on the second and additional language learning of aspectual contrasts in Romance languages. 

This study explored the language and literacy practices of multilingual families in Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Israel, and Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study focuses on the different roles of family members in language transmission in order to understand whether these practices might have been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to answer two key research questions: RQ1, whether and how the pandemic conditions affected the heritage language, societal language acquisition, and heritage language literacy learning environments in the five countries examined (Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Israel, and Sweden); and RQ2, what is the nature of child and parental agency in facilitation of the possible changes in the corresponding five countries? Fifty semi-structured interviews (ten in each country) were conducted. The data highlighted the factors that triggered changes in family language policy during the pandemic and the role of the child’s agency, parents, extended family, and social network during this period. Based on our findings, we argue that the pandemic conditions gave the children new opportunities for agency when it comes to language and literacy choice and communication with extended family members. This even facilitated new sources of input and suggested the active role of a child as an agent in shaping family language policy in the family.

Research on writing that focuses on what writers do when they compose shows that processes such as planning, transfer to writing and editing are recursive and affect the writing process of first and second language writers differently. To our knowledge, what has yet to be explored in research is the writing process of young bilingual students. The present study focused on the revisions and spelling errors made by 9-year-old bilingual students during a writing activity in their L2. Details about the writing process (e.g., revisions) were taken from statistics registered in the keystroke logging program ScriptLog and were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Results from the quantitative analysis show that the mean proportion of the students revisions is relatively low compared to results in previous research. The qualitative analysis showed both surface and meaning changes; the latter were found at both the micro- and macrostructural levels. Bilingual students exhibit a creative writing process in which several meaning changes occur in a language (in this case Swedish) that they are particularly competent in. The spelling error analysis indicated that the bilingual students make the same type of spelling errors as monolingual students in their initial stages of learning to write.

Research on writing that focuses on what writers do when they compose shows that processes such as planning, transfer to writing and editing are recursive and affect the writing process of first and second language writers differently. To our knowledge, what has yet to be explored in research is the writing process of young bilingual students. The present study focused on the revisions and spelling errors made by 9-year-old bilingual students during a writing activity in their L2. Details about the writing process (e.g., revisions) were taken from statistics registered in the keystroke logging program ScriptLog and were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Results from the quantitative analysis show that the mean proportion of the students revisions is relatively low compared to results in previous research. The qualitative analysis showed both surface and meaning changes; the latter were found at both the micro- and macrostructural levels. Bilingual students exhibit a creative writing process in which several meaning changes occur in a language (in this case Swedish) that they are particularly competent in. The spelling error analysis indicated that the bilingual students make the same type of spelling errors as monolingual students in their initial stages of learning to write.

The Arabic-speaking community in Sweden is large and diverse, yet linguistic reference data are lacking for Arabic-Swedish-speaking children. This study presents reference data from 99 TD children aged 4;0-7;11 on receptive and expressive vocabulary in the minority and the majority language, as well as for three types of non-word repetition (NWR) tasks. Vocabulary scores were investigated in relation to age, language exposure, and socio-economic status (SES). NWR performance was explored in relation to age, type of task, item properties, language exposure, and vocabulary. Eleven children with DLD were compared to the TD group. Age and language exposure were important predictors of vocabulary scores in both languages, but SES did not affect vocabulary scores in any language. Age and vocabulary size had a positive effect on NWR accuracy, whilst increasing item length and presence of clusters had an adverse effect. There was substantial overlap between the TD and DLD children for both vocabulary and NWR performance. Diagnostic accuracy was at best suggestive for NWR; no task or type of item was better at separating the two groups. Reports from parents and teachers on devleopmental history, language expoosure, and functional language skills emerged as important facotrs for correctly identifying DLD in bilinguals.