FRAM was based on a five-semester programme in operation from August 2012 until January 2015, organized jointly by the universities of Göteborg, Lund, and Stockholm (host university) and Linnaeus University. The school admited ten students, divided among the participating institutions.
The graduate school was managed by a steering committee: Camilla Bardel, professor of modern languages and language education (responsible academic leader), Stockholm University, Gudrun Erickson, professor of education in language and assessment, Göteborg University, Jonas Granfeldt, professor of French linguistics, Lund University, and Christina Rosén, associate professor of German, Linnaeus University.
Content and organization
The purpose of the graduate school was to carry out research in language education with the aim of increasing the competence of language teachers.
A more specific aim was to investigate ways in which Swedish schools realize Sweden's and the EU's goals of plurilingualism, and ways in which language teaching (both of English as a quasi-second language and of other modern languages) can be improved and better matched with pupils' varied backgrounds and needs.
Drawing its theoretical principles from international research in language education, the programme focused on formal language learning in the school environment. Courses and dissertations were concerned with different aspects of language learning, teaching and assessment. The programme was basically the same for all the target languages involved, but the compulsary courses varied according to the directions English, French, Italian, Spanish, and German, and also according to the PhD programmes in languages or education of the different universities involved.
The principal content domains of courses and dissertations were:
- Aspects of language learning from an individual perspective
- ICT in learning and teaching of languages
- Forms of assessment in language studies
Supervisors
Prof. Britt-Marie Apelgren, University of Gothenburg.
Prof. Emanuel Bylund, Stockholm University.
Dr. Petra Bernardini, Lund University.
Prof. Lars Fant, Stockholm University.
Prof. Alex Housen, Vrije universiteit, Brussels.
Prof. Marie Källkvist, Lund University.
Prof. Eva Larsson Ringqvist, Linneaus University, Växjö.
Prof. Marianne Molander Beyer, University of Gothenburg.
Dr. Sirkku Männikkö Barbutiu, Stockholm University.
Prof. Philip Shaw, Stockholm University.
Prof. Liss Kerstin Sylvén, University of Gothenburg.
Dr. Rakel Österberg, Stockholm University.
Outcomes
This graduate school was the first of its kind in Sweden. It increased teachers' theoretical knowledge of learning, teaching, and assessment and the research outcomes from FRAM will form a basis for educational research in the foreign language education in the Swedish environment.
It will also facilitate a productive encounter between researchers and experienced teachers, which should lead to a broader and more precise discipline of language education.
To date, five of the teachers have been admitted to continued PhD studies at different universities.
Licentiate thesis:
Borger, Linda (2014). Looking beyond scores. A study or rater orientations and rating of speaking. University of Gothenburg. Department of education and special education.
Fredholm, Kent (2015). Eleverna, datorn och språket. Studier av skoldatoriseringens effekter på elevers attityder, skrivstrategier och textproduktion i spanskundervisningen på gymnasiet. Stockholm University. Department of language education.
Frisch, Maria (2015). Teachers' understanding of oral proficiency. A qualitative analysis of results from interviews with language teachers in Swedish lower secondary schools. University of Gothenburg. Department of education and special education.
Gunnarsson, Tina (2015). Multilingual students' writing in English: The role of their L1(s). Lund University. Centre for languages and literature.
Håkansson Ramberg, Maria (2016). Was bewerten Leher? Die Bedeutung grammatischer und lexikalischer Faktoren bei der Benotung von Schülertexten im Fach Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Linnaeus University. Department of languages.
Källermark-Haya, Lisa (2015). Agency in the Spanish language classroom. Student and teacher choices, actions and reports when students search for information on line as a part of a theme. Stockholm University. Department of language education.
Pålsson Gröndahl, Karina (2015). EFL pupils' understanding and use of teacher written feedback. Stockholm University. Department of language education.
Reierstam, Helena (2015). Assessing language or content? A comparative study of the assessment practices in three Swedish upper secondary CLIL school. University of Gothenburg. Department of education and special education.
Rocher Hahlin, Céline (2014). Motivation pour apprendre une langue étrangère – une question de visualisation? Les effets de trois activités en cours de français sur la motivation d’élèves suédois. Lund University. Centre for languages and literature.
Smidfelt, Linda (2015). Il processo delle inferenze lessicali in italiano L3 - il ruolo delle lingue apprese in precedenza e altre strategie di comprensione. Lund University. Centre for languages and literature.
Follow-up or related projects:
Fokus på engelska och moderna språk. En blogg för Pedagog Stockholm
TAL-projektet. Muntlig språkfärdighet i främmande språk: lärande, undervisning och bedömning
Other publications:
Bardel, C., Erickson, G., Granfeldt, J. & Rosén, C. (2017). Offering research education for in-service language teachers. Language Teaching. doi:10.1017/S026144481600046X
• Read more at the Swedish website of the department:
De främmande språkens didaktik (FRAM)
