Browsing by Subject "B-ruotsi"

The background for this thesis came from the reformed curriculum, where intermediate Swedish was moved to begin on the sixth grade in September 2016. The purpose of the reform is to improve intermediate Swedish skills by emphasizing on the significance of motivation and attitudes towards learning. This thesis investigated learning motivation and attitudes of junior high school students towards intermediate Swedish before the reform. In addition, it clarified which factors and how they affected motivation and attitudes. Clarifying students’ motivation and attitudes offers hints to Swedish teachers on how to improve the education. The secondary purpose of this thesis is to act as a comparison for my Master’s Thesis, where I intend to investigate the motivation and attitudes of students towards intermediate Swedish when following the reformed curriculum. This thesis was implemented as a literature review. The literature consisted of two reports by the National Board of Education, one extensive research and four Master’s Theses. The literature was analysed with the help of Dörnyei’s (1994) components of foreign language learning motivation, which divides factors affecting motivation to language, learner and learning situation level. Girls were more positive towards intermediate Swedish studies compared to boys. Motivation appeared to decrease when moving from the seventh grade to the eighth and ninth grades. This was explained by the challenging content of the eighth and ninth grades. The students’ instrumental orientation towards intermediate Swedish was stronger than their integrative orientation. Swedish was mostly studied for the grade and some realised its importance even in working life and further studies. Failures in Swedish studies were explained by a lack of effort, which had a favourable effect on motivation. Faith in one’s abilities was connected to positive attitudes towards intermediate Swedish. The teacher had a central role in affecting students’ motivation and attitudes. The media had a weak effect on attitudes, both positive and negative. A minority of students brought up the concept of obligatory Swedish and were either for or against it.