Browsing by Subject "suomi toisena kielenä"

Goals. In the research, primary school’s preparatory classroom teachers’ experiences in preparatory teaching materials of Finnish language are being examined. The acquisition of Finnish language is one of the bases in preparatory education because one’s linguistic readiness must be sufficient for daily schoolwork and interaction when proceeding to mainstream education. The goal of the study is to examine what kind of materials teachers use, which materials they find useful and what things they find challenging in using the materials. Guaranteeing equality for the newly arrived is behind the goals for those who in the beginning face in addition to a foreign environment also a foreign school language. Methods. The study was made as a part of University of Helsinki’s Meeting in the Middle -project. The study is qualitative case study and it was carried out as a semi-structured theme interview. The interviewees were chosen by their expertise in the topic of the research. Two experienced preparatory class teachers served as experts in the study. The teachers are from different schools, but they both work in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The interview data was analysed inductively, so according to material-based analysis process. Results and conclusions. The study revealed that teachers use different types of materials as part of the Finnish language teaching. Materials that were intended to the preparatory teaching, other learning materials and also self-made materials were used in their teaching. In the preparatory education, the needs of the pupils are very different and therefore the teachers felt they benefited from using versatile, both ready-made and self-made materials. However, many materials and meeting the needs of the pupils created challenges. The materials did not always meet the pupils’ needs when it came to meaningfulness and functionality thus the teachers provided self-made materials. These factors caused problems for teachers in the planning and to the time spent on it, too. Although the teachers showed contentment towards some materials, it was noted analysing the data that there is still a demand for materials suited for the needs of the pupils.

Yhä useampi Suomessa asuva lapsi puhuu äidinkielenään jotain muuta, kuin suomea, mutta osallistuu kuitenkin suomenkieliseen varhaiskasvatukseen tai perusopetukseen. Lukemisvalmiuksien kehittäminen ja tarkasteleminen lukemista edeltävinä taitoina ovat ajankohtaisia viimeistään esi- ja alkuopetuksessa. Kun lukemaan opettelu alkaa suomen kielellä, ovat tavoitteet lukemisvalmiuksien osalta usein liitettyinä suomen kielen opiskelun yhteyteen. Näiden arviointia varten on myös käytössä ollut yleensä kaikille samat, suomenkieliset materiaalit, huolimatta lapsen omasta äidinkielestä. Tässä tutkielmassa tavoitteena oli tarkastella lukemisvalmiuksien arviointia ja niissä huomioitavia tekijöitä erityisesti niiden lasten osalta, jotka opettelevat suomea toisena kielenään. Tutkimuskysymyksiä oli kaksi, 1) Mitä taitoja lukemisvalmiuksien arvioinnissa kartoitetaan ja miten, ja 2) Millaisia huomioita liittyy S2-oppilaan lukemisvalmiuksien kartoittamiseen? Tutkielma toteutettiin kuvailevana kirjallisuuskatsauksena, integroivalla otteella. Lopullinen aineisto rajattiin vuoden 2010 jälkeen julkaistuihin suomenkielisiin lukemaan oppimista tai monikielisten lukemista käsitteleviin tutkimusartikkeleihin, väitöskirjoihin tai pro graduihin. Aineisto analysoitiin sisällönanalyysin avulla, ja tutkimustulosten jaottelussa hyödynnettiin teemoittelua. Lukemisvalmiuksien osalta arvioitaviksi taidoiksi nousivat tutkimuskirjallisuuden pohjalta erilaiset fonologiset taidot, kirjaintuntemus, nimeämiseen liittyvät taidot ja kielellinen muisti. Näiden taitojen kartoittamista varten oli tutkimuksissa käytetty useita erilaisia arviointimenetelmiä. Fonologisten taitojen arvioinnissa painottuivat riimiparien ja alkuäänteiden tunnistaminen ja nimeäminen, kirjaintuntemuksissa kirjainmerkkien tunnistaminen ja tuottaminen, nimeämisen taidoissa visuaalisen tuen avulla asioiden nimeäminen, ja kielellisen muistin arvioinneissa toistomuistin ja työmuistin tehtävät. Yleisten lukemisvalmiuksissa arvioitavien seikkojen lisäksi toisen kielen oppijoiden lukemisvalmiuksien arvioinnissa on huomioitava oppilaan käyttämien kielten järjestäytyminen sekä niiden keskinäisten samankaltaisuuksien tai eroavaisuuksien huomioiminen. Tiedot näistä auttavat oppilaiden kanssa työskenteleviä huomioimaan erilaisten tekijöiden mahdollisia vaikutuksia lukemisvalmiuksien kehittymisessä ja niiden arvioimisessa.

The aim of this study was to find out the methods and practices, used by pre-school teachers in everyday life of preschool, to support children with immigrant background the development and learning of their Finnish language. In addition to methods and practices my goal was to find out pre-school teachers’ opinion on what kind of learning environment supports the development of the Finnish language and how important they think their own role as teachers is in the children’s Finnish language development. The theory is based on the studies of native language and its importance for a child, the definition of bilingualism and second language learning. In addition to these parts the theory contains information of methods how to support Finnish language learning and development, the importance of learning environment and the role of an adult in the development of the Finnish language. The study involved six kindergarten teachers. Five of them had graduated from Ebeneser- college and one from the University of Helsinki. All teachers are working in pre-school classes, where some children have an immigrant background. I carried out the data collection using a theme interview and observation of the physical learning environment. This study is a qualitative case study research and interviews were analysed using content analysis. The physical learning environment observation I left almost entirely without an analysis, because the material of the observation didn’t produce supporting results to my research. The results showed that it is possible to support the Finnish language development with various ways in pre-school. In most responses came out the use of images, correct child's speech and paying attention to your own speech, small group activities and the utilization of the different situations in language learning. Almost all of the teachers saw the learning environment as an important support for the development of the Finnish language, but not all of the teachers paid attention to the environment or tried to highlight the Finnish language in their groups’ premises. All the teachers felt that their own role is important from the perspective of the Finnish language learning and development. Most of the teachers thought that the role of the teacher is very important, and the development of the Finnish language must be supported systematically. Finnish as a second language- teaching was organized in only three of the participating research groups, which was a surprise to myself. Today it is not defined that the Finnish as a second language- teaching would be obligated and half of the teachers saw that the Finnish as a second language- teaching is happening at all times.

The purpose of this study was to examine how gender is represented in a Finnish as a second language textbook, in both visual context and in text. I examined two textbooks made in different decades. Both of the textbooks have been highly used in a classroom setting. I wanted to know how the change in society has affected the gender representations in the textbooks. I also wanted to know what type of gender representations were in the textbook (both visual and textual), and were there any differences on how gender was represented when comparing the two textbooks. Earlier research has shown that male gender is more on display in textbooks used in classroom setting. There are more visual male characters in textbooks than female characters but both male and female gender is represented in a very stereotypical fashion. The two textbooks used in this study were Meidän Suomi, published in 1999, and Suomi 2: minä ja arki, published is 2013. This study is a qualitative research. I analyzed the content of the two textbooks first by counting how many representations of gender were there in a textbook and after focusing on how the genders were represented. The textbooks differed from each other greatly. In the newer one, Suomi2: minä ja arki, gender was represented less stereotypically. There were far less gender representation all together. In Suomi 2: minä ja arki there were also ambiguous characters or characters that represented both female and male characteristics. Although there were more female gender representations in Meidän Suomi, the representations were more stereotypical portrays of a female character than Suomi 2: minä ja arki.

The purpose of the study was to examine the mathematical skills of children speaking Finnish as a second language and which are the factors that affects the development of the mathematical skills in pre-school. The theoretical framework is built on the four sections of math, the definition and function of pre-school and teaching Finnish as a second language. Previous studies have pointed out that the mathematical skills of children are significantly impacted by how much they pay attention to the numbers around them. Studies also shows that understanding mathematical relations and number sequence skills has a connection to learning mathematics. The study was conducted as a qualitative research where the material was collected by half-structured theme interview. The study objective was to find out what kind of perceptions do the teachers in early childhood education have on children’s mathematical skills and which factors they think affects the development of those skills. Four teachers answered to the study. The methodology of analysing the material was content analysis. The findings were that children speaking Finnish as a second language have relatively weaker skills on mathematics than children speaking Finnish as their native language. Teachers felt that language has significant impact on mathematical skills. Especially the self-confidence and motivation that children got after learning Finnish were remarkable factors. Furthermore, support of the family, previous knowledge of mathematics, smaller groups, individualised teaching, Finnish as a second language teaching and assistance of an adult influenced the development of children’s mathematical skills.

Tavoitteet. Varhaiskasvatuksella on merkittävä rooli suomen kielen ja suomalaisen kulttuurin opettamisessa vieraskielisille lapsille (Halme, 2011, s. 86-101). Tämän tutkielman tehtävänä on selvittää ja kuvata keinoja, joilla varhaiskasvattajat voivat tukea vieraskielisen lapsen suomen kielen kehittymistä sekä millaisia kokemuksia varhaiskasvattajilla on suomi toisena kielenä- opetuksen toteuttamisesta. Menetelmät. Tutkimus toteutettiin käyttäen sekä laadullisen että määrällisen tutkimuksen menetelmiä. Aineisto on kerätty kyselylomakkeella, joka jaettiin kahdessa suomi toisena kielenä- opetukseen liittyvässä Facebook-ryhmässä. Aineiston analyysi eteni käyttäen teoriaohjaavaa sisällönanalyysiä sekä luokittelemalla strukturoitujen kysymysten vastauksia taulukoiksi. Kyselyyn vastasi 29 henkilöä. Tulokset ja johtopäätökset. Tulosten perusteella varhaiskasvattajat tukevat vieraskielisten lasten suomen kielen kehittymistä mielestäni monipuolisin keinoin, niin auditiivisia kuin erilaisia visuaalisia keinoja ja menetelmiä hyödyntäen. Suurin osa vastaajista (26/29) oli kuitenkin sitä mieltä, että eri päiväkotien välillä on eroja vieraskielisten lasten suomen kielen tukemiseen liittyen. Vastaajista 12/29 koki suomi toisena kielenä- opetuksen toteuttamisen laadukkaasti ja monipuolisesti mahdottomaksi käytössä olevilla resursseilla. Lisäksi muun muassa aika koettiin liian rajalliseksi vieraskielisten lasten suomen kielen oppimisen tukemiseksi. Kyseessä on siis osittain jopa haastavaksi koettu pedagoginen toiminta, joka on tärkeä ja jopa välttämätön apu ja tuki monelle lapselle varhaiskasvatuksen piirissä. Suomen kielen oppiminen on kuitenkin merkittävä tavoite varhaiskasvatusvuosina ennen koulun aloitusta (Pitkäranta, 2016, s. 4).