A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Directing Paths into Adulthood: Newly Arrived Students and the Intersection of Education and Migration Policy

  2023. Maria Rydell, Sofia Nyström, Magnus Dahlstedt. Social Inclusion

  Article

  This article is centred on the tendency to align education for newly arrived students with migration policy. Drawing on an in‐depth analysis of interviews with four adult migrant students, we aim to investigate how the participants’ experiences of studying and how they imagine their future intersect with their immigration status. The interviews were conducted when they were first studying a language introduction programme, and then three years later. We focus on the participants’ nar‐ ratives about transitions within the education system and later into the labour market. Using Sara Ahmed’s approach to the orientation of subjects in time and space, the analysis shows that all students expressed a desire to “be in line,” meaning finishing their studies and finding employment. Students with temporary and conditional residence permits were directed towards specific vocational tracks and sectors of the labour market. Migrant students are a heterogenous group and, based on the findings presented, we argue that immigration status constitutes a crucial part of this heterogeneity, influencing how students imagine their future in a new society.

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• Language for work and work for language: linguistic aspirations in the marketing of domestic work

  2022. Maria Rydell, Linnea Hanell. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2022 (275), 89-109

  Article

  Language inevitably plays a key part in the infrastructure of transnational domestic work. Many who work and have worked in the domestic sector in Sweden have Swedish as their second language. The object of this study is to investigate the ways in which this fact is reflected in the marketing of domestic work historically as well as currently. Drawing on two datasets – personal advertisements by job seekers published in a Swedish daily during the twentieth century, and corporate marketing by contemporary cleaning agencies – the study discusses how references not only to language competence, but also to prospective language learning are used in the marketing of domestic work. While the phenomenon of domestic work, especially when performed by migrants, has been a resilient space of upset in the Swedish society for the last hundred years, the article argues that references to language are used to navigate tensions.

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• Boundaries of belonging: Language and Swedishness in contemporary Swedish fiction

  2023. Natalia Ganuza, Maria Rydell. Language, Culture and Society 5 (1)

  Article

  This article uses contemporary Swedish fiction to explore sociolinguistic phenomena, and argues that literature constitutes an important arena for studying the (re)production and circulation of sociolinguistic experiences and ideas at a particular time and place. It builds on qualitative analysis of 65 Swedish books, published between 2000 and 2020, which depict protagonists with multilingual and migrant backgrounds. The study examines patterns of repetition in these works of fiction. It foregrounds recurring sociolinguistic experiences that are made relevant in the depiction of the fictional characters’ lives, and how they are emotionally interpreted. The analysis shows that the narrated experiences are often told and organized in similar ways and they tend to use the same social images of speakers to highlight processes of boundary-making and social differentiation. Language is used as an important part of the entextualization of these social experiences. For example, the authors often depict “the immigrant” and “the Swede” as binary opposites, which are linked to certain typical forms of speaking and being. By way of repetition, we argue, these recurring fictional experiences contribute to the formation of a grander narrative about language, belonging and social boundary-making in contemporary Sweden, and to the construction of Sweden as a society that is increasingly segregated and stratified.

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• Constructions of Language Competence

  2018. Maria Rydell (et al.).

  Thesis (Doc)

  The current thesis is concerned with constructions and perceptions of what it means to be ‘a competent language user’ in the context of a language programme in basic Swedish called Swedish for Immigrants (SFI). A particular focus is given to the testing and assessment of oral interaction. The prevailing communicative approach to language teaching and testing makes it relevant to investigations of both language use and reflections on communicative experiences. The thesis is based on three studies. Drawing on insights from linguistic anthropology, multimodal interaction analysis, phenomenology and social theory, the three studies address different sociolinguistic perspectives on language testing and assessment. Whereas Studies I and II investigate paired speaking tests in the final national exam in SFI as a speech event, Study III builds upon focus group discussions with SFI participants with the aim of exploring the participants’ reflections on communicative experiences.

         Drawing on linguistic anthropological performance theory, Study I makes the case that the paired speaking tests can be analysed as staged institutionalized performances that put speaking and ideologies on display. Study I draws on an analysis of sequences in the test data where the participants expressed beliefs on language learning, language use and language competence. One important resource for the test takers to maintain the discussion in front of the examiners was to draw on dominant discourses on language and integration, such as stating the importance of learning Swedish, speaking only Swedish, attempting to find Swedish friends and taking responsibility for one’s learning, making testing practices an important site for the reproduction of such discourse. The orientation to being ‘a competent language user’ was performed by indexing other images of being ‘a good student’ and ‘a good immigrant’.

        Study II takes an interactional practice in the paired speaking tests, word searching sequences, as its starting point. Word searches tap into two aspects of communicative language testing: vocabulary knowledge and the ability to negotiate meaning and solve interactional problems. The test takers drew on different embodied semiotic resources to negotiate participation and meaning or to display an avoidance to participating in the fellow test taker’s word search. Overall, the participants prioritized the progressivity of talk over lexical precision. By avoiding using languages other than Swedish during the test, the test takers sustained and constructed a monolingual orientation to language competence.

       Study III discusses how the SFI participants’ lived experience of language constituted their understanding of what it means to be ‘a competent language user’. Accordingly, the participants’ comments primarily constructed a view of competence as made relevant through and being shaped in social interactions, making language competence a primarily relational construct. Corroborating the relational construction of language competence was the importance given to language assessments, both those made by others and internalized self-assessments. In the focus group discussions, overall, being ‘a competent language user’ was oriented to as a desired, but yet unstable and vulnerable subject position.

        Taken together, the three studies address ideological, embodied, emotional and relational perspectives on language and language competence. By contrast, language testing practices are built upon a view of language competence as an individual and objective ability that can be measured. The main conclusions drawn in the thesis are that testing and assessment practices constitute a social practice where perceptions and constructions of language competence are constructed and regimented metapragmatically as well as interactionally. Furthermore, embodied experiences of language assessment made in institutional and everyday practices make competence a powerful concept influencing L2 users’ self-perception and agency. 

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• Multimodal analys av klassrumsinteraktion

  2021. Eva Insulander (et al.).

  Book

  Den här boken ger en introduktion till multimodal analys av klassrumsinteraktion, och vägledning i socialsemiotik respektive etnometodologisk samtalsanalys. De två utgångspunkterna kan antas för att studera interaktion och skapa underlag för analys och tolkning av fenomen som undervisning, lärande och bedömning samt sociala relationer (fenomen som uppmärksammas inom UVK-kurser).

   Boken redogör för forskningsprocessens olika steg såsom problemformulering, metoder för datainsamling och analys och erbjuder särskilt verktyg för att genomföra praktiknära studier på vetenskaplig grund. I boken presenteras hur två skilda teoretiska och metodologiska utgångspunkter resulterar i olika undersökningsbara frågor, begreppsanvändning och analysmodeller för studier av interaktion.

  Här uppmärksammas vikten av ett multimodalt perspektiv på interaktion då språkliga, kroppsliga och materiella aspekter får betydelser för analys och tolkning av olika fenomen.

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• På liv och död - om drama med andraspråkselever

  2022. Maria Rydell, Alexandra Ljungkvist Sjölin. Möjligehter till lärande, 93-104

  Chapter

  I det här kapitlet diskuterar vi pedagogiska potentialer med att arbeta med dramabaserad språkundervisning. Genom att utgå från kroppen och rörelse kan man utforma övningar som skapar delaktighet utan att språket blir till en barriär. Drama erbjuder även möjligheter för elever att inta positioner som de kanske inte annars har tillträde till. Att få leka med språket kan dessutom erbjuda tillfällen att utveckla språket. Slutligen diskuterar vi hur drama kan användas för att belysa och tillfälligt rucka på etablerade hierarkier. 

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• Continuity and change

  2020. Katrin Ahlgren, Maria Rydell. European Journal for Research on the Education and Learning of Adults 11 (3), 399-414

  Article

  This article aims to explore continuity and change in adult migrants’ experiences of Swedish for immigrants (SFI), a state-subsidised language programme for basic Swedish. The study has a longitudinal and comparative design, drawing on discourse analysis of qualitative interviews conducted with language learners in 2001/2002 and 2015/2016. This period was characterized by important societal shifts, defined by increased migration, growing tension between discourses on rights and obligations of adult migrants living in Sweden, and an intensified marketisation of the Swedish education system derived from neoliberal principles. The study describes how these changes affected SFI as well as the conceivable impact that restructuring the language programme had on the learners. Ultimately, the study highlights tensions between various state initiatives that impacted the language programme and the SFI participants’ experiences of being adult language learners.

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• Negotiating co-participation

  2019. Maria Rydell. Journal of Pragmatics 149, 60-77

  Article

  This study explores embodied word searching sequences in paired L2 speaking tests in a national test in basic Swedish for adult migrants in Sweden. A particular focus is given to sequences where the speaker invites the interlocutor to participate in the search and to extended word searches where co-participation is negotiated in different ways. Drawing on an embodied interactional analysis of 27 video recorded paired speaking tests, this study shows how embodied semiotic resources are used both to negotiate participation in the word searching sequences and to display an avoidance to participate in the word search even when being invited to do so. Overall, the participants prioritize the progressivity of talk rather than pursuing lexical precision. This study argues that the test takers' awareness of being assessed can have an impact on how they perform the word searches. Finally, the study makes the case that even though word search behavior is similar across languages, it remains important to treat word searching as a contextualized interactional practice.

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• Being ‘a competent language user’ in a world of Others – Adult migrants’ perceptions and constructions of communicative competence

  2018. Maria Rydell. Linguistics and Education 45, 101-109

  Article

  This article investigates the lived experience of language (Busch, 2017) in relation to perceptions of what it means to be ‘a competent language user’. How to define language competence is an ongoing discussion in applied linguistics. However, relatively little attention has been given to the lived experiences of adult migrants with respect to their perceptions of competence. Drawing on an analysis of focus group discussions with adult migrants enrolled in a language program in basic Swedish, this article builds on understandings of communicative competence as a relational construct shaped by intersubjective processes. Corroborating the relational view of competence is the importance given to emotional perspectives on competence and the role played by assessments, both those made by others and internalized self-assessments. Meanwhile, discourses on the language competence of adult migrants often frame successful language learning as an individual responsibility and achievement, obscuring the relational process underlying the perceptions and constructions of communicative competence.

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• Performance and ideology in speaking tests for adult migrants

  2015. Maria Rydell. Journal of Sociolinguistics 19 (4), 535-558

  Article

  Language learning linked to migration is an important issue in many contemporary societies. This article discusses how adult migrants following a L2 Swedish course express beliefs on competence, language learning and language use during a test event. The theoretical framework is based on performance theory and the Bakhtinian notion of addressivity. Drawing on an interactional analysis of 27 video-recorded paired speaking tests (acandidate-candidate discussion) in the final national exam in an L2 Swedish course for adult migrants, the article discusses how the speaking tests could be interpreted as institutionalized staged performance. It is argued here that institutional performance puts ideologies on display. Stance-taking, interactional alignment and an orientation to dominant discourses on monolingualism and integration become important resources for keeping the discussion going in front of the examiners. Finally, the study argues that the view of speaking tests as performance provides a deeper understanding of the complexity of language use in test settings.

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• Språkkrav som migrationspolitiskt verktyg

  2020. Maria Rydell, Tommaso M. Milani. Perspektiv på skolans problem, 139-153

  Chapter

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• Om att använda pedagogiska bedömningar för beslut i migrationsprocessen

  2021. Maria Rydell.

  Other

  Att bedömningar gjorda i pedagogiskt syfte används för beslut i migrationsprocessen innebär att en viss grupp elever försöker tillgodogöra sig en utbildning under stor press, vilket i sig kan påverka möjligheterna till lärande. I ett mer övergripande perspektiv handlar det även om en risk för en påtvingad förändrad lärarroll och att ämnen som svenska som andraspråk och utbildningar som sfi politiseras. Det är frågor som behöver lyftas mer.

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• Sfi:s olika skepnader

  2021. Helena Colliander, Maria Rydell, Sofia Nordmark. Utbildning i migrationens tid, 89-112

  Chapter

  I det här kapitlet fokuserar vi på sfi, lärarnas uppfattning om sfi:s uppdrag och hur det iscensätts i mötet mellan lärare och elever. Vi illustrerar den mångfacetterade roll som sfi spelar för det övergripande målet att eleverna ska ges språkliga verktyg för ett aktivt deltagande i samhället. Sfi organiserars i ett spänningsfält mellan nationell och lokal styrning, mellan olika myndigheters intressen samt mellan synen på sfi som en rättighet och en skyldighet. 

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• Bedömning på sfi

  2021. Maria Rydell.

  Other

  Den här texten riktar fokus mot bedömning av språkfärdighet. En central del av lärares yrkesvardag handlar om att förhålla sig till hur och på vilka sätt elever uttrycker kunskaper, förmågor och färdigheter. Bedömning är därför en viktig del i det pedagogiska uppdraget och kan ta sig olika uttryck beroende på syftet med bedömningen. Bedömning kan också ha olika funktioner och olika betydelser för de som är inblandade. Eftersom sfi, precis som den övriga vuxenutbildningen, inte har fasta terminer kan bedömning sägas ha en framträdande roll. Elever ska kunna gå vidare i kurssystemet löpande under året och sfi-lärare behöver därför göra återkommande avstämningar om eleverna uppnått målen eller inte. Bedömningsarbetet påverkas även av den stora heterogeniteten bland målgruppen, vilket gör det viktigt att ha kännedom om elevers olika styrkor och utvecklingsområden för att kunna anpassa undervisningen så att den främjar elevernas språkutveckling. Den här artikeln behandlar utgångspunkter för bedömning av språkfärdighet som är relevanta både för summativ bedömning och för formativ bedömning. 

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• Gester

  2020. Ali Reza Majlesi, Gunilla Jansson, Maria Rydell. Multimodal interaktionsanalys, 123-141

  Chapter

  Social interaktion är alltid förkroppsligad och multimodal, det vill säga när vi interagerar med andra använder vi olika kommunikativa resurser där flera av dem utgår från vår kropp. En av de mest framträdande förkroppsligade kommunikativa resurserna är gester. Gester används frekvent och fyller olika funktioner i interaktion. I vissa fall kan de rentav ha en avgörande roll i meningsskapandet.

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• Konsten att föra ett samtal framåt - om bedömning av muntlig interaktion på sfi

  2016. Maria Rydell. Flerspråkighet som resurs, 236-247

  Chapter

  Muntlig färdighet är centralt för människan men samtidigt svår-bedömt för läraren. I det här kapitlet vill författaren lyfta fram att det är viktigt för lärare att ingående studera samtal för att bli bättre på att bedöma dem. För att öka kvaliteten i samtal –och därmed ge mer underlag för bedömning –beskrivs i det här ka-pitlet vikten av att ge alla elever utrymme i samtalen, lyfta lyss-nandetsroll i samtal och visa hur förhandling om mening utgör en viktig del i interaktion. Författaren beskriver också hur dis-kussioner kring muntlig språkanvändning synliggör resurser och strategier för elever samtidigt som det bygger upp deras språkliga medvetenhet kring talat språk.

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• Förbättrad kvalitet måste vägleda sfi

  2020. Maria Rydell.

  Other

  Att utbildningsformen kommunal vuxenutbildning i svenska för invandrare, mer känd som sfi, är politiskt laddad är svårt att undgå. Men politiska och offentliga diskussioner kring sfi sker sällan utifrån de kvalitativa förutsättningar som är nödvändiga för att utbildningen ska kunna möta de högt ställda förväntningarna. De pedagogiska utmaningarna för att lyckas är många, skriver Maria Rydell, biträdande lektor i svenska som andraspråk. I en nu pågående utredning finns dock en ny chans att ta kvalitetsaspekten på allvar.

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