Browsing by Author "Abughalioun, Maisaa"

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    Challenges of teachers working in a multicultural pre-school literacy class with native Arabic-speaking children
    (2016-08-16) Abughalioun, Maisaa; University of Gothenburg/Department of education and special education; Göteborgs universitet/Institutionen för pedagogik och specialpedagogik
    This study explored the role of the teacher in implementing emergent literacy in Swedish preschools. The participants in this study were six preschool teachers, five Arabic children and five Arabic parents. Data for this study were collected from interviews and observations before they were analyzed. The researcher used excerpts from teachers and parents’ interviews to analyze them and come out with the findings. Teachers face various challenges with children who begin at preschool. Communication is crucial between teachers and children, yet some children do not have sufficient language to communicate and interact well with their teachers. The findings of this research indicate that preschool teachers face further challenges when working with Arabic speaking children. Differences in grammar between both languages –Arabic and Swedish– can impact children learning the Swedish language. While Swedish is the dominant language in the Swedish preschools, multilingual children are, in the beginning, unable to speak it. Additionally, parents play a vital role in teaching literacy to their children through various activities. Swedish preschool teachers demand more help from home to support children’s literacy development. That means there should be a relationship between parents and teachers. Another finding is: learning the mother tongue language at preschool is very important for multicultural children.
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    SMARTPHONE USE FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF TECHNOLOGY USE BY ARABIC SPEAKING STUDENTS IN AN SFI CLASSROOM SETTING
    (2018-07-04) Alaraj, Hala; Abughalioun, Maisaa; Institutionen för tillämpad informationsteknologi; Department of Applied Information Technology
    Using smartphones in a classroom setting for educational purposes is quite popular in the world in general and in Sweden in particular. This study explores the use of smartphones in the language-learning classroom. A qualitative approach was used to understand how Arabic-speaking students use smartphones to learn Swedish as an additional language. Classroom observation and interviews with students and teachers were used for data collection. The study draws on mobile learning, tech-nological affordances and a sociocultural perspective on learning to shape an un-derstanding of the findings of the study. The study found that students use smartphones in the classroom as an educational facilitator through mixed learning activities to learn Swedish. The students use smartphones to translate vocabulary words, construct sentences, and advance their knowledge in grammar.