Stockholm university
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Ulrika MagnussonSenior lecturer, Associate professor

Research projects

Scaffolding writing

The aim of the project Scaffolding writing is to develop writing pedagogy in four linguistically varied environments.

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Systemisk-funktionell lingvistik. Att analysera språkets betydelsepotential

    2014. Per Holmberg, Inga-Lill Grahn, Ulrika Magnusson. Folkmålsstudier 52, 9-30

    Article

    This article presents the theory of Systemic functional linguistics (SFL), first developed by Michael Halliday, and exemplifies how the theory can be applied in empirical analysisof text and talk. It shows how SFL is centered on the idea that language functions in social meaning making, and how this idea is theoretically elaborated in terms of stratification, metafunctional diversity, systemic choices and registers. The article includes a theoretical description of these four central notions, followed by a presentation of two empirical studies. Both studies explore lexicogrammatical and semantic choices within the ideational metafunction, though in different registers.The first study is an analysis of the use of grammatical metaphor in text written by monolingual and multilingual upper secondary school students. Grammatical metaphor is the realization of meaning in atypical, or incongruent, ways. In the study, grammatical metaphor is a developmental trait, allowing students to express specialized meanings through new combinations between semantics and lexicogrammar.In the second analysis SFL is applied on talk in interaction and combined with activity analysis. The study explores the successive instantiation of the meaning potentialof language in a certain context, namely when participants talk about thinkingin radio phone-in counseling conversations. An analysis within the ideational metafunctioncombined with the notion of communicative projects describes how, in this specific case, the participants’ lexicogrammatical choices between a verb and a nominalform contributes in a critical way to a successful outcome of the ongoing counseling activity.

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  • Grammatical metaphor in Swedish monolingual and multilingual upper secondary school students' writing

    2013. Ulrika Magnusson. Functions of language 20 (2), 250-281

    Article

    This partly longitudinal study applies the theoretical framework of Systemic Functional Linguistics to second language writing to investigate the use of grammatical metaphor (GM; non-congruent realizations of meaning, e. g. nominalizations) in 365 texts written by Swedish mono- and multilingual students in grades 9 and 11. According to the analysis, older students and monolingual students make greater use of GM than younger students and multilingual students. Multilingual students with early and late ages of onset use GM more than multilingual students with onset ages between these two extremes. A relation was found between the occurrence of GM and the use of the potential functions of GM, e. g. expansion of the nominal phrase, which was used more frequently in texts with a higher GM density, contributing to the construction of specialized, educational knowledge. The occurrence of GM was compared to the occurrence of L2 deviations in a subcorpus. These results are interpreted in relation to the Interdependence Hypothesis formulated by Cummins (1979).

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  • Paradigms in Swedish as a Second Language - Curricula for Primary School and Secondary School in Swedish as a Second Language

    2013. Ulrika Magnusson. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education 6 (1), 61-82

    Article

    This article analyzes and compares the curricula of Swedish and Swedish as a second language for primary and secondary school. The school subject of Swedish as a second language is young, and its ideological foundation has not been debated to any large extent, in contrast to Swedish. This article analyzes the curricula of both subjects in terms of paradigms”, i.e. beliefs and conceptions on a school subject, and the Appraisal system developed within the framework of Systemic functional linguistics. In comparison, the curriculum of Swedish as a second language turns out to be more oriented towards skills and communicative paradigms, at the expense of paradigms related to personal growth, literature or Bildung. Also, the curriculum seems to have weak connections to research on second language development or education. The article also gives an overview of the Swedish school system with special focus on education for immigrants and multilingual students.

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  • Samtal om lärobokstext på två språk

    2017. Christina Hedman, Ulrika Magnusson. Nordand 12 (1), 23-44

    Article

    I denna studie undersöker vi hur spansk-svensktalande högstadieelever agerar i textsamtal kring samhällsorienterande lärobokstext. Med utgångspunkt i textrörlighetsbegreppet analyseras elevernas uttryck av textrörlighet kvalitativt på såväl spanska som på svenska. Artikeln baseras på data från tjugo spansk-svensktalande högstadieungdomar, där hälften av eleverna hade någon form av läs- och skrivsvårighet enligt deras lärares bedömningar. Resultaten visar att eleverna överlag manifesterar liknande grad av textrörlighet på sina båda språk, oavsett genrevariation, vilket indikerar ett ömsesidigt beroendeförhållande mellan språken, även om det också fanns undantag från detta mönster. Jämförelser mellan grupperna visar att eleverna med uppfattade läshinder uttryckte en lägre grad av textrörlighet, även om alla uttryckte textrörlighet i någon grad, både på spanska och på svenska. Det «flerspråkiga textsamtalets» stöttande potential och funktion som didaktiskt redskap lyfts och diskuteras i förhållande till flerspråkiga elever, med och utan uppfattade läshinder.

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