Språkskap

The research project "Språkskap" was a collaboration between Ergonomidesign, Interactive Institute and Folkuniversitetet, funded by VINNOVA. It ran betwee in the Fall of 2009 through Fall of 2010

The Språkskap project focuses on how to turn everyday situations between Swedish speakers and Swedish learners into “sites of language learning” through the development of IT tools and educational conceptualizations. The project focuses on extending formal learning activities by creating a language learning practice that involves the learner and people the learner encounters on a daily basis. It changes the landscape of language learning by scaffolding the encounter between language learners and speakers in a way that transforms it into a learning encounter. It is based on a learning-by-doing pedagogic model whereby the process of creating personalized material with others provides beneficial language learning interactions unavailable in expert-created resources (such as text-books, audio programs, etc.)

Today many Swedish language learners work actively in classroom-based courses while often walking silently through their interactions with Swedish speakers in non-educational situations. Educational material and education has improved greatly with dynamic text books often with accompanying CDs, and the introduction of online and digital content. In Sweden there are many resources for beginner language speakers such as “lätt Svenska” radio programs (i.e. Svenska Radio daily “Klartext” program1) and newspapers (i.e. weekly newspapers Sesam and the new Nyhetstidingen2). However, tools that promote the use of Swedish in everyday life have so far been neglected.

In the Språkskap project, Folkuniversitetet collaborated with Ergonomidesign and Interactive Institute to explore an expansion of the formal language learning classroom to include everyday situations – encounters with Swedish speakers – by introducing materials and IT tools for self-generated content and folk coaching. By folk coaching we seek an expanded and deepened feeling of responsibility of citizens to coach non-native speakers in their Swedish speaking by scaffolding their interactions. The project result in a language scaffolding kit (with IT Demonstrator), an idea catalogue of learning interventions in the form of the book: Språkskap - Swedish as a Social Language, and research papers on the process and content of Språkskap.

 For interest in continuation projects in this area, please contact Brendon Clark at brendon.clark@tii.se.