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To what extent can teachers' involvement in knowledge-producing activities be enhanced through collaboration with researchers? This article reports on two teacher-researcher collaborative didactic development projects in Sweden and Finland. By using the theory of practice architectures, the aim is to explore how teachers' knowledge contribution and participation may be transformed through collaboration in two action research-based projects. Even though the practices of collaboration are different, one aiming for book production and the other for didactic development in the classroom, the findings regarding the teachers' professional transformation seem to have similarities. The norms of how teachers initially understand themselves are transformed through the collaboration. The teachers start out by stating that they feel unsure of their own capacity, but through collaboration they start to see themselves as knowledge producers when they understand the value of their contribution of knowing-in-action. The teachers' professional transformation is made possible through time given and the set-up of collaboration through dialogues. As the teachers develop agency in the collaborative process of producing knowledge with the researchers, the relationships of power and solidarity change. The findings contribute to the research field emphasising teachers' important role in knowledge production and practice development processes.

During the last decade, Finnish teacher education (TE) has received special interest due to the Finnish students' success in PISA. Although TE in Finland has many strengths, there are also challenges that need to be addressed. One of the main challenges is the relation between theory and practice. As action research (AR) has been suggested as one possible tool for bridging the theory-practice gap and simultaneously supporting the forming of the foundational steps for an inquiry stance to continue through the teaching career, an AR orientation in the pre-service stages is of particular interest in this study. The aim is to explore student teachers' (STs') experiences of AR-based projects within two different contexts of Finnish TE, characterized by various paradigms: a class and a subject TE programme. The analysis revealed experiences of both constraints and affordances. Some of these are identified among both groups of STs, albeit somewhat differently characterized in the two contexts, while others are context specific. The results show that both groups of STs value their experiences of the AR-based projects. However, the results give important insights into STs' experiences of both constraints and affordances that merit further consideration when implementing AR-based projects within pre-service TE.

In tandem learning, a model for two-way language learning originally developed for non-formal education, language is learned through interaction between two native speakers with different first languages learning each other's languages in cooperation. A high level of authentic learning characterises this model. The original tandem learning model has been developed and transferred to a formal educational context. However, the effects of this transition on the authentic character of tandem learning has not been investigated, and research in this field is needed. This paper aims to increase knowledge and understanding of the challenges of implementing authenticity of tandem learning in formal language education by analysing the learning tasks in a handbook developed for classroom tandem, a model for language learning and teaching, within second national language education in Finland. The results indicate a large variation in authenticity levels among classroom tandem tasks, indicating that the implementation of tandem learning in a formal educational context has compromised authenticity. The results identify aspects of learning tasks that are problematic and could be further developed. The results point to areas for further development of the classroom tandem model.

The aim of this paper is to outline the teacher's role in classroom tandem. Classroom tandem is a student-centred model of language learning and instruction; there is a need for more knowledge about the teacher's role in a tandem classroom. Tandem learning, based on a social-interactional view of second language learning, requires that two students with different first languages cooperate in dyads. They switch languages and, in turns, act as learners in their respective second languages as well as models and support in their first languages. The empirical data consist of video recordings of teacher-student interactions in tandem classrooms in a bilingual, upper-secondary school campus. The analysis focuses on situations, where teachers interact with individual tandem dyads. We identify how teachers orient to different aspects of the tandem dyads' cooperation and language knowledge. Based on the analyses, we outline different roles of a tandem teacher. In addition to a facilitator role that is common for teachers in all school subjects today, tandem teachers act as language experts, as in all language instruction. The role of the teacher specific to classroom tandem entails coaching students in their roles as language resources and second language learners.

This study explores the challenges in supporting and assessing action research projects related to bachelor's theses for research-based initial teacher education in Norway. The data consist of two types of texts -- the official information about the bachelor's thesis from the university and 10 theses where the students complained about the assessment. The results are considered by using a theoretical framework of assessment as a process of communication and by applying the concept of boundary crossing. The results show the lack of communication and tripartite collaboration among students, practicum teachers and university teachers as presupposed. Communication and democratic dialogue are crucial elements of action research, and the findings suggest that the assessment process should focus on 'feedforward' in an open dialogue more than 'feedback' through written texts or marks. Our research findings add to the knowledge on the design of research-based programmes of study in general and assignments based on action research in particular.

The aim of this paper is to outline classroom tandem by comparing it with informal tandem learning contexts and other language instruction methods. Classroom tandem is used for second language instruction in mixed language groups in the subjects of Finnish and Swedish as L2. Tandem learning entails that two persons with different mother tongues learn each other's native languages in reciprocal cooperation. The students function, in turns, as a second language learner and as a model in the native language. We aim to give an overview description of the interaction in classroom tandem practice. The empirical data consists of longitudinal video recordings of meetings of one tandem dyad within a co-located Swedish-medium and Finnish-medium school. Focus in the analysis is on the language aspects the informants orient to and topicalize in their interaction. The language aspects vary depending on what classroom activities they are engaged in, text-based or oral activities.

Using the first language (L1) to solve problems in understanding the second language (L2) may be beneficial for L2 learning. However, the overuse of L1 may deprive L2 learners of exposure to the L2. It appears that the question is not whether to use L1 or L2; it is when and how each language can be used to support L2 learning. This study focuses on situations in L2 education in which L1 is not used in an attempt to solve the L2 learner's problems of understanding the L2 and the current assignment. The aim is to investigate what role participants' management of each other's L2 knowledge plays in maintaining intersubjectivity and doing L2 learning in these situations. The results show that participants may act on diverse L2 knowledge and diverse possible understandings regarding the assignments and that the use of L2 risks expanding these epistemic discrepancies. Using L2 also appears to restrict doing L2 learning on conceptual knowledge, for example, word-meanings. The participants agree on a minimally required epistemic balance as a way to move on. The use of L1 as needed in these situations, as a resource for meaning-making, may be beneficial for doing L2 learning.

The purpose of this article is to explore the role of the researcher in facilitating collaborative professional development (CPD) projects with teachers in Finland. The article sheds light on the complex role of the researcher promoting professional development in educational sites through action research. The educational sites vary from individual classrooms to small schools and municipalities. The analysis builds on the creation of a communicative space in the form of a Teacher Talk group for researchers engaged in different CPD projects. The creation of sustainable arenas for communication is needed, not only at the educational sites among practitioners, but also among the researchers engaged in different CPD projects. Through our continuous communication and reflections and with help of practice theory we were able to grasp the meanings of the professional development work and our role as researchers at the intersection of action research, university and school. We found the complex researcher role to mainly be that of a negotiator concerning cultural-discursive, material-economic and socio-political arrangements.

Video is currently used in many studies to document the interaction in conversation analytical (CA) studies on learning. The discussion on the method used in these studies has primarily focused on the analysis or the data construction, whereas the relation between data construction and analysis is rarely brought to attention. The aim of this article is to discuss different approaches to data construction that CA studies in and on learning utilize, and how these approaches facilitate different analysis and understandings of learning and cognition from emic, participants', points of view. Three, partly overlapping, thematic approaches can be discerned: (1) setting-centred, (2) participant-centred and (3) content-centred. The underlying interest of the study seems to influence the data construction, which in turn affects what kind of analysis that can be done. There is a considerable variation in which aspects data sets focus on, where an emphasis in data construction on setting, participant or content also seems to project the subsequent analytic emphasis. This relation between data construction and analysis is important to be aware of and to address.

In classroom tandem two students with different first languages (L1) cooperate in dyads in order to learn each other's native languages. The students take turns in acting as the second language learner and the L1 model and support. The aim for this article is to identify and describe patterns of interaction in tandem dyads' collaborative writing processes. The empirical data consists of video recordings of tandem dyads' writing processes in Swedish and Finnish. We focus on how participants topicalize language and content, and how they take initiative in and responsibility for different aspects of the writing process. The results show three different patterns of interaction. This study generates increased understanding of the interaction and cooperation between partners in a tandem dyad during a collaborative writing process, with implications for the language learning opportunities of tandem participants'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim is to study how a multilingual girl develops her understanding and use of the Finnish word tähti “star” and, in so doing, to contribute to the understanding of children’s language learning in multilingual settings. In recent understandings of learning and development, interaction is considered as constitutive of learning. Learning is not restricted to educational settings but occurs in different contexts. The multilingual setting in this article is a Swedish-language preschool class in a Finnish-dominated area in Finland. The analytic work is done within conversation analysis. The empirical material used consists of weeklong longitudinal video recordings of a 7-year-old multilingual child’s, Sara’s, everyday interaction at preschool, at postschool programs, and for large parts of the day at home. Through an analysis of 14 consecutive situations in which the word tähti is used, the article shows how Sara is being taught, how she learns, and how she uses a new concept. Furthermore, the analysis shows how her understanding of tähti is local and situated and does not extend beyond the contexts of use in the peer group. Through demonstrating how a close analysis of interaction can empirically substantiate claims of language learning, the article also contributes to the general understanding of language learning in multilingual settings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the differences between psychophysical (e.g. heikottaa, 'feel weak') and physical (e.g. janottaa, 'be thirsty') causative emotion verbs in Finnish by studying the factors that determine the temporal structure of the causative emotion verb + infinitive 1 -construction. The focus, in other words, is whether the situation expressed by the infinitive 1 verb lasts as long as the situation expressed by the matrix verb, or whether the situation expressed by the infinitive 1 verb precedes or follows the situation expressed by the matrix verb. Moreover, the article shows why clauses such as Minua janottaa kävellä kotlin ('It makes me thirsty to walk home') do not sound natural in Finnish. It is shown that the temporal structure of a well-formed causative emotion verb + infinitive 1 -construction is determined by the properties of both the infinitive 1 (the aspect of the verb) and the matrix verb (the semantics of the verb). Formal rules of grammar for the temporal structure of causative emotion verb + adjunct -constructions are constructed based on the framework conceptual semantics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with some language-specific differences in Finnish and Swedish when expressing spatial causation. The focus is on the Finnish causative motion verbs piilottaa ('hide') and hakea ('fetch'), which refer to a causation of spatial events: hiding or fetching causes something (or someone) to move along a path in direction to or from some place. Syntactic-semantic differences between the languages are explained as conceptual phenomena. The formal lexical descriptions made are therefore based on the framework of conceptual semantics. In Finnish the causative motion verbs piilottaa and hakea are both conceptualized as a path of the Theme's movement, whereas the Swedish counterparts gömma and hämta are conceptualized as a location of the Theme after (gömma) respectively before (hämta) its movement. Through the theory of temporal structure, the language-specific differences can be explained through temporal relations within conceptual structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]