Selected projects

Executive functions in second language learning

A new project has been initiated with focus on the role of executive functions in bilingualism and second language learning. Principal investigator is Professor Arve Asbjørnsen, and the project will be conducted in close collaboration with Associate Professor Janne Torkildsen, UoB, Dr. Kristine Jensen de Lopez, University of Århus, Professor Jane Baker, University of Amsterdam, and Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem, Bar Ilan University. The project is embedded in the COST IS0804 initiative on bilingualism and SLI, and is supported from L. Meltzer Høyskolefond.

Education and eductional requests among prison inmates

The group has conducted two national surveys among the prison inmates in Norway, in 2004 and 2006. The main finding is that the education level among the inmates are approximately one generation behind the educatinaal level of the general population. One of the omplications of the research is that educational fascilities have been established in all correctional fascilities in Norway. A series of reports from the project have been published (in Norwegian) by the County Governor of Hordaland who is carrying the responsibility for correctional education in Norway

Reading skills and mental health among prison inmates in Norway

The Norwegian Government issued a white paper in correctional education in 2004-2005 (Stortingsmelding nr 27, 2004-2005. En ny vår...). This project addresses some of the challenges that are presented in the white paper: The level of reading, writing and matehmatics skills among the prison inmates, and how these basic skills are related to preferences for education and confidence in coping with the demands of education while serving time in prison. The data collection was conducted during the fall of 2007, involving 600 inmates in Norwegian prisons.

Motivation, learning strategies, course experience and achievement

The project comprise research on

• motivation for learning (interest, achievement motivation, goal orientation)
• relatively stable individual differences in motivation (motive for success – Ms, motive to avoid failure – Maf)
• learning strategies (students’ approaches to learning – SAL, self-regulated learning strategies – SRL)
• course experience (teaching quality, workload, assessment)
• academic achievement

Central issues are as follows:

• How are motivation and learning strategies related to course experience?
• How may course experience, motivation and learning strategies affect academic achievement?

The samples so far have included university students and prison inmates under education.

“Speak up!”A longitudinal study of children at-risk of developing dyslexia.

The main purpose of the study is to identify and follow up five year olds born in 1998 at risk of developing dyslexia with or without frequently seen comorbidities as language and/or mathematics impairment in school. Main focus is on early markers, covering four main areas: early detection, brain imaging, intervention and gender. The project started up in August 2003, and was closed in August 2007. It has an international network, and data analyses and reports are in progress. There will be a follow-up study in 2009, when the children are 11 years old and attending 6th grade. Results will be published internationally.

Exploring ”Resistance to Change” (RtC)

This project is a cross-national validation of an instrument measuring differences in individuals’ disposition to resist change. The cross-national study consists of researchers from 17 countries. Specific aims of the Norwegian part of the project are to validate the instrument’s psychometric properties and to investigate potential relationships between RtC and measures of personality and values.

Project leader in Norway is Hilde Hetland
Ingvild Saksvik participates in the project at UiB

International coordinator of the cross-national study is Shaul Oreg, who initiated the project in 2006.

Ph. D. project: "Developmental patterns and comorbidity of behavior problems"

The main goal of the project is to estimate the prevalence of symptoms of behavior problems and other co-excisting mental health problems among school-aged children. Different developmental patterns of behavior problems will be examined. Of particular interest is the impact of early identification of riskfactors, gender-differences and comorbidity on the development of behavior problems. The project is part of the Bergen Child Study ( http://www.unifobhelse.no/index.php?Gruppe=3&Lang=eng&ID=Prosjekter&counter=72 )

Ph. D. project: "Literacy Development in Different Orthographies"

The majority of research focusing on cognitive and language prerequisites for literacy acquisition and the development of reading and spelling skills has been conducted in English. English, however, is characterized a deep orthography with many inconsistent grapheme-phoneme and phoneme-grapheme correspondences. In more transparent orthographies, including most European orthographies, these correspondences are far more consistent. This project’s main objective is therefore to examine the implications of different orthographies on literacy development.

The project is based on an international twin study, and involves research groups from Norway, Sweden, USA, and Australia. The Norwegian and Swedish part of the project is lead by Professor Stefan Samuelsson (Linköping University, Adjunct Professor University of Stavanger). The Australian part is lead by Professor Brian Byrne (University of New England, Armidale, Australia) and the US part s lead by Professor Richard Olson (University of Colorado, Boulder, USA).

Dyslexia and Second Language Learning

Second Language (L2) learning is characterized by parents, teachers and dyslexics themselves as especially challenging. However, the evaluation of L2 competence is often done on the basis of reading and spelling skills alone. Oral skills are often overlooked in a classroom setting. Also, it is often hard to find skilled professional support in L2 learning for dyslexic students, since most special educators and clinicians focus on L1 learning, and L2 teachers have little knowledge of L2 teaching of dyslexic students. Fortunately, the interest in multilingualism and dyslexia is growing. The present project focuses on English as L2 in dyslexia. A computer based test is made to assess oral comprehension and production as well as reading and spelling.

Project leader: Turid Helland
Projectcollaborators: Randi Kaasa, SLT, MA

Signe Marie Sanne, Associate Professor