Maria Eklund Heinonen

My research has primarily focused on second language development among adults in educational settings and working life. In my doctoral dissertation, Processability on Test: Assessment of Oral Language Proficiency in Adult Second Language Learners (Eklund Heinonen, 2009), I examined the role of grammatical development in performance on an oral language test used for admission to higher education. My subsequent research has explored, among other things, the relationship between spoken and written language development, second-language interaction in higher education, and literacy development in both educational and workplace contexts.

In the project Teachers as Carriers of Norms, conducted together with Lina Nyroos, I investigate teachers’ perceptions of second-language students’ written texts, the feedback they provide, and how that feedback is perceived by students.

I have also participated in the completed research project Working in a Second Language: Language Practices in Working Life and the Design of Profession-Specific Language Education (2020-2024, Forte grant no. 2019-00712), together with Stina Hållsten (project leader) and Hedda Söderlundh. The project examined whether two professional groups, newly arrived physicians and employees in grounds maintenance, are given opportunities through labour market establishment programmes to prepare for the literacy practices required in their professions in a Swedish context. More specifically, the project focused on the linguistic challenges faced by second-language speakers in working life and how profession-specific Swedish language courses can support preparation for these challenges.

In an ongoing pilot study, I continue to investigate language use in working life, this time focusing on the relationship between everyday language practices in preschool settings and the language tests used in recruitment processes. The project explores which language skills are actually required in the profession and how these can be assessed in recruitment contexts. The study contributes to the ongoing discussion on language requirements, fair assessment, and multilingualism in working life.

Another ongoing project concerns assessment and placement practices within Swedish for Immigrants (SFI). Together with Eva Lindström (Mälardalen University), I investigate how newly arrived adults’ first-language literacy is assessed and mapped in educational practice.