Lars Bokander

Assistant Professor of Swedish as a Second Language
Department of Language, Aesthetic Learning and Literature , School of Education and Communication

Research

My research interests include issues of methodology and validity in research on second language learning. For example, such issues concern how to construct reliable tests to measure second language development, or to measure underlying factors that are thought to influence second language development. I am also interested in the assessment of language proficiency in educational contexts.

Background

In the autumn of 2021, I defended my PhD at Linnaeus University with a thesis on validity in language aptitude research. I teach courses on the structure of the Swedish language, Swedish as a second language and multilingualism, research methodology and supervise student theses in Swedish teacher education. I have many years of experience teaching Swedish as a foreign language abroad and Swedish as a second language to adult learners in Sweden. My previous education includes a Master's degree in Language Testing from Lancaster University (UK) and a Master's degree in Swedish Language from Lund University.

Article

Bokander, L. (2020). Language aptitude and crosslinguistic influence in initial L2 learning The Journal of EuroSLA, 4(1), 35-44. More information
Bokander, L., Bylund, E. (2020). Probing the internal validity of the LLAMA language aptitude tests Language learning, 70(1), 11-47 Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons . More information
Bokander, L. (2016). SweLT 1.0: konstruktion och pilottestning av ett nytt svenskt frekvensbaserat ordförrådstest Nordand: nordisk tidsskrift for andrespråksforskning, 11(1), 39-60 Bergen: Fagbokforlaget . More information

Doctoral thesis

Bokander, L. (2021). Validity considerations in the study of language learning aptitude (Doctoral thesis, Växjö: Linnaeus University Press). More information

Book chapter

Bokander, L. (2023). Exploring the predictive validity of the LLAMA (v1) Language Aptitude Tests: A research synthesis. In: Z. Wen, P. Skehan & R. L. Sparks (Ed.), Language aptitude: Theory and practice (pp. 94 -116). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press More information
Bokander, L. (2022). Psychometric Assessments. In: S. Li, P. Hiver & M. Papi (Ed.), The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Individual Differences (pp. 454 -465). More information

Conference paper

Bokander, L., Agebjörn, A. (2023). Skolbakgrund, strategianvändning och ordförrådsutveckling på sfi. Presenterad vid Svenskans beskrivning 39, 4–6 oktober 2023, Växjö: Linnéuniversitetet. More information
Agebjörn, A., Bokander, L. (2023). Exploring the relationship between educational background, vocabulary learning strategy use, and vocabulary knowledge in immigrants learning L2 Swedish. The 32nd Conference of the European Second Language Association (EuroSLA 32), Birmingham, 30 August- 2 September 2023.. More information
Bokander, L., Rogers, V., Meara, P., Rogers, B. (2023). Internal validity of the new LLAMA (v.3) aptitude tests. EuroSLA 32, 30 August - 2 September 2023, University of Birmingham. More information
Bokander, L. (2022). Validity in Language Aptitude Research – the LLAMA and L2 learning outcomes. Presentation at EuroSLA 31, 24-27 August 2022, University of Fribourg, Switzerland. More information
Bokander, L. (2019). Predictive validity of the LLAMA language aptitude tests in a group of mixed L1 beginner learners of Swedish. Lund: Lund University, EuroSLA 29, The 29th conference of the European Second Language Association, August 28-31, 2019, Lund, Sweden. More information