Director of studies

• LAMiNATE (Language Acquisition, Multilingualism, and Teaching)
• Language Acquisition

• Written Corpus of French as Second Language (research leader)
• Direct Profile: A program for analysing developmental sequences and developmental stages in written learner French
• Learning, Teaching and Assessment of Second Foreign Languages - an Alignment Study on Oral Language Proficiency in the Swedish School Context
• Age of onset and development of French

In my research, I study the second/foreign language acquisition of French in Swedish learners. I am mainly interested in the development of the morphosyntax in spoken and written French and the underlying factors that influence the linguistic development in this domain.

In my Ph.D thesis I investigated the development of silent plural morhology in written L2 French of Swedish high school learners. My results showed that the development of written morphology is gradual (and fast) and that it follows a certain developmental pattern, just as the spoken language development. I also investigated how different linguistic factors (regularity, saliency, frequency, etc) and psycholinguistic factors (processing) contribute to the developmental pattern observed in the written L2 data.

A a post-doc researcher, I worked in a project where we studied the language development of French in very young Swedish second language learners. We followed Swedish children that entered a French school at the age of three to six years and we studied their morphosyntactic development over time. The linguistic development in the L2 children was compared to that of simultaneous bilinguals (French/Swedish) and monolingual French children at the same school. We also investigated in what domains the language development of these children differed and/or ressembled that of adult second language learners of French, as known from previous research.

When it comes to morphosyntax, spoken and written French are clearly distinct from one another and they are often considered as two distinct linguistic systems. When French is learnt as a second language, these two modes of language are acquired in parallel from the first day of exposure to the target language. In a second post-doc project, I investigated the simultaneous development of spoken and written French in adult L2 learners and analyzed how the two modes interact and affect each other during the language acquisition process.

In my current work, I participate in several research groups related to the L2 acquisition of French. In an international project investigating the L2 acquisition of French verb morphology, we compare the acquisition process in learner groups with different first languages (Finnish, Swedish, Dutch, German, Italian and Japanese). Furthermore, in cooperation with professor Jonas Granfeldt, I am conducting research relating language acquisition and language teaching. We have recently published some work on the use of the computer program Direkt Profil for evaluation purposes in the L2 French classroom. Finally, I'm one of six researchers in the TAL project (Learning, Teaching and Assessment of Second Foreign languages in the Swedish school context), funded by the Swedish Research Council (2016-2018). In this reseach project we examine interactions between learning, teaching and assessment of second foreign languages (SFL) in order to gain a better understanding of conditions and learning outcomes in foreign languages other than English in the Swedish school context. The focus is on Spanish, French and German in the 9th grade of secondary school and on an essential but under-researched aspect of SFL competence, namely oral language proficiency (OLP).

Books (2)

• Ågren, M. (2008). À la recherche de la morphologie silencieuse : sur le développement du pluriel en francais L2 écrit. Études Romanes de Lund, 84. Lund University. Dissertation.
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• Ågren, M. (2005). Développement de la morphologie du nombre en français langue étrangère à l'écrit: Étude transversale. Lund University. Licentiate thesis.
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Editorships (3)

• Ågren, M. & Howard, M. (submitted). (Ed.) Second language acquisition of French liaison: current issues, methods and perspectives. LIA Language, Interaction and Acquisition. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
• (accepted/in press). (Ed.) French liaison in second language acquisition. Language, Interaction and Acquisition, 10. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
• Granfeldt, J., Bardel, C., Erickson, G., Sayehli, S., Ågren, M. & Österberg, R. (accepted/in press). (Eds.) Learning, teaching and assessment of second foreign languages in school contexts. Apples - Journal of Applied Language Studies, 13. University of Jyväskylä.

Articles (22)

• Granget, C., Michot, M.-E. & Ågren, M. (submitted). Acquisition des formes verbales irrégulières en français L2 : la L1 fait-elle la différence ?. Gramm-R: Études de linguistique francaise. Peter Lang Publishing Group.
• Ågren, M., Michot, M. E., Granget, C., Gerolimich, S., Hadermann, P. & Stabarin, I. (2021). “Les copains *Dit au revoir” : On Subject–Verb Agreement in L2 French and Cross-Linguistic Influence. Languages, 6. MDPI AG.
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• Granfelt, J., Sayehli, S. & Ågren, M. (2021). Trends in the Study of Modern languages in Swedish Lower Secondary School (2000 – 2018) and the Impact of Grade Point Average Enhancement Credits. Education Inquiry, 12, 127-146. Umeå Universitet, School of Education.
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• Granfeldt, J. & Ågren, M. (2020). Évolution de l’étude de la langue française à l’école suédoise : les tendances de 2000 à 2018. Synergies Pays Scandinaves, 14, 47-59. GERFLINT, Aarhus, Denmark.
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• Ågren, M. & van de Weijer, J. (2019). The production of preverbal liaison in Swedish learners of L2 French. LIA Language, Interaction and Acquisition, 10, 117-139. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
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• Granfeldt, J., Bardel, C., Erickson, G., Sayehli, S., Ågren, M. & Österberg, R. (2019). Special issue on - Learning, teaching and assessment of second foreign languages in school contexts. Apples - Journal of Applied Language Studies, 13, 1-5. University of Jyväskylä.
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• Granfeldt, J., Sayehli, S. & Ågren, M. (2019). The context of second foreign languages in Swedish secondary schools : Results of a questionnaire to school leaders. Apples - Journal of Applied Language Studies, 13, 27-48. University of Jyväskylä.
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• Howard, M. & Ågren, M. (2019). French liaison in second language acquisition. LIA Language, Interaction and Acquisition, 10, 1-10. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
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• Howard, M. & Ågren, M. (2019). Introduction to the special issue : French liaison in second language acquisition. LIA Language, Interaction and Acquisition, 10, 1-10. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
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• Howard, M. & Ågren, M. (2019). La liaison en français langue étrangère. LIA Language, Interaction and Acquisition, 10, 11-21. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
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• Ågren, M. (2017). Étude expérimentale sur le traitement de l'accord sujet-verbe en nombre en FLE. Bulletin suisse de linguistique appliquee, 105, 7-24. Institut de Linguistique de l'Universite.
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• Granfeldt, J. & Ågren, M. (2017). Une évaluation formative de FLE basée sur les itinéraires d'acquisition est-elle possible? : La perspective des enseignants. Le Francais dans le Monde. Recherches et Applications, 61.
• Ågren, M. (2016). Apprendre l'orthographe profonde du français langue étrangère. Revue Francaise de Linguistique Appliquee, 21, 95-108. Editions "De Werelt": Amsterdam.
• Ågren, M. (2014). Production et compréhension de la morphologie verbale en FLE : Les difficultés de l'accord sujet-verbe en nombre. Cahiers AFLS, 19, 1-22. Association for French Language Studies.
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• Ågren, M., Granfeldt, J. & Thomas, A. (2014). Combined effects of age of onset and input on the development of different grammatical structures: A study of simultaneous and successive acquisition of French. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 4, 461-492. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
• Granfeldt, J. & Ågren, M. (2014). De l'acquisition des langues a l'évaluation en FLE – Direkt Profil en application. Mélanges Crapel, 35. Université de Neuchâtel.
• Granfeldt, J. & Ågren, M. (2014). SLA developmental stages and teachers’ assessment of written French: Exploring Direkt Profil as a diagnostic assessment tool. Language Testing, 31, 285-305. SAGE Publications.
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• Ågren, M. (2013). The impact of spoken French on the acquisition of written French in child L2 learners. Journal of Language Teaching and Learning, 3, 1-19.
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• Ågren, M. & van de Weijer, J. (2013). Input frequency and the acquisition of subject-verb agreement in numner in spoken and written French. Journal of French Language Studies, 23, 311-333. Cambridge University Press.
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• Ågren, M. & van de Weijer, J. (2013). Number problems in monolingual and bilingual French-speaking children: A production/comprehension divide?. Language, Interaction and Acquisition, 4, 25-50. John Benjamins Publishing Company.
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• Ågren, M. (2011). The impact of spoken French on the acquisition of written French in child learners. Historielärarnas Förenings Årsskrift. Historielärarnas förening.
• Ågren, M. & Hedbor, C. (2006). Acquisition et mise en oeuvre de la morphologie flexionnelle en francais langue étrangère. Rééducation Orthophonique, 159-189. Syndicat national des rééducateurs en orthophonie.

Book chapters (10)

• Thomas, A., Granfelt, J. & Ågren, M. (2021). Le rôle de l'input. In Leclerq, P., Edmonds, A. & Sneed German, E. (Eds.) Introduction à l'acquisition des langues étrangères. De Boeck Supérieur.
• Granfelt, J., Bardel, C., Erickson, G., Sayehli, S., Ågren, M. & Österberg, R. (2019). Muntlig språkfärdighet i främmande språk : en studie av samspelet mellan lärande, undervisning och bedömning. Resultatdialog 2019, 29-33. Vetenskapsrådet.
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• Ågren, M. (2016). Second language teaching from the perspective of second language acquisition research. In Corti, A. & Wolf, J. (Eds.) Romanistische Fachdidaktik : Grundlagen – Theorien – Methoden (pp. 89-102). Waxmann Verlag.
• Ågren, M. (2015). La liaison préverbale comme accord sujet-verbe en nombre en FLE. In Maria, P. & Eva, H. (Eds.) L'acquisition de constructions verbales en langue étrangère (pp. 159-174), XCIX. Mémoires de la Société Néophilologique de Helsinki.
• Granfeldt, J. & Ågren, M. (2013). Stages of Processability and Levels of Proficiency in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. The Case of L3 French. In Flyman-Mattsson, A. & Norrby, C. (Eds.) Language Acquisition and Use in Multilingual Contexts. Theory and Practice (pp. 28-38), Travaux de l'Institut de linguistique de Lund 52. Lund University.
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• Ågren, M., Granfeldt, J. & Schlyter, S. (2012). The Growth of Complexity and Accuracy in L2 French: Past observations and recent applications of developmental stages. In Housen, A., Kuiken, F. & Wedder, I. (Eds.) Dimensions of L2 Performance and Proficiency Investigating Complexity, Accuracy and Fluency in SLA (pp. 95-120). John Benjamins Publishing Company.
• Ågren, M. (2009). Morphological development in Swedish learners of French: Discussing the processability perspective. In Kessler, J. & Keating, D. (Eds.) Research in Second Language Acquisition: Empirical Evidence across Languages (pp. 121-151). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Ågren, M. (2009). The Advanced L2 Writer of French: A Study of Number Agreement in Swedish Learners. In Labeau, E. & Myles, F. (Eds.) The Advanced Learner Variety: The Case of French (pp. 149-172), Volume 12. Peter Lang Publishing Group.
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• Granfeldt, J. & Ågren, M. (2008). Grammatisk profilanalys och lärarbedömning: en korrelationsstudie. In Granfeldt, J., Håkansson, G., Källkvist, M. & Schlyter, S. (Eds.) Språkinlärning, språkdidaktik och teknologi. Rapport från ASLA:s höstsymposium, Lund, 8-9 november 2007 (pp. 79-100). ASLA, Association suédoise de linguistique appliquée.
• Schlyter, S., Granfeldt, J. & Ågren, M. (2007). Stades de développement en francais - perspectives historiques et futures. In Van Daele, S., Housen, A., Kuiken, F., Pierrard, M. & Vedder, I. (Eds.) Complexity, Fluency and Accuracy in Second Language Use, Learning and Teaching : 29 - 30 March 2007 (pp. 193-205). Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van Belgie voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten.

Conference contributions (8)

• Granfeldt, J., Sayehli, S. & Ågren, M. (2019). Second Foreign Languages in the Swedish school context : The attitudes of school leaders. In Conti, V., Johnsen, L. A. & de Pietro, J.-F. (Eds.) Des mots et des langues qui nous parlent... : Représentations langagières, enseignement et apprentissage (pp. 37-53). Institut de recherche et de documentation pédagogique.
• Granfeldt, J., Thomas, A. & Ågren, M. (2019). Le rôle de l’input pour le développement du vocabulaire et de la grammaire en acquisition du français par des enfants monolingues et bilingues.
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• Granfeldt, J., Ågren, M. & Sayehli, S. (2017). Second foreign languages in the Swedish school context - The views of school leaders.
• Ågren, M. (2010). La fréquence dans l'input et l'acquisition de l'accord en nombre en francais L2.
• Ågren, M. (2010). Plural morphology in written child L2 French : like child L1 or adult L2?.
• Schlyter, S., Granfeldt, J. & Ågren, M. (2007). Stades de développement en français - perspectives historiques et futures.
• Ågren, M. (2006). Acquisition de la morphologie silencieuse en français langue étrangère à l'écrit: le cas de l'accord en nombre.
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• Granfeldt, J., Nugues, P., Persson, E., Thulin, J., Ågren, M. & Schlyter, S. (2006). CEFLE and Direkt Profil: a new computer learner corpus in French L2 and a system for grammatical profiling. In Nugues, P., Ågren, M., Thulin, J., Persson, E. & Schlyter, S. (Eds.) Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (pp. 565-570). ELRA.
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Articles in specialist publications and popular press (1)

• Granfeldt, J., Bardel, C., Erickson, G., Sayehli, S., Ågren, M. & Österberg, R. (2016). Muntlig språkfärdighet i främmande språk – en studie av samspelet mellan lärande, undervisning och bedömning i svensk skolkontext : presentation av det nya forskningsprojektet TAL. LMS - Lingua, 1-1. Lärarna i moderna språk.
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Newspaper articles (1)

• Ågren, M. & Granfeldt, J. (2018). Nedläggningen av franskan - utred alternativen ordentligt först. Kristianstadbladet.
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Miscellaneous (1)

• (2019). SLA and Migration : Real Life Stories.
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• Director of Studies at French Studies, Italian Studies and Romanian Studies
• Member, Board of Section 3, Centre for Languages and Literature

• FRAA11, French: Level 1
• FRAA12, French: Level 2
• FRAK11, French: B. A. Course
• FRAM19, French: Contemporary Linguistic Theory Applied on French
• ÄFRD01, French 1