Hanna Lehti-Eklund
Humanist of the day

Hanna Lehti-Eklund

Hanna Lehti-Eklund is the Professor of Scandinavian Languages and so studying the Swedish language is close to her heart. She is also interested in small but important words, such as nå ‘so’ and att ‘that’, and their roles in modern and historic language use. Lehti-Eklund is the Head of the Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies for 2014–17.

Hanna Lehti-Eklund

Hanna Maria Lehti-Eklund
Born October 18, 1957, Helsinki

BA 1981, PhD 1990 (Scandinavian Languages), University of Helsinki
Professor of Scandinavian Languages, 2005–
Head of the University of Helsinki’s Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies, 2014–

Research themes:
Swedish as a second and foreign language (especially in spoken interactions and classroom discussions), as well as the history of Swedish and language change in terms of grammaticalization and the functions of discourse particles (nu ‘now’, nå ‘so’, alltså ‘then’).

Publications, research projects and other scientific activities

Photo: Sasa Tkalcan
Written by Hanna Lehti-Eklund and Kaija Hartikainen (ed.)
Translated by Joe McVeigh

Swedish language learning and teaching

The teaching of Swedish in Finnish-speaking schools is an ongoing public debate. Professor Hanna Lehti-Eklund has been interested in what the students and teachers think about the learning and teaching of Swedish, as well as which factors in the education community support teaching.

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