As the world and society evolve into a more digitized era, school systems have to follow. Sweden the national board of education has started to include digital tools into the curriculum and to place demands on the digital competence of Swedish teachers. The consequences that follow are that teachers are expected to implement digital tools of varying kinds into their lessons, which is done with varying success. This thesis aims to examine how software tools such as Kahoot and elevspel are perceived by English teachers in Sweden as tools they can use as they teach learners in grades 4-6. More specifically, this thesis will focus on how English teachers in an EFL setting perceive that they can use these tools to facilitate vocabulary development. In this essay, we have conducted quantitative research by using a questionnaire to gather data from English teachers in Sweden. Along with this, we have also examined previous research in this field to review the scientific background and take this into consideration. The results from this questionnaire showed that English teachers in Swedenincorporate software tools in their lessons and perceive software tools as necessary. However, a majority of the participating teachers noted that more support and ideas are needed for them to incorporate these tools to a fuller extent.

The aim of this study was to investigate teachers’ perspectives on how they want to be supervised with a view to critiquing existing practices in light of teacher experience, viewpoint and professional aspirations. Documents used in the supervisory cycle in the setting of the study were analyzed to develop a broader understanding regarding the issues that comprise the supervisory activities and the supervisory criteria as documented by the educational organization that was the setting of this study. In addition, a total of eleven preparatory year EFL teachers in a university in Saudi Arabia were interviewed. The study used qualitative methods, with the data subjected to rigorous analysis that employed an analytical approach informed by the principles of grounded theory. The ideas gathered from the qualitative analysis of the interview data - complemented by the insights developed from document analysis - led to the emergence of two themes under which teachers’ expectations and ideas were grouped: 1) the professional aspect and 2) the social aspect. Under the professional aspect, teachers discussed their ideas regarding activities and concepts directly related to teaching practice and professional activities of teachers. The second theme, the social aspect, covers concepts which are related to the way the organization deals with teachers. Analysis of teachers’ interview data showed that there was some level of commonality between the ideas and expectations of teachers regarding some of the general points related to how they want to be supervised. However, there was considerable disparity in their priorities and their expectations regarding the overall approach of the supervisory system, to the extent that at times the expectations and priorities of some teachers were incompatible with and mutually exclusive of the expectations of the other teachers. This led to the conclusion that a multi-streamed supervisory system would provide for the needs of teachers with different expectations, priorities and needs. Such a system would have different streams with different activities for beginning and veteran teachers, with one or two more streams in between for teachers who do not fit in either stream. A multi-streamed system could allow the teachers the opportunity to articulate their needs and expectations and it does not impose a ‘one-size-fits-all’ system on all the teachers. Furthermore, it was recommended that supervisors should draw on the literature on professional life cycles and consider variables related to the workplace (regulations, management style, social expectations etc.) and to teachers’ personal lives (family, cumulative life experiences, individual disposition etc.) so that they can make informed decisions when assigning teachers to different streams within a multi-streamed supervisory system.

Grammar teaching has been controversial since the introduction of the Communicative Language Teaching perspective. In addition, the steering documents, namely the Swedish syllabi and the CEFR are quite general on what and how to teach grammar, thus allowing teachers’ interpretations about the importance given to grammar in EFL/ESL classrooms. The present study focuses on English teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and practices towards grammar in the final year of compulsory school and the first year of upper-secondary school in Sweden. The principal aim is to find out why the English teachers propose grammar or not and how they enact grammar teaching. The research is empirical. The data consist of teachers’ interviews, and they were analysed using content analysis. The results have shown that teachers’ beliefs, attitudes, and practices are mainly related to students’ levels and objectives even if they have different views on grammar. Then, teachers have shown great adaptability in their grammar teaching practices both in the diversity of means and methods. Furthermore, even though there are slight differences between the final year of compulsory school and the first year of upper-secondary school in the steering documents, grammar teaching is enacted differently for each level. Besides, on both levels, grammar teaching is linked to communicative skills and included in a more general communicative task aimed for students’ learning in EFL/ESL classrooms.

To operate in our modern society an individual need to possess a well-rounded reading ability, and to know of and use reading strategies is crucial for learners to develop this ability. The present study sets out to explore the beliefs of Swedish English teachers regarding the significance of reading and reading strategies. Furthermore, the study aims to investigate to what extent their classroom practice of teaching explicit reading strategies instructions is consistent with their beliefs. In this qualitative study, four 7-9 English teachers and two student groups participated. These come from two Swedish schools with different social-economic backgrounds. The data was collected by conducting content analysis of the teachers' lesson plans and conducting semi-structured interviews with both the teachers and students. The results show that the teachers express positive attitude to reading and reading strategies as they believe that these constitute essential elements in the communicative classroom. However, the results also indicate that the teachers’ actual classroom practice for reading strategies is not always consistent with their beliefs: for example, despite all teachers being positive to reading and reading strategies’ instruction, only the teachers from the school with lower social-economic background provide reading strategies’ instruction explicitly. Further, the results indicate that factors such as the teachers’ theoretical conceptions, time contraints, student composition and proficiency level, the school’s socio-economic background are the reasons for the teachers including explicit reading strategies’ instruction in their repertoire.

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Oral communication is a central aspect of language learning in EFL-classrooms all over the world. Therefore, problems arise when students are passive, or unwilling to communicate and participate. The aim of this study is to investigate what factors impact Swedish upper secondary students’ willingness to communicate using self-reported data. The data in the study is gathered from a questionnaire with 203 participants currently studying in Swedish upper secondary school. The data analysis comprised inferential statistics to investigate causal relationships between the concepts of foreign language anxiety (FLA), self-perceived communicative competence (SPCC), extramural English (EE), and willingness to communicate (WTC). The results of the study suggest a causal relationship between the concepts, thus contributing to previous studies on factors that impact and describe willingness to communicate. Also, the results indicate that students’ extramural English habits impact their behavior in oral communication. In conclusion, motivating the utility of the English language for real-world purposes, in combination with a positive classroom environment, and the improvement of students’ oral communication confidence are imperative tools for the stimulation of willingness to communicate in the EFL classroom.

This explorative research paper looks at the attitudes and experiences of four EFL teachers towards assessment of English as a foreign language. The study was carried out using qualitative research with semi-structured interviews. The paper discusses factors that impact attitudes towards assessment. Our findings show that assessment is affected by a variety of factors, including colleagues, the head teacher and guiding documents. Furthermore, this paper identifies the need for more teacher education regarding the process of assessment, specifically formative assessment.

本研究旨於調查四個轉折連詞包括on the other hand、in/by contrast、 on the contrary 以及 nevertheless 在美國當代語料庫 (COCA) 以及學習者語料庫(ICNALE) 使用之不同情形及第二語學習者的使用錯誤分析。 本研究從美國當代語料庫 (COCA) 蒐集了四百篇文本(每個轉折連詞各一百篇)以及從學習者語料庫料庫 (ICNALE) 蒐集了一千八百篇學生的寫作，學生的文章分別來自台灣、香港、新加坡、菲律賓的大學生以及母語人士。本研究假設為:雖然四個轉折連詞被歸類為同一類轉折連詞 (adversative type)，各個轉折連詞的語義及用法應有所不同。本研究語料分析主要分為兩部分，第一部分分析各個轉折連詞中的篇章關係 (discourse relation)，調查四個轉折連詞上下文的不同反義的語義情況。第二部分聚焦於轉折連詞上下文中的主題分布 (topic categorization)，旨於發現是否特定轉折連詞出現於特定主題之內。 研究結果經由語料分析發現，四個轉折連詞有特定傾向的篇章關係和主題分布。在學習者語料庫中，本研究發現第二語言學習者比起母語人士，使用更多轉折連詞於寫作中，特別是on the other hand 以及nevertheless。台灣學生以及英語為第二外語學生在上下中，常將on the other hand的篇章關係使用為in addition 之用法。在連詞nevertheless方面，雖然學生使用頻率較高，但多為誤用情況，顯示出學生對於該轉折連詞的不熟悉情況。而in/by contrast 和on the contrary 皆不常出現於第二語言學習者和母語人士的寫作中。本研究最後提出在英語教學上的建議：在課堂上教導轉折連接詞時，應需加強語意以及上下文方面的探討，並訓練學生正確文句之間的邏輯關係。 / The present study adopts corpus analysis to investigate four adversative connectives (ACs), including on the other hand, in/by contrast, on the contrary, and nevertheless in the native corpus, the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), and in the leaner corpus, the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English, (ICNALE). The comparison of the two corpora and the common misuse by L2 learners are also presented. The data comprise of 400 texts in COCA (100 texts for each AC) and 1800 essays written by students in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, and by native speakers in ICNALE. The research hypothesis is that although the four ACs are classified in the same ‘adversative’ type, their meanings and uses are different from one another. The adoption of corpus helps to find the patterns of each AC. The data are analyzed from two perspectives: one is the discourse relation while the other is topic categorization. The discourse relation refers to the relations of the preceding and following co-texts of the AC. The topic categorization, on the other hand, aims at finding if there are specific topics that are frequently occurred with certain ACs and if these topics are consistent before or after the occurrences of the Cs. The findings confirm the prediction that by analyzing the data in COCA, each AC exists in certain discourse relations and topics. The present study finds that different from native speakers, L2 learners often use on the other hand as ‘addition’ yet a great number of uses of nevertheless are viewed as misuse. As for on the contrary and in/by contrast, both native speakers and L2 learners seldom apply the ACs in their writing. The present study also provides the common misuse patterns in ESL/EFL students’ writing. It is hoped that the findings have implications for teachers and learners to be aware of the differences of ACs.

The main aim of the present study was to identify examples of practical grammar instruction methods in an EFL/ESL classroom in Swedish upper secondary school. Data was collected through classroom observations and interviews. Four interview sessions were carried out with five teachers, and twelve observations were conducted in four different English classes. There are conflicting views and attitudes towards the role and place of grammar in EFL/ESL classrooms, but the participants agreed that the main goal of grammar instruction is to help students develop communicative skills. The interview results showed that four of the participants prefer inductive approaches, while the fifth regards deductive approaches as more effective. Characteristics such as student motivation, learning style, and experiences are considered equally vital for the choice of grammar instruction and application. The grammar instruction methods chosen and discussed are based on traditional structuralism, behaviourism, and the progressive natural approaches. Consistent with previous research, an eclectic grammar instruction approach was observed that blends both implicit and explicit methods to meet different learners’ needs. The methodologies which are often practically applied include grammartranslation, audiolingualism, and content- and/or task-based instruction. Nevertheless, a communicative framework using the communicative language teaching methodologies is often in the foreground, resulting in a Systemic Functional Grammar, SFG, approach. / Huvudsyftet med den aktuella studien var att identifieraexempel på praktiska grammatikundervisningsmetoder som används i ämnet engelska som andra- och/eller främmandespråk på gymnasienivå i Sverige. Data samlades in genom klassobservationer och intervjuer. Fyra intervjusessioner genomfördes med fem lärare och det gjordes även tolv klassrumobservationer i fyra olika klasser. Deltagarna hade motstridiga åsikter och attityder angående grammatikens roll och plats i klassrummet, men de var överens om att huvudsyftet med grammatikundervisning är att hjälpa eleverna att utveckla kommunikativa färdigheter. Intervjuresultaten visar att fyra av lärarna föredrar induktiva metoder, medan den femte betraktar deduktiva ansatser som effektivare. Egenskaper såsom lärstil, elevernas motivation och erfarenheter betraktas som lika avgörande för olika metodval och tillämpning. De valda grammatikundervisningsmetoderna som diskuteras i denna uppsats baseras på traditionell strukturalism, behaviorism samt de progressiva, naturliga tillvägsgångsätten. Ett eklektiskt tillvägagångssätt som blandar både implicita och explicita metoder för att möta elevernas behov observeras, vilket är i linje med tidigare forskning. De metoder som ofta praktiskt tillämpas innefattar bland annat grammatik-översättning, audiolingualism samt innehålls- och/eller uppgiftsbaserade instruktioner. Ett kommunikativt ramverk med kommunikativa språkundervisningsmetoder är ofta i förgrunden, vilket resulterar i ett tillvägsgångsätt med fokus på systematisk funktionell grammatik, SFG.