The purpose of this study is to analyse the cultural content and representations in three English as a second language textbooks published for Swedish students in years 1-3. The issue of cultural content is very visible in contemporary research on English education today and as English has grown into a global language over centuries, it has also become a culturally diverse language. The method used in this study is a merge of Critical Discourse Analysis and Multimodality with a norm critical perspective, using a chart developed within the study as an analytical tool. This study reveals that the textbooks on the one hand consist of a dominant Anglo-American, as well as a Swedish cultural setting where representations of white normative children and adults dominate the text and illustrations. On the other hand, the books show signs of trying to involve a developed perspective on English as an international language (EIL) and interculturality. However, these EIL and intercultural features are probably not enough to help the students who will use these books to develop the intercultural awareness needed later in life when they use their acquired English knowledge with other English speakers across the world.

This study investigates teachers’ perceptions about the value of peer and self-assessment as tools for enhancing EFL writing in the context of upper-secondary education in Sweden. In addition, this study examines the relationship between teachers’ beliefs, knowledge of the methods, and their reported teaching practices. Based on teachers’ comments, this paper identifies the ways in which peer and self-assessment can be effectively implemented in EFL classrooms. A mixed-methods approach was used in the study. Three qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interviews were complemented with a questionnaire survey in order to check the generality of the interview findings. Through a process of triangulation, the datasets obtained from the questionnaires and interviews were analysed and interpreted in light of theory and recent research on peer and self-assessment. Results show that these teaching and learning tools are appreciated by teachers as a way to enhance learning in relation to EFL writing. However, the investigation showed significant inconsistencies regarding teachers’ usage of the method. The results obtained showed that, in order for these practices to be effective, careful training is needed. Moreover, in order to provide proper training for their students, teachers themselves need to understand the value of the tools, and to be trained in how to effectively implement them. Therefore, the study concluded that information about peer and self-assessment should be included in teacher education and in-service training in Sweden.

The study’s intention is to research the questions of how authentic assessment could benefit EFL students’ speaking skills in Swedish upper secondary school and what some advantages and disadvantages were of doing so. To this end secondary sources were used to gather information to be able to answer the research questions. The results showed that the benefits of authentic assessment could help students’ speaking skills in improving their accuracy and fluency, their conversational skills and grammar use for communicative competency. Results also showed that authentic assessment promotes learning style diversity. Both skill and materialistic issues were found as some advantages and disadvantages of using authentic assessment when assessing EFL students’ speaking skills. Examples of advantages were authentic assessment helping students develop skills such as critical and logical thinking, interactional skills and combining cognitive objectives with attitudes and social skills. No disadvantages in favour of the students were found. However, the teacher’s lack of possible knowledge needed to use authentic assessment was noted. A final discussion expressed that authentic assessment, like any other type of assessment, has its value when used in the right context.

The study investigated the phenomenon of speaking anxiety in two groups of English learners and two groups of Spanish learners, studying in four different courses: English 5, 6 and Spanish 3, 4. The participants answered a background questionnaire, followed up with a modified foreign language anxiety scale. The students who wanted to also, participated in an interview where they gave more in depth answers about their experience with the phenomenon. The findings showed that students experienced speaking anxiety in relation to their language learning, but at different levels such as low, medium and high-level anxiety groups. In addition to this, possible remedies for speaking anxiety suggested by the participants was also presented in the study.

This study aims to investigate the role of dystopian literature in the Swedish EFL classroom. In particular, it intends to investigate and analyze the method that Swedish EFL teachers use to employ this genre into the classroom, as well as the aim for the usage. The study is qualitative and has been carried out through the conducting of semi-structured interviews consisting of open-ended questions. The findings of the study show that there are a number of common aims and methods among the respondents.  The aim for the using of this particular genre was commonly to increase the students’ willingness to read by working with literature that would hopefully be appealing to them. Common methods for  using this genre of literature include discussions in different group-constellations, as well as employing films and shorter video clips as a complement to the standard literature used during lectures. Further findings show that teachers are inclined to adapt their teaching depending on the individual student groups. In other words, there is a tendency among the respondents to be flexible in their teaching, in order to favor students’ development in the English language.

The purpose of this study was to investigate four Swedish upper secondary teachers' reasoning about their own corrective feedback strategies in oral EFL learning environments, and how their reasoning correlated to previous research in the subject.The research was carried out by using the qualitative method of interviewing aselection of teachers. Four teachers of English as a foreign language from one Swedish upper secondary school participated in semi-structured pair-interviews.The study found that the participating teachers’ perceptions and use of corrective feedback corresponds to a large extent with the findings of previous research, saying that teachers in various contexts prefer more implicit means of corrective feedback,but that they would adapt their strategies depending on the learner, error type, and the focus of the lesson. The result also suggested that although the teachersreportedly make conscious choices when selecting a corrective feedback strategy, they sometimes have to choose between using a strategy that promotes learning orusing a strategy that will cause the least amount of inconvenience for the learner.The conclusion was made that the teachers of the study are aware of their own corrective feedback strategies to some extent, which also corresponds with the results of previous research, but that their awareness is not always sufficient, and their strategies might not be as effective as the teachers think.

While online activity is increasing among young Swedish students, motivation to learn English in school is decreasing (Skolverket, 2011). While many studies confirm the positive effect that leisure gaming can have on language acquisition (Atma, Azmi & Hassan, 2020; Ferdig & Pytash, 2014; Li, 2020; Rudis & Poštić, 2017), how students’ motivation is affected is far less researched. In this paper, we aimed to investigate the effects on language learning motivation that extracurricular video games might have and what external factors surrounding gaming that modulate students’ motivation to learn English in school. We examined nine studies related to these topics and used multiple theories about motivation to analyze our findings. The results of our research review indicate that playing video games at home can be generally seen to increase students’ motivation to learn English in school. Studies also demonstrate that factors such as age, culture and student-beliefs could modulate the motivation affected by extra-curricular video gaming. Finally, research suggests that the greater the distance is between a student's current language proficiency and the desired proficiency, the greater the motivation appeared to be.

In recent years, language awareness (LA) has received increasing attention and is an aim for the English subject in the Swedish curriculum for upper secondary school. The present study aims to connect LA to a practice that teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) perform on a regular basis, namely written corrective feedback (WCF), which focuses on linguistic or pragmatic errors in students’ texts. To explore what contributions WCF can make towards developing LA, a mixed-methods approach was employed with the participation of 111 Swedish EFL students. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire. The results revealed that a majority of the participating students believe that WCF can support their development of LA. However, the findings also suggest that students’ views, experience and preferences of WCF might affect their understanding of it and also, to a certain extent, their motivation to attend to it. Therefore, in order for EFL teachers to work towards developing upper secondary students’ LA through WCF, it is important to work with it in class and explore it together with the students by engaging with language (EWL) through WCF.

The purpose of this study is to discuss further how an English teacher in a Swedish high school can utilize a novel like Jane Austen´s Pride and Prejudice in their classroom. This has been investigated by looking at how to use the book thematically with the class topic and by looking at activities and ideas used by teachers who have worked with the book in its entirety. Other aspects such as student motivation, catering to students' interests and needs and looking at what the teacher can do to make the reading experience exciting and relevant for their students have also been considered. By further investigating how the topic class is presented in Pride and Prejudice through the characters, their connections, and aspirations, this study has also tried to answer whether it is possible to discuss a topic like class in Pride and Prejudice without mentioning the relationships and marriage.

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