This literature review explores the use of Extramural English in the classroom and its effects on students’ language acquisition. Through a systematic analysis of different studies on EE activities such as video games, the Internet, gaming, and other activities, this paper will investigate the possible positive or negative effects of EE activities on students’ performance. The results of this literature review show that students who are more exposed to EE activities have a better result with regard to the acquisition of English than their peers because the language of communication in Extramural activities is mainly English.  The results also show that by incorporating EE in the classroom, teachers will be able to define the student’s strengths and weaknesses through eliciting the learning evidence when learning English as a second language.

Young children nowadays interact with a lot of extracurricular English through different activities. They learn the language in ways other than formal contexts. This study investigates how extracurricular English provides children with knowledge about the English language. Moreover, this study addresses how extracurricular English can develop children’s knowledge, if it is integrated with the formal English teaching in the classroom. Lastly, I discuss how teachers may approach various levels of English skills in a heterogenous classroom. Due to children’s exposure to extracurricular English, they have different English skills. I conclude that teachers need different teaching strategies to help pupils develop, regardless of level. This puts pressure on teachers who are required to develop their competence.

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka hur många av orden i en lärobokserie i engelska för årskurserna 4–6 som var bland de mest frekventa orden i det engelska språket. Undersökningen genomfördes med hjälp av två engelska frekvenslistor: General Service List (GSL) och New General Service List (NGSL). NGSL är en uppdaterad version av GSL som använts i tidigare studier och därför ville jag i min studie bl.a. ta skillnaden mellan den äldre och nyare versionen i beaktande. Syftet var således att undersöka hur många av orden i lärobokserien Magic! som förekommer i GSL och NGSL, huruvida antalet unika huvudord i Magic!-seriens tre årskursböcker ökar, och hur ofta de unika huvudorden i böckerna upprepas, med särskilt fokus på substantiv, adjektiv och verb. Analysen utfördes med hjälp av ordprogrammet AntWordProfiler som skannar ord i textfiler för att sedan kategorisera orden utifrån ordlistor kopplade till programmet. Studiens resultat indikerar att samtliga böcker i Magic!-serien innehöll fler ord listade i NGSL än i GSL. Resultatet visade även att den sammanlagda förekomsten av huvudord ökade i varje lärobok, liksom antalet unika huvudord. Bland orden som repeterades minst 10 gånger fanns fler substantiv och verb än adjektiv och alla verben med minst 10 repetitioner gick att hitta i både GSL och NGSL.  Min slutsats är att de unika orden i lärobokserien Magic! överensstämmer bättre med de listade orden i NGSL än dem i GSL. En annan slutsats är att om ordkunskap hade varit ett betygskriterium i ämnet engelska skulle högre krav kunnat ställas på läroboksförfattare att utforma sina böcker med listor över de mest frekventa orden i det engelska språket i åtanke.

Out of the debate in Swedish media about homework, the idea for this study was born. The idea was to investigate the popular belief of many foreign language teachers which suggest that homework glossing is a necessity in the English classroom for pupils vocabulary acquisition, while other assumes this method doesn’t lead to knowledge that last. Therefore, the purpose for this study was to examine how learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) manage to learn new words when they received glossing as homework and when they studied the words in a context during class. Furthermore, out of the argument that homework stress pupils and lowers their interest and motivation for the subject, a secondary purpose was to find out pupils’ opinions about learning new words through glossing as English homework. The study was focused on two teaching methods for vocabulary acquisition: the traditional teaching method designed to teach vocabulary by giving glossing as homework, and teaching new words during class with a focus on teaching the new words in context. Through the survey of these two different methods for vocabulary learning and an empirical study with two primary school classes in which these two methods were put on test, contrary to the expectation that learning words through homework glossing wouldn’t lead to vocabulary knowledge that last, the results of the empirical study showed that the group which received glossing as homework, did better on both test than the group which studied the word in context. Similarly, the data results showed the average pupil had a positive attitude to vocabulary homework as for the most part they felt it benefited them to study this method because of the effects of learning.

The aim of this study is to investigate what educational approaches and strategies that are used by five teachers of English as a second language (ESL) and how they differ between three different schools. This was done through reviewing literature about educational approaches and strategies in ESL and analyzing the responses from a questionnaire given to five teachers in grades seven to nine at three different schools. The results showed a wide usage of the following approaches and strategies: using computers, including drama and role-playing, watching films and TV programs in English, listening to radio, news, or songs in English, using code-switching, encouraging pupils to speak like native speakers, teaching about cultures where English is spoken, and promoting discussions and social interaction.   The results of this study showed that most of the differences exist between the individual teachers rather than between the schools, when it comes to the use of and attitudes towards these approaches and strategies. However, the two which differed the most, judging from the responses, were: using code-switching and encouraging pupils to speak like native speakers. In these two cases it was possible to see differences both between specific schools and teachers.

Det sägs att barn har lätt att lära språk då de tycks uppskatta att lära sig nya ord och är nyfikna på språk. Jämfört med många andra länder påbörjas språkinlärningen i Sverige relativt sent. I den här litteraturstudien undersöks viktiga förutsättningar för inlärning vid en tidig språkstart samt hur elever i årskurserna F-3 lär sig uttal i engelska som andraspråk. Som grund för analysen av studiernas resultat används Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH), Krashens teorier om andraspråksinlärning samt Piagets teorier om barns utveckling. Fem studier har analyserats. Resultatet av litteraturstudien påvisar nyttan av tidig språk- och uttalsinlärning men att det är i hög grad beroende av lärarnas kompetens. Vidare visar resultatet att uttalsinlärning gynnas mest av metoder som innehåller direkt respons på elevernas uttal men även att passiva inlärningsmetoder (t.ex. lyssna på sång) gynnar inlärning av uttal som ligger nära modersmålet. När det gäller barns språk- och uttalsinlärning är det viktigt att ha rätt kompetensen hos lärarna och att flera metoder (direkt och indirekta) kan gynna inlärningen.

This study studies teachers’ use of drama when teaching English in grades 4-6. The material has been collected through semi structured interviews with five teachers. The study concludes that teachers use drama to increase the pupils’ eagerness to learn through variation and commitment. Teachers list passion for the language and the opportunity it creates to work with dialogue in near authentic situations among the advantages of working with drama. Among the disadvantages teachers mention the time and energy required for both planning and conducting this kind of teaching. Teachers agree that the curriculum for English is their starting point when planning classroom activities. Teachers also agree that the knowledge requirement concerning pupils spoken language is the most obvious one to be reached through drama. The teachers can also be said to do things that are not part of the curriculum. However, those tasks can be considered essential stepping stones for pupils to find courage to express themselves. Some pupils reach knowledge requirements through drama, while there are indications that others need drama to build appropriate skills to be able to reach requirements at a later stage. Teachers are in agreement that drama should be seen as part of a long-term method to vary teaching and work with pupils around skills and towards knowledge requirements as described in the curriculum for English. / Studiens syfte är att undersöka lärares användning av drama i engelskundervisning i årskurs 4–6. Materialet för studien har inhämtats genom halvstrukturerade intervjuer med fem lärare. En slutsats av studien är att lärare använder drama i syfte att nå ett lustfyllt lärande genom variation och engagemang. Olika typer av övningar beskrivs, med dialogen och talad engelska i fokus. Bland fördelarna att arbeta med drama nämns lusten till språket och möjligheten att träna dialog i nära autentiska sammanhang. Bland nackdelarna nämns tid och energi som krävs av läraren, i planering och genomförande av sådan undervisning. Kursplanen i engelska ses som utgångspunkt för de intervjuade lärarna, där kunskapskrav kring det talade språket kan uppnås. Lärarna gör även sådant som kan sägas vara utanför kursplanen i engelska, men som kan vara nödvändiga mellansteg för att få elever att våga uttrycka sig på engelska. Vissa elever når kunskapskrav genom och under tillfällen med drama, medan det finns tecken på att andra behöver drama för att bygga nödvändiga kunskaper för att vid annat tillfälle kunna nå kunskapskraven. Lärarna är överens om att drama ses som en del av en långsiktig metod för att variera undervisningen och arbeta med elever kring förmågor och mot de kunskapskrav kursplanen i engelska beskriver.

The aim of this study is to investigate how teachers interpret the reading strategies in the revised English as aSecond Language (ESL) syllabus from 2021, and what advantages and disadvantages they see with the syllabuswhen they teach reading strategies. Previous studies suggest that it is beneficial to teach reading strategies in school.The revised ESL syllabus for upper secondary in Sweden mentions reading strategies but gives no definition orinstruction, making it the teachers’ responsibility to choose an interpretation. However, there is not much researchon the interpretation of reading strategies in ESL in a Swedish context nor in upper secondary school.The study was made through interviews, which where analysed thematically, and a survey, where univariate analysiswas used. The results showed that most teachers were confident using and explaining the strategies, but ofteninterpreted them in different ways. The results also showed that while most teachers think the phrasing in thesyllabus is clear, there are some ambiguities. Most teachers also said they had the resources they needed, but somedidactic resources were mentioned as lacking by some.Conclusions from these results are: that the revised ESL syllabus provides room for interpretation and gives teachersautonomy which they see as positive; that the differences in strategy interpretation can affect the students’ right toequal education; that there are strategies of which teachers are unsure; and that the lack of some resources is anobstacle in the implementation of the syllabus and the teaching of reading strategies. Implications of this thesis arethat policy makers can use it in their development of future educational policy documents, and that teachers can useit to educate themselves on their role in interpreting the syllabus in their work.