This essay aims to investigate representation and diversity in novels used in the English teaching inupper secondary school, and whether teachers take representation into account when choosing whatnovels to work with. A web survey was used to ask 71 teachers of English open questions regardingwhat novels they use in their teaching and why. The results demonstrate that the majority of the usednovels depict normative protagonists and settings, although there is some diversity and representationof different genders, races, ages, abilities and settings. It is also shown in the results that the majorityof the responding teachers do not think about representation when choosing what novels to workwith, while some respondents do indicate that they take aspects of representation into account. Theresults are discussed by drawing on ideas about representation, diversity and an intersectional genderpedagogy from Rudine Sims Bishop and Nina Lykke. / Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka representation och mångfald i romaner som används iengelskundervisning i gymnasiet, samt om lärare har representation i åtanke när de väljer vilkaromaner de skall arbeta med. En webbenkät användes för att fråga 71 engelsklärare öppna frågorangående vilka romaner de arbetar med och varför. Resultatet visar att en majoritet av användaromaner skildrar normativa protagonister och miljöer, även att det finns viss mångfald ochrepresentation av olika kön, etniska tillhörigheter, åldrar, funktionsvariationer och miljöer. Det visarsig även i resultatet att majoriteten av responderande lärare inte har representation i åtanke när deväljer vilka romaner de skall arbeta med, medan några respondenter indikerar att de tar hänsyn tillaspekter av representation. Resultaten diskuteras med hjälp av idéer om representation, diversitet ochintersektionell genuspedagogik från Rudine Sims Bishop och Nina Lykke.

The aim of this essay is to examine how digital media are used during English teaching in Sweden for students in grades 4-6. The reason is that students in those grades practice a lot of English out of class, especially when they use different digital medias such as computer games, TV-shows, YouTube etcetera. Activities with digital medias is something students does for pleasure, driven by intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is reached when three basic psychological needs are fulfilled; autonomy, competence and relatedness. For this reason, a text analysis has been done on tasks in English coursebooks and also interviews with teachers in grades 4-6 to find out in what extent students have the opportunity to work with digital medias and how these fulfills the psychological needs that lead to intrinsic motivation. The results shows that tasks in the examined coursebooks rarely deals with use of digital medias. When digital medias are included, the tasks can fulfill the psychological needs. The interviews indicates that teachers include digital media in teaching, but there is often a lack of autonomy for students.

When the Swedish school system met with the novel experience of cancelled the annual national tests in spring 2020, teachers across the country were forced to adapt to teaching without this traditional support. Due to English being one of the subjects required to administer national tests, upper secondary school English teachers were immediately affected. By looking at several studies regarding standardised testing in general, and Swedish national test tradition specifically, this qualitative study summarises how large-scale assessment in education affects teaching.Through semi-structured interviews with three English teachers, this study surveyed how teaching was affected by the cancellation of the national tests in Sweden. The teachers’ experiences of teaching without the supportive function of the national tests were also documented. The recorded interviews were analysed through the theoretical framework of reactivity, and specifically, Campbell’s Law. This study’s findings are that while the national tests hold a critical support function for teachers, they may also inhibit English teachers from teaching what is specified in the English curriculum. What emerged from the collected data and subsequent analysis was teachers’ fractured role as dependent on performance standards-based on test criteria rather than the content standards in the English curriculum. The interviewed teachers showed a great deal of trust in the national tests as grounds for assessing their students’ English skills, occasionally at the cost of their faith in themselves as teachers. Counterproductively, this resulted in teachers, consciously or not, adapting their teaching practices to fit the predicted national test rather than the curriculum. Essentially, teachers had changed their behaviour to accommodate an observer, as theorized by Campbell. During the 2020 spring semester when national tests were cancelled in Sweden, and English teachers all over the nation had to make do without their supporting function, this was made clear.

During March 2020, Swedish upper secondary schools switched from traditional teaching to crisis online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a lack of research on crisis online teaching, but there is research on online teaching and English online teaching. The fundamental difference between online teaching and crisis online teaching is choice, as crisis online teaching is mandated due to external factors beyond the teachers’ control. Transition from traditional teaching to crisis online teaching forces teachers to rely on their Technical Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). This was an instrumental case study using a semi-structured in-depth interview with a non-probability purpose sample that examined how three experienced English teachers in Western Sweden modified their teaching as well as the challenges and opportunities they experienced during crisis online teaching. Time was found to be a factor that affected crisis online teaching because the teachers interviewed reported that they were given two days to prepare in which they also had professional development to learn new platforms. In regard to professional development, teachers needed more and differentiated professional development due to teachers’ different levels of TPACK. The professional development also needed to explicitly show teachers to integrate the digital tools and platforms into their English teaching.

Considering teacher talk as the main input into the English as a foreign language classroom, this study aims to highlight and gain a deeper understanding of how target language use can look like in a foreign language classroom in Sweden. To investigate in this essay, the following research questions are addressed: • What is the teachers´ attitude towards the use of the target language in English teaching? • To what extent does the teacher communicate orally in English during English lessons? And on what occasions does the teacher choose to use the target language andthe first language during English lessons? The study was conducted in four different elementary schools, and four teachers were observed who taught in different grades. An interview was held after every observation, and through the interviews a deeper understanding was obtained. The material consists of notes through observation schedules and recordings of interviews and recording of observation. The study is based on Krashen's (1981) input hypothesis as well as Vygotskijs (2001) notion of Zone of proximal development. Research indicates that using the target language consistently can create learning opportunities for students, and a relaxing environment for them to use the target language themselves fluently during English lessons. Furthermore, studies has alsoshown using the first language can affect the students own language production and learning of the target language. However, other have shown that in some cases it can be an advantage to use the first language to include all students during English lessons, especially for the weak students in the class. Therefore, taking into consideration these different perspectives, I investigate four teachers´ use of English and Swedish in the Swedish EFL classroom.The findings show that three out of the four teachers observed used the target language in the beginning of the English lesson, while giving instructions, commanding the students to use the target language and asking them questions however, only one of them used the target language consistently during the English lesson. The findings also shows that the teachers used the first language to facilitate the students´ comprehension and to translate when they didn’t seem to understand what was said in English. Notably, some of the participating teachers indicated a desire to use the target language to a larger extent during English lessons, but they felt obligated to use Swedish in order to include all the students. The overall 3conclusion of this study is that it can be beneficial for both teachers and students if the teacher is aware of their approach toward the target language. They can thereby reflect on the impact this can have on their students´ language learning, their English lessons and their students´ use of the target language.

Kontakter med engelska i tidig ålder verkar gynna barns engelska språkutveckling. Exponeringen har ökat markant de sista 10 åren och eleverna har fler förkunskaper med sig in i klassrummet än förut. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hur engelsklärare uppfattar att elevernas förkunskaper påverkar deras engelskundervisning i årskurs 4-6. Två frågeställningar finns för att uppnå syftet, nämligen: Hur uppfattar lärare att elevers erfarenheter av och förkunskaper i engelska påverkar deras engelskundervisning i årskurs 4-6 samt i vilken mån och på vilket eller vilka sätt uppfattar lärare att de har möjlighet att anpassa sin engelskundervisning till elevernas individuella behov i heterogena klassrum? Studiens utgångspunkt är den sociokulturella teorin och socialkonstruktivismen. För att besvara frågeställningarna har kvalitativa intervjuer med sex verksamma lärare i årskurserna 4-6 utförts. Resultatet visar hur lärare uppfattar påverkan av engelska bortom klassrummet på både sin undervisning och på elevernas prestationer. Vidare visas hur lärare väljer att arbeta med engelska i sina klassrum för att kunna utgå från elevernas egna förkunskaper samt hur de anpassar undervisningen till elevernas individuella behov. Efter resultatet presenteras diskussionavsnittet gällande metod och resultat samt förslag på fortsatt forskning. / Exposure to English at an early age seems to benefit children’s English language development. This exposure has increased significantly in the last 10 years, thus providing the students with more prior knowledge than ever before. The purpose of this study is to examine teachers’ perceptions of how pupils’ prior knowledge affects English teaching at school in grades 4-6. To achieve this purpose two questions have been posed: How do teachers perceive that students' experiences with, and prior knowledge of English affect their English teaching in grades 4-6, and to what extent and in which ways do teachers perceive that they have the opportunity to adapt their English teaching to the students' individual needs in heterogeneous classrooms? This study is based on social constructivism and the socio-cultural theory. In order to answer the questions, qualitative interviews were conducted with six teachers in grades 4-6. The results show how teachers perceive the impact of English beyond the classroom on both their teaching and on students' performance. Further, the results present how teachers choose to work with English in their classrooms in order to be able to start from the students' own prior knowledge and how they adapt the teaching based on the students’ individual needs. The discussion is accompanied by a discussion of the method used and the results as well as suggestions for further research. / <p></p><p></p>

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Syftet med studien är att utforska och inhämta kunskap om lärarnas uppfattningar av elevers behov av skrivkunskaper i engelska från årskurs 3 inför årskurs 4. För att uppnå detta genomfördes intervjuer med verksamma lärare, vilket möjliggjorde besvarandet av forksningsfrågorna. Fenomenologi användes som metodansats för att förstå och analysera lärarnas upplevelser och erfarenheter av skrivundervisningen. Resultatet visade på att förbättrad kommunikationen mellan låg- och mellanstadiet kan ge bättre skrivundervisning för eleverna. En gemensam uppfattning som framkom var bristen på kommunikaiton mellan låg- och mellanstadiet. / The purpose of the study is to explore and gain knowledge about teachers´perceptions of students´ need for writing skills in English from grade 3 to grade 4. To achieve this, interviews were conducted with active teachers, which enabled the answering of the research questions. Phenomenology was used as a methodological approach to understand and analyze the teachers ‘experiences and perceptions of writing instruction. The results showed that improved communication between primary school and middle school can lead to better writing instruction for students. A common perception that emerged was the lack of communication between primary and middle school.

This study aims to explore and understand middle school English teachers’ perceptions of oral English teaching, particularly in terms of what factors affect students’ willingness or ability to participate in oral activities during English lessons. The study also identifies and analyzes the methods and teaching strategies that English teachers use to meet these challenges and promote language development. This study is based on semi-structured interviews with eight teachers who are teaching English in middle school. The method was chosen to give insight into the teachers’ personal opinions and experiences. The interviews were designed to get a thorough understanding of how teachers experience and manage challenges in teaching oral communication and what strategies they consider being most effective. The result from the interviews shows that one of the greatest challenges is the fear students have of making mistakes, which often results in a hesitation to participate in oral activities. The teachers mentioned several factors that are required to succeed in reducing this fear and promoting engagement from the students. These factors include creating a supportive classroom environment, using smaller groups to reduce pressure and stress of speaking in front of others and giving constructive feedback that encourages continued effort. The teachers also emphasized the importance of applying different pedagogical strategies that are adjusted to the students’ individual needs and levels of language proficiency.  Keywords: English teaching, oral communication, challenges, teaching strategies, pedagogical methods / Syftet med denna studie är att utforska och förstå vilka uppfattningar engelsklärare på mellanstadiet har kring muntlig engelskundervisning, särskilt i termer av vilka faktorer som påverkar elevers vilja eller förmåga att delta i muntliga aktiviteter. Studien ämnade även att identifiera och analysera de metoder och undervisningsstrategier som lärare använder för att möta dessa utmaningar och främja elevers språkutveckling. Studien baseras på semistrukturerade intervjuer med åtta lärare som undervisar i engelska på mellanstadiet. Denna metod valdes för att ge insikt i lärarnas personliga åsikter och erfarenheter. Intervjuerna var designade för att belysa hur lärare upplever och hanterar utmaningar kopplade till muntlig kommunikation och vilka strategier som de anser vara mest effektiva. Resultaten från intervjuerna visar att en av de största utmaningarna är elevers rädsla för att göra fel, vilket ofta resulterar i en tvekan att delta i muntliga aktiviteter. Lärarna nämnde flera framgångsfaktorer som minskar denna rädsla och främjar engagemang och delaktighet. Dessa inkluderade att skapa en stödjande klassrumsmiljö, att använda mindre grupper för att minska pressen och stressen att tala inför andra, samt att ge konstruktiv feedback som uppmuntrar till fortsatt ansträngning. Lärarna betonade också vikten av att tillämpa olika pedagogiska strategier anpassade till elevernas individuella behov och språkfärdigheter.  Nyckelord: Engelskundervisning, muntlig kommunikation, utmaningar, undervisningsstrategier, pedagogiska metoder

Inquiry-based teaching has started to find its way into Swedish classrooms and its quest for answers is believed to engage the students by activating them to discover new facts and discourses through the exploration of specific sources. It has foremost become a model to structure history and civics teaching, but international research shows that inquiry-based teaching, or FDU as it is called in Sweden, can also reinforce learning English as a foreign language, EFL. The purpose of my research is to investigate the possibility of implementing the FDU model as a teaching tool in a Swedish EFL classroom as well as student perception of the model. The research questions aim at investigating student perception of the model and whether there are any particular advantages and disadvantages with FDU. Through and action-based study, the FDU was implemented in an advanced EFL class consisting of 17 senior upper-secondary school students, and their perception was evaluated through a graded scale survey of 1-5, which also included three open-ended questions. Even though the survey revealed quite undistinguished results regarding the positive claims attached to FDU such as motivation, increase of attentiveness, alertness and learning reinforcement, most of the students found the model very helpful at providing them with a clear and comprehensible structure and description of the learning objectives. It was also a good opportunity to cooperate with peers in a varied manner. As an English teacher, I found the FDU very helpful for planning and constructing, as well as executing, my ideas. Even though some students reported disadvantages such as confusion due to the vast amount of information included in the FDU and the connection between the different parts of the final assignment, a clear majority said they would like to work with the model again. In conclusion, according to this study FDU shows potential as a structural and clarifying tool, both for the students as well as the teacher.