Each year a group of university students from English speaking countries go to Chile and work as volunteers under the National Volunteer Centre Program. The purpose of this case study is to examine how a group of novice volunteer teachers describe their experiences in a foreign country and how these experiences shape their understanding of teaching. Participants went through the process of open-ended questionnaires and one-on-one interviews of their experience. This study was sustained in the literature by the domains of volunteerism, English Language Teaching, and volunteerism and ELT, and a socio constructivist and experiential lens was adopted. Even though volunteer teaching abroad is an increasing worldwide trend, there are few studies that combine these areas, showing that the existing blend of volunteerism and English language teaching needs to be further examined. The analysis of the data showed that novice volunteer teachers experience five types of experiences when teaching English: language teaching experiences, language learning experiences, challenges, general experiences, and volunteering experiences. Novice teachers recalled their expectations before teaching and those were maintained, modified, or unfulfilled. Volunteers stated what teaching means to them after working in public schools, they were able to describe diverse language teaching experiences, and make recommendations to future volunteers.

Previous studies show that explicit teaching of reading comprehension strategies is beneficial forpupils’ reading comprehension in EFL. However, there appears to be a lack of studies about the topic in a Swedishcontext. This study investigates how teachers in years 4-6 in one elementary school in Sweden work towardsimproving their pupils’ reading comprehension in EFL. Further, the study explores what perspectives the teachershave on teaching reading comprehension strategies in EFL. The four participating teachers all have a teacher’sdegree and experience with teaching EFL in years 4-6. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteachers and complemented with classrooms observations with two of the interviewed teachers. The results suggestthat the teachers believe teaching reading comprehension strategies in EFL is important. Further, the results indicatethat the participating teachers work with reading comprehension strategies that according to previous studies arebeneficial for pupils’ reading comprehension. In addition, the teachers described working with similar strategiesand teaching methods in the Swedish subject. Therefore, comparative studies between the Swedish subjectand EFL to further investigate if the same reading comprehension strategies are beneficial inboth subjects is recommended. / <p>Engelska</p>

Due to our constantly evolving society and our opportunity to communicate across borders,English language learning is becoming increasingly important for the individual and his/herability to act and live in the world. The importance of learning English as a foreign language(EFL) is also emphasized in the Swedish curriculum, which further states that the teaching inthe lower grades of schooling should focus on communicative skills such as vocabularyacquisition. This is in line with previous research studies which describe that the knowledge ofvocabulary is main key to learn a language. Previous research studies have been done withinthis area of EFL teaching where storytelling has been used as a method for English vocabularyacquisition. The results of these research studies indicate that the storytelling method is verybeneficial to use within EFL teaching in the lower grades of schooling as it creates a teachingcontent familiar and interesting to the students. With the knowledge of the importance ofvocabulary acquisition and, the benefits the storytelling method can contribute with it isinteresting to further investigate how this method is implemented in a Swedish context. As ofthis, the main aim of this empirical study is to investigate how storytelling can be used as amethod for teaching English vocabulary to 1-3rd grade EFL students in Sweden and also, whatteachers think about this method.To collect data to this study six semi-structured interviews were conducted with 1-3rd gradeteachers in Sweden. The results show that the informants have an overall positive attitudetowards storytelling as a method to teach English vocabulary. Additionally, all teacher expressthat they use this method in their own EFL teaching but in various extent. The most interestingfindings were the different approaches the teachers use within the storytelling method and also,how the teachers support their students in order to enhance their comprehension of the teachingcontent. Future research within this area is needed and specifically within a Swedish context.More research on the storytelling method and its possibilities to EFL acquisition could strengthen the argument why this method should be used more frequently to teach vocabulary within EFL education in Sweden. / <p>Engelska</p>

The objective of this study was to examine the accuracy of Swedish primary school students’ EFL self-assessments. Self-assessment is an important component of formative assessment, which is the main tool used by Swedish primary school teachers when evaluating EFL proficiency. In the study, a survey and a vocabulary picture test were conducted. The survey consisted of Likert-scale statements and was used for students’ EFL self-assessments. It was followed by an English vocabulary picture test to evaluate students’ English vocabulary. To investigate whether there was a correlation between the results of students’ self-assessments and their results on the vocabulary picture tests, a Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was produced. Furthermore, results were also analysed by individual, item, and gender. In conclusion, EFL self-assessments made by the students were found to have a weak correlation of 0.22 to their results on the English vocabulary picture test. Thus, the findings of this study indicate that young Primary School students’ EFL self-assessments should not be used as the sole evaluation of English proficiency.

This study aims at exploring (1) EFL students’ willingness to communicate (WTC) from the perspectives of some English teachers in Swedish upper secondary schools, and (2) the same teachers’ reported strategies for dealing with their students’ WTC. Six teachers from five different upper secondary schools in Sweden, who all teach English in different programs, volunteered to participate in the study. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews, and the transcripts were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The results of the study showed that teachers perceive both social and psychological factors to influence students’ WTC, and that motivation plays an important role. A natural part of discussing EFL learners’ WTC also seemed to be to discuss their use of the target language. Strategies that were reportedly perceived to enhance EFL learners’ WTC were building respectful relationships within the classroom, using meaningful and relevant topics, creating communicative settings, correcting mistakes cautiously and utilizing digital tools. However, enhancing students’ WTC was considered challenging, and more teacher training in affecting factors of and strategies for enhancing EFL learners’ WTC are suggested to be needed.

This study investigates what can cause significant gaps in grammatical knowledge in a class of English 5 and how such gaps can be healed or avoided. By triangulating results from two diagnostic tests, a focus group of pupils and a semi-structured interview with their teacher, data were analysed statistically and through a phenomenographic perspective.  The results expose grammatical gaps concerning genitive construction, relative pronouns, and tag construction. Moreover, the pupils’ experiences from earlier grammar teaching and learning indicate that cause, development, and possible healing of grammatical gaps are related to how grammar seldom is discussed or practised in school. Furthermore, the teacher’s experiences show how pupils and groups typically unaffected by grammatical issues now are involved and that extensive repair efforts are needed. In conclusion, the results and analysis suggest that grammatical gaps may be related to three main issues: how communicational theory within the syllabi is intended, how it is understood and then brought to the classroom and how teaching professionals’ schooling and tradition related to grammar teaching and testing may affect the outcome of the communicational classroom. If managed, they can be the key to bridging grammatical gaps in the future.

For youths speaking a second language in a classroom can be quite anxious, worrying how their classmates will react or if the teacher will correct every single mistake.For teachers it is as important to teach the new language as to create a welcoming classroom setting where the students feel comfortable to make mistakes. To achieve a good learning environment, it is imperative to develop an understanding from students’ perspectives what conditions are needed for participation and what obstacles are there which prevent them from participating.Three year 8 classes were invited to complete a foreign language questionnaire regarding their will to speak during English lessons. The results showed most students did not have a speech anxiety. Those who showed a certain level of speech anxiety were mostly afraid of how their classmates would react. Also, this group of students were least active at home practising English online such as speaking with others. This indicates the importance to encourage students to practise English daily to overcome their speech anxiety. It is also important for educators to create a learning environment to allow students to feel comfortable to make mistakes without being laughed at or vigorously corrected by the teacher.

English is a global language that surrounds us almost wherever in the world we are. The school has an important role when it comes to introducing the language to young learners. Using teaching materials such as workbooks has been a common teaching method for a long time. This thesis examines three popular workbooks from different Swedish publishers, Learn English, Magic! and Happy. Through a content analysis, verbal interaction activities within these workbooks were examined based on Becker and Roos’s (2016) model of creative speaking. Additionally, interviews were conducted as a way to give insight to how these workbooks can be used in the classroom. This study shows that pupils are provided with support and guidance in most of the interactive activities within these workbooks. However, activity types as well as in what manner the pupils were requested to interact differed when the workbooks were compared to each other. The activity types that occurred were reading dialogues, sharing information and expressing opinions in English. The teachers reported to work with the activities in full class or pairs. / <p>Engelska</p>

This paper investigates if the tools of the Aggression Replacement Training (ART) program, a structured treatment model for the training of social skills, can scaffold secondary learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) with regards to speaking and interaction. Furthermore, with the help of interviews I aim to get a better understanding of teachers´ perception of ART. The tools modelling, roleplaying, and performance feedback are used within the ART program to improve social skills; by looking at the ART-program and by comparing these to how they are used in the EFL classroom, and at the secondary Ung ART school, in general. I will attempt to show how the learning of English as a foreign learning can be improved, particularly regarding speaking and interaction. This paper is primarily relevant to teachers of EFL but may also be useful to other teachers who want to scaffold their students. The ART-program tools modelling, roleplaying, and performance feedback have a positive effect on EFL-learners.

This study investigates the possible benefits of using the extensive reading approach as means of enhancing reading motivation, and through that improve and develop EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learners’ vocabular repertoire. According to the Swedish Media Council, almost 49% of the Swedish youth do not read books in their free time, and the numbers keep decreasing (Statens Medieråd, 2019). At a time where reading is no longer as common, several researchers have claimed that implementing the extensive reading approach in EFL classrooms gives space for incidental vocabulary acquisition to take place. It has been further argued that extensive reading is an appreciated approach by students, since it gives them the freedom to learn at their own pace. However, there is still some disagreement among researchers as to whether extensive reading does increase reading motivation or not. For this study, data and material were gathered through electronic searches from numerous educational databases to investigate this matter and provide an overview of the findings. The overall results indicate that extensive reading does have a beneficial impact on vocabulary acquisition, and that students are generally positive and receptive to extensive reading, especially when combined with reading-tasks and activities. However, further research is necessary to be able to understand whether vocabular gains from extensive reading actually are affected by reading motivation or not.