A formal evaluation of BYU's Basic Training in TESOL course shows the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum of this course. Interns take this course in preparation for international internships where they may be asked to teach English. However, the interns are generally not seeking majors or even minors in TESOL. Furthermore, most interns are not seeking any teaching major. Internship locations vary throughout the world and include, but are not limited to the following regions: Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. This MA curriculum evaluation project reports findings of a formal evaluation of BYU's Linguistics 377, Basic Training in TESOL, a course designed to provide interns with minimal teacher training in preparation for international internships. It specifically looks at how effectively the basic training course prepares the interns and to what extent it helps increase the confidence of the interns. This report presents quantitative and qualitative data collected from the interns enrolled during the Winter 2008 semester course, via interviews and questionnaires. The evaluation also offers recommendations for the course and other volunteer programs, as well as future research recommendations.

Relative performance on the Test of English as a Foreign Language Sample Test (TOEFL-ST) was explored in sixty native English speaking high school students. Subjects also were administered the Fullerton Language Test for Adolescents and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test Revised. The TOEFL-ST was not difficult for this population, indicating that TOEFL tests taken by foreign speaking college students probably assess a level of native English competency well below the high school level. The three tests, including subtests, appear to measure a wide array of subdomains of language competency. The data do not support the conclusion that any of these tests could be substituted for the others in assessing language competency.

According to the Swedish national curriculum from 2011 and the latest school legislation from 2008, there is greater emphasis on schools’ dual purpose. Schools’ most pre-dominant task is not only to provide students with knowledge in different subject areas. Equally important is their task to foster skilled and engaged democratic citizens, who will contribute to the greater good of their society. Studies have shown that schools are failing in preparing students for their participation in a democratic society, and therefore also failing the second part of their legislative undertaking. The backbone of this thesis is the assumption that there is room in language teaching for what I would like to call ”real content”, i.e. content which really matters to students and teachers alike. The purpose of this thesis is to examine what kind of support teachers can find in text books for English as a foreign language when it comes to fostering responsible and competent democratic citizens. Two text books were examined - Blueprint A and Blueprint Vocational, since studies point to the fact that the democratic deficit is even more prominent in vocational education, which in turn can pose a threat not only to the students of vocational programs, but to our society as a whole.The results show that for those teachers who wish to take their democratic assignment seriously and teach not only language skills but also democratic skills, there are many texts dealing with democracy and values in both text books, as well as numerous exercises with the aim to improve students’ democratic skills, such as communication, critical thinking, argumentation etc. The explanation for the shortcomings identified in many studies therefore has to be found elsewhere. Furthermore, the findings of this study confirm the differences in perception of vocational students and students who will continue their studies at university level.

This research paper looks at teachers’ views, and use, of formative assessment in the subject of English 6. It also highlights students understanding and processing of feedback and their opinions of eight assessment tools. The study was carried out using mixed methods research with individual teacher interviews, a student focus group interview, and a questionnaire. My finding shows the difficulties with identifying formative assessment and working with this in a way that helps students in their development of English 6, and the need for tools to make feedback and guidance clearer for students. Furthermore, this study identifies the need for guidance from the Swedish national agency of education regarding how teachers should incorporate formative assessment in their classroom.

Research shows that there are several benefits that can be extracted from the usage of literature in EFL. The question is which benefits teachers tend to make use of in their classrooms. The present study set out to map upper secondary school teachers’ reflections on the topic of literature in EFL, in general as well as in relation to language learning. The three research questions were to find out (1) teachers’ views regarding opportunities as well as challenges of literature in the EFL classroom, (2) how EFL teachers reason around their own uses of literature in EFL, and lastly, (3) how EFL teachers reflect on literature in relation to language learning. The data was collected from semi-structured interviews with three teachers. The study found that, overall, the teachers viewed literature as an important part of EFL partly because it can be utilized to acquire tools for literary analysis, to learn about the world, to create a basis for discussion about difficult topics and lastly, to develop language proficiencies.

Vocabulary development is important when it comes to learning a language, but it is also a challenging task. The Swedish syllabus focuses on implicit knowledge, and explicit teaching has been shown to have a positive impact on learners’ implicit knowledge. Therefore, this research synthesis explores to what extent explicit morphological teaching can be beneficial and improve vocabulary development for older adolescent and adult learners of English as a foreign language. It also explores how these findings are related to the English syllabus for upper secondary education in Sweden. The methods include searching several electronic databases with specific related search terms and using inclusion and exclusion criteria to obtain relevant articles. The research synthesis compiles the findings of a total of eight articles on both the effect of receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary. The results indicate that explicit morphology instruction has a positive outcome for learners of English as a foreign language in both receptive and productive vocabulary, and, that it may be a useful teaching method. Finally, the results correlate with previous research and with the Swedish steering documents and the communicative classroom in the Swedish context. For further research, it would be of interest to see if the results are applicable in a Swedish context, and thus, further studies in a Swedish context are encouraged.

This study provides a literature review of the most effective ways to teach pronunciation to EFL secondary school students in Sweden. There is limited time allocated to pronunciation leading to a scarcity of available effective methods. This impacts the important role which intelligibility holds in pronunciation. Therefore, the objective of this review centres around finding the most effective ways to teach pronunciation in a Swedish EFL secondary school classroom, considering a variety of approaches. A selection of electronic databases were used consisting of specific search terms and limitations, concentrating on English language pronunciation. This resulted in eight articles, all of which experimented on finding ways to teach pronunciation. These studies are different in their methods and objectives, studies all lead to different results which we categorised into three themes: computer-assisted learning, social network learning and unconventional learning. Although all studies reported positive outcomes, only two were proven to be the most effective for this context. The results indicate that computer-assisted learning in combination with a teacher is the most effective way to teach pronunciation to EFL learners. This aligns with both the Swedish curriculum and two educational theories formulated by Krashen and Vygotsky. Our findings demonstrate an opportunity to implement this combination into the Swedish school context and allow for future research projects on pronunciation.

This study explores the influence of collaborative learning on motivation and speaking anxiety in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom for young learners. The study highlights a crucial research aspect by examining the role of collaborative learning in addressing speaking anxiety. The research question is explored by multiple investigators, and Lundahl's (2022) groundbreaking work particularly stands out, emphasising the vital role of collaborative learning in education. Building on this foundation, Fenyvesi's (2020) study on Danish learners aligns with these collaborative learning findings, emphasising the importance of fostering positive attitudes from the early stages of language acquisition. Kopinska and Azakari's (2020) study of collaborative reconstruction tasks provides a task-based perspective, illustrating the positive impact on motivation and a preference for collaboration. Nilsson's (2019) research reveals several triggers of speaking anxiety amongst Swedish learners, emphasising the role of classroom situations. Collaborative learning relieves speaking anxiety, as highlighted by Nilsson (2019) and supported by Bozkurt and Aydin's (2023) study involving 34 EFL students. Pladevall-Balusters (2019) study in Catalonia, Spain, compares motivation levels in traditional and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) settings, acknowledging the potential and challenges of CLIL. The result of this study shows that collaborative learning has a positive impact on young EFL learners' motivation and speaking anxiety in English classes. It reduces anxiety, increases confidence, and fosters a supportive classroom atmosphere, ultimately contributing to improved motivation and vocabulary acquisition.

This corpus-based study explores writer-reader visibility (WRV) features in the writing by young Swedish learners of English. Specifically, using Petch-Tyson’s (1998) framework, this study examines the use of WRV features in essays written by young Swedish learners in lower and upper secondary school, and compares their use to that of Swedish university-level learners. The findings align with Hasund and Hasselgård’s (2022) observation based on young learners that “the tendency to be visible writers starts early” (p. 19). Yet, as the writing proficiency or experience of this learner population increases, their visibility decreases by relying less on WRV devices. This study contributes to the understanding of how young learners’ use of WRV features in their writing develops and provides insights into writing instructions for young learners of English.

The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent teachers in Swedish EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classrooms need to adapt their teaching methods and strategies to best handle students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). According to Skolverket (2020), a lot of students diagnosed with ASD fail to reach the knowledge requirements for a pass in their English classes in school. The paper presents relevant research retrieved from databases ERIC and EBSCO and discusses the findings in relation to the research questions and the Swedish curriculum. The research presented show students with ASD often struggle with attention, anxiety, and primarily listening comprehension in the classroom.  Methods researchers argue counteracts the obstacles for the autistic students aim to reduce anxiety, enhance communication, and complement verbal instructions with visual support.