In the Swedish school system, English is one of three core subjects that are mandatory to pass at the end of year 9 to be able to engage in further studies in high school. However, English is not introduced at the same time in all schools. In fact, primary schools in Sweden can choose freely (between age 6-10) when they want to start introducing English to their students. The main purpose of this paper is to disclose if starting English education at an earlier age results in higher student scores on the total score and the three different parts of the National Exam for English in year 6. The National Exam scores from 14 different schools were collected and compared. 7 schools that introduce English in year 1, and 7 schools who begin their English education in year 3. The results from the statistical tests show that there is a significant difference between the two groups at the total score, speaking, and receptive skills. The early starters performed better on all parts. However, there was no significant difference between the groups in writing.

In today's globalized society, English is one of the main ways of communication. Therefore, teaching students English in such a way that they not only understand the basics, but are confident enough to communicate with an international population of varied ability and linguistic background becomes a high priority in school. In this study we look at the reported communicative confidence level (CCL) of learners at a Swedish upper secondary school. This quantitative study collected data from questionnaires from upper secondary students in the Swedish school. We found that the participants displayed an above average level of perceived communicative confidence; that a higher academic achievement correlated with a higher CCL; that the expected need, the context, and the interlocutors do not correlate with the CCL; and that a higher degree of formality and unfamiliarity of a communication situation seems to correlate with a lower CCL. To be able to make confident generalisations in the future about CCL, we suggest this study be reproduced on a larger set of data and that actual CCL, as opposed to participant perception of CCL, could be observed.

A review of the related literature revealed that international students face specific academic challenges. The goal of this research was to investigate the effect of international student peer advising sessions on English as a Second Language (ESL) international students' perceptions of their language skills and strategies for dealing with academic tasks. The research design included a control and an experimental group with a pretest and a posttest administration of the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) and the Xu International Student Academic Language Needs Assessment (ISALNA-2) instruments. Qualitative data was also collected. The participants in the study were upper-intermediate level international students in an intensive English program at a large metropolitan university. Scores (n = 23) on the SILL and the ISALNA-2 were used to investigate the changing perspectives of students receiving similar information from different sources, classroom teachers and peer advisors or only classroom teachers. Peer advising sessions were provided to the experimental group of students. The focus of the sessions was advice and direction in language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) for university academic tasks. A split-plot analysis of variance was employed to analyze the quantitative data obtained from pre- and posttest administrations of the instruments. Analysis of the data did not reveal a statistically significant effect of the peer advising sessions as regards the improvement of scores on the SILL and ISALNA-2. Qualitative data (n = 29) indicated that the experimental participants were positively impacted in understanding the necessary language skills necessary for academic success. Interviews with the peer advisors revealed that they had enhanced their understanding of university expectations and had developed a higher level of confidence as a result of their participation in the advising sessions. Qualitative data revealed positive attitudes by the peer advisors in giving language skills information and by the ESL international students involved in receiving that information. The study format could contribute to future studies and may have implications for the development of international peer advising for English language instruction, foreign student orientation programs, host family programs, and programs linking foreign students with American student study partners.

Reading ability at the Swedish upper secondary school is decreasing for second language learners and the number of students reading literary texts is also declining. Our aim with this paper is to examine if reading fiction in an English as a Second language classroom at an upper secondary level can enhance students’ reading comprehension using in-depth strategies. This paper presents findings from several studies on fiction, in-depth strategies, and reading comprehension in upper secondary education. We have used research regarding learning English as a Second language (ESL), English as a Foreign Language (EFL), and English as a Native Language (ENL). In terms of fiction, we have chosen to examine textual fiction, novels, short stories, poems, and graphic novels. Furthermore, we will investigate whether graphic novels are better tools for enhancing reading comprehension. Our results show that using in-depth strategies and textual fiction in an upper secondary context enhances students’ reading comprehension. We also found that graphic novels enhance reading comprehension and are thus a viable tool for reading comprehension in the classroom context. However, we did not find sufficient evidence supporting the claim that graphic novels are a more effective tool than textual fiction overall.

Manually grading essays and providing comprehensive feedback pose significant challenges for writing instructors, requiring subjective assessments of various writing elements. Automated essay scoring (AES) systems have emerged as a potential solution, offering improved grading consistency and time efficiency, along with insightful analytics. However, the use of AES in English as a Second Language (ESL) remains rare. This dissertation aims to explore the implementation of AES in ESL education to enhance teaching and learning. The dissertation presents a study involving ESL teachers who learned to use a specific AES system called LightSide, a free and open text mining tool, to enhance writing instruction. The study involved observations, interviews, and a workshop where teachers learned to build their own AES using LightSide. The study aimed to address questions related to teacher interest in using AES, challenges faced by teachers, and the influence of the workshop on teachers' perceptions of AES. By exploring the use of AES in ESL education, this research provides valuable insights to inform the integration of technology and enhance the teaching and learning of writing skills for English language learners.

No description available.

In recent years, Sweden has seen a vast increase in the number of migrant-background pupils entering the school system. According to official policies, these students should be included in everyday school activities wherever possible. The focus of this study is to investigate when and why this does not happen; with a focus on English lessons in upper primary school, we consider how exclusionary practices are implemented and justified by teachers. Exclusion from classroom activity is a complex, multifaceted topic, and thus needs to be explored from multiple angles. In this study, we adopt a mixed-method approach to data collection, drawing on observation of English classes, interviews with teachers, and analyses of local and national policy documents. We then use the analytical framework of nexus analysis in order to consider how exclusion is a social action, which can be seen as the combination of the historical body, the interaction order, and discourses in place. The main findings of the study show that the reasons pupils get excluded vary between teachers but mostly comes down to teachers' belief in some form of hierarchy between school subjects and that learning Swedish is prioritized for pupils with a migration-background. The implications of these findings are that that teachers do not perceive certain actions as exclusionary but rather view them as standard routines or even as something positive towards the students, which can be hurtful for the excluded pupils and leads to the loss of the socio-cultural learning environments that take place inside the classrooms.

Dyslexia is a widely known disorder that impairs the diagnosed students’ literacy in multiple ways. There is a lot of research done on how dyslexia hinders literacy skills in a person's first language; however, not as much research has been done on how the disorder affects the reading skills in English as a second language (ESL). The purpose and aim of the literature review is to examine and evaluate how dyslexia affects the reading skills and reading comprehension, and to explore what pedagogical tools that are available to better facilitate reading skills for dyslexic students in ESL. The method used for conducting this literature review was through searching peer-reviewed scientific articles in two separate databases. Furthermore, the results showed that dyslexic students’ reading skills were impaired by poor working memory and poor phonological awareness. Nevertheless, the results also indicated that there are several pedagogical tools available, such as computer-based instruction for example, in order to aid dyslexic students in developing their reading skills in ESL. Consequently, the findings of this literature review coincided with the Swedish curriculum and the Swedish syllabus for the English courses in the upper secondary school concerning using various teaching strategies and pedagogical tools in the teaching of ESL. The almost certain inevitability of teaching dyslexic students in ESL in the future profession as an ESL teacher further validates and amplifies the importance of this study.

Abstract Task-Based Language Teaching has long been a method for education in different subjects. This study investigates the use of Task-Based Language teaching regarding vocabulary acquisition in English upper secondary/high school students. Through the use of a database, multiple scientific studies and research papers on vocabulary acquisition through TBLT have been included. This study contains the results of the use of TBL through similar teaching methods with the focus on vocabulary development in the L2 classroom. The findings show that studies have different results regarding what tasks to include but present a similar conclusion regarding what method to use; TBLT. The results also show that regardless of what task is used, communication could be beneficial and even played a big role in multiple studies where it increased students vocabulary acquisition. The conclusion of our study suggests that TBLT is an efficient method for developing vocabulary acquisition in upper secondary and high school students. All research papers analysed concluded that TBL and TBLT can be used as means for motivating students which aided the task engagement, thus helping develop their vocabulary acquisition.

<p>Many multilingual learners who use a language other than English at home face academic challenges from English monolingualism prevalent in the U.S. school system. English as a New Language (ENL) programs teach English to these learners while playing a role in reinforcing English monolingualism. For educational inclusivity and equity for multilingual learners, it is imperative to center their holistic language repertoires in ENL classrooms; however, this can be challenging due to individual and contextual factors. Using translanguaging as a conceptual framework, this qualitative case study explores how high school multilingual learners’ languages are flexibly used in ENL classes and how the students think about such classroom translanguaging practices. I used ethnographic methods to observe ENL classroom activities and instructional practices, interview the participants, and collect photos and documents in a high school in Indiana for a semester. The participants were an English-Spanish proficient ENL teacher and four students from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Honduras, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, whose language repertoires included Spanish, Lingala, French, Arabic, and English. The findings describe the difficulties and possibilities of incorporating all students’ multilingual-multisemiotic repertoires in ENL classes. The classroom language practices primarily constituted of Spanish and drawing; some instructional activities and practices, such as the multigenre identity project and the teacher’s use of Google Translate, well integrated the students’ multilingual-multisemiotic repertoires. When the students engaged in English writing, they frequently used machine translation, such as Google Translate, through dynamic processes involving evaluation. While the students perceived such classroom translanguaging practices generally positively, they considered using machine translation as a problem, a resource, or an opportunity. With these findings, I argue that multilingual learners’ competence to use their own languages and machine translation technology freely and flexibly is a valuable resource for learning and should be encouraged and developed in ENL classrooms. To do so, ENL teachers should use instructional activities and practices considering students’ dynamic multilingualism. TESOL teacher education should develop such competence in teachers, and more multilingual resources should be provided to teachers. In the case of a multilingual classroom with singleton students, building mutual understanding, empathy, and equity-mindedness among class members should be prioritized. Finally, I recommend that the evolving multilingual technologies, such as machine translation, be actively used as teaching and learning resources for multilingual learners.</p>