This is a small-scale study that looks at how important upper secondary students andteachers in a mid-size Swedish community consider intercultural communicativecompetences to be and how frequently they work with developing these competences.Previous research on the work with intercultural communicative competence suggestteachers are largely unaware of theories in this area, but these studies were conducted atleast ten years ago. Current models for working with intercultural communicativecompetences are discussed and questionnaires for students and teachers were developedto investigate attitudes towards and experiences of working with interculturalcompetences. The results of the questionnaires indicate that there is still little awarenessof current models and that practical communicative exercises are rare. As this study issmall scale and can only provide possible indications of the extent to witch interculturalcommunicative competence is dealt with in the classroom, the paper concludes thatfurther and more extensive studies are needed.Keywords

The study examined the integration of Creative Writing (CW) into Swedish upper-secondary education, focusing on enhancing student motivation and engagement. It was hypothesized that CW, by fostering autonomy, competence, relatedness, and enjoyment, could improve students' intrinsic motivation, and engagement, as guided by Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Given the frequent issue of student dropouts, there is a recognized need for teachers to identify effective strategies to increase students’ motivation. The researchers propose incorporating CW alongside traditional methods as a potential solution. By raising student motivation, this strategy hopes to boost academic achievement and lower dropout rates. The study incorporates CW in an attempt to make learning more motivating and interesting while also meeting the diverse needs of students. The study enlists a mixed-methods approach to investigate the effectiveness of a CW intervention. The intervention involved students creatively reimagining endings in classical literature, facilitated through digital resources to ensure broad access, and engagement. The effect of the intervention on student motivation was measured using surveys in a pre- and post-test design. In addition, semi-structured interviews were used to gather qualitative data. Results indicated that substantial improvements in students' enjoyment, motivation, and ability to express themselves were achieved, suggesting that CW can bridge traditional teaching methods, and contemporary educational demands. The study highlights the potential of integrating CW into curricula, proposing that such innovative pedagogical strategies can revitalize student engagement and foster a more dynamic, and enjoyable learning environment. These findings advocate for broader application and further exploration of CW within educational settings to enhance student motivation, and their engagement with literacy.

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.