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The important aspect of speaking in an L2 classroom is well-known for language acquisition to occur. But what happens when students, for whatever reason, are unwilling to communicate. In that case, teachers must apply different pedagogical practices to support them. With this in mind, this degree project essay aims to investigate the English syllabus in upper-secondary school in Sweden to explore what recommendations teachers are given to increase learners’ willingness to communicate orally. The analysis of the English syllabus is done using a constructed framework based on previous research on the best pedagogical practices to increase students’ willingness to communicate and explore if there is an alignment between the two. The findings show that the most often-included suggestions aligned with international best practices are: connecting the teaching to students’ knowledge and experiences, providing students with linguistic competence, and providing students with different interactional activities with different purposes. The essay will further give some pedagogical recommendations and future research directions.

Resent research has demonstrated that age does not play as big a part in second language (L2) acquisition as was previously thought. However, L2 acquisition is markedly affected by: (i) the amount of L2 in a pupil’s daily life, (ii) how well teachers are trained in teaching a new language to young learners and (iii) how many hours are given to the subject each week. In Swedish schools there is great variation around when and how English is taught. In order to ensure future equality in L2 teaching we need to find out why this variation exists. One important step towards doing this is to obtain primary school teachers’ views on teaching English. Using a questionnaire, I gathered views from Swedish primary school teachers regarding their own English teaching skills and when they believe English should be taught. The findings show that views on when to start teaching English differ markedly among teachers, varying from year 1 to year 3, as does any relevant guidance from schools/municipalities. It is also apparent that many teachers, 65% of the respondents in this study to be exact, have not had English as an obligatory part of their teacher training. The findings offer a valuable insight into potential underlying reasons for the variability that exists in L2 teaching. / Forskningen under senare år har visat att ålder inte har en lika stor roll i andraspråksinlärning som man tidigare trott. Dock påverkas andraspråksinlärning märkbart av: (i) hur mycket av ett andraspråk som finns med i elevernas dagliga liv, (ii) hur utbildade lärare är inom området för att lära ut ett nytt språk till yngre elever och (iii) hur många timmar som ges till ämnet varje vecka. En stor variation finns inom den svenska skolan när det gäller när och hur engelska lärs ut. För att försäkra oss om en likvärdig utbildning i framtiden så måste vi undersöka varför det är en sådan variation. En viktig del i detta är att få reda på lågstadielärarnas egna åsikter om att lära ut engelska. Genom ett frågeformulär samlade jag in åsikter från svenska lågstadielärare när det gäller deras lärarkunskaper inom engelska och när de anser att engelska bör läras ut. Resultaten visar att det finns delade åsikter inom lärarprofessionen angående när undervisning i engelska bör påbörjas, allt från åk 1 till åk 3, detta gäller även vägledning från skolor/kommuner. Det är också tydligt att många lärare, 65% av respondenterna i denna studie för att vara mer precis, inte har haft engelska som en obligatorisk del av sin lärarutbildning. Resultaten ger en viktig inblick i eventuella bakomliggande orsaker till variabiliteten som existerar när det gäller andraspråksundervisning.

Previous research shows that English teachers in Sweden struggle with the assessment of oral proficiency. The reasons for this are several but most of them have occurred in the gap between the intended and perceived curriculum. English teachers interpret the knowledge requirements within oral proficiency differently because of their pedagogical background and experience. This study investigates teachers’ interpretations of the intended presentation of interaction and fluency in the oral proficiency knowledge requirements. The study also investigates what methods and procedures the teachers use when assessing the two abilities and what views the teachers have on the syllabus and assessment support. Semi-structured interviews were organized with four different English teachers with extensive experience in teaching and assessing English in Sweden. The data from the interviews were analyzed through the use of qualitative content analysis in order to find potential links between results and earlier conducted research. The results suggest that the English teachers interpreted, valued, and assessed interaction and fluency differently in relation to the knowledge requirements. The teachers also promoted the knowledge requirements from the Oral National Test since these simplified the interpretation of aspects such as interaction and fluency. The teachers did not present the syllabus as poor or complex, but their exclusive use of Oral National Test knowledge requirements and assessment material suggested something else. Along with this result, all teachers criticized the assessment support that comes with the knowledge requirements in the syllabus. The assessment support was thus something several of the teachers mentioned as key along with the implementation of co-assessment for future reliability within oral proficiency assessment.