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The purpose with this study is to find out about teachers’ strategies and views on availability when it comes to the English subject for pupils with a different mother tongue than Swedish or English in Swedish schools. This study includes the views of five teachers who teach English in years 4-6. The background is focused on the fact that Swedish schools nowadays are multicultural, meaning that there are pupils from different countries. It is a common conception that this plays a significant role when it comes to pupils’ success in second-language learning, in this case the English language, since it is more difficult to learn a target language for pupils who are not proficient in the language which serves as a medium of teaching. Previous research seems to support this view, but it is currently not known exactly what the role of the pupils’ L1 is in L2-learning. This qualitative study is based on interviews that were conducted in five separate schools in two different municipalities. The results that we have gathered show that there are different views on how learning should be organized, including the most appropriate strategies for the case. Our results also show that these teachers are of the opinion that smaller teaching groups are to be preferred, but that the limited time together with limited resources have a negative impact on pupils’ learning in general.

It has been widely debated whether the use of the mother tongue is effective when learning a new language or if teachers should instead use the target language all the time in a language classroom. While some research shows that the use of the mother tongue is detrimental, other studies suggest that it can be used as a tool (e.g. for translations and for instructions) for teaching a new language. This study aims at exploring whether English or Swedish is predominantly used in English language teaching in Swedish primary schools and which factors contribute to the choice of language. Three primary school teachers and their pupils aged between 8 and10 at two primary schools in Sweden participated in the study. The data were collected through surveys and observations and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The findings show that the Swedish language is predominantly used during English lessons. Moreover, according to the participants in the study, this dominance is linked to the teachers´ need to create a positive classroom environment where the pupils feel safe, comfortable, and confident using their mother tongue as a tool for language learning.

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka utmaningar som nyanlända elever i grundskolan kan stå inför i den ordinarie undervisning, samt hur de kan övervinna svårigheter i engelskämnet. Studien genomfördes bland elever i grundskolan i Södermanland. Två uppsättningar data användes: En med semistrukturerade intervjuer med fem elever från högstadiet, samt klassrumsobservationer av tre olika klasser under två olika tillfällen (på förmiddag och på eftermiddag). Uppgifterna analyserades med hjälp av en kvalitativ metod och med hjälp av Vygotskijs sociokulturella teori, vilken handlar om att lärande och kognitiva språkkunskaper sker i interaktion och samspel med andra genom dialog och stöttning av kunniga personer (Vygotskij, 2001). Resultaten visade att elevernas tidigare kunskaper i engelska och bristen på ordförråd påverkar deras engagemang under lektioner. Det visade också att elevernas modersmål (L1) och andra språkkunskaper (L2) kan används som resurs för att utveckla elevernas kognitiva språkkunskaper i engelska som ett främmandespråk (L3) med stöd och hjälp av alla aktörer (lärare, studiehandledare, klasskamrater och föräldrar).

Hand gestures during speech lighten the speaker's cognitive load, provide lexical access, augment the precision of memory, and identify when a speaker is ready to learn a new skill (Abner, Cooperrider, Goldin-Meadow, 2015). Much of the research that has discovered these purposes of gesture have focused on gestures produced during speech in the speaker's first language. Many researchers use these findings to argue for the same cognitive benefits of gesture in the second language, though only little research of gesture and second language speech has been done. The present study sought to fill the gap between first and second language research on gesture production by investigating the differences between the gesticulation produced by bilinguals in their first and second languages as well as discover their perceptions of those gestures. Native English speakers bilingual in Spanish and native Spanish speakers bilingual in English were interviewed in both languages and their gestures were counted and compared between their first and second languages. Results showed that even though native Spanish speaker's gestured significantly more than native English speakers, all participants significantly increased their gesture production from their first to their second language. Task type also played an important part in this increase, wherein gestures increased only in descriptive and narrative tasks, but not in conversational role plays. Gestures also seemed to increase due to a heightened cognitive load within the tasks more so than due to increased anxiety levels, agreeing with previous research done in first language contexts. Participants also tended to base perceptions of gesture use on native cultural attitudes towards gesture, causing inconclusive results on speaker awareness of their co-speech gesture in either their native or second language. Some limitations suggest that this study be repeated with modifications, such as evaluating participant proficiency before interviewing and matching all participants to a specific range of time immersed in the foreign culture.

The aim for this systematic literature study is to see how much of the first language (L1) that has to be in the English language (L2) classroom. The study is based on seven articles that have been analysed in order to see arguments for or against the use of the L1 language in the L2 classroom. The articles were all based on middle school teachers' experience, thoughts and feelings about the use of L1 in the classroom. The arguments that were brought up in the articles were categorised and identified, in order to make a better choice about when to use or to exclude L1 in their teachings. The background describes how English has developed in the Swedish school system and how different methods have been used in language classrooms around the world since the 19th century. The analysis of the literature study could conclude two different categories. The argument for the use of L1 in the classroom and the argument against it. For the use of L1 in the classroom 5 different arguments were defined: the students' feeling of stress, limited time, motivation, teachers’ self-esteem and teachers’ feeling of guilt. Against the use of L1 in the classroom only two arguments could be defined: teachers translating too quickly and the need to maximise the L2 exposure to students during English lessons. The result of this study indicates that it is very hard for teachers to only speak in the target language during English lessons, but it’s important that teachers reflect over their use of the L1 language and if it's always necessary. The L1 language should be used to make sure that students feel like they can understand and not feel stressed about their learning process. Especially when teaching grammar, difficult words or advanced instructions the L1 could be a big help, but not always and not only.

The role of students’ first language (L1) in second and foreign language teaching has been an issue within language teaching. Whether to use the students’ L1 is a conflicted matter whereas certain teaching theories collide with actual practices. Teachers in Sweden are dependent on the National Curriculum as it is the guideline for their teaching and the fact that the syllabus for English does not mention the use of the students’ L1 leaves it up for interpretation. The aim of the present study was to investigate teachers’ perceptions of their students’ L1 when teaching English as a second or foreign language in the Swedish primary school in years 4-6. Furthermore, the study aims to obtain a general view of which situations teachers tend to switch to their students’ L1 and to what extent. Data was collected through a mixed-method approach, using both a questionnaire and conducting follow-up email interviews. The results showed that teachers generally see their students’ L1 as a facilitating factor when teaching English. However, there were participants who reported the desire to use English as much as possible when teaching. Independent of the situation, the overall most frequent answer was that the participants used their students’ L1 sometimes. Factors that affect the use of L1 are the students' age and guidelines from the teacher training program. These results contribute to the field of research in a Swedish context and shows that this subject area merits further investigation.

Rhetoric is a vital subject of the Swedish school. It is only taught in the native language in the subject of Swedish but expects the students to be able to present orally in almost every other subject as well. Few Swedish teachers are educated in rhetoric, but all are expected to teach it. In vocational upper secondary schools, many do not students reach the highest letter grades (A and B) during national testing, where an oral presentation is a third of the test. This study aims to examine how Swedish teachers in vocational schools view their own teaching of rhetoric. More specifically the study examines what the teachers focus on, what their methods are for teaching and what factors they take into account when planning. To do this the study collects data through three interviews with teachers, their collected teaching material and a survey sent to 20 different vocational schools. A content analysis is used to analyze the transcribed interviews. The results show that the interviewed teachers tend to focus their teaching on what they believe is most important. This includes disposition, technical presentation aids, manuscripts and creating a safe environment for the students who fear public speaking. It also shows that teachers use varying types of scaffolding techniques to support their students’ needs. None of the interviewed teachers focus on rhetorical terminology and two of them create their own, but the students do not get the time they need to process the information and actually work with it in different ways. One teacher uses the terminology they see fit to use in practice with their students. This work later show that their students are able to apply what they have learned in rhetoric in written texts and through this elevate their writing skills. Finally, it shows that the teachers teach a very limited version of rhetoric.

This study sets out to examine the teacher perspective of the use of Swedish and English during English teaching in year 4. Whether the first language, in this case Swedish, should be included is a much debated questions, and, there is no unanimous answer. On the one hand, scholars promote the sole use of the target language in the classroom and argue that such an approach would result in the students communicating more in English. On the other hand, the first language, in this context Swedish, is seen as a resource which can aid language learning. In addition, there appear to be a gap between this discussion and practice on ground. Therefore, this study aims to examine a few teachers’ beliefs and motivation for their language use. The study is conducted through lesson observations and qualitative interviews with four Swedish primary school teachers who teach English. Results show that two of the four teachers believe that the ‘English Only’ approach is most advantageous. Whereas the other two believe that the learners need translations to support their understanding. Swedish is used in every classroom to a varying degree; however, all the teachers motivate its use with the same reasoning: the students’ low proficiency in English makes it too difficult to use the target language only. Furthermore, the teachers find the need to include the first language in order to reach and support all learners. However, one can question this approach as it does not include the learners whom have other first languages than Swedish, and who are forced to learn English via Swedish. The results imply that teachers may need further education on how to work with Swedish and multilingualism in a conscious and pedagogical way.

This degree project aims to explore, in the context of translanguaging, teachers' perceptionsof the use of pupils’ first language within English as a second language education inSweden. Following a review of the concept of translanguaging from a historic andpedagogical perspective, teachers’ views on the roles of their pupils’ first and secondlanguages as reported in international research, recent research pertaining to teachers'perceptions and pedagogical methods within translanguaging is highlighted. Results from amethodological triangulation examination of data emanating from a survey, interviews andclassroom observations show that: even though the term translanguaging is relativelyunknown, teacher respondents use translanguaging as a method within ESL education inSweden; a majority of teachers value their English-use higher than their use of the pupils’first language, but are not averse to using translanguaging when deemed appropriate; and amore positive attitude is displayed towards the pupils use of their first language, but the useof English is preferred.