This essay investigates the motivation of newly-arrived immigrant students, in the Swedish upper secondary school system, in connection with their simultaneous studies of the Swedish and English language. The essay investigates the students’ motivation as well as their linguistic self-confidence during their simultaneous studies. In order to investigate these factors, this essay uses the operative terms from Gardner and Lambert in their study of student motivation in regards to language learning. These terms codify and structure student motivation into two groups, integrative motivation and instrumental motivation. The former term denoted motivation based on the will to integrative and communicate with native speakers. The latter term instead denoted motivation based on the will to use the language in purely practical terms, for example for advancement in the work force or in educational institutions. This essay also uses the aforementioned term linguistic self-confidence as used by Dörnyei. The term denoted a speaker’s confidence in their own proficiency in a language. The selection process of the study showed that the improvement, of the students’ knowledge, was visible in both languages. However, there was no clear indication as to whether integrative or instrumental motivation had a greater effect on the improvement. Previous research indicates that integrative motivation had been more successful in language learning. The study showed a connection between the students’ linguistic self-confidence and their improvement. This further emphasises the importance for students to recognise their own progress and thus strengthen their linguistic self-confidence, which useful information for language teachers active in a simultaneous language learning situation.

Many pupils all over the world might experience foreign language anxiety which has a majorimpact on pupils’ development. Because of this, and because of personal experiences of thesubject, the aim of this thesis was to investigate teachers’ experience of foreign languageanxiety and motivational factors regarding Swedish pupils in grade 1-3. This study investigatedhow the teachers notice pupils who have foreign language anxiety and how they manage towork with them to make them motivated. The focus has been on the oral parts of the Englishsubject. The study was conducted by interviewing six teachers from different schools inSweden. Semi-structured interviews were made with teachers who had experience of the subjectto develop a deeper understanding of their experience and working methods. To analyze theresults, cognitive motivation theory and Skinners behavioristic theory have been used assupport. The results showed that foreign language anxiety is a common challenge in school andthat it can depend on what grade the pupils were in. Some of the participating teachers find itdifficult to manage to work with these pupils since they do not specifically know how to adaptthe teaching to the pupils so they will be able to overcome their anxiety. However, the resultshave showed that the teacher-pupil relationship and the classroom environment play a big rolewhen it comes to foreign language anxiety. / <p>Engelska</p>

Hösten 2016 genomförde vi en studie i en svensk grundskola i en årskurs 2 med syfte att kartlägga några elevers inställning till att lära sig det engelska språket och hur den inställningen påverkades av högläsning av engelsk barnlitteratur. Syftet var också att kartlägga om högläsning påverkade elevernas passiva ordförråd samt om eleverna använde någon form av språklig strategi vid mötet av okända ord under högläsningen.    De datainsamlingsmetoder som användes i studien var 71 strukturerade elevintervjuer, enkla observationer av tre undervisningstillfällen med högläsning av en ny engelskspråkig skönlitterär text vid varje och ett ordtest som genomfördes före och efter de tre undervisningstillfällena.   Studiens resultat antyder att högläsning av engelsk barnlitteratur inte har påverkat elevernas inställning till att lära sig engelska markant, men att eleverna var positiva till högläsning i engelskundervisningen. Resultatet visar även att elevernas passiva ordförråd verkar ha ökat efter de tre undervisningstillfällena, samt att cirka hälften av eleverna kunde rapportera att de använt någon språklig strategi i mötet med de engelska texterna, till exempel att använda bilderna eller likheter med det svenska språket.    Vår slutsats är att högläsning av engelsk barnlitteratur i undervisningen kan bidra till att upprätthålla elevers språkliga nyfikenhet och positiva inställning till att lära sig engelska samt att de utökar sitt passiva ordförråd. En annan slutsats är att alla elever bör ges möjlighet i undervisningen att utveckla förmågan att använda språkliga strategier i enlighet med Skolverket (2011b). / The autumn of 2016, we conducted a study in a Swedish grade 2 class with the aim to identify some pupils´ attitudes to learning the English language and how those attitudes were influenced by the reading aloud of English children´s literature. The aim was also to see whether reading aloud influenced the pupils´ passive vocabulary and whether they used some form of linguistic strategies when encountering unknown words during the listening.    The data collection methods used in the study were 71 structured interviews with the pupils, simple observations of three lessons with reading aloud of English children´s literature and word tests conducted before and after the three lessons.    The study´s results suggest that the reading aloud of English children´s literature did not affect the pupils´ attitudes towards learning English significantly, but that the pupils were positive towards reading aloud during English classes. The results further indicate that the pupils´ passive vocabulary increased after the three lessons, and that about half of them used a linguistic strategy when encountering unknown words during the reading, for example use of pictures and of the similarity to the Swedish language.    A conclusion of this study is that reading aloud of English children´s literature in teaching can help to maintain pupils´ linguistic curiosity and positive attitudes to learning English, as well as expand their passive vocabulary. Another conclusion is that all pupils should be given the opportunity in class to develop the ability to use linguistic strategies according to Skolverket (2011b).