How initial vocational education and training (IVET) teachers in Sweden perceive their prospects of being able to prepare upper secondary school pupils for a future occupation

Vocational teachers in Swedish upper secondary schools are a heterogeneous category of teachers, connected to different types of trade. These teachers represent a broad set of trade skills varying in content and character. In their teacher role, they continue to wear the clothes, speak the language, share the culture and remain mentally in their former professions. Still, it is central that they keep up this contact to be able to school the pupils into the environment of the trade in question, but also to help them to understand what skills a profession demands. However, the individual teacher also has to distance himself from the negative elements in the culture of the profession: patterns and habits that, for various reasons, have to be broken or changed. This paper draws attention to the ways in which a group of vocational teachers, who were participants in a project that aimed to train unauthorized vocational teachers, expressed their ambitions to prepare the pupils for a future professional career. When collecting information, we used the degree dissertations they produced and discussed in seminars, and informal dialogues. The result shows that it is important that the instruction location resembles a real working site as far as possible. These places are more or less realistic copies of a garage, a restaurant kitchen, a hairdressing salon, and so on, in order to give the pupils a realistic setting for instruction. However, the fact that these simulated workplaces lack the necessary support functions that exist in a company creates problems, problems which make a lot of extra work for the teachers. Vocational teachers also have to instruct the pupil in the experienced practitioner’s professional skills and working situation, but the pupil herself/himself must learn the job by doing it in practice. Some vocational upper secondary programs lack relevant course literature and the businesses give little support. This also makes extra work for the teachers. Moreover, the distance between the vocational programs and the trainee jobs was experienced as being difficult to overcome. One reason seems to be differences between businesses and differing preconditions between small and big companies’ abilities to take care of these pupils. The upper secondary school vocational programs also play a role in cementing existing gender roles, as well as perpetuating class-related patterns on the labour market.

Authentic Texts in English Language Teaching : An empirical study on the use of and attitudes towards authentic texts in the Swedish EFL upper elementary classroom

International assessments indicate that Swedish students achieve high results in reading, writing and understanding English. However, this does not mean that the students display oral proficiency, despite an emphasis on functional and communicative language skills in the current English Syllabus. While a previous literature study by this researcher has shown that authentic texts are a way to increase these skills, most of the results shown are from an international viewpoint. Thus an empirical study was conducted within Sweden with the aim to examine the use of authentic texts in the Swedish EFL upper elementary classroom. Twelve teachers have answered a questionnaire on how they use authentic texts in their language teaching, as well as their opinions about these as a teaching tool. Additionally, 37 students have answered a questionnaire on their attitudes about authentic texts. Results indicate that all of the teachers surveyed see authentic texts as an effective way to increase students’ communicative competence and English language skills; however, only a few use them with any frequency in language teaching. Furthermore, this seems to affect the students’ attitudes, since many say that they read authentic texts in their free time, but prefer to learn English out of a textbook at school. These findings are based on a small area of Sweden. Therefore, further research is needed to learn if these opinions hold true for the entire country or vary dependent upon region or other factors not taken into consideration in this study.

Pedagogical Methods in Web-Based Language Teaching

This paper presents a research project that is being conducted at Dalarna University in Sweden. The aim is to study the following: 1) The quality of online language education compared with that of campus education, and 2) Advantages and disadvantages of online language education and how the disadvantages might be overcome. The project consists of two parts: pedagogical methods in online language education from the teachers’ point of view and from the students’ point of view. The first part was conducted in 2012 and various characteristics (benefits and difficulties) of online language education were identified. Flexibility and wider opportunities were general benefits, while lack of physical co-presence, difficulty in having lively debates/discussions, and high dropout rates were among the problems. The second part of the project (being conducted in 2014) aims to investigate how students experience online language learning. The goal is to explore alignments and misalignments between teachers’ perspectives and students’ perspectives, and to develop methods to enhance the quality of online education.

Teaching Mathematics in English to Swedish Speaking Students : The Use of Second Language Teaching Practices in the Teaching of Mathematics in English to Swedish Speaking Students in Lower Secondary School

Over 20,000 Swedish lower high school students are currently learning mathematics in English but little research has been conducted in this area. This study looks into the question of how much second language learner training teachers teaching mathematics in English to Swedish speaking students have acquired and how many of those teachers are using effective teaching practices for second language learners. The study confirms earlier findings that report few teachers receive training in second language learning but indicates that some of the teaching practices shown to be effective with second language learners are being used in some Swedish schools

Using Swedish in the EFL-classroom : An Interview Study on Swedish Upper Secondary Students’ Attitudes towards Teachers’ L1 use in the EFL-classroom

There is very little focus in previous research on first language (L1) use by teachers in the upper secondary English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom from the students’ perspective. In this context and from a Swedish perspective, this thesis examines what attitudes students in the Swedish upper secondary school have towards their teachers’ use of L1 (Swedish) in the EFL-classroom. The method used was qualitative semi-structured interviews, where nine students in total were interviewed. The collected data was then coded, thematized and categorized. The results show that the students mainly believed Swedish should be used when teaching vocabulary, when teaching grammar and for classroom management. They did not believe the L1 should be used by them in questions and answers and in general talk in the classroom. They also endorsed an overall judicious use of Swedish by their teachers and that their use of this language should be adjusted to the specific teaching group. Finally, it can be concluded that further research is needed on how the L1 can be used judiciously in particular situations and on what attitudes students of varying proficiency and age, as well as students who do not have Swedish as their L1 have towards teachers’ L1 use in the EFL-classroom.

Target language use : An empirical study of the target language use in the Swedish 4-6 grade classroom

A consistent use of the target language during English lessons is beneficial for pupils’ linguistic development, but also challenging for both teachers and pupils. The main purpose for pupils to learn English is to be able to use it in communication, which requires that they develop the ability to comprehend input, produce output and use language strategies. Several researchers claim that a consistent use of the target language is necessary in order to develop these abilities. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the target language use during English lessons in Swedish grades 4-6, and what pupils’ opinions regarding target language use are. The methods used to collect data consisted of a pupil questionnaire with 42 respondents and an observation of two teachers’ English lessons during a week’s time. The results from the observations show that the teachers use plenty of target language during lessons, but the first language as well to explain things that pupils might experience difficult to understand otherwise. The results from the questionnaire mainly show that the pupils seem to enjoy English and like to both speak and hear the target language during lessons. The main input comes from listening to a CD with dialogues and exercises in the textbook and the workbook, and from the teacher speaking. The results also show that a majority of the pupils use the target language in their spare time. A conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that the TL should be used to a large extent in order to support pupils’ linguistic development. However, teachers may sometimes need to use L1 in order to facilitate understanding of the things that many pupils find difficult, for example grammar. Suggestions for further research in this area include similar studies conducted on a larger scale.

To speak or not to speak English during English lessons : A literature study on language use in the elementary classroom

There are different views regarding which language should be used in the second language classroom. Therefore, the aim of this literature review is to find out if the teachers’ choice of language use in the classroom can affect the students’ motivation to speak English and if there are other factors that can affect the teachers’ choice of language use. This study is based on six different sources who all have investigated the use of the first language and/or the target language in schools in different parts of the world. The results of this study show that both the use of the first language and the target language can affect the students’ motivation to speak English. The results also show that there are many different factors that can affect the teachers’ choice of language in the classroom, apart from motivation. These factors include the use of the first or the target language to ensure comprehension, encourage communication, create and maintain relationships between teachers and students, keep up a good classroom climate, and to uphold discipline. There are arguments both for using the first language and the second language in the second language classroom and it is difficult to determine which language is the best to use. However, what can be determined is that it is the teachers’ responsibility to decide and to have a reason for choosing one language or the other.

English as a Lingua Franca in Namibia: : Teachers’ Attitudes Towards English as a Medium of Instruction in Classrooms

This study aims to investigate Namibian teachers’ attitudes towards English as a medium of instruction in Namibian classrooms. Regardless of the fact that English has no historical ties with Namibia, English still operates as the official language and the language of instruction in schools. This study briefly discusses the probable reasons for choosing English as an official language in Namibia, and as the medium of instruction in educational institutions. Furthermore, it discusses the attitudes that Namibian teachers have towards English as a medium of instruction in Namibian classrooms. A pilot electronic questionnaire, a revised questionnaire, and telephone interviews were used to acquire data for the study. The results indicate that English is a challenge for many learners and this poses a challenge to teachers as well. However, a majority of teachers from this study portray English as the language that is capable of uniting Namibian learners from different backgrounds, and a language that makes education possible in Namibia. In addition, teachers also reported that knowledge of English opens up educational opportunities for learners to study abroad.