{"id":762,"date":"2023-11-09T13:48:13","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T13:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sola.kau.se\/cslblog\/?p=762"},"modified":"2023-11-09T15:33:37","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T15:33:37","slug":"english-challenges-for-recently-arrived-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sola.kau.se\/cslblog\/2023\/11\/09\/english-challenges-for-recently-arrived-students\/","title":{"rendered":"English challenges for recently-arrived students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Una Cunningham, Professor of English Language Education, Stockholm University<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweden\u2019s municipalities and schools have a great deal of freedom in how they organise their teaching programmes for recently-arrived students, that is students who have lived abroad and now live in Sweden and who have begun their schooling in Sweden after year 1 and who have spent less than four years in Swedish schooling. Students aged 16\u201319 are able to enter the language introduction programme Spr\u00e5kintroduktionen<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> which is set up to bring students up to a high enough level in Swedish that they can meet the requirements of the subject of Swedish as a second language for year 9. Additionally, they are offered education in other subjects so they can become eligible to study on national programmes at upper secondary school. This education is, of course, in Swedish, the language the students may just be beginning to learn. And the clock is ticking – students cannot start a programme at upper secondary school if they are too old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning two new languages at the same time<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The school subject of English has a central place in Swedish secondary education. By the time they leave lower secondary school, students who have attended school in Sweden from an early age have studied the language for years and may also have achieved considerable proficiency from activities outside of school. Recent arrivals who have not had the opportunity or need to study English previously are at a considerable disadvantage when they come as teenagers to Sweden as they are faced with learning not one but two new languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Structural challenges<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the upper secondary schools which receive students into the language introduction programme, this leads to scheduling challenges (Cunningham, 2022). In the subject of Swedish as a second language, schools are able to group students for instruction according to their proficiency level. In fact, this is generally the criterion that decides which class a student is placed in. This does mean that if students are taught in intact classes, all of them will be approximately at the same level in Swedish, but not necessarily in mathematics, or any of the other 12 subjects the students need to be eligible to enter study-oriented national programmes at upper secondary school. In the case of English, the consequence is that teachers will be working with beginners in the same class as those who are expected to pass English at year 9 level, or who have already reached an even higher level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other schools I have visited manage to schedule English teaching for language introduction students at up to five levels simultaneously: one class is for beginners working with the learning outcomes for English in school years 1\u20133, the next for years 4\u20136 and the rest for years 7, 8 and 9, respectively. This does require many teachers who can teach English, but has the huge advantage that students can easily move between English classes, independently of their in Swedish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Setting students up for failure<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, I have also visited schools where the students\u2019 need for appropriate English teaching is not prioritised. Swedish language development is seen as all important and students who are beginners in Swedish may not be allowed to also join classes at lower levels of English due to \u201cExtra Swedish\u201d lessons being scheduled at the same time as the lower of just two levels of English. In consequence, students are placed in groups for English according to irrelevant criteria, creating an impossible situation for teachers and setting students up for failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The consequences of this situation, where students who are able and willing to move into upper secondary education but who have not had the opportunity to meet the criteria for grade 9 English, are left in the lap of the student. Students normally need a passing grade in year 9 English before they can start one of the national programmes at upper secondary school, although exceptions can be made for students who have not been able to study English. Unfortunately, this just means that students need to study both the English courses that are part of their upper secondary programmes and also classes at a lower level. They need to pass English to complete their programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Content and language integrated learning<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current thinking in the Swedish National Agency for Education is that recently-arrived students should be taught through a kind of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) known as spr\u00e5k- och kunskapsutvecklande arbetss\u00e4tt (SKUA) <\/em>[method to develop knowledge and language], accompanied by multilingual study guidance (Reath-Warren, 2017). This SKUA is based on the work of Gibbons (2015; Nationellt centrum f\u00f6r Svenska som andraspr\u00e5k, 2023). Training in the use of SKUA is often the only professional development available to teachers in the language introduction programme. The target is that SKUA should be used in every subject. Unfortunately, it is neither appropriate nor reasonable for teachers to attempt to simultaneously teach their students English and to support their Swedish language development. English teachers are not offered other more appropriate professional development in, for example, differentiated instruction, which would be very useful given the extremely heterogenous student groups they sometimes work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Swedish is not enough!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In every presentation of the language introduction programme the main purpose is given as developing students\u2019 Swedish. Nonetheless, the students are required to pass up to 12 subjects including Swedish and English to pass into the next level.  English is not always seen as important in language education programmes, but English is a core subject in the Swedish school system for many good reasons. English matters to the students and they need it not only to enter upper secondary school but also to manage and flourish as adults in Sweden and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cunningham, U. (2022). Spr\u00e5k och l\u00e4rande i engelska. In \u00c5. Wedin, Spr\u00e5k, l\u00e4rande och undervisning<\/a><\/em>, Studentlitteratur (pp. 175\u2013194).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gibbons, P. (2015). Scaffolding language, scaffolding learning: Teaching English language learners in the mainstream classroom<\/a><\/em>. (2. ed.) Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nationellt centrum f\u00f6r svenska som andraspr\u00e5k (2023). L\u00e4r dig mer om spr\u00e5k- och kunskapsutvecklande arbetss\u00e4tt<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reath Warren, A. (2017). Developing multilingual literacies in Sweden and Australia: Opportunities and challenges in mother tongue instruction and multilingual study guidance in Sweden and community language education in Australia<\/a>.<\/em> (PhD dissertation, Department of Language Education, Stockholm University).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Skolverket (nda). Spr\u00e5k- och kunskapsutvecklande arbetss\u00e4tt i studiehandledning<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Una Cunningham, Professor of English Language Education, Stockholm University Sweden\u2019s municipalities and schools have a great deal of freedom in how they organise their teaching programmes for recently-arrived students, that is students who have lived abroad and now live in Sweden and who have begun their schooling in Sweden after year 1 and who have … <\/p>\n