1 DEPARTMENT OF LEARNING AND
Department of culture, society and media
Degree Project with Specialization in English Studies in
Education
15 Credits, Second Cycle
Teaching English as a Foreign
Language to Newly Arrived Students:
Challenges and Opportunities
Engelska som ett Främmande Språk för Nyanlända
Studenter: Utmaningar och Möjligheter
Oscar Szántó
Master of Arts & Science in Education, 300 Credits
English Studies in Education
Date for the Opposition Seminar: 29/5 -18
Examiner: Björn Sundmark Supervisor: Shannon Sauro
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to find out what a sample selection of teachers in Malmö and Lund, Sweden, perceived to be the most common strengths and challenges of newly arrived students when learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The study was conducted as there have been very few studies so far in Sweden on this particular subject, as well as an influx of newly arrived students in the recent years. The two research questions ask what the most common strengths and challenges for newly arrived students are, as well as, how the participating teachers meet the perceived challenges. Four qualitative interviews were constructed based on interviews and questionnaires used in similar studies, and then analyzed using tape analysis. The results showed that all four participants agreed that background factors (such as possible trauma) played a big part, and affected how quickly students go from introductory programs into regular Swedish high school, as well as a lacking vocabulary. Since the findings in this study is coherent with findings in similar studies, it becomes obvious that further action needs to be taken to ensure that our newly arrived students learn what they need to, and get the help they deserve.
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1. Introduction 42. Literature review
62.1 Definition of newly arrived students 62.2 Language learning in English as a foreign language 72.3 Language socialization and pedagogy 72.4 Similar studies and perceived trends 83. Aim and Research Questions
114. Method
124.1 Choosing participants 124.2 Designing the interview questions 134.3 Designing the interviews and analysis 134.4 Ethical considerations 155. Results & Discussion
165.1 What pedagogical, language learning, and language socialization needs and strengths do educators perceive to be the most common and most challenging? 165.2 How do EFL educators meet the pedagogical, language learning, and language socialization needs of newly arrived students in Swedish high schools? 216. Conclusion
247. References
27Appendix 1 - Consent form
29Appendix 2 - Interview Questions
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1. Introduction
During my SAG project work, my partner Charles Nordström and I found a severe lack of studies conducted with newly arrived students in mind, especially newly arrived students who study EFL in Swedish high schools. Several studies had been conducted internationally however, looking at how newly arrived students dealt with having to learn English in mainly North American and Canadian high schools (see for example, HISD, 2016; Karanja 2008;
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McCloud 2015). While these studies can serve as a basis for making generalizations about how well newly arrived students learn English in English speaking environments, they do not reflect the challenges of learning English in environments where Swedish is the dominant language. For this reason I have decided to conduct qualitative study on this subject.
Having practiced as an EFL teacher in the Malmö area for close to five years, and through my field practice time, I have personally witnessed the challenges both teachers and newly arrived students face in the EFL classroom. Furthermore, my career and studies have allowed me to build up a network of contacts in Malmö and Lund and because of this, the present study was conducted solely with teachers from Malmö and Lund high schools. Sweden has also received a lot of newly arrived students during the recent crisis in Syria and the Levant which makes a study of this kind important and relevant (Migrationsverket, 2017).
Lundahl, in his book Engelsk språkdidaktik (1998) argues that for people who immigrate to new countries, the English language can act as a bridge between the culture and identity one brings to the new country and culture. Lundahl also points out how a study on Inuit learners in Danish schools on Greenland showed that having to learn English via their non-native language Danish proved to be very challenging. Logically, this might be the same case for newly arrived students having to learn English via Swedish. Some studies reviewed in the SAG project mentioned above show that some students reported having an easier time
learning Swedish via English and would reliably use EFL lessons for this specific reason. In one study, Avery (2017) argues that the policy documents surrounding EFL in Sweden actively puts more stress on newly arrived students learning Swedish rather than English, which might affect how well and how quickly newly arrived students acquire English. Both Avery (2017) and Norberg (2017) claim that the guidelines and policy documents
surrounding how newly arrived students should be taught are lacking and leaves too much room for interpretation, which might affect the equality of EFL education between cities as well as high schools. All of this has led me to believe that more studies have to be conducted so as to find any and all issues newly arrived students might face and be facing, in hopes that they can be found out and resolved.
For this purpose I conducted qualitative interviews with four teachers of varying experience in the Malmö and Lund area and tried to ascertain their views and opinions regarding challenges newly arrived students might face when learning EFL in Sweden. However, realizing that there might not only be challenges for these students I also elected to investigate whether the teachers perceived newly arrived students to possess any particular strengths when learning EFL as well.
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2. Literature review
In this section I will start with defining the term ‘newly arrived students’ as this is the key term for the purpose of this study. We then move on to definitions and keywords from Lundahl’s book Engelsk språkdidaktik which I have used many times before in my academic work, as well as a definition of language socialization from Hornberger & McKay. After this, pedagogical definitions and practices in Sweden will be defined, and lastly I move onto studies conducted in Sweden on the same subject to show the importance of further studies like this one.
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2.1 Definition of newly arrived students
An important and recurring component of this study is the term ‘newly arrived students’ since this is the focus around which teacher perceptions are surveyed. According to chapter 3. 12a § in the Swedish school law Skollagen (SFS 2010:800) newly arrived students are
defined as someone who has lived abroad; someone who now lives in the country; someone who started their education in Sweden after the first semester of the first school year. This definition is applicable until the student has been in the Swedish school system for four years. In similar studies, both domestic and international, other terms such as “refugee students,” and “emergent bilingual students” are used, but for the sake of coherence this study will use the aforementioned definition.
While Nilsson & Axelsson (2013) acknowledge that there is a definition of who counts as a newly arrived student in Sweden, they also mention that this is not a universally accepted definition internationally. Furthermore, the authors also point out the heterogeneity of newly arrived students in regards to their reasons for migrating and their academic backgrounds. This is something which is reiterated by Nilsson & Bunar (2015), who argue that the vastly varying background factors of newly arrived students surely affect their academic
performance and private lives to varying degrees. This,in turn, complicates the task of bringing these students into the Swedish school system, which is the “most important way into the Swedish society” (p.7) according to Bustos (2018).
2.2 Language learning in English as a foreign language
In Engelsk språkdidaktik (1998), Lundahl argues that English has become the language of the globalized world and that proficiency in English is a requirement to succeed in any academic and/or professional setting today. Apart from its usefulness in academia he also argues that English lets people communicate across a wider variety of cultures and is used but all societal classes, not just the educated elite, which was not the case a hundred years ago. Although, Lundahl does point out that English very much has been a colonizing language for a long time, it is becoming more of an international language belonging to the people who speak it in the global arena (Lundahl, 1998).
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Lundahl cites many possible challenges to newly arrived students’ acquisition of English, such as trauma experienced as a result of fleeing a war torn country, differences between the school culture of the country of origin and Sweden, socio-economic status in both the country of origin and Sweden, as well as level of education of the parents, and age to mention a few. Although, the longer a student has been in Sweden and participated in the Swedish school system, the more likely the student is to succeed and do well despite pre-existing challenges, according to Lundahl (ibid.).
Lundahl also argues that evaluating EFL acquisition among students is usually only useful for that particular set of students, as the background factors of, for example, Japanese high school students and Swedish newly arrived students, may vary vastly and as a result the challenges and strengths in these groups may vary vastly as well (ibid).
2.3 Language socialization and pedagogy
Language socialization is the process in which students acquire “linguistic, pragmatic and other cultural knowledge” (Hornberger & McKay, 2010, p. 427) through interaction in the target language. Through this interaction, the learner acquires knowledge of desired and undesired behaviours and language use in different social contexts, according to the local culture. An example of language socialization could be when a learner interacts with a teacher compared to when a learner interacts with peers; both situations require that the learner adapt their language appropriately. In the case of the teacher, using an academic vocabulary and keeping to certain set standards when producing texts and speech includes the learner in the local school culture. Meanwhile, doing the same when interacting with a peer might exclude the learner from this social sphere and thus function less well in certain aspects of society (Hornberger & McKay, 2010).
According to Hornberger & McKay (2010), language socialisation is a product of several different disciplines including linguistics, psychology, and sociology among others. Through this, the teacher must use language, overtly or covertly, that socializes the student in ways effective and appropriate for the contexts the target language will be used in. By assigning tasks to learners with clear guidelines and giving feedback, teachers restrict and mold the students use of language. This process helps the student understand the rules of certain social interactions and engagements connected to the local culture. Hornberger & McKay suggest
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that certain assignments might contain “[...] guidelines regarding attendance, punctuality, plagiarism, and academic honesty” (p.434) which should help the students later on in their academic careers for instance (ibid).
In the national curriculum for English studies in Sweden, it is clearly stated that the main focus of language learning should lie in interaction, relevance to the student, and adaption to each learners unique needs (Skolverket, 2011). As a product of this, Vygotsky's theory of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) has become one of the leading pedagogical
approaches to language learning in Sweden. Simply put, the ZPD hypothesis state that only in the interim between what Vygotsky terms achieved competence and future competence, can language develop. Furthermore, according to Bo Lundahl, the space between competences requires pedagogical scaffolding from a teacher to ensure that the learner progresses from what is achieved to what will be achieved (Lundahl, 1998).
2.4 Similar studies and perceived trends
Katarina Norberg (2017) conducted a study on how a few high schools in Sweden dealt with the sudden influx of refugee migrants to Sweden starting in 2015. According to Norberg this put a lot of strain on a system already weighed down by lack of funding and licensed teachers. Furthermore, since there have been very few studies on newly arrived students and factors of success and/or failure for them, a lot of strain has been put on teachers and school leadership alike. Norberg further argues that the lack of clear national regulations on how and what newly arrived students should be taught, as a result of the decentralized school system, forces individual municipalities and schools to solve the situation themselves. This, coupled with the variety of organizational models with which newly arrived students can be educated and lack of studies, makes living up to the requirements of equity and equality in education tough for both teachers, school leaders, and students (ibid.).
Citing Bunar the author claims that a voluntary, but effective, way of integrating newly arrived students in Swedish high schools is to combine introductory classes (where students mainly study Swedish and a few other select subjects) with a gradual introduction into “regular” classes. Norberg thinks the focus should be on the students understanding and learning the material instead of practicing certain Swedish words. Something which the OECD seems to support with their recommendation of Content and Language Integrated
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Learning (CLIL) as a possible solution to issues with integration of newly arrived students (ibid.).
In a study on multilingualism centered around newly arrived students, Backlund found that students had a hard time differentiating between Swedish and English, and that only one student out of 13 actively sought the help of a mother tongue tutor to improve in both languages. She argues that extensive knowledge and understanding of the mother tongue would greatly help newly arrived students to learn other languages, including English (Backlund, 2015). Jörgen Anders, whom Backlund at times cites, claims that increased pedagogical collaboration between subject teachers (including mother tongue teachers) and more frequent immersion would be one possible solution to this issue. Anders, who
conducted a study on newly arrived students in years 6 and 9 in Swedish lower secondary school, found that even though students did very well in vocabulary and grammar tests, their confidence in their skills was relatively low. The author also found that all 18 participating students came from very varying academic backgrounds, where some had had two to three years of schooling, and others had none. Many students had also come from war torn countries where they had experienced and witnessed great violence, but Anders only mentions this as an aside and does not further discuss it other than that this might affect the students’ in unforeseen ways (Anders, 2011).
Other studies conducted in Sweden (by Norberg and Avery among others) have shown that the most common way of attempting to meet the needs of newly arrived students has been to employ tutors who speak the students’ mother tongue. However, these studies also showed that, even though this approach seems successful in most cases, there are seldom enough resources to keep tutors on for long enough for it to be a viable source of income for the tutors (Avery, 2017). Accordingly, the purpose of this study is to find out what high school teachers in Malmö and Lund perceive to be the most common and challenging needs for newly arrived students in EFL classrooms. The study also aims to find out how EFL teachers attempt to meet these needs in a national school environment marred with lack of resources and licensed teachers alike.
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3. Aim and Research Questions
The aim of this study is to find out how teachers perceive, and meet, challenges and opportunities for newly arrived students in Swedish high schools. Below are the two main questions on which the interview questions for this study were modeled on.
1. What pedagogical, language learning, and language socialization needs and strengths do EFL educators perceive to be the most common and most challenging with newly arrived students?
2. In their own opinion, how do EFL educators address the pedagogical, language
learning, and language socialization needs of newly arrived students in Swedish high schools?
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The research questions are centered around pedagogy, language learning, and language socialization as these three are all vital parts to how languages are taught and learned in Sweden. Influenced by the idea that languages are learned best when used in production and interaction both language learning and language socialization become important components the students need to develop and the teacher needs to nurture (Skolverket, 2011).
4. Method
In the following section, I describe the procedures followed for identifying participants, designing the interview questions and the interview itself as well as how the ethical
considerations put forth by Vetenskapsrådet (The Science Council), in Sweden, were adhered to in this study. I elected to conduct a qualitative study meaning the participants were few and their perceptions and thoughts of the research questions were in focus instead of numerical or statistical data. According to Kvale (1997), this is an effective method if the goal is to
understand perceptions and opinions of the subject matter.
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The study was solely conducted with participants teaching at Malmö and Lund high schools, all schools where I had personal contacts. Four teachers participated and because of time and economic constraints, vital factors in designing interview studies according to Czaja & Blair (2005), the sample size and group for the study had to be limited to just a few high school teachers of EFL.
I conducted qualitative interviews for the study, modelled by the guidelines and writings of Ronald Czaja and Johnny Blair in Designing Surveys - A Guide to Decisions and
Procedures, with all participating teachers. The data collection only took a few weeks since I
planned for the study to only contain six questions in the interest of saving participants time and effort as the study was conducted at the end of the second term in high school. During this time most teachers were very busy with compiling grades and administering the national tests in English as a foreign language.
The four interviewees are mentioned in the result section as ‘Teacher 1, 2, 3, and 4’ to ensure anonymity, where Teacher 1 and 2 both graduated two years ago, and Teacher 3 and 4 graduated approximately a decade ago. All participants are trained EFL teachers from Sweden and have a varying array of other subjects they teach which are not explored in this text but might influence how they view the subject matter for this study. Teachers 1 and 2 have been working with newly arrived students for the past two to three years, and Teachers 3 and 4 for seven to eight years.
4.2 Designing the interview questions
The two research questions were later divided into three background questions and six interview questions listed in Appendix 2. I decided to include questions about the
participant’s experience with teaching newly arrived students as I thought this background information might be important in relation to their views on possible challenges faced by newly arrived students, and their view on how to overcome them. What I did not include in the interview questions was questions directly relating to the background of students as factors like possible trauma from migration, educational experience, etc. because these would include information beyond the scope of this study.
The interview questions were modelled after specific questions used in a similar but broader study by Backlund (2015), and due to time constraints and my own lack of
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experience in creating interview questions. Furthermore, Backlund’s study elicited similar information which this study aims to. The questions focus on factors perceived by teachers as influencing students in their success and/or failure in EFL-learning, as well as what the teacher themself thinks they can do to act as a positive factor. As in most other qualitative studies the questions chosen were selected primarily so that the participants perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes could be elicited. There were other questions used in Backlund’s study which I chose not to include as these were geared towards student participants in some cases, and in others simply not relevant to the subject of this study.
4.3 Designing the interviews and analysis
According to Czaja & Blair the process of eliciting information for a study should start with a set of questions which one needs to answer, such as if respondents will be able to provide the information needed, what they need to do to provide this, etc. The authors
provide the reader with a set of steps to take in the interview creation process, where one first lists the research questions and under these list the topics the questions touch upon. The process also includes searching for previous and similar studies so that one can reuse or repurpose questions which seem to answer the research questions of one’s study. In this case, other qualitative studies were used as a basis for the questions which ultimately were used. They also claim that the background of the respondents can play an important role in whether or not their answers are valid and useful, as well as skew and affect the responses in a way which can affect the following analysis of data (Blair & Czaja, 2005).
The interviews were transcribed using tape-analysis as described in Dörneyi (2007), and because of the limited and very specific sample group the data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis as described by Zhang & Wildemuth (2009). This meant that the data was analyzed using inductive reasoning, useful for studies which aim to produce expressions of study subjects and their views. A vital component of qualitative content analysis is the creation of categories and coding schemes which could only be done once the interviews had been conducted and data started to become available for analysis (Zhang & Wildemuth, 2009). Instead of transcribing the entirety of the interviews conducted I made use of what Dörnyei terms ‘tape analysis’, which simply put means that one takes notes of relevant and important information given during the interview (p. 248-249, 2007)
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The authors recommend one make up an analysis plan which questions and responses should be checked against as the study progresses (Blair & Czaja, 2005). The analysis plan in the case of this study is mainly based on summative content analysis as presented by Zhang & Wildemuth (2009). A summative content analysis approach is an inductive way to analyse data, meaning no theories or hypotheses are presented beforehand but instead hypotheses grow out of the collected data during analysis. Summative content analysis specifically is a variant of qualitative content analysis and is used to explore the usage of words and
indicators as expressions of the participating subjects’ view. These words and indicators are then divided into categories based on a coding scheme, both of which should be developed in the process of data analysis (ibid.).
According to the authors, the categories one develops in this process should be internally homogenous and externally heterogeneous and the coded units to be put in these categories should be defined as something which expresses a participant’s idea or view of the subject. A coded unit in this case can be anything from a word in a sentence to a whole paragraph depending on the coding scheme and categorization. To ensure that the categories follow these guidelines and are consistent, the authors also argue for a constant comparison of data sets according to the “constant comparative method” (Zhang & Wildemuth, 2009).
4.4 Ethical considerations
In accordance with the guidelines of Vetenskapsrådet (2002), I informed participants that their participation is voluntary and anonymous, as well as the reason for their participation, and the aim of the study. All participants signed consent forms indicating their willingness to be part of this study. Participants could also opt out at any stage of the interview without repercussions, and I was personally acquainted with all participants prior to the interviews. Regardless, their participation, or non-participation, was strictly anonymous and will never be used to influence the participant in any way.
Apart from the answers participants provide, only the consent form was collected and no names or any identifying characteristics of the participants were presented in this text in accordance with the demand of confidentiality. As to the matter of how the answers will be used, no information will in any way be available for any commercial or non-scientific
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purpose. Neither will these be used as a basis for any decisions affecting the individual participant (Vetenskapsrådet, 2002).
5. Results & Discussion
From data elicited from the respondents’ answers, categories and a coding scheme were derived. The categories were split into the four main ones; background, pedagogy, language learning, and language socialization partly because of how both of the research questions were phrased, and partly because of the themes that emerged from the answers. These four bleed into one another and are not as heterogeneous as Blair & Czaja (2005) recommends, but they are distinct enough to divide the respondents’ answers into these categories. All answers were also separated internally into different categories, as some answers fit into more than one category. These four categories then contained three sub-categories based on challenges, opportunities, and possible solutions emerging in the answers.
Background emerged through the interviews as a relevant factor concerning both challenges, opportunities. and possible solutions for newly arrived students as things like trauma, prior education, and current socio-economic status all affect students’ academic performance. Both challenges and opportunities, as sub-categories, are connected to the first
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research question concerning students’ perceived needs and strengths as both of these affect the topic of the second research question, how educators meet the students’ needs. When participants’ answers revealed how they met these needs they were put in the sub-category ‘possible solutions’ which connected to the second research question.
5.1 What pedagogical, language learning, and language
socialization needs and strengths do EFL educators perceive
to be the most common and most challenging with newly
arrived students?
In the process of reviewing the recorded interviews it quickly became clear that all four participants perceived the biggest challenge in the students’ background to be a lack of education from the country of origin as well as a general unpreparedness for the Swedish system of education. Teacher 4 felt that the introductory programs in place in many Swedish schools did not adequately prepare newly arrived students for the rigors and challenges of regular Swedish high school:
When they arrive in Sweden they go through some sort of program that’s supposed to give them a level where they can then be at an upper secondary education that’s not actually controlled. Like, all Swedish SFI and so on, there are no actual governing documents of what’s to be included in their education. It’s just up to the actual teacher to say when they are ready to start upper secondary and have English 5 and so on, and often times they are not.
They speculated that one reason the students might be sent on from these programs could be that the teachers at the introductory program wanted to help the students’ progress socially and not get stuck at the introductory program. The lack of guidelines, as mentioned by Avery (2017) and Norberg (2017), surrounding the management of students in these programs might be another reason why the students are perceived as being unprepared for the Swedish school system. When and why students were sent on from introductory programs seemed, to the participating teachers, very arbitrary and unclear.
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All participants also viewed the difference in school culture between Sweden and the country of origin to be too broad for the students and teachers alike to bridge easily and that more time was needed to socialize students before sending them on to Swedish high schools. This seems to be in line with what Anders (2011) and Backlund (2015) have found in similar studies. This seems like a clear issue for students who are being thrown out into a world they might not be prepared for, and which might be vastly different from what they are used to. This might be to ensure that these newly arrived students integrate into the Swedish society quickly and can feel part of their new country, but it seems like the teachers of these students feel that it is happening a bit too quick.
Something which only Teacher 2 mentioned as a definite challenge for newly arrived students was students’ lack of social and personal security. They also found that students who were faced with deportation, or who had lost family members while fleeing their country of origin had a tougher time focusing on their studies: “Like, I have some students that are alone here in Sweden and they don’t know where their family are, like, anywhere. [...] and then Swedish will be the main focus for them [...] because if you don’t learn Swedish you can’t stay in the country, for some of them.”. As unfortunate as background factors like this might be, there might not be a whole lot which teachers or the school system can do, but it might very well be important to know and understand that situations like these exist and play a part in student performance, especially for future educators.
When it came to possible opportunities or strengths of newly arrived students Teachers 2 and 3 perceived that students who had had schooling experience from the country of origin generally did better than students who had not. Both Teacher 1, 2 and 4 felt that newly arrived students, in general, were more willing to speak English than their native peers, and seemed less troubled by making mistakes while speaking. Teacher 4 perceived newly arrived students who did not fear exposing their lack of skill in English were more likely to learn and progress than students who felt uncomfortable using the language. Students who did not feel uncomfortable with English also seemed to be more willing and able to ask for help when needed according to Teacher 4:
That they aren’t afraid to expose how much further behind they can be than the other kids in the class, that they don’t perceive english as something just associated with pain and being stupid, but instead dare to ask teachers to look at their text and give them feedback.
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Teacher 3 and 4, however, perceived that newly arrived students generally had a better understanding of grammatical rules than native students, and also seemed more eager to do grammar exercises. Both teachers speculated that this might be because grammar exercises and learning grammatical rules might be more common in the students’ country of origin. This lack of fear when using and interacting in a non-native language might improve students socialization, as Hornberger and McKay (2010) claim that interaction fosters language socialization. This might also present another socializing opportunity as newly arrived students might be able to help native Swedish students with possible grammar mistakes and might set a positive example for less talkative students. Just like Jörgen Anders found in his study (2011), the participants of this study also perceived the grammatical skills and knowledge of newly arrived students to be one of their strongest suits. During the interviews the participants speculated that this might have to do with the fact that most newly arrived students come from the middle east, where the participants claimed there is a bigger focus on learning the rules and composition of English rather than using it to communicate. This would, arguably, be very different to the way English and other languages are taught in Sweden, where the national curriculum clearly states that the focus should lie in production of speech and text with the explicit goal of boosting students’ communicative ability.
The biggest challenges in language learning seemed to be applying grammatical knowledge to the production of speech and texts according to Teacher 3, who also felt that newly arrived students generally had a harder time producing coherent and consistent speech and texts: "They are very good with learning grammar [...] but when they try to use it in their writing or when speaking they just can't do it very well.". Teacher 2 also noted that most newly arrived students had a difficult time when writing texts and seemed to often mix up grammatical rules for Swedish and English. However, Teacher 2 mentioned that they took this opportunity to praise students on learning the grammatical rules, even if applied at the wrong time:
Maybe they learn some rules for the grammar in Swedish and they try to applicate that on the English, but then it doesn’t work and they usually mix a lot of Swedish and English, which I don’t see as a problem [...] I just see it as ‘ok, you know the Swedish rule now BUT in English, it’s another rule.
Confusing Swedish and English grammatical rules is something Backlund (2015) also found to be an issue in her study, and although Teacher 2 tries to make the best out of this
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situation it is indicative of a bigger problem, namely that these students are expected to learn not one, but two new languages at once. Considering the student's very varied and often tough backgrounds, there might exist a need to rethink this approach and maybe let the students learn one language at a time.
Teacher 1, 3, and 4 viewed the students lack of vocabulary to be one of the bigger challenges when learning English, and noted that this lack affected students’ understanding of instructions and material. All three mentioned that students’ apparent lack of vocabulary and contextual knowledge seemed to slow down their progress significantly. According to the interviewees if the students did not know what a cinema was, or had never been to a cinema for example, they would obviously have a much harder time understanding any and all material relating to cinemas. “English words regarding going out to cinema wherein the curtains are pulled or something like that, you can assume that all Swedish students would understand that because they have been to the cinema, but perhaps lots of these kids have no idea what that is.” (Teacher 4). Teacher 1 expressed concern about this since they were: “[...] not educated in teaching people that level of English.”. This is slightly contrary to the study by Anders (2011), who found that most of the newly arrived students in his study had fairly rich vocabulary, something which might be explained by the very heterogeneous nature of newly arrived students. This also connects to what Lundahl (1998) says about the importance of relevance in materials and texts used, as teachers have to be aware that what is relevant to a native student, might be entirely foreign and irrelevant to a newly arrived one.
The interviewees had different views on perceived pedagogical challenges when teaching newly arrived students. Teacher 1 and 4 expressed concern about expectations put on newly arrived students to perform at the same level as native students who so clearly had different prerequisites compared to native students. According to Teacher 1: "In Sweden, a lot of the newly arrived students are from parts of the world where they don't have English education, at least in my experience, and that gives me a problem [...] when I get a small group of students who are all oblivious to English compared to Swedish students." A difference this large between students within a class obviously makes it much harder for the teacher to meet all needs in the class and classroom, which further seems to support the earlier claim by all participating teachers that the newly arrived students seem unprepared for the school work they are expected to do.
Teacher 3 mentioned difficulties adapting an assignment designed for a whole class to one specific individual as students’ could vary widely in skill. The same teacher also perceived that other students were sometimes helping the newly arrived students with their homework
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in a way which did not facilitate learning and which also made it more difficult for Teacher 3 to asses the newly arrived students’ actual skill level, thus making it more difficult to help the students progress: “[...] and the Swedish students like to help them, which is nice in a way but sometimes you don't know if it's the new student's work, or someone else's. So it's tough to judge, you know” (Teacher 3). Assumptions about the newly arrived students’ understanding of assignments, on the part of the teacher, were also seen as a challenge to Teacher 3. They expressed concern about teachers who might see that the newly arrived students understood instructions in one subject, and thereby assuming that the students would understand instructions in all subjects: “because they understand math very well does not mean that they can understand a lecture in English on imperialism.” Since Teacher 3 was the only one out of the four interviewees to express any concern about difficulty in assessing and other teachers assuming too much about students, this result might not carry much weight, but it is interesting to think about what type of socialization and learning goes on when students help each other in academically less constructive ways.
5.2 In their own opinion, how do EFL educators address the
pedagogical, language learning, and language socialization
needs of newly arrived students in Swedish high schools?
All four participants presented possible pedagogical solutions to all perceived challenges, and the one thing they all agreed on was that adapting assignments so that they were relevant and understandable for the newly arrived students was one of the better ways to meet these challenges. Characteristically, one of the teachers said: “I think it’s a very, like, individual process for each student, like, how they learn the different languages [...] if you can find videos that are either relatable to their life in Sweden or to their previous experiences I think, so if they can find a connection with something in English, I think that will help [...]” (Teacher 2).
The adaptations all participants made to assignments for newly arrived students seemed to be more geared towards bridging this knowledge gap rather than imparting knowledge of expected behaviour like Hornberger and McKay (2010) suggest. The fact that all four participants adapted their assignments seems to indicate that they are aware of, and follow,
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the guidelines regarding adapting assignments and making them relevant which Skolverket put forth in the national curriculum (2011).
Teachers 1, 3 and 4 also tried to adapt assignments and exercises so as to expose students to the vocabulary and contextual knowledge relevant to their new situation and life here in Sweden as part of their socialization process. Teacher 2 found that using video clips and films helped newly arrived students understand context and subject matter better, as well as having the students do cross-curricular assignments. Teacher 3 used code-switching between English and Swedish to ensure that the students understood instructions and would feel comfortable asking questions in Swedish in case they did not want to do so in English:
I switch between Swedish and English, especially when using difficult words and when I tell them what we will do for the lesson. You know, if you ask them if they understand they will always say yes because no one wants to look stupid, so I try to really, really make sure they understand.
While code-switching has the benefit of letting students in on information which might not be as available to them because of their lacking English skills, it can also be confusing for students who already have a hard time differentiating Swedish and English at times.
Both Teacher 1 and 4 viewed building a trusting and relaxed relationship with students to be an important foundation for students to feel comfortable enough to participate in exercises and ask questions. As Teacher 4 put it: “[..] you have to be informal with these kids, and maybe not focus on the lessons so much sometimes, but trying to make them feel safe and trusting”. Teacher 4 even mentioned that they would often be very personal with students and focus on helping the students with self-esteem issues more than getting them to finish an assignment. Teacher 4 motivated this by saying that “[...] trust has to be gained first and a relationship must be built up for the student to feel that they can ask for help and are allowed to fail.” Teacher 1 viewed these one on one talks to be the best way for the students to learn, but the least feasible way for teachers to teach because of how demanding, time-wise, this approach is: “The thing is, it’s a long process [...] and there’s just so much I can do during a year.” Apart from being able to build up students' confidence these relationship building activities might also serve to inform teachers on how to best provide pedagogical scaffolding to students and adapt assignments and lessons to be more relevant for the students, something which Lundahl views as integral to learning and progression according to the ZPD (1998).
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Possible solutions to the perceived language learning challenges were mentioned by all but one participant but varied from teacher to teacher. Teacher 1 viewed encouraging extra mural English as one of the better ways for students to improve their language:
The other problem compared to Swedish students is that [...] they don't experience English at all during their downtime or outside of school [...]. The students that have been the most successful are the ones that just, spend more time with it [...] more time than I give them, so they do it at home and things like that.
Teacher 2 felt that an immersion in the English language would be an effective way of countering the perceived challenges and mentioned that they only ever spoke in English when communicating with their students: “I try to speak only English when it’s an English lesson and Swedish when it's a Swedish lesson [...]”. Both teachers seem to argue that time with and immersion in the target language is by far the best way for students to improve, which might be informed by the fact that they graduated the same year and received an education based on the curriculum of 2011, and not, as Teachers 3 and 4, on the curriculum of 1994.
Teacher 3 differed a bit from the other ones, since they felt that formative feedback and a focus on solving one or two language learning issues at a time would be more beneficial to students:
So they might turn in a text that has many mistakes in it, but pointing all of them out at once will just demoralize the students so I just focus on one or two important ones and try to help them improve over the term.
This approach seems to be very much in line with Lundahl's description of the ZPD and how learning best can take place within that model. By not overwhelming the student with more information and criticism than they might be willing to deal with, the teacher actively leads the student into, and provides scaffolding to, the interim between achieved and future competence.
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6. Conclusion
Since all of the participants in this study were people I know personally it is possible that I might have been biased as to how and what the participants divulged during the course of the study. I might have been inclined to look at the data through ‘rose-colored glasses,’ or
subconsciously not included things which to me seemed obvious but still might have been relevant and useful to the study. Another clear limitation to this study is that only the views of educators were included, something which might not be entirely consistent with the
experience of the learners, which leaves a lot of room for discrepancies. As such, I would suggest that any future studies regarding newly arrived students include student participants as well.
Even though the study was not designed to include background factors of newly arrived students they nonetheless emerged during the analysis process. The younger teachers (Teacher 1 and 2) seemed concerned with the same trauma factors Lundahl mentions as possible influencers (1998). All participants also seemed to confirm that there exists a heterogeneity of background factors which Anders’ study also mentioned as something which might influence students (2011). Only Teachers 1 and 4 seemed to be concerned with the lack of guidelines in introductory programs and guidelines for teaching newly arrived students which Norberg also mentions (2017). However, none of the participants seemed to find any
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possible solutions to these challenging background factors and very much appeared resigned to accept that this was just the way it was going to be. But since experienced trauma and a wide variety of quality of education seems to be a recurring theme in studies similar to this one it seems to me that it would be worth looking into how students can be helped to overcome these challenging prerequisites.
The second thing which became very clear during this study was that all interviewees thought that the newly arrived students went from introduction programs into regular schools too quickly for their own good, and that they had a harder time keeping pace with other students and lacked the skills required to interact with the regular assignments and materials. This quick shunting of students from programs only populated with other newly arrived students into the more mixed regular high schools might have the positive side-effect of letting these young students integrate with natives their own age and the rest of society, faster than if they had not. However, it is also clear that this creates challenges for educators who, in the case of this study, have not received information or training on how to receive and help students who are rushed through the more basic parts of their education.
The third and final thing which all participating teachers reacted to was newly arrived students' apparent lack of adequate vocabulary, which runs contrary to the findings by Anders (2011). Even though Anders' study had a larger sample size and time frame, this finding still seems important as it shows that some students might simply not possess the words needed to understand and interact with material and texts used by the interviewees. All participating teachers seemed to recognize this, however, and took this into account when providing scaffolding and adapting assignments. If this information was relayed to teachers now in training maybe future educators would be better prepared for these differences than the participating teachers felt that they were.
The two most clear strengths which participants mentioned were newly arrived students’ fearlessness in the face of producing language and using it to interact, as well as their knowledge of grammar. As mentioned above, this fearless interaction is what drives language socialization according to Hornberger & McKay (2010), and what the Swedish curriculum for English studies really centers around (Skolverket, 2011). It might be useful, therefore, to assign newly arrived students tasks which are more interaction based so as to capitalize on this perceived strength. As for newly arrived students’ apparent strengths in understanding grammar, something which has taken a ‘back seat’ in recent years, assignments could be constructed so that newly arrived students would work with anyone not possessing these
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strengths, and maybe imparting some of their knowledge in this interaction. This would hopefully help the newly arrived students to feel more included and valued.
The most common solution to the perceived challenges seemed to be adapting assignments, mostly through use of internet resources, something which seems very obvious since the internet holds a plethora of possible materials and texts specifically suitable for a single student’s needs and interests. Some teachers also argued that building safe and trusting relationships helped the students to overcome, or deal with, some of the challenges the students were experiencing. Apart from making the students feel noticed and safe, this also gives the educator a golden opportunity to learn more about what the student’s interests are, and how future assignments and help can be adapted to best suit the student. Immersion and the use of English outside of school contexts also seemed to be a tried and true solution to the students’ challenges. However, most participants also mentioned that this was something the students themselves would ultimately be responsible for, and the question then becomes: How much time can students spend on this, and how much time are they willing to spend on it?
In conclusion, this study seems to have shown similar trends and concerns which other studies have found, like the ones made by Anders (2011), and Norberg (2017) amongst others. How teachers can meet and help students overcome the challenges they perceive is, however, not very clear. Even though all participants of this study suggested possible solutions and ways to improve newly arrived students’ situation these seem reactionary and mostly based on teachers’ professional experience and education rather than official guidelines, and can thus vary a lot. The challenges newly arrived students face seem clear despite the low amount of studies within this area, the question now is how we as teachers and as a society can help these students overcome them. I would suggest that, as a start, future teachers be made aware of the few studies conducted in Sweden on this subject, and hopefully also receive education on how to deal with the challenges our new students and future citizens face.
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7. References
Anders, J. (2011). English for beginners? Newly arrived pupils’ difficulties in reaching the
learning objectives in english. Retrieved from http://mdh.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:517124/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Avery, H. (2017). At the bridging point: Tutoring newly arrived students in Sweden,
International Journal of Inclusive Education, 21(4), 404-415, DOI:
10.1080/13603116.2016.1197325
Axelsson, M., & Nilsson, J. (2013). ““Welcome to Sweden”: Newly arrived students’ experiences of pedagogical and social provision in introductory and regular classes”,
International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 2013, 6(1), 137-164.
Backlund, M. (2015). Nyanlända i den svenska engelskundervisningen - en studie om
engelsklärares och nyanlända gymnasieelevers erfarenheter av inkludering. Retrieved
from http://mdh.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:902323/FULLTEXT01.pdf Blair, J. & Czaja, R. (2005). Designing surveys - A guide to decisions and procedures.
Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press
Bunar, N., & Nilsson, J. (2016). Educational responses to newly arrived students in Sweden: Understanding the structure and influence of post-migration ecology, Scandinavian
Journal of Educational Research, 60:4, 399-416, DOI: 10.1080/00313831.2015.1024160
Bustos, J. (2018). Teachers’ perspectives on recently arrived pupils and english teaching.
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http://muep.mau.se/bitstream/handle/2043/24956/Examensarbete%20Bustos%20Ramirez .pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hornberger, N.H., & McKay S.L. (2010). Sociolinguistics and language education. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Houston Independent School District. (2016). Newcomer immigrant program evaluation,
2015-2016. Research Educational Program Report. Retrieved from
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED581874
Karanja, J. (2008). ESL learning experiences of immigrant students in high schools in a small city. TESL Canada Journal, 24(2), 23-41, Retrieved from
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ806778
Kvale, S. (1997). Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Lundahl, B. (1998). Engelsk språkdidaktik: Texter, kommunikation, språkutveckling. Lund: Studentlitteratur
McCloud, J. (2015). “Just like me”: How immigrant students experience a U.S. high school.
The High School Journal, 98(3), 262-282, DOI: 10.1353/hsj.2015.0008
Migrationsverket. (2017). Årsredovisningen för 2016 klar - 2016 var ett år som fortsatt
präglades av att så många sökte asyl i sverige året före. Retrieved from
https://www.migrationsverket.se/Om-Migrationsverket/Nyhetsarkiv/Nyhetsarkiv-2017/2017-02-23-Arsredovisningen-for-2016-klar.html
Norberg, K. (2017) "Educational leadership and im/migration: Preparation, practice and policy – the Swedish case", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 31
Issue: 5, pp.633-645, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-08-2016-0162
Skolverket. (2011). Läroplan, examensmål och gymnasiegemensamma ämnen för gymnasieskola 2011. Stockholm: Skolverket.
Vetenskapsrådet. (2002). Forskningsetiska principer inom humanistisk-samhällsvetenskaplig
forskning. Retrieved from
https://www.gu.se/digitalAssets/1268/1268494_forskningsetiska_principer_2002.pdf Zhang, Y. , & Wildemuth, B. M. (2009). Qualitative analysis of content. In B. Wildemuth
(Ed.), Applications of social research methods to questions in information and library
science (pp.308-319). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Retrieved
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På ämneslärarutbildningen vid Malmö universitet skriver studenterna ett examensarbete på nionde eller tionde terminen. I detta arbete ingår att göra en egen vetenskaplig studie, utifrån en fråga som kommit att engagera studenterna under utbildningens gång. Till studien samlas ofta material in vid skolor, i form av t.ex. intervjuer och observationer. Examensarbetet motsvarar 15 högskolepoäng, och utförs under totalt 10 veckor. När examensarbetet blivit godkänt publiceras det i Malmö universitets databas MUEP (http://dspace.mah.se/handle/2043/599).
Appendix 1 - Consent form
Samtycke till lärares
medverkan i studentprojekt
Jag håller på att skriva mitt examensarbete som handlar om utmaningar och styrkor för nyanlända elever i Engelskundervisningen och hur den enskilda läraren upplever dessa. Detta innebär att jag kommer att spela in Dig under hela intervjun. Jag kommer sedan att transkribera de för studien vitala delarna av ljudfilen och anonymisera innehållet. Efter att detta är gjort kommer allt originalmaterial att raderas och din identitet kommer att vara skyddad. Du har rätt att avbryta din medverkan när du vill under forskningsperioden.
Lärarens namn: ________________________________________ Lärarens underskrift: ____________________________________ Datum: ____________________________
29 Kontaktuppgifter
Telefonnummer:___________________________________ E-postadress:_____________________________________ Kontaktuppgifter Malmö universitet:
www.mau.se
040-665 70 00
Appendix 2 - Interview Questions
Background questions1. What subjects do you teach?
2. How long have you taught the subjects?
3. Have you had experience teaching newly arrived students, i.e. students who have been in Sweden for less than 4 years?
Interview questions
4. For how long have you taught newly arrived students, and what specific challenges do you perceive that they face?
5. How do you as an educator help the students overcome these challenges?
6. What skills within English as a foreign language do you generally perceive to be strongest, and weakest, among newly arrived students? Why do you think this is? 7. When students succeed in English as a foreign language, what factors do you think
play the biggest part, and why?
8. When students do not succeed in English as a foreign language, what are some of the most important contributing factors in your view, and why?
9. What do you think are some of the best pedagogical strategies to scaffold newly arrived students’ learning process in English as a foreign language?
