Challenges faced by newly arrived students with low English proficiency and their English teachers in Sweden:
Three teachers’ accounts
Evin Demirsoy
EXE601: Degree Thesis 2, 15 credits English for Upper Secondary School Teachers
Spring term 2020 Supervisor: Hyeseung Jeong
Examiner: Åke Persson
Abstract
Students who have recently arrived in Sweden have a dual burden of learning the Swedish language as well as other subjects including the English language, and for those with low English proficiency, the burden is much heavier. The purpose of this research essay is to address this problem by examining three English teachers’ experiences and perception of newly arrived students with low English proficiency. Previous studies in other countries, usually in the countries where newly arrived students learn English as second language, have reported challenges and difficulties that these students face. However, I found very few studies that address challenges and difficulties faced by those who have to learn English as the third language together with the hosting country’s language, like the ones in Sweden. The method that has been used is interviewing three English teacher participants. The findings indicate that the challenges that newly arrived students with low proficiency and the English teachers encounter are many, yet solutions for such challenges are quite few. The teachers note that they are not prepared to teach newly arrived students with low English proficiency, and they are not able to scaffold these students within their zone of proximal development in learning English (Aljaafreh, & Lantolf, 1994). The discussion chapter brings this problem up and reviews it in relation to previous studies and theoretical framework. Moreover, it
illustrates why teaching English to low level newly arrived students should not exclusively be teachers’ responsibility as it is at present.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction ... 5
1.1 Aim and Purpose ... 5
2 Literature Review ... 6
2.1 Theoretical Framework ... 6
2.2 Previous Research ... 8
2.2.1 Challenges encountered by Newly Arrived Students with low English proficiency and their Teachers ... 9
2.2.2 How challenges were tackled ... 10
3 Method ... 11
3.1 Participants ... 12
3.2 Data Collection through Interviews ... 12
3.3 Data Analysis ... 13
4 Results ... 13
4.1 Challenges that Newly Arrived Students with low English proficiency and English teachers face ... 14
4.1.1 Challenge 1: Discrepancy between newly arrived students with low English proficiency and their Swedish classmates in English proficiency ... 14
4.1.2 Challenge 2: Demand for studying English and Swedish simultaneously ... 17
4.1.3 Challenge 3: Communication difficulties ... 20
4.1.4 Challenge 4: Lack of pedagogical skills ... 21
4.2 The Strategies and Solutions for helping Newly Arrived Students with low English proficiency ... 23
4.2.1 Provision of different materials and individual support ... 23
5 Discussion and Conclusion ... 25
5.1 Summary of the Findings ... 25
5.1.1 Summary of the Challenges faced by Newly Arrived Students with low
English proficiency and English teachers ... 25
5.1.2 Summary of the Strategies and Solutions for Helping Newly Arrived Students with low English proficiency ... 26
5.2 Discussion of the Results in relation to Previous Studies and Theoretical Framework ... 27
5.3 Didactic Implications and Further Research ... 30
References ... 31
Appendices ... 33
According to the Swedish statistics authority SCB, since the year of 2016, the number of immigrants that arrived in Sweden has increased considerably (SCB, 2020). This situation has certainly affected the schools in the country as children of these immigrant families continue their educations. The terms, “newly arrived” or “newcomer” throughout this study refers to the students who are recently arrived in Sweden with their families. Among these newly arrived students, those who have low English proficiency can have much more difficult times, as they have to learn Swedish at the same time as English. They are exposed to a very
difficult learning process that includes; learning the language of their new “home” country, studying a high level of English that is inappropriate for them, and trying to catch up with other subjects in school. These involve tough and stressful processes for the newcomers.
The reason why I became interested in conducting this study is that I was one of those newly arrived students with low English proficiency in my high school years. I remember that I did not get much help that I desperately needed in the English classroom. Now I am trained to be an English teacher and it is my special interest and motivation to help and guide newly arrived students as I was when I become a teacher, besides teaching regular English classes. As a starting point, I wanted to do this study that aims to explore three English teachers’
experiences with newly arrived students as English learners. I will address this problem by researching how much English teachers are ready to teach newly arrived students, and how/if they can assist them properly in the English classroom. In chapter 2, I will present a literature review on the theoretical framework – zone of proximal development in learning English as a second language and previous studies on newly arrived students as English learners. Then, in chapter 3, I will present the method of this study. Afterwards, in chapter 4, I will report my findings and in chapter 5, I will discuss the findings in the light of the theoretical framework and previous studies reviewed in chapter 2.
1.1 Aim and Purpose
The aim of this research study is to examine three English teachers’ experiences with recently arrived students as English learners. In order to follow this aim, the following research
questions were created:
1. What are the challenges that newly arrived students with low English proficiency and the three English teachers encounter in the students’ learning of English?
2. What are the solutions and strategies that the three teachers propose in their attempt to help the students?
2 Literature Review
In this chapter, Section 2.1 presents the theoretical framework that this research is grounded on and then Section 2.2 reviews previous studies that looked at newly arrived students in the countries they had to learn English as a second or third language.
2.1 Theoretical Framework
The notion of the Zone of Proximal Development, which will from now on be referred as ZPD, was first suggested by the Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky (1978) in the early 1900s. It has been adopted as a guiding theory in the study of second language learning (Aljaafreh and Lantolf, 1994). This study will draw on the theory of ZPD when discussing the findings in Chapter 5. Therefore, I will first briefly review the original idea of ZPD by
Vygotsky, and then discuss how it has been used in the context of L2 learning and teaching.
The ZPD was originally proposed by Vygotsky (1978) for explaining how children’s cognitive growth took place. The theory explains the relationship between what a child can achieve and learn within the potential development zone (i.e. ZPD) involving social, cultural surroundings and a reliable helper or mentor, where the child can be developed with the help of the adult helper. Vygotsky distinguishes between what children can do on their own and what they can achieve with the help of others. He uses the metaphor of ‘scaffolding’ for the help/support that the child gets within her ZPD, where she eventually becomes independent.
The ZPD has become an important concept for many educators as it sheds light on the importance of the teaching appropriate to the developmental level of children and students.
Vygotsky (1978) himself defined the concept as follows: “the distance between the actual developmental level as determined independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in cooperation with more capable peers” (p. 86). He believed that when a student is in ZPD for a certain task, offering the right support is of considerable importance to the student’s learning and
development. Moreover, he highlights the importance of teachers’ understanding of their students to be able to help them. This is why this concept interests the educators foremost since by understanding their students, teachers can help them to proceed from what they know to what they are supposed to learn.
The ZPD has gained an important role in second language learning and teaching, where it is argued that a learner can achieve any task if he/she is provided with the appropriate
scaffolding. As Vygotsky originally suggested, through appropriate teaching and sufficient support within the ZPD, language learners would develop in their potential development zone (Lantolf, 2011). Thus, it means that development will not occur if the students do not receive appropriate help within their ZPD, as their language competence will not grow. The idea is to make sure an assisted performance occurs, meaning that the student gets enough amount of scaffolding to perform a task. Importantly, there should be interaction between the teacher and students in order for teacher to assist the student appropriately.
For effective scaffolding in language learning within ZPD, it is argued that social interaction plays a big role for the growth of learners’ potential development zone (Ohta, 2000).
Therefore, through interactions, teachers can determine the students’ potential zone after which they can create appropriate and meaningful learning occasions for them. However, if teachers cannot interact with students, they will not be able to understand them and hence, not be able to scaffold them properly, accordingly (Ohta, 2000). Furthermore, teaching within the ZPD suggests that social interaction is essential through the learning process as it leads students to gain new knowledge, or vocabulary, which in turn can develop their language competence (Nyikos & Hashimoto, 1997).
One concrete application of ZPD in second language learning is collaborative learning, where a group of students are gathered to work together to solve a certain task (Lantolf, 2011). At this stage, it is important to remember that each and every person in the group maintains his/her own personal ZPD which may grow through this collaboration. When students are gathered together, they would interact with each other and share their knowledge with one another. The idea here is that the interrelationship between their ideas contribute to their language growth. On the other hand, the teacher would be there to help them maintain the group dynamic. However, learning cannot occur if the potential growth is blocked by the group members, in other words, if they are not willing to interact with each other (Nyikos &
Hashimoto, 1997). Therefore, depending on the group dynamics, the potential zone may grow, namely, it is up to the group members to decide whether or not they are conducive to learning and social development (Nyikos, & Hashimoto, 1997). In the next part, I present previous studies conducted in the field of ESL learning and teaching.
2.2 Previous Research
This section reviews previous studies on newly immigrated students with low English
proficiency in the countries where they have to learn English at school. Table 2.1 presents an overview of the studies reviewed in this chapter (see Appendix C). Section 2.2.1 summarises the challenges encountered by newly arrived students with low English proficiency and their teachers, which the studies report. Section 2.2.2 then summarises the studies in terms of how the challenges were tackled.
proficiency and their Teachers
From the studies presented in Table 1 (Appendix C), challenges encountered by newly arrived students with low English proficiency and their teachers emerge. In some studies, English was a second language while in some other studies it was a third language for the students
concerned in the studies. However, they have gone through some similar challenges.
First, a challenge that these students and teachers encountered is the English proficiency much lower than other students in the regular English class that had a negative influence on
students’ academic achievement (Hopkins et al, 2003; Karanja, 2007; Erhayem, 2019; Jörgen, 2011; Mehkar, 2018). Since newcomers do not have English proficiency expected for their ages and school years, they have to study considerably more than their classmates. For example, in Hopkins et al (2003), newly arrived young male students from Mexico face this challenge while learning the English language. It is illustrated that the language barrier creates a great deal of mental pressure for these young men. Because of having heavy workload, it is pointed out these students endure an extreme cognitive burden in their school life.
Second, another challenge that immigrant students with low English proficiency and their teachers face is the hard, long process of adjustment to the new school setting. Several studies outline that it is a hard process for newcomers where they have to learn how to behave in a way that is appropriate for the new school environment (Karanja, 2007; Mehkar 2018; Smyth et al, 2009). The adaptation process becomes even more challenging for newcomer students because they cannot communicate with people around. Thus, many students end up feeling lonely and have low motivation towards the school setting. Karanja’s (2007) findings suggest that due to these social disadvantages, many newly arrived students end up giving up their studies or worse case, they quit school.
Third, yet another challenge that is found in several previous studies is that newly arrived students have low motivation towards learning English because they have to learn it at the same time as learning Swedish (Erhayem, 2019; Jörgen, 2011; Mehkar, 2018). Thus, reportedly, they lose motivation towards English learning due to the fact that Swedish takes over as it comes into the picture. The reason why Swedish depresses English learning is,
accordingly, because they find a greater meaning in learning the language of the country they live in, but also because learning Swedish is perceived to be easier as they have the advantage of using it in practice, which they do not have with English.
Fourth, one more challenge found in previous research was that many immigrant students rushed into mainstream too soon, where they do not receive further language support
(Karanja, 2007). Without the essential language support, these students are left on their own to find a way to communicate about their concerns. Although this issue seems to be a serious problem, research shows that schools are ineffective at solving it. Studies report that some schools provide language support at a certain level, but seemingly, it is not enough. Obara (2005) points out that because of this issue, many newcomers end up being identified as having a disability, because they cannot express themselves properly. In the next part, I will discuss how the challenges discussed in this part were meet by school communities.
2.2.2 How challenges were tackled
Studies report that different school communities have their own ways of dealing with challenges facing newly arrived students and their teachers, which are mentioned in the previous part. Although it seems that they are still not quite clear on how they can effectively support these students in overcoming the challenges they encounter, some strategies are used by schools in order to tackle the issues faced by newcomers.
First, research shows that several schools use mainstream teachers and language support teachers who sit with newcomers after school. Reportedly, these teachers are quite important sources for newcomers as they give them individual support (Smyth et al, 2009; Karanja, 2007; Gándara et al, 2005; Gándara and Rumberger, 2009; Obara, 2005; Mehkar, 2018).
Especially language teachers are important sources for these students as they not only give them academic support in their first language, but they also give them mental support. Thus, they become like a friend to the student whom the student can open up to and share their problems to (Karanja, 2007).
Moreover, raising teachers’ awareness of students’ background also emerges as a way to tackle difficulties that newcomer students go through (Endo and Miller, 2004; Karanja, 2007).
Then teachers gain a deeper understanding of students’ situations after which they can find effective teaching strategies to support their learning. For it to happen, Karanja (2007) suggests that teachers can collaborate with parents in trying to understand the newcomer students’ backgrounds stories. Namely, if the teacher can build a connection with them, they may together figure out a good strategy to support their learning.
By the same token, there are some other strategies that several schools use to assist their new immigrant students, such as peer tutoring (Karanja, 2007). By means of peer support, new students are encouraged to learn through interaction. Thus, they can both make friends at the same time as they improve their studies. A similar method that schools use is so-called
“buddy system”, which means that a same age person is provided for the new students which is considered as a source of mental and social relief for the newcomer (Karanja, 2007).
However, both peer tutoring and buddy system methods are for those who can communicate with each other, and thus, for newcomers with poor language skills, these methods may not be suitable options for them.
This section has evaluated studies that focused on the challenges faced by newly arrived students with low English proficiency and their teachers. What I aim to do in this study is slightly different from the ones that have been discussed in this section. Despite searching with different keywords in the different databases, I noted that there were very few studies that focused on ESL teaching and learning in Sweden. Thus, this study, exploring three English teachers’ accounts on teaching English to students that are newly arrived in Sweden, would be unique.
In the next chapter, I will present the method that has been used for carrying out this study.
3 Method
This section reviews the method of this study. Section 3.1 presents a summary of the participants, the three English teachers. Section 3.2 reports the data collection procedure.
Section 3.2.2 then summarises the method for analysing the collected data.
3.1 Participants
There are three participants involved in the research paper to whom the pseudonyms Eva, Adam and Gina were given. The participants were selected from my VFU schools, an upper secondary school and a secondary school located in the Västra Götaland region. I sent out an e-mail to five teachers in these schools to whom I gave a brief explanation about my research topic and after which I asked them whether they would like to be interviewed for this research essay. Unfortunately, none of them responded to my e-mail; therefore, I went to these schools to meet the teachers in person. Consequently, I received positive response from three of them, which at first seemed like a small number but when I got the green light from my supervisor, I was relived and ready to begin. The reason why the participants were selected from my old VFU schools was because I knew the teachers there as well as they knew me, thus, we would have a sincere discussion about the interview questions and they would feel comfortable during the interview. Eva was 52, Adam was 33 and Gina was 46 years old at the time of the data collection. Eva and Adam worked as upper-secondary (gymnasiet) schoolteachers whereas Gina worked as a secondary schoolteacher (högstadiet). Eva and Gina are
experienced teachers who have worked with several newly arrived students over 10 years and therefore had great experience. On the other hand, Adam is not as experienced as the other two since he had only worked with two newly arrived students at the time of the interview, however, despite his short experience he had plenty to share with me.
3.2 Data Collection through Interviews
For data collection, the study interviewed the three teacher participants. The interview method was chosen as it is one of the most suitable “where the focus is on the nature of experience”
(Richard, 2009, p.183). Through interviewing the participants, I was able to hear the participants’ individual experiences from their own perspectives (Jeong, 2019). This is the reason why I decided to use an interview study for this research paper, as I believed that it would be the most beneficial method to collect data, particularly regarding what I aim to do in this study, namely to showcase the three English teachers’ experiences with newly arrived students. In January 2020, one structured interview was done with each of the three English teachers. All the participants were asked the same question in the same order and the interview questions were constructed around the three questions (the second and third questions were eventually developed into the research questions:
• What are three English teachers’ views on newly arrived students as English learners?
• What are the challenges that these teachers encounter (experience) in teaching English to newly arrived students?
• What are the strategies and solutions that these teachers try in helping newly arrived students in learning English?
The interviews were audio recorded with the permissions of the participants and verbatim transcripts were provided which resulted in a corpus of 4200 words. Appendix B provides the interview data transcribed together with the interview questions. Before the interview started, the topic of the study was briefly explained to the participants and they were asked to read through the consent letter, (see Appendix A) after which they signed it and the interviews were carried out.
3.3 Data Analysis
Data was analysed thematically, following the procedure suggested by Jeong (2019). The first step that I took was transcribing the data verbatim after which I read it through a few times.
This was to understand the content properly and get familiar with it so that I could be able to make my own interpretations afterwards. Reading the interview data a few times made me know where in the data I could look to see certain ideas discussed by the participants, which I applied to my notes and comments. The next step that I followed was sorting out the data in accordance to research questions. This was done to connect the data to one another so that each and every theme that I built would be relevant to the research questions. That is, I identified several themes from the data which I categorized under the relevant research questions. Thereafter, I started to analyse the data and made interpretations of it. Importantly, I named the tittles of each chapter as descriptive as possible so that it would reflect the included information. Moreover, another important suggestion that I followed was to make sure that the theme created under each specific research question answered the research question, which I believe it did throughout the findings that the following chapter presents.
4 Results
This chapter presents the findings. Sections, 4.1 answers the first research question and Section 4.3 the second research question.
4.1 Challenges that Newly Arrived Students with low English proficiency and English teachers face
One strongly converging view of the three teachers on newly arrived students with very low English proficiency is that these students usually have extremely difficult times in the process of learning English:
I think they [newly arrived students] have a very hard time. (Eva) I think it's difficult for them. (Gina)
They are I would say, in a sort of helpless state. (Adam)
In the following Sections 4.1.1 and 4.1.2, I present the teachers’ accounts on difficulties that these newly arrived students with very low proficiency undergo while studying English. In Section 4.1.1, I report the interview data revealing the issue of discrepancy between the newly arrived students’ English level and their classmates’. Then in Section 4.1.2 I present the teachers’ views on how the lack of Swedish proficiency hinder these students’ English learning and how studying both Swedish and English becomes a big challenge for them and the teachers. Thereafter in Section 4.1.3, I report teachers’ accounts on communication issues, and lastly in Section 4.1.4 I present teachers’ accounts on their insufficient pedagogical skills.
4.1.1 Challenge 1: Discrepancy between newly arrived students with low English proficiency and their Swedish classmates in English proficiency
Among other things, what makes newly arrived students have great difficulties in learning English, according to the teachers, is the discrepancy between their English level and their Swedish classmates’. The teachers agree on the issue that these students have great difficulties in learning English with their language levels and because of that, they think that newly arrived students with low English proficiency should not be put in the same class with their Swedish classmates. For instance, Eva stresses that her newly arrived students need more individual help, which is one of the reasons for them to be in special class for learning
English. She argues that doing so is the best way to help the students, instead of making them work with student assistants who speak their language, which, according to her, is very problematic. She notes that it is very hard to know if it is the student or the counselor who does the academic work, and thus, it is difficult for teachers to see whether the students are making real progress:
#1
…what happens is that these people [student assistants] are the ones that are doing the academic work for the kids. So, you don’t really know who the pupil is here. Is it the pupil or is it the elevassistent and it becomes very very difficult and I think it is a bad idea. I think what should happen is that these kids should be given special schooling for English. (Eva)
However, although perceiving the problem of the proficiency difference between newly arrived students and Swedish students, Gina, in contrast to Eva, thinks that getting help from a student assistant who speaks their language is very beneficial, both for herself and for her newly arrived students. She feels that she can have an actual conversation with them.
However, she makes a similar point as Eva, saying that since the newcomers that she teaches have never studied English before, they should learn English in a separate class. She thinks that they do not even have the basics that can enable them to study in the same class as with Swedish classmates:
#2
Most of the students that I have got right now have never read English before…it's difficult for them to even learn the basics when they don't even know the alphabet for example…I have got an Arabic speaking counselor once a week and I have got a Somali speaking counselor once a week so that's a good thing at least. (Gina)
Similarly, Adam clearly indicates that his newly arrived students should not study English 5 because their levels are not enough for it. He thinks that the discrepancy between their English levels and their Swedish classmates is quite big, which makes everything very complicated because they are in the same class, studying the same course even though they should not:
#3
They [newly arrived students with low English proficiency]… are somewhere that is so far from where they should be when they are teaching English 5 as I do in this case…. We are talking about; they are in different planets… we are talking about students that need to read English on, I mean, basic we are talking really…basic here. (Adam)
Consequently, the teachers agree on the point that their newly arrived students with low English proficiency should not study in the same class as their Swedish classmates. Eva highlights that for Swedish students, learning English is much easier because Swedes are exposed to English all the time. On the other hand, newly arrived students have not been exposed to the language at all and that is why she feels that it is unfair to put them in the same class with their Swedish classmates. Another point that she makes is the issue of potential psychological problems that can occur for newcomers. She states that there is a risk that they compare themselves with their Swedish classmates and have great of pressure on their learning:
#4
I think it’s a bit unfair because Swedish kids have been born and brought up here where they exposed to English SO MUCH that it's almost, well it is a second
language, so when they come here they feel a bit probably (not clear word) with they can’t do as good job as the Swedes. No, they should be in separate classes…(Eva)
Adam also approaches critically the question of having newcomer students with low English proficiency in the regular English class as they do not get the help they really need. He stresses that, although he knows his newly arrived students need a lot of individual help, he cannot afford to offer such help to them because there are 15 to 25 other students in class who need his help too. Thus, it becomes very difficult to give the support and attention that his newly arrived students need:
#5
This is where it is problematic to have…everyone in the same classroom despite that each and every one of them have their own sort of special needs…we are talking about years in order to get the same sort of vocabulary and all of the things that are connected with English so that they would have the same (long pause) opportunity as their classmates who are Swedes. (Adam)
Likewise, Gina notes that it is not a beneficial idea for both newly arrived students and Swedish students to be in the same class when they have completely different English levels.
Moreover, she makes a similar point as Adam, saying that there are so many students with so many different needs in class and she indicates that she does not have enough time to help her newcomers as much as she would like to:
#6
… it’s still hard to give them the time that they need individually…I don't have the time to sit with the students as much as I need to so I think it's horrible to put them in the same classroom. I don't think it is for their best to put them in the same classroom with all the others (Gina)
4.1.2 Challenge 2: Demand for studying English and Swedish simultaneously
When I asked the teachers how the fact that their newly arrived students do not speak Swedish affects their English learning, the answers were pretty much the same. According to Eva, not speaking Swedish may be a good thing in the English class since students should use English for communication during the English class. However, in general, she notes that students should master Swedish before they start to focus on English. She argues that they can use Swedish as a tool for learning English since these two languages are very much alike:
#7
I think it’s good. They [newly arrived students] shouldn’t speak Swedish here…but I also think they should first of all be able to master Swedish before they learn
English. It is a big help, English and Swedish are very closely related languages and they share a lot of words and phrases in common, so I think it is good if they learn their Swedish fluently first. (Eva)
Adam also thinks the lack of Swedish is a problem for newcomers. He points out that, with his Swedish students, he can always get support from Swedish language if they do not
understand him in English. However, that is not the case with the newly arrived students with low English proficiency because they lack communication skills in both languages. Thus, according to him, it becomes a hopeless situation and there is nothing left for him to do to help them. He continues by saying that the students try to get help from google translate and other kinds of translation tools, but translations by these online tools are often incorrect:
#8
Well the problem is here…Because if they don't understand me in English, we can always fall back to Swedish but if they don't understand what I am saying in Swedish then I cannot do anything more. I mean they try to google translate my question into their language but I don't think that is helping them a bit…the Swedish
language is so far away from the google translate of their first language, so they still don't understand it properly. So, I mean they are lost. They are totally lost; they have no clue of what they are doing. (Adam)
Gina makes a similar point as Adam and Eva, explaining the importance of Swedish in the process of learning English. She argues that being able to speak Swedish is a big help in learning English, in the same way that not speaking it makes the process even more
challenging. She also notes that in Sweden, the English education is structured in a way that one needs to speak Swedish in order to understand the whole learning process and because these newcomers do not speak Swedish, it becomes very hard for them to understand that she says:
#9
I think that the way we teach English we think that it is necessary to learn Swedish first, because we don't know their native languages, so we always start with the Swedish words. And when they don't know the Swedish words it is difficult to teach them the English words. So many words are too abstract, they don't even know what the Swedish words mean and then they definitely won’t know the English words. I think a lot of our education comes from Swedish first. (Gina)
Thus, the three teachers agree on the issue that the lack of Swedish becomes an obstacle for newly arrived students’ learning of English. Again, facing this situation where newly arrived students have to learn both Swedish and English, the teachers argue that that they should not be in the same class as their Swedish classmates. They instead suggest that those newcomers with low English proficiency should learn English in a special class and get help from someone who knows how to deal with their current education levels. Otherwise, Gina notes, the students are left on their own because teachers in regular English class do not know how to communicate with them in order to support their progress in their English learning:
#10
…it's a big challenge to give them what they need and I think that they would benefit if there were classes where they could learn together, where you could have one education, one teacher who taught them the same thing because now it is how can I say it (short pause) fractured somehow. They don't get the whole picture when you can't explain to them, because they are left on their own a lot. (Gina)
So, since the students do not speak Swedish, they must learn it during the process they learn English which is a challenge. According to the teachers’ accounts, it is a challenge both for the newly arrived students and for the teachers since the teachers basically have no idea how to help these students to move forward in their language level. Eva points out that these students are already struggling to learn Swedish and when English comes into the picture it becomes even more difficult, particularly for the ones that do not speak English at all. These students should not be put into a situation where they must learn two languages at the same time, but they must be able to focus on one language first to become able to learn the other.
Eva highlights that they usually choose Swedish and put aside English, which presumably is because they live in Sweden and hence it is more useful for them:
#11
…since they [newly arrived students] are studying both English and Swedish, it becomes very difficult because you know, Swedish like (short pause) takes over so it depresses the English learning so when they come here they are fighting to learn Swedish and then English comes in and then they don’t know what to choose and of course they have to pick Swedish and then there they are, it is tough for them. (Eva) Moreover, Gina has observed that the students who are learning English and Swedish simultaneously have lower motivation towards learning the English language. Considering that it is much more time consuming and challenging to learn two different languages at the same time, these students as Eva states previously, choose to learn Swedish because it is more motivational to learn the language of the country, they are living in.
Also, Gina sadly adds, since the students do not get individual help as much as they need it becomes very tough for them, so they totally give up on English although they perhaps do not want to do so.
#12
Most of the pupils I have got today are not as keen on learning English as I would like them to be because they are focused on Swedish first…They try (short pause) sometimes and I wish that I could help them more but I don't even have the time to help the students that already are in class, and since they attend the regular English lessons they don't get much time, so they have to sit there and do their best without much help and that's not easy for them. (Gina)
4.1.3 Challenge 3: Communication difficulties
Another challenge that the teachers’ accounts converge on is communication issues. Eva points out that it is already difficult to communicate with them, and when they do not have the basics in Swedish or in English, it becomes even more difficult and she cannot meet their needs. Thus, she explains that the students are just killing time in English classes:
#13
…It is difficult to communicate, yeah (short pause) it is difficult, and they don’t have the basics and those who have the basics is much easier to teach them but those without basics, they are just doing time here and I feel sorry for them. But that’s the way it is. (Eva)
Eva further emphasizes that it is a big problem since a proper communication is needed for progress to happen, but she is quite uncertain if they understand her sufficiently. According to her, there is nothing else she can do but to hope that their Swedish is good enough to
understand what she is saying during the lesson:
#14
It’s a problem. I use Swedish and then I just hope that their Swedish is good enough.
I can’t do much more. I don’t speak Arabic…(Eva)
Moreover, Adam states that he quite frankly tells his students that he does not speak their language, and therefore he can only help them in Swedish. He points out that he cannot make himself understood when he talks to them since there is no communication. Therefore, what happens is that students guess what they are supposed to do which he indicates is a big issue.
Even though he knows it is a big issue, he states that there is nothing else he can do to help them:
#15
Well I tell them honestly “well I don't know your language but you see Swedish works in this way and here you can see that there is a difference or similarity between English” and if they understand it, which they do not do… then as I said there is nothing else I feel I can do… they are still confused and don't know what to do and guessing what they are supposed to do. (Adam)
Gina agrees on the issue that there is a lack of communication between her and her newly arrived students in the class. Nevertheless, she is optimistic about it given that she has support from an interpreter once a week. She states that without the interpreter she feels there is no way she can help them on her own because she cannot communicate with them:
#16
Then we have a counselor in that language…because I have tried to explain to them that there is no way that they will reach their grades if they don't get the help that they need. So at least I have got that. (Gina)
Adam, on the other hand, is a little more pessimistic. He highlights that he does not know what to do to help his newly arrived students because he does not understand their needs, or what they comprehend since the communication is not there, neither in English nor in Swedish. Therefore, it becomes very difficult both for him and for the students to find ways towards progress in their learning:
#17
I don't understand. I don't know what to do. And when I switch to Swedish instead, they still don't know really what is expected of them…it is hard to understand what they understand where they are if we are talking about Vygotsky trying to
understand the pupil in order to help him from what he knows to what he supposed to learn. (Adam)
4.1.4 Challenge 4: Lack of pedagogical skills
“My education is not enough” (Eva)
“There is a lack in my training” (Adam)
“…you feel inadequate, you feel like you are not enough” (Gina)
All three teachers agree on the point that teaching English to beginners may not really be their job that they expected when they were being educated as secondary school English teachers.
However, they are now facing a situation where they feel that their pedagogical skills are not sufficient. Eva states that her job is to teach English to students who can already speak and
understand English. She strongly feels that her newcomers need a teacher who knows how to teach English to beginners as well as psychological help to get through what they have been through (the ones that are traumatized). Moreover, she appears to think that she may not have been educated properly for what she would encounter in real school situations:
#18
The challenge is that, my education is not enough I am not qualified for it I am not qualified to teach beginners, I am qualified to teach kids who already know English fluently, or at least halfway fluently. I am educated to teach kids who are on their last part of compulsory education…I feel sorry for them. (Eva)
Adam makes a similar point, saying that he is not trained to teach students the very basics of English and therefore finds the whole situation quite challenging. He also adds that teaching newly arrived students and being exposed to such a tough situation alone is unfair. He argues that newly arrived students should not only be his responsibility as he puts it:
#19
…in my training, the students come to me from secondary school or earlier and they experienced I mean I don't have to go through with them “one, two, three, ball round” you know basic stuff here. You know this is what these students need. And I feel like there is a lack in my training or for that matter it feels like this is not my responsibility. They should be somewhere else they should be training…English for immigrants like we have Swedish for immigrants…I feel that I am lacking
understanding…I also have to point that out it is not my job. I haven't been trained to do that. (Adam)
Like Eva and Adam, Gina too finds the whole situation quite challenging. Since she is a secondary school teacher, she explains that she does not go through basics with students even in the seventh grade. However, she notes that this is what the newly arrived students need.
Therefore, she gives them separate material to work with, material that includes the things that Swedish students have done in their earlier education. Nevertheless, these students are still left behind, as, she feels, they do not understand what they are doing. Moreover, it appears to frustrate her to see that her pedagogical skills are not enough for helping newly arrived students:
#20
When we are in a seventh grade or ninth grade we don't go to the basics as much…they [newly arrived students with low English proficiency] would have to start from scratch and we don't have the time to do that, we only repeat and rehearse what we have taught them for many years ago in Sweden. So, when they don't get the basics when we do them now, they are helplessly left behind…Yeah it is kind of frustrating because you feel inadequate, you feel like you are not enough. (Gina)
4.2 The Strategies and Solutions for helping Newly Arrived Students with low English proficiency
The section reports the three teachers’ accounts of the strategies and solutions for the
challenges in working with newly arrived students with low English proficiency, which were already outlined in the data extracts presented in Section 4.1. As it reads here, the reader could see that the challenges that the students and teachers face are many, but the solutions that the teachers could come up with were so few. This issue will be discussed further in Chapter 5.
4.2.1 Provision of different materials and individual support
As mentioned above, since the teachers basically do not get any support for helping newly arrived students in their language development, they actually do their best to help them on their own. For example, Gina tries to give these students different materials to work with, also she never does the same thing with them as the rest of the class. She also tries to collaborate with student assistants:
#27
I try to give them different materials to work with. I try to give them special tests to see if they get the basics and then I let them move forward in their own pace. They don't do the same as the rest of the class. I have got an Arabic speaking counselor once a week and I have got a Somali speaking counselor once a week. (Gina)
Adam honestly acknowledges that, since he is quite new to this challenge, he in fact does not have a well proven strategy to deal with his newly arrived students. Instead, he says that he is the one that needs help from other teachers to find a way to support these students in their learning. The only strategy that he could think of to help these students is to arrange extra classes with them where he can give them individual support although it has not been very successful, seemingly because the students themselves are not very motivated for learning English:
#28
I am also new to this issue so I don't really have something to give here, it is more like I am still searching for what other teachers can give me… What I can do is that give them opportunities to sort of have extra lectures with me on their own.
However, when we are talking about these two newcomers, they don't have time.
Well then, I have done what I can do. (Adam)
One solution that Eva shares with me is that her school arranges some lessons by special teachers in order to help these students although she is quite doubtful if these teachers know how to give them the right education:
#29
Well, we do have a system where they go to the special, they have tutorials with special pedagogues and but (short pause) it is difficult because special pedagogues can’t, don’t handle them…I don’t know how it can be dealt, it is difficult. (Eva)
In this chapter, I have presented the interview data regarding the main challenges that newly arrived students with low English proficiency undergo during their English learning. First, I have touched upon the discrepancy between their English proficiency and their Swedish classmates’, and then I have talked about the challenge of studying English and Swedish simultaneously. Moreover, I have presented the communication difficulties that the teachers encounter with their newly arrived students and lastly, I have introduced the difficulties that teachers faced while teaching English to their newcomers. Thereupon, I have presented the teachers’ accounts of these challenges and how they think it might affect the students’
language development. Consequently, the newly arrived students do not make progress in their English learning because they do not get the help they really need due to the following reasons: they do not speak Swedish or English, therefore they need to study two languages
simultaneously. Since the teachers cannot communicate with them, they cannot help them in their language progress which leads these students to be left on their own a great deal. In the next chapter, I will discuss my findings in relation to previous studies and in the light of the theoretical framework.
5 Discussion and Conclusion
This final chapter achieves three things. First, Section 5.1 summarizes the findings reported in chapter 4 in relation to the research questions. Second, Section 5.2 discusses the findings in relation to the previous studies and theoretical framework, ZPD in second language learning.
Finally, Section 5.3 concludes the study by discussing the limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.
5.1 Summary of the Findings
5.1.1 Summary of the Challenges faced by Newly Arrived Students with low English proficiency and English teachers
The first reported challenge was a discrepancy between newcomers’ English level and their Swedish classmates’. Even though these students need plenty of individual help, the teachers report that they cannot offer the help they need because of the limited time and the big size of the class. They state that these students’ levels are not enough for studying the level of
English that their Swedish classmates do. More specifically, they have different education backgrounds and thus, their English skills are completely different from each other.
Therefore, the findings suggest that newcomer students should not study English in regular English classes, instead, they should be in a separate class, studying the level of English that is appropriate for them.
The second reported challenge was the demand of having to study English and Swedish simultaneously. Because these newcomers lack communication skills in both English and Swedish, they cannot get help from any of them during their learning process, which
generates a big problem. As a result, newly arrived students with low English proficiency tend to give up on English in order to learn Swedish. The findings suggest that the motivation for learning Swedish is higher for newcomers since they are more motivated to learn the language of the country that they live in. Thus, Swedish takes over the English learning which
generates problem for the English teachers as they have no idea how to support or motivate them during this learning process.
One more challenge faced by new immigrant students as well as their English teachers was communication problems between the teachers and their newcomers which result in
unfavorable impacts on the students’ English learning. Since the newcomers have very low English and Swedish skills, their teachers state that it is quite challenging to have a proper conversation with them. They stress that communication is a necessary tool in order for progress to happen, and yet since there is almost no communication between the two parts, teachers believe that it becomes a serious issue to help them as they do not understand their needs.
The challenge reported last in the previous chapter was that the teachers’ pedagogical skills were insufficient for teaching newly arrived students with low English proficiency. Even the teachers themselves argue that they do not know how to adjust their education for newcomers, and moreover state that teaching English to beginners is not what they are trained for as secondary ad upper-secondary school teachers. Seemingly, they find the whole situation quite challenging too and, since they express that they get no support from the school community whatsoever, they appear to feel all alone in this challenge.
5.1.2 Summary of the Strategies and Solutions for Helping Newly Arrived Students with low English proficiency
The findings suggest that because the teachers do not receive support for in assistance of newly arrived students in their language growth, the only thing they come to think of is to do their best to help them with their own resources.
For instance, one of the few solutions teachers came up with was that they give newcomers different materials that include the things that Swedish students have done in their earlier education. It is also noted that they always do different things with them considering the fact that they need a whole different framework which cannot be provided in regular classes’
framework. Moreover, another suggestion is that they try to give them individual support.
However, it is noted that it has not been successful, meaning that the students usually do not
show up, due to their low motivation toward the English learning. Indeed, there is a sense of uncertainty among the teachers, as they state that they are the ones that need help from other school staff to find a supportive approach to meet the needs of these students.
As mentioned previously, challenges that the students and teachers encounter are many, yet seemingly, the solutions that the teachers suggested are so few. This problem will be discussed in the next part.
5.2 Discussion of the Results in relation to Previous Studies and Theoretical Framework
In regard to the challenges that newcomers and teachers face, some findings of this study converge with those of the previous studies. For instance, the issue of the difference between newcomers’ English skills and their Swedish classmates’ have been touched upon in many studies.
As newcomers do not have the English proficiency expected for their ages and school years, previous research shows that they are forced to study much more than their classmates, which appears to create an extreme cognitive pressure in their school life (Hopkins et al, 2003).
Similarly, my findings suggest that, having to study a course that is not appropriate for their levels, and having to study with students who have a whole different education background, make the learning process extremely stressful for them. Importantly, the stress that this process creates in students is not only in terms of academic pressure, which my findings suggest, but it is also a mental pressure that seems to come into the picture, that previous research reports (Karanja, 2007; Hopkins et al, 2003). Eva explained previously that this situation is quite unfair for newcomers (see extract 4) as they indeed have not been exposed to English as much as Swedish students and therefore, it is not fair to put them in one classroom.
Likewise, Adam too expressed that newcomers and their Swedish classmates have
undoubtedly different educational needs, which he feels incapable of meeting as teacher (see extract 3) and hence, suggested a separate education program for them. Even Gina shared the same views about separate education for newcomers (see extract 6), because, admittedly, they need different kinds of help, and she believes these needs can be fulfilled if they are educated in separate classes. Apparently, the issue of discrepancy between newcomers’ English level and their Swedish classmates’emerges to be a serious challenge for not only newcomer
students, but also for the teachers as they appear to be as helpless as they are in the question of how to assist them properly. Thus, my findings are consistent with previous research regarding the negative impact of this challenge on the learning and teaching of ESL.
Furthermore, another similar challenge that emerges to be parallel with my findings is the issue of communication between teachers and newcomers (Karanja, 2007; Obara, 2005). As Eva highlighted previously (see extracts 13 &14) the communication problem becomes a critical obstacle for their learning as there seems to be no proper interaction between these students and teachers to be able to understand each other. So, it is a scenario where students cannot communicate with their teachers and vice versa. Adam explained previously (see extract 17) that it becomes very difficult to help them in this case since you do not understand their needs. Like my findings, this issue has been explored in previous research too, saying that newcomers do get no further language support once they enter into mainstream classes (Karanja, 2007). As might be expected, this leads to communication problems between students and teachers. Gina stressed previously that language support is an essential need for these students (see extract 16) as she feels there is no other way she can reach them by
herself. As is seen, the communication problem is real, and it is happening which my findings and previous research show (Karanja, 2007; Obara, 2005). Yet, seemingly, school
administrations are quite passive in finding effective solutions to this problem as they show little, if any interest, in solving it.
What was not reported in the previous studies but emerged from this study is that English teachers seem to have no proper pedagogical skills for teaching newly arrived students with low proficiency, which seems to be a quite critical issue (see extracts 18 & 19 & 20).
According to the Vygotsky’s theory, learners can achieve any task if they are provided with appropriate scaffolding and sufficient support within their ZPD (Lantolf, 2011). My findings demonstrate that English teachers face several challenges in teaching newcomers with low English proficiency because it is practically almost impossible to scaffold them within their ZPD. It is due to three big factors; the teachers' lack of training for how to scaffold low level students, the huge gap between newcomers’ ZPD and the ZPD of other students in regular English class, and the fact that teachers do not receive enough support by the school for scaffolding these students.
The teachers lack training in how to scaffold newly arrived students and hence, they feel inadequate in their roles as teachers. Eva together with the other two teachers, questioned their pedagogical skills all the time, because they saw that their education was not enough for scaffolding newly arrived students with low English proficiency (see extract 18). Teachers report that they have not been trained to teach low level students, and consequently, they are incapable of providing the scaffolding that these students need in order to succeed in their learning (see extracts 19 & 20).
Moreover, the theoretical framework stressed previously the significance of the idea of scaffolding second language learners within their ZPD, as it plays an essential role in their potential learning (Lantolf, 2011). However, according to the three teacher participants, it is almost impossible because of the large gap between newcomers’ ZPD and the ZPD of other students in ordinary English classes which is why Gina stated that she is incapable of providing the scaffolding that newcomer students’ need (see extract 6). Therefore, teachers agreed that these students should not be educated in this same classroom, instead they should be put in separate classes as they have completely different educational needs. Importantly, the theory of scaffolding second language learners within their ZPD suggest that their
language skills would grow if they were provided with appropriate assistance (Lantolf, 2011).
Nevertheless, in this case, it is almost impossible for teachers to scaffold these students within their ZPD as they cannot even have a proper conversation with them, much less help them within their ZPD. This takes us to the next issue, namely that teachers do not receive enough support by the school for scaffolding the newcomers.
My findings suggest that the challenges that newcomers and teachers face are many, but the solutions that the teachers could suggest were so few. Admittedly, teachers are not provided with enough help from schools, or rather, schools lay all the responsibility on teachers. Thus, teachers cannot offer the individual time or the appropriate material that newcomers need in order for their language growth. Clearly, this affects the progress that these students are likely to make if they are provided with appropriate assistance within their ZPD. Yet, as seen
through my findings, teachers are continuously alone in this challenge, and thus what happens is that both teachers and newcomers suffer from it, as they seem to think that they are in a helpless situation. My suggestion is that the structure and resource to scaffold these students within their ZPD should not only be the teachers’ responsibility. I would suggest that it is also something that schools, National Agency for Education, and society are responsible for.
