Lärares uppfattningar om elevers användning av engelska utanför skolan och dess inverkan på undervisningen – en kvalitativ enkätundersökning

Abstract

Aim: Young students in Sweden use a large amount of English outside school. The English input in school might be a minor part of some students’ input. Having students in the classroom who interact every day in English together with those that hardly use any English, poses a challenge to the teacher but it also provides possibilities. In this Master’s study the main aim is to find out how teachers in Sweden view extramural English (EE) in relation to their teaching of English.

Theory: The study is based on Borg’s (2015) theories about teacher cognition. According to Borg (2015) teachers’ beliefs are highly connected to their classroom practice. It is not only their belifs but their knowledge, attitudes and conceptions are all highly linked with the teachers’ earlier schooling, their context and practice. It is within this framework that we can better understand what influences the teachers’ opinions and thoughts. Also, the study is interested in what, how and why teachers let student’s use of extramural English influence their teaching. Shulman’s (1987) concept of Pedagogical Content Knowledge, PCK, is central for this perspective.

Method: In this study, teachers have been asked questions in a digital survey. The questions were both specific and open and many questions also offered the teachers multiple choices when answering. The survey was sent to a random selection of 714 Primary schools across Sweden. It was answered by 113 teachers, who all teach English in grades 4-6 and who also answered the survey anonymously. A qualitative text analysis was made from the open written comments in the survey and descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of the quantifiable data collected.

Results: The results show that teachers are interested in what their students use their English for outside of school mainly to motivate the students further in school but also to map their knowledge. The responding teachers notice and give evidence of an increase in English proficiency due to EE, both when it comes to vocabulary but also for verbal communication and understanding of the language. This influences the teaching where teachers say they can teach at a higher level and carry out more complex activities. Also, teachers need to individualize the teching more and there are great differences between the students’ knowledge levels. The results indicate the complexity of teaching English in Swedish schools today. They also indicate that techers are trying to build bridges between the EE and the English lessons in school in their own planning rather than including students’ in the planning or sharing of EE activities