How do Swedish lower secondary students think and feel about their English? – Studies, skills, and self-esteem in a second language

Andrea C. Schalley¹, Marika Kjellén¹, Marie K. Tåqvist¹, Ann Jamt², Kajsa Krigström², Åsa Lindström³, Susanne Malmberg Olsson⁴, Ann-Charlotte Rydberg⁴, Christina Thorén⁵, Michael Österman², and Daniel Östlund³

¹Karlstad University, Karlstad; ²Ferlinskolan, Filipstad; ³Fryxellska skolan, Sunne; ⁴Vålbergsskolan, Karlstad; ⁵Ilandaskolan, Karlstad

ULF (Utbildning, Lärande, Forskning) is a national initiative which aims to facilitate and conduct research in close collaboration between researchers and in-service teachers in primary and secondary school. During meetings within ULF, participating teachers reported on a large disparity between the proficiency levels achieved by students in the English lower secondary classroom, characterised by big groups of very strong students contrasting with those of struggling students. Still, teachers are expected to offer an equitable education to them all. To this end, we are exploring the nature of lower secondary students’ different proficiency levels and to investigate whether there are factors that correlate with (and thus potentially causally relate to) students’ proficiency levels. At a future stage of the project, we aim to develop and evaluate classroom materials and strategies for the teaching and learning of English that will be of assistance to teachers working with students at different proficiency levels. Läs mer här