Mittuniversitetet

The aim of this study was to investigate how English teachers at a chosen secondary school in northern Sweden face the challenge of teaching English to immigrant students, aged 13 and 14, and how these students respond to this challenge in the classroom. The main points of the aim were to study how the teachers approach teaching English in a multilingual classroom so that it meets all individuals’ needs and whether there is any evidence for translanguaging or code-switching in the classroom. The present study suggests that when there are many immigrant students in Swedish schools, it becomes harder, as these students might not have sufficien tknowledge of either the English or the Swedish language. For this reason, it might be beneficial to use the students L1 in order to understand the target language English. Different ways of supporting students could be to encourage students to use different strategies, as for example translanguaging and code-switching, in order to learn the target language English, faster. All students should have the right to get an equal education, according to the Swedish school law. As there are not enough resources to help students in the need of extra support, it is therefore important for all teachers to get more training in how to deal appropriately with this situation. The present study suggests that teachers are reacting on an individual basis rather than a systematic one, and this is something that the school system needs to address.

Within this area it would be beneficial to continue with research regarding the English learning in a classroom of about 30 students on a broader scale, across a range of schools in different areas, with teachers of different levels of experience. As this study was limited, its conclusions are limited. This study focused on translanguaging and code-switching, but much more research needs to be done in this area. In future studies, the survey instrument should include more questions that ask students about their use of translanguaging and code-switching, and further classroom observations should be carried out. Also, it would be useful for further research to look more into the specific resources that are used for immigrant students and if the resources are useful for the students learning.