Honest Mistakes : A study of grammatical mistakes in Swedish pupils’ production of oral English, with a focus on grammar teaching.

Abstract: When speaking a language, whether it is our first or second language, grammatical mistakes will be made. The aim of this essay is to look into what kinds of mistakes some Swedish learners of English make when speaking English and to analyze why these mistakes are made. The essay also aims at looking into what grammar teaching can look like in Sweden and how some teachers look upon their students’ oral proficiency. The method used for this study was a qualitative one, namely interviews. Twelve students, eight in grade seven and four in grade nine, and two teachers were interviewed. During the interviews with the students a dictaphone was used. When interviewing the teachers notes were taken, and these have been the foundation of the analysis. The results showed that many of the mistakes made by the students seemed to originate in transfer from their first language. Preposition mistakes, for instance, were made in 20% of the cases and they mainly originated in interference with their first language. Verbs turned out to be the area where most mistakes were made, followed by prepositions and pronouns. 50% of the mistakes made by students in grade nine were verb mistakes, whereas the students in grade seven made verb mistakes in 33% of the cases. This study further shows that the teachers had a good grasp of what their students know, and do not know, but there were some mistakes the learners made which the teachers did not mention. Finally, the study showed that spoken language is in focus within the classroom. Students are allowed to make mistakes, even though the interviewed teachers find grammar important.