Student Influence during English Lessons : A Comparison of the Socialisation in India and Sweden

Abstract: This project is a comparative study of three elementary schools in India and two elementary schools in Sweden. The purpose of this project is to study if Indian and Swedish students have the possibility to have influence on their English lessons. The research involves values conveyed in the socialisation and their consequences for student influence, democracy and society in the two countries. National and international research and literature concerning socialisation, language didactics, democracy and student influence were used as a foundation of this study. Furthermore, the study investigates the Swedish and the Indian curricula, and makes use of observations of English lessons, questionnaires and interviews with teachers in both countries. The method for this research is qualitative with some features of quantitative research and based in the method of Grounded theory. The results of this project is that the teachers in both countries controlled the students in different ways during the lessons and practiced student influence only when letting the students choose between preselected materials. Exclusion, inclusion and the hidden curriculum were aspects that appeared, which are likely to teach the students about their individual values in society. The lack of student influence consequently leads to the students being discouraged to be partaking citizens. Instead, the students will learn to follow the rules of society, be loyal to authorities and to carry established values with them and thus reproduce the society in each country and make it remain the same.