Social passivity in English classrooms : A qualitative study on how upper-secondary English teachers in Sweden work to help socially passive students

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to increase our knowledge of how upper-secondary English teachers in Sweden work to ensure that students who are socially passive reach the learning objectives regarding oral proficiency in the English subject. The study explores how six English teachers interpret the underlying factors causing students to be passive in English class, and what they do about this. The data consists of semi-structured interviews which were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis. The findings show that even though the interviewed teachers could agree that it is important to identify the reasons why some students show a passive behavior in class, this is not always possible in practice. Furthermore, the teachers seem to have developed some strategies to ensure that the concerned students reach the learning objectives. In addition, they agree that the socially passive students should be able to reach the targets despite their passivity. Despite this, the teachers also express a need for continued education in this regard. In particular, teachers who graduated recently and have limited experience are finding it more difficult to deal with students who are unwilling to participate in second language learning, which causes a situation where some students may not get the help they need to develop the desired language skills.