Teaching English to Students with a Limited Proficiency in Swedish : English teachers’ perspectives on teaching English to newly arrived students in Sweden

Abstract: This study aims to investigate four English teachers’ perspectives on teaching English to students with a limited proficiency in Swedish. The study was conducted through interviews with four English teachers in secondary and upper secondary school.  The study reveals that the teachers rely much on the Swedish language in their teaching, in textbooks, translation and explanations, for instance. However, the teachers in the study show awareness of the fact that some of their students do not always follow the Swedish instructions and explanations. Therefore, the four teachers solve this issue in different ways, such as translanguaging, letting the students help each other, picture support, etc. Moreover, the study reveals an ongoing tension between English and Swedish for newly arrived students. These students need to focus on the Swedish language. Therefore, the English lessons sometimes function to support the Swedish acquisition as much as learning English. The study also shows that the teachers find it important to have a functioning first language to learn other languages, and that languages can support each other in language acquisition.