Stakeholder beliefs in English-medium instruction for young learners in Sweden

________ Corresponding author’s email: jeanette.[email protected] ISSN: 1457-9863 Publisher: Centre for Applied Language Studies University of Jyväskylä © 2018: The authors http://apples.jyu.fi http://dx.doi.org/10.17011/apples/urn.201809214208 Stakeholder beliefs in English-medium instruction for young learners in Sweden Jeanette Toth, Stockholm University While several studies have investigated English-medium instruction (EMI) or content and language integrated learning (CLIL) in Swedish upper secondary and tertiary education, few have investigated such programmes in Swedish primary schools. This paper explores perceptions among staff and students about affordances and constraints in the learning of content and languages, drawing on data from a larger longitudinal case study of an English-Swedish bilingual primary class during Grades 4-6. Data consisted of semi-structured interviews with a school leader, 12 teachers and 22 students as well as fieldnotes and photographs from classroom observations. Thematic analysis of the data revealed the belief among staff that learners acquired English naturally by being ‘forced’ to use it in English-medium subjects taught by native speakers of English. The use of Swedish among students in these subjects was generally seen as a potential scaffold when communicative difficulties arose, as students who were more proficient in English could translate and provide their classmates with explanations of difficult concepts in Swedish. However, staff and students nonetheless voiced concerns about students’ content learning as well as about limited development of subject-specific language in Swedish, which could have implications for their future Swedishmedium studies. Meanwhile, although multilingual students’ mother tongues were valued by the students themselves, participants did not acknowledge them as legitimate learning resources for use in the mainstream classroom, where only English and Swedish were allowed to be used in interaction. Keywords: English-medium instruction, CLIL, native English-speaking teachers, English-Swedish bilingual primary class, stakeholder beliefs 1 Introduction As a world language used in business, media, and education, English has a high status in Sweden (Hult, 2012; Toth, 2017, 2018; Yoxsimer Paulsrud, 2014). Although Swedish is the most common language of instruction in Swedish schools, an increasing number of Swedish compulsory schools offer programmes in which subjects such as Mathematics and Science are taught through the medium of English. According to a survey by the Swedish National Agency for Education, approximately 9400 students, or 1% of students in Swedish compulsory schools, were enrolled in English-medium programmes during the Apples – Journal of Applied Language Studies Vol. 12, 2, 2018, 37–54 38 Apples – Journal of Applied Language Studies 2008/2009 school year (Skolverket, 2010, p. 24). Several studies of such programmes at the upper secondary level in Sweden have used the label content and language integrated learning, or CLIL (Lim Falk, 2008, 2015; Sandberg, 2017). However, while ‘CLIL has a clear objective of furthering both content and language as declared in its title, EMI [English-medium instruction] does not (necessarily) have that objective’ (Dearden, 2014, p. 4). Yoxsimer Paulsrud (2014) has concluded that EMI is more appropriate to describe such programmes in the Swedish context, where there are no explicit guidelines or teacher training for CLIL. These English-medium programmes generally lack the balance between content and language that CLIL offers in theory; English is simply the vehicle for content instruction. In the present study of a Swedish primary school class, the term EMI is used in accordance with terminology in the Swedish Ordinance for Compulsory School (Utbildningsdepartementet, 2011, p. 185), which regulates such programmes in compulsory school (in Sweden, this refers to primary school, Grades 1-6, and lower secondary school, Grades 7-9). According to the Ordinance, no more than 50% of instruction in these programmes may be in English. Content-based approaches have been implemented as a way of providing learners with increased exposure to the target language. Canadian programmes of early total French immersion are often held up as a successful model for other language learning programmes, including CLIL. However, as the implementation of these approaches varies widely between contexts, the success of immersion programmes may not necessarily be transferable. Factors such as teachers’ language proficiency, participants’ language backgrounds, starting age, amount of exposure, and status of languages differ between programmes. Further, while CLIL is ideally considered to employ a ‘dual-focused approach’ (Coyle, 2013, p. 245), in which both content and language aims are given priority, in practice, studies have found that the integration of content and language can be a challenge (Leung, 2005; Skinnari & Bovellan, 2016). Although content teachers often have subject expertise, they may not be trained in second language perspectives, therefore lacking an awareness of how to provide explicit support for students' language development. In many content-based programmes that aim for the acquisition of English, a high-status language, plurilingualism and ‘the significance of plurilingual competence’ (Council of Europe, 2007, p. 18) may be overlooked, as minoritised languages may be perceived by stakeholders as having less value. Therefore, although teachers may express positive views of bilingualism, this may only refer to the languages taught at the school, and not encompass students’ first languages that have low prestige (see Skinnari & Nikula, 2017). 1.1 Previous research on stakeholder beliefs in content-based approaches A number of studies have investigated stakeholder beliefs in content-based approaches at various levels of education. In a study of students’ and teachers’ views regarding EMI at a university in Indonesia, Floris (2014) found that while EMI was thought to potentially help students learn English ‘more efficiently’ (p. 52), it was also found that many students lacked sufficient proficiency in English to be able to cope with the demands of the English-medium content. This thus compromised the ’ability of students to understand lessons, to read textbooks, to prepare assignments and examinations, and to participate in classes actively’ (Floris, 2014, p. 55). Similarly, within secondary education, while studies of learner J. Toth 39 beliefs in content-based approaches have generally found that learners believe that the programmes help them to develop confidence in using the language and contribute to improved language proficiency (Coyle, 2013; Hüttner, Dalton- Puffer, & Smit, 2013), it has also been found there is a ’lack of attention to language issues in the CLIL classroom’ (Lasagabaster & Doiz, 2016, p. 122). Other studies of CLIL teacher beliefs have thus concluded that there is a need for language awareness tasks in content instruction, suggesting that teachers would benefit from such a focus in teacher training programmes and professional development (Lo, 2017; Skinnari & Bovellan, 2016). Similarly, in a study of CLIL teacher beliefs at the primary level in Finland, Bovellan (2014) found that ‘content plays the primary role in CLIL and foreign language competence, achieved while learning content, is a by-product’ (p. 173). However, learning content through an additional language involves a number of challenges. A study of stakeholders’ perspectives regarding primary school CLIL in Catalonia has found that although satisfaction with the programmes was generally high, low achievers were found to struggle with the content, and a majority of students had difficulty speaking in English (Pladevall-Ballester, 2015). Likewise, a study of a CLIL programme in Poland suggests that younger learners may not benefit from ‘learning cognitively demanding subjects through English’ (Otwinowska & Forýs, 2017, p. 476), as they may have difficulty with comprehension, vocabulary retention, and productive skills. In a study comparing CLIL and non-CLIL groups at two primary schools in Slovenia, Pizorn (2017) has found that CLIL students had comprehension difficulties with some of the activities, and cautions against ‘the assumption that foreign language proficiency will automatically improve for all students’ (p. 160). As is generally the case in other contexts, English-medium subject teachers in the Swedish context often tend to prioritise content rather than language. In a study of Swedish university physics lecturers’ attitudes about English-medium teaching, Airey (2012) found little focus on language issues among participants, and suggests that this could pose a problem for students’ development of disciplinary discourse. This concern is likewise addressed in Lim Falk's (2008) study of a CLIL class at a Swedish upper secondary school, as well as in a later study of CLIL student texts (Lim Falk, 2015). Further, in a study of CLIL student perspectives at upper secondary school, Sandberg (2017) found that content instruction delivered 100% in the target language was considered to be challenging. EMI teachers may likewise find content instruction that is 100% in English to be challenging for students, as seen in a study of EMI at two Swedish upper secondary schools (Yoxsimer Paulsrud, 2014, p. 126). Strategies allowing for the use of Swedish were thus seen as potentially relieving students’ stress (Yoxsimer Paulsrud, 2014, p. 127). While these studies have considered stakeholder beliefs in at the tertiary and upper secondary levels in Sweden, little research has addressed Swedish EMI programmes at the primary level. 1.2 Theoretical considerations and research question Content-based language learning programmes draw on theories of second language acquisition (SLA), which highlight the role of increased exposure to and interaction in the target language (see Long, 1996). For immersion programmes, several key features with implications for pedagogy and potential outcomes have been identified, such as support in the form of bilingual teachers 40 Apples – Journal of Applied Language Studies and a classroom culture which is ‘that of the community from which the students are drawn’ (Swain & Johnson, 1997, p. 8). Further, attention to the linguistic demands of such programmes requires appropriate resources in terms of materials, teacher training, and staff development (Swain & Johnson, 1997, p. 9). Explicit instructional support is required in order for learners to move beyond the conversational fluency, or basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS), that may develop through interaction, to develop cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) that is needed for academic success (Cummins, 2008). The present study takes an ecological approach as its theoretical point of departure (van Lier, 2008), examining the interrelationship between the context of the Swedish EMI programme and the actors directly involved in the programme, namely staff and students. In educational settings that involve learning an additional language, studies of classroom language ecologies may be used to explore actors’ beliefs about languages in a context (Blackledge, 2008; Cross, 2016), as well as ’to explore how social ideologies, particularly in relation to multilingualism, are created and implemented’ (Creese & Blackledge, 2010, p. 104). Within an ecological approach, the concept of affordances in the classroom environment provides a way of analysing what is perceived (and acted upon) by the actors in question. In this study, affordances as well as constraints (here conceptualised as perceived lack of affordances) are considered in relation to languages and content, as articulated by participants or observed in the context. Affordances may include practices such as pedagogical scaffolding (van Lier, 2008) or translanguaging (Creese & Blackledge, 2010), while constraints may be perceived as contextual factors that impede teaching and learning, such as communication difficulties. While structural conditions such as top-down policies generally determine the organisation of educational institutions and implementation of programmes such as EMI, ideological assumptions influence these programmes as well, as they shape stakeholders’ beliefs about languages and learning. In this study, beliefs are defined as ‘lay theories of teachers and learners and constitute the complex cluster of intuitive, subjective knowledge about the nature of language, language use and language learning, taking into account both cognitive and social dimensions, as well as cultural assumptions’ (Hüttner et al., 2013, p. 269). Within studies of teacher cognition, it has been shown that teachers’ pedagogical beliefs have been found to influence classroom practices (Borg, 2006; Bovellan, 2014; Hüttner et al., 2013), and ‘dynamic and situated beliefs among learners influence the language learning process’ (Sylvén, 2015, p. 254). By examining both teachers' and learners’ beliefs, it may be possible to shed light on assumptions about languages and content learning in the classroom context (Ellis, 2008). This case study therefore aims to explore ideological assumptions as expressed by staff and students within the context of a Swedish primary EMI programme, investigating the following question: What affordances and constraints do staff and students in the Swedish-English bilingual primary programme perceive in terms of languages and content learning in EMI? 2 Methodology This paper draws on data gathered using tools from linguistic ethnography (Copland & Creese, 2015) from a longitudinal case study of a class during J. Toth 41 Grades 4-6 in a Swedish compulsory school offering EMI. In the larger study, audio recordings of lessons (63 hours 40 minutes in total) and artefacts such as policy documents, instructional materials, and student texts were collected in addition to the data used in this study. For this study, the primary source of data was semi-structured interviews (14 hours 46 minutes in total) with 13 members of staff and 22 students, as well as fieldnotes and photographs from classroom observations that were used for triangulation. 2.1 Data collection The school was selected on a pragmatic basis, as it offered EMI in Grades 4-6 at the time of the study and the school head agreed to allow access. After the study was presented at a meeting of Grade 4 teachers, one teacher indicated interest in participating, and arrangements were made to visit the class. At this visit, students were given oral and written information about the study in Swedish and in English as well as a consent form, to be signed by them as well as their parents/guardians in accordance with guidelines for ethical research set forth by the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet, 2011). Following this, visits were made to the class during four data collection cycles, the first of which was three weeks in Grade 4. During Grade 5, the class was visited for four weeks during the fall term and twelve weeks during the spring term, the latter coinciding with a planned Science unit. The final data collection cycle in Grade 6 was for a period of three weeks. 2.2 The context The study took place in a large urban compulsory school in Sweden with a linguistically diverse student population. At this school, English and Swedish were the languages of instruction, with English as the working language of the school. All members of staff were therefore expected to be fully proficient in English in order to communicate with their international colleagues, many of which had limited proficiency in Swedish. These native English-speaking teachers, who came from countries such as Canada and Australia, were recruited to teach certain subjects in English. In these English-medium subjects, Swedish translations of keywords were usually posted in the classrooms or mentioned in lessons. Aside from keywords, there was little focus on language in the content subjects. In fact, the school did not have any particular focus on second language perspectives outside of the subject Swedish as a second language (SSL), neither in teacher recruitment nor in the school's in-service training. Rather, the school provided an English-intensive environment, exposing the students to English in content subjects as well as in English as a subject, which consisted of 240 minutes per week in Grade 4 and 180 minutes per week in Grades 5 and 6. In these lessons, much of the focus was on using English in class discussions. No particular level of proficiency in English was required of students for enrolment; however, most students had some experience with English lessons from previous schools. In addition to its English language profile, the school culture was in many ways similar to that of schools in English-majority countries. For example, the school was described as having a strict approach to behaviour management. 42 Apples – Journal of Applied Language Studies Excerpt 1. Interview in Grade 4 with Diana, a Swedish-medium teacher på nåt sätt känns det som att det är just samma kultur här i skolan som jag hade i [lärarens hemland] /.../ Här finns många motiverade elever och föräldrarna som väljer den här skolan, dom har ju syfte och baktanke, att /.../ utveckla engelska språket /.../ [så] får eleverna läsa i klassrum där finns ah regler /.../ där dom kan koncentrera <somehow it feels like it is the same school culture as the one I had in [teacher's home country] /.../ Here, there are many motivated students and the parents who choose this school, they do have the aim /.../ to develop the language. /.../ to have the students study in classrooms where there are rules /.../ where they can concentrate> (Note: Interviews were conducted in Swedish or English, according to which language participants chose; extracts from interviews in Swedish have been translated to English. See Appendix for transcription conventions.) Rules that Diana mentioned, such as prohibiting the use of mobile phones during class, were also mentioned by students as a reason that parents had chosen to enrol them at the school. Swedish staff members highlighted this stricter culture as particularly appealing as well, in that it was considered to promote a better learning environment as compared to ‘regular’ Swedish schools, which were seen as less disciplined. 2.3 Participants Thirteen members of staff agreed to participate in the study: one school leader, four teachers who taught their subjects in English (hereafter EMI teachers) and eight teachers who taught primarily through Swedish (hereafter SwMI teachers). In Grade 4, the class teacher was the SwMI teacher Erika, who taught the subjects of Social Sciences, Mathematics, and Science primarily through Swedish, while both English and Swedish were used in teaching English. In Grades 4 and 5, Erika’s SwMI colleagues Bert, Karin, and Diana taught Music, Swedish, and SSL, respectively, and the EMI teacher Sarah taught Art. For Grade 5, the class teacher was the EMI teacher Peter, who taught Mathematics, Science, and English, while the SwMI teacher Karin taught Social Sciences. In Grade 6, the EMI content teacher Ellen taught Mathematics and Science, and the EMI content teacher Mike taught English. Swedish and Social Sciences were taught by the SwMI teacher Frank, while the SwMI teacher Rana taught SSL and the SwMI teacher Barbro taught Music. All but one of the teachers taught the participating class at one point or another during the study (one SwMI teacher who taught a different class was invited by one of the SwMI teachers in the class to join an interview). Out of a total of 32 participating students (ages 10-13 during the study), 22 students from the class agreed to be interviewed. Of these, 13 students spoke other languages such as Arabic in addition to Swedish at home; however, none of the students indicated that English was their mother tongue. Some students spoke more than one of these languages at home and several were enrolled in Mother Tongues (MT), a non-compulsory subject offered after school to students who meet the qualifications (students must use the language in daily communication with a parent or guardian, and at least five students in the municipality must qualify). Most multilingual students were born in Sweden; however, a few were newly arrived (less than four years in the country). Only J. Toth 43 two multilingual students attended SSL, while the others were placed in Swedish as per their (and their parents’) wishes. At the beginning of each interview, participants could choose to be interviewed in English or Swedish. Most interviews took place in Swedish, except for the native English-speaking teachers and three students who chose English. Over the course of the study, some participants left the class and others joined it, which meant that not all of the staff and students participated all three years. Several students were initially reluctant to be interviewed, with some only agreeing to participate later in the study. Interviews with students (and staff) were therefore conducted at different stages of the study, which is indicated in the extracts included here. Questions in the staff interview guides addressed topics such as language and education backgrounds, prior teaching experience, expectations regarding bilingual instruction, and approaches to support for students, while student interview guides included questions about language backgrounds, prior schooling, and thoughts about language and content learning in the EMI programme. Interviews were audiorecorded and transcribed, and content analysis (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2011) was used to identify salient themes in the material. 3 Findings Major themes that were found are presented below in terms of affordances and constraints according to the focus of the research question. 3.1 Affordances in the EMI programme The school leader Nina explained that the school benefitted from being able to hire teachers from outside of Sweden to teach in English, as there was a shortage of qualified teachers in Sweden. Meanwhile, for EMI teachers who had recently received their teacher’s qualification, the school provided the opportunity to gain teaching experience. For the SwMI teachers, the school’s international staff allowed for an exchange of ideas and experiences between people from different cultures, as well as the opportunity to use their knowledge of English. Several participants mentioned the role of English as a global language, stating that advanced proficiency in English would facilitate students' future endeavours such as studying abroad. 3.1.1 More English Both staff and students mentioned the high level of English offered at the school. Nina explained that students were given English textbooks of a more advanced level than their peers in other schools, and the school also offered an 'Advanced English' group after school in which students could further develop their oral skills. In addition to the increased exposure to English, there were also many opportunities for interaction in English, as the SwMI teacher Erika explained below: Excerpt 2. Interview in Grade 4 with Erika, a SwMI teacher så jag försöker få in engelska ord, bara så att dom utsätts för ord hela tiden /.../ I femman tvingas dom å använda det när dom har helt engelskspråkiga lärare /.../ Det blir ju mer naturligt för dom att prata engelska, jag tror, när dom verkligen får en engelskspråkig lärare 44 Apples – Journal of Applied Language Studies <so I try to get in English words, just so they are exposed to words the whole time /.../ In fifth grade they are forced to use it when they have teachers who speak only English /.../ It becomes more natural for them to speak English, I think, when they really get an English-speaking teacher> Erika's colleague Bert, a SwMI teacher, echoed this sentiment, stating that although students got English in ‘regular’ schools, he did not feel that they got it in a natural way there. Students also felt that they were learning more English than they had in their previous schools, as there was less use of Swedish in English classes taught by native English-speaking teachers. One student, Nea, explained it in terms of hearing and speaking more English: Excerpt 3. Interview in Grade 6 with Nea, a student man lär sig mycket mera engelska, om man vill liksom kunna bra engelska /.../ för att man pratar engelska, typ ganska mycket /.../ och man hör engelska hela tiden <you learn a lot more English, if you like want to know good English /.../ because you speak English, like pretty much /.../ and you hear English all the time> Another student, Tanja, stated that she had surpassed a friend at her former school in terms of English proficiency thanks to the EMI programme. Likewise, the SwMI teacher Barbro mentioned a former student who, after changing to a different school, had achieved the highest grade in English without any effort. While students and staff alike saw the increased exposure to English as beneficial to students' language learning, the SwMI teachers expressed the belief that being forced to use the language with the native English-speaking teachers developed students' speaking skills. As Erica pointed out, while students could revert to using Swedish with Swedish-speaking teachers such as herself, this was not an option with the English-speaking teachers who did not know Swedish. Mike, one of the EMI teachers, believed that using a language was the best way to learn it, describing his own previous experiences of being forced to use another language to communicate when living abroad. Sarah, an EMI Art teacher, explained that students had ‘no choice but to try to communicate’ with her in English. This interaction with the EMI teachers thus provided a linguistic environment that was believed to promote language development (Long, 1996). 3.1.2 Swedish as a means of support Although English was the language of instruction in Science and Mathematics in Grades 5 and 6, the use of Swedish in peer interaction provided support for students who struggled with English, as more proficient students could facilitate communication with the English-speaking teachers. For example, when explanations of difficult concepts were not understood by some of the students, the EMI teacher Ellen explained that she recruited help from their classmates: ’I try to get a friend of theirs to explain it to them in Swedish’. EMI teachers were thus afforded the opportunity to draw on some students’ bilingual competence in Swedish and English for clarification purposes in subjects such as Science (see Toth & Paulsrud, 2017), as well as to encourage participation from less proficient J. Toth 45 students. Likwise, the SSL teacher Rana encouraged students to make connections between Swedish and their mother tongues, as she believed in demonstrating the value of the students’ full range of linguistic resources. 3.2 Constraints in the EMI programme While students’ use of Swedish in English-medium subjects was generally perceived as a resource in solving communication problems, this was not the case for all EMI teachers. For example, during a Grade 5 Art lesson with the EMI teacher Sarah, some students chose to discuss the assignment in Swedish amongst themselves, rather than asking Sarah for clarification of her instructions for an assignment. However, they were reprimanded for their use of Swedish in Sarah’s class, as described below: Excerpt 4. Fieldnotes When students are heard speaking Swedish, Sarah [EMI teacher] reminds them, ‘English please, boys and girls. Maybe you’ve forgotten in the weeks we haven’t seen each other, we speak English in Art class. We speak it to each other and we speak it to me.’ Students resume working silently. The students were thus silenced, their utterances limited to mostly whispered requests and responses in Swedish to their classmates. 3.2.1 Communication and comprehension difficulties In addition to the English-only policy in Art, other communication difficulties arose due to some EMI teachers’ limited knowledge of Swedish. The SwMI teacher Frank explained that he and his Swedish-speaking colleagues occasionally had to aid the English-speaking staff in providing information to students and parents in Swedish. Excerpt 5. Interview in Grade 6 with Frank, a SwMI teacher jag får ju många gånger, ge dom, egentligen såna här frågor som dom borde få från sina egna mentorer, men då får jag ta det på svenska, som 'här är det som gäller för veckan, det är det här som ni ska veta nu' /.../ ibland vid utvecklingssamtal så får man ställa upp som svensk lärare, å sitta med som tolk, bara för att tolka från engelska till svenska till föräldrarna /.../ Vi som svenska lärare, vi ser ju på ett annat sätt, i och med hur vi själva är uppfostrade i svensk skola, mot dom engelska lärarna som kommer utifrån, från dom engelska skolsystem <I often have to give them [the students] these kind of questions that they should get from their own mentors, but then I have to take it in Swedish, like 'Here is what is going on this week, this is what you need to know now' /.../ sometimes at development talks you have to help out as a Swedish teacher, and be along as a translator, just to translate from English to Swedish for the parents /.../ As Swedish teachers, we see things differently, as we ourselves were raised in the Swedish school system, compared to the English teachers who come from outside, from the English school systems> Frank mentioned that students also turned to him for help with various social issues, as they preferred to discuss these issues in Swedish rather than using English with EMI teachers. 52 Apples – Journal of Applied Language Studies Lasagabaster, D., & Doiz, A. 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Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. 54 Apples – Journal of Applied Language Studies Appendix 1. Transcription key. /…/ text text = text has been deleted = word or utterance in English = word or utterance in Swedish <text> [text] TEXT = English translation of utterance = added information about what is happening (not speech) = emphasised word or utterance … = pause or trailing off of speech Received April 18, 2018 Revision received September 3, 2018 Accepted September 6, 2018