Framing English learning at the intersection of school and out-of-school practices

From an early age Swedish students typically use and learn English as a second language in out-of-school contexts, for example when watching TV and video clips and playing computer games online. This is an important premise for learning English in school. It is hence of interest to understand relations between learning in and out of school, especially considering the digitalization of Swedish schools and new media technologies becoming available for all students. This study aims at describing students’ accounts of learning English in out-of-school contexts and their reasoning of how this learning relates to learning English in school. The data consists of interviews with 47 eleven-year-olds. Goffman’s concept of framing is used as an analytic tool. The results are presented in terms of two dimensions of reasoning; Accepted and Non-Accepted Language Learning Environments and Language Learning as Intention or Side-Effect. Results on what environments students regard as important for learning English are also reported

Framing English learning at the intersection of school and out-of-school practices

From an early age Swedish students typically use and learn English as a second language in out-of-school contexts, for example when watching TV and video clips and playing computer games online. This is an important premise for learning English in school. It is hence of interest to understand relations between learning in and out of school, especially considering the digitalization of Swedish schools and new media technologies becoming available for all students. This study aims at describing students’ accounts of learning English in out-of-school contexts and their reasoning of how this learning relates to learning English in school. The data consists of interviews with 47 eleven-year-olds. Goffman’s concept of framing is used as an analytic tool. The results are presented in terms of two dimensions of reasoning; Accepted and Non-Accepted Language Learning Environments and Language Learning as Intention or Side-Effect. Results on what environments students regard as important for learning English are also reported

Swedish teachers’ views on the use of personalised learning technologies for teaching children reading in the English classroom

The present study aims to understand Swedish primary school teachers’; views on a prospective system for children’s personalised reading skill development in the English classroom. This study was performed within the context of a larger EU funded project called iRead. This project aims to develop personalised learning technologies for reading. Understanding the context in which such technologies are aimed to be embedded is important if we want them to be adopted and used successfully by teachers. We address this question through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 11 primary school teachers. Our analysis shows that Swedish teachers experience large competence differences in English between children. The teachers consider personalised learning technologies a promising way to mitigate these differences. However, they also acknowledge that the Swedish curricular focus on communication, seen as mainly acquired through human-to-human dialogue, does not match the fundamental idea behind many personalised learning technologies. Based on these findings we discuss the potential and problems when aiming to introduce personalised learning technologies for learning English in Swedish schools. Keywords EFL (English as a Foreign Language)ESL (English as a Second Language)SwedenDigital technologiesTeachersPersonalised learnin

En elev en dator i grundskolans tidigare år : En analys av didaktiska förhållningssätt utifrån perspektiv pålärarens ledarskap, texter och textpraktiker, samt språklärande

The project presented in this report concerns teaching and practices in one-to-one computer projects in primary school from the perspectives of teacher leadership, texts and text practices, and language learning. The aim of this project was not to study the implementation of the computers as investigated by many before. The focus was rather on classes where the technology had been used for some time. The teaching in four classes in year 3 and 5 at a school in western Sweden was observed by three researchers with the purpose of finding out what role the teacher assumes and what space the students get, whether the text repertoire widens and the text practices become more varied or different, whether the computer becomes a communication or production instrument for language learning. Recurring participant observations in the classes were made during one term in years 3 and 5. The students in year 3 were also followed during one term in year 4. Semi-structured interviews were conducted about the informants’ experiences of the work with computers. The analyses concern the daily access to a computer in the classes in conjunction with the traditional learning activities, resources and forms of representation in the teaching, as well as the forms of collaboration visible in the classroom. We summarize the conclusions from years 3 and 5 as: Motivated students and teachers – it was fun to work with computers. Development of digital competencies – the teachers stimulated the students to learn skills that gradually built up their knowledge regarding their IT competency. Enriched working methods – the students were offered both digital and more traditional resources and produced presentations, films and animations in which pure text was accompanied by modalities such as pictures and sound. Printed sources dominated – online text sources were not regarded as being as good or easy to find, the students mainly sought and fetched pictures from the Internet. Somewhat widened text repertoire – communicative texts appeared alongside narrative and expository texts in year 3. Narrative and expository texts dominated in year 5. The students used other text types and modalities – activities initiated by students offtask involved other texts and presentation forms, often based on pictures, film or sound, communication and took place more online. Individual and collaborative work in year 3, while having your own computer in year 5 meant individual work. More teacher-controlled than student-controlled classroom work – the teacher decided what to do and how to do it and the majority of tasks presupposed that all students did the same thing. Unclear balance between teaching content and technology – the technology was in focus and the teaching objectives were less clear. The transition for the year 3 students to year 4 resulted in an implementation of a more individualized instruction with less challenges for development and creativity. The activities mainly concerned writing, gathering of facts or practicing English. The teachers owned the technology and the students did not get to express their digital experience

En elev en dator i grundskolans tidigare år : En analys av didaktiska förhållningssätt utifrån perspektiv pålärarens ledarskap, texter och textpraktiker, samt språklärande

The project presented in this report concerns teaching and practices in one-to-one computer projects in primary school from the perspectives of teacher leadership, texts and text practices, and language learning. The aim of this project was not to study the implementation of the computers as investigated by many before. The focus was rather on classes where the technology had been used for some time. The teaching in four classes in year 3 and 5 at a school in western Sweden was observed by three researchers with the purpose of finding out what role the teacher assumes and what space the students get, whether the text repertoire widens and the text practices become more varied or different, whether the computer becomes a communication or production instrument for language learning. Recurring participant observations in the classes were made during one term in years 3 and 5. The students in year 3 were also followed during one term in year 4. Semi-structured interviews were conducted about the informants’ experiences of the work with computers. The analyses concern the daily access to a computer in the classes in conjunction with the traditional learning activities, resources and forms of representation in the teaching, as well as the forms of collaboration visible in the classroom. We summarize the conclusions from years 3 and 5 as: Motivated students and teachers – it was fun to work with computers. Development of digital competencies – the teachers stimulated the students to learn skills that gradually built up their knowledge regarding their IT competency. Enriched working methods – the students were offered both digital and more traditional resources and produced presentations, films and animations in which pure text was accompanied by modalities such as pictures and sound. Printed sources dominated – online text sources were not regarded as being as good or easy to find, the students mainly sought and fetched pictures from the Internet. Somewhat widened text repertoire – communicative texts appeared alongside narrative and expository texts in year 3. Narrative and expository texts dominated in year 5. The students used other text types and modalities – activities initiated by students offtask involved other texts and presentation forms, often based on pictures, film or sound, communication and took place more online. Individual and collaborative work in year 3, while having your own computer in year 5 meant individual work. More teacher-controlled than student-controlled classroom work – the teacher decided what to do and how to do it and the majority of tasks presupposed that all students did the same thing. Unclear balance between teaching content and technology – the technology was in focus and the teaching objectives were less clear. The transition for the year 3 students to year 4 resulted in an implementation of a more individualized instruction with less challenges for development and creativity. The activities mainly concerned writing, gathering of facts or practicing English. The teachers owned the technology and the students did not get to express their digital experience