Nyanlända elever möter ordinarie engelskundervisning : En studie om lärarnas syn på arbetssätt och individanpassning

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to highlight some of the difficulties that newly arrived pupils can encounter during their ordinary tuition when it comes to learning the English language, and to look at what strategies and processes teachers may use in order to individualize their work for these students. The study should be viewed from a teacher perspective and thus focuses on problems that teachers can perceive and how they try to confront them. In today’s multicultural society, where many of the newly arrived students learn English in ordinary classes, it is very important to reveal the problems that can occur and show different ways of how to solve them. My focus has been on strategy and work routine, but I have also looked at other factors such as access to various aids and resources. The study has taken place in two different schools and includes three teachers. The number of newly arrived pupils has varied from class to class as well as their level of knowledge in English. There are students that already are familiar with the English language as well as students for whom the English language is something completely new. Regardless of their English skills one problem remains for both groups: the Swedish language is something that they have never come across before. If it is not possible to have a review in Swedish or when you divide vocabulary that is translated into Swedish only, how will the teacher adapt his teaching? The methods used to collect the empirical material are based on observations during class and interviews with the teachers as well as questionnaires. Results show that reviews in Swedish alone are very hard and to detect the actual knowledge level of the newly arrived students can be very problematic since they cannot participate in any written tests or exams like the other students. The use of body language and slideshows are methods that are being used by all the three teachers in the study. Differences in resources between the two schools are enormous and that alone has a great impact on how the teachers conduct their work. Directives from each municipality look very different which in turn affects the knowledge the teachers get regarding the newly arrived students’ previous school experiences. The importance of equality and customization by considering the newly arrived students’ cultural background and mother tongue can clearly be seen in the teachers’ way of working.