Learner responsibility in the English classroom

Sammanfattning: This paper is the result of a case study of learner responsibility in English language teaching at an upper secondary school. With the implementation of Gy11, the new curriculum for the upper secondary school in Sweden, learner responsibility has been introduced as an obligatory goal. However, in the steering documents the concept is not clearly defined. As a result the implementation of learner responsibility is dependent on the interpretation done by the schools. The purpose of this project was to explore how some students, teachers and head teachers perceive learner responsibility in relation to teaching and learning. The empirical study consists of observations and interviews with two head teachers, two teachers and eight students. Our results show that both students and teachers are happy with the opportunities for learner responsibility provided.Furthermore, they highlight it as something important. Both the head teachers and theteachers emphasise the importance to view the implementation of learner responsibility as an on-going process which the teachers are responsible for. In addition the students express that they are more motivated in their English studies as a result of being allowed more influence over their learning process. Lastly, the head teachers highlightmotivation and understanding as key factors for learner responsibility.