"Det blir inte naturligt" : Lärares uppfattningar om att undervisa på målspråket i ämnet moderna språk

Sammanfattning: This phenomenographic study investigate teachers’ beliefs regarding the use of target language in the foreign language classroom in Sweden. Through semi-structured interviews with three primary school teachers of Spanish and French, the study aims to find out to what extent and in what way the teachers use target language. It also explores the challenges they experience and the opportunities they see with teaching in the target language. The results show that the teachers are positive towards a high amount of target language in the classroom as it offers the pupils important input,and they use strategies such as pictures and body language to facilitate the comprehension. However, they do not teach in the target language as much as they would like. Some of the challenges they mention are negative reactions received by pupils, their own linguistic constraints, and external circumstances, such as lack of time, mood, and tiredness. The present study indicates that tools, knowledge, and collaboration are required to make target language use easier for foreign language teachers.