Teacher Beliefs on using Swedish in the Teaching of English

Sammanfattning: This essay examines three different English teachers’ beliefs on using Swedish in their teaching. Through interviews it is uncovered what they think of the benefits and drawbacks of using Swedish in the teaching. They also approximate how much Swedish they use in the classroom and for what reasons. The teachers also interpret what the steering documents say on this subject and connect it to their own practice. The results show three very different attitudes towards the use of Swedish. One teacher reports almost never using it, whereas the other two report using it around 20 percent of their lessons. The teacher that reported almost never using Swedish used it only for translation of single words and this occurred very rarely. The two teachers that reported using the Swedish language more in their teaching had different main purposes with it. One teacher reported using it to bond with the students, and the other one reported using it to secure the students’ comprehension. The results of the interviews also indicated that what the steering documents say on this subject are both somewhat contradictory but also very much open for interpretation. The essay concludes with implications for further research such as what the students with other mother tongues think of the inclusion of Swedish in the English teaching.