Do they understand?

Sammanfattning: The aim of this paper is to investigate students’ understanding of the learning requirements for grade E in English in year 9 at a secondary school in the south of Sweden. Additionally, the student’s teacher is also interviewed to provide a context and setting for the study. The student data was conducted using open-ended questionnaires while the teacher was interviewed using a semi-structured qualitative approach. In their responses to the questionnaire, the students showed different degrees of understanding of parts of the syllabus. Some students were able to answer all questions and were capable to express themselves, however some students did not answer all the questions. Furthermore, a majority of the students felt that the language in the syllabus was difficult to understand. The teacher believed that the language in Lgr11 makes it difficult for students to understand the text. Additionally, she believed that the language is difficult even for teachers.