Translanguaging in the English Classroom in Sweden – Friend or Foe?

Sammanfattning: To be able to communicate properly in English, it is necessary to develop one’s all-around communicative abilities, consequently becoming a part of an expanding world where English is the lingua franca. Previous reports have shown that too much Swedish is spoken during English lessons in school (Skolinspektionen, 2011). Therefore, this study set out to investigate teachers’ perceptions and use of translanguaging in English language teaching. The study employed a qualitative approach to collect data from conducting semi-structured interviews with four certified 7-9 English teachers and one certified upper secondary teacher in Sweden. The teachers were asked questions about their beliefs, practices, and the reasons why translanguaging occurred in their classrooms. The results of this study were consistent with previous research regarding translanguaging practices in the English classroom. The results showed the perceived amount of teachers’ use of translanguaging in the English classroom to be relatively small. The specific points during a lesson when translanguaging occurred are when the teachers repeated instructions, provided clarification, and maintained discipline. In addition, the results showed that less proficient pupils in English are those who needed to use to translanguaging the most, in combination with insecure pupils and less motivated pupils despite their high proficiency.