Swedish teachers’ attitudes, beliefs and knowledge on multilingualism: a qualitative study
2019 (English)In: International Symposium on Bilingualism 12, ISB12, The Next Generation: June 23-28, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Conference Program, University of Alberta , 2019, p. 206-207Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
Pre-primary and primary educational settings are changing because of increased mobility, with the resulting classroom heterogeneity posing immense challenges to teachers. Teachers’ attitudes, beliefs and knowledge (ABK) of multilingualism are critical factors in efforts to provide inclusive education for all children. This is corroborated by Borg’s (2003, 2006) discussion of teacher cognition, which addresses the interplay between teachers’ ABK and the pedagogical and language developing practices in schools and classrooms. Four major factors have been identified to interactively shape and be shaped by teacher cognition: teachers’ own schooling experience, teacher education, contextual factors such as the organization of education, and classroom practices. Against this theoretical backdrop, our study investigates Swedish teachers’ attitudes, beliefs and knowledge on multilingualism, an issue of heightened importance in the nation’s current context.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with pre-primary and primary teachers from varied school demographics in Sweden. These interviews form part of the first data collection phase of a larger international project, which aims at studying what shapes teachers’ ABK on multilingualism across countries. Interview data collection in four Swedish regions (Dalarna, Småland, Stockholm, Värmland) were transcribed and analysed in Atlas.ti using appraisal theory (Martin & White, 2005; White 2015). Results indicate that teachers have positive attitudes and beliefs towards multilingualism. Yet, while educational advantages of mastering more than one language and students’ traditions are highlighted, greater issues of students’ identity appear to play a minor role in teachers’ perspectives. In the school context, Swedish is seen as more important than students’ additional languages, which are often merely seen as an added value not directly relevant to the daily activities in the Swedish school system. Moreover, the findings point to a need for more extensive pre-service teacher education and professional development of teachers, on multilingualism more generally, and on related classroom practices more specifically.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
University of Alberta , 2019. p. 206-207
National Category
General Language Studies and Linguistics
Research subject
Humanities, Linguistics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-93334OAI: oai:DiVA.org:lnu-93334DiVA, id: diva2:1422760
Conference
International Symposium on Bilingualism 12, ISB12, The Next Generation. June 23-28, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Conference Program
2020-04-082020-04-082020-04-09Bibliographically approved