Foreign language learning and teaching have become very important in the last decades. Oral communication is said to be one of the most important parts in language learning, which is reflected in the Swedish curriculum for the compulsory school system and the syllabus for foreign languages.

Despite the fact that teachers have expressed the significance of being able to communicate orally when we are learning a new language, there is a tendency among the students to useit limitedly in the classroom. The aim of this study is to investigate to what degree Spanish teachers use the language in the classroom, and in the case the language is used to low extent, what are the reasons for this. For that matter these are our questions at issue: What is the language that dominates in Spanish classes? Why does one language dominate and not the other? Is there any relationship between the frequency of use of Spanish during the lessons and the teachers' mother tongue? Is the European Language Portfolio taken into consideration when teaching Spanish?

The results show that the dominant language in Spanish classes is Swedish, which could be directly related to the limited knowledge od Spanish among the students, and the insecurity some teachers have when it comes to their own knowledge and lack of proficiency in the language. On the other hand, the teachers' mother tongue does not have any influence on whether or not Spanish is used frequently during the lessons. Finally, we can also conclude that the European Language Portfolio is not taken into consideration when teaching the language.