Is English in Swedish upper-secondary school different for students in different programs?

• Main Author: Tennö, Beatrice
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för kultur och kommunikation 2006
• Subjects: English; practical programs; theoretical programs; upper-secondary school; second-language acquisition.; Specific Languages; Studier av enskilda språk
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-359

My aim with this paper is to see whether there are any differences, when it comes to learning English, between students in practical and theoretical programs at upper secondary school in Sweden. I have looked at what differences there are when the students begin the programs and how the English A course differs in material, the students’ influence on their own studies and the atmosphere in the classrooms. Earlier studies have shown that adolescents from the lower social classes more often choose a practical program while students from higher social classes tend to choose a theoretical program. The students’ grades from lower-secondary school have an influence on the choice of program as well. Those with low grades from elementary school frequently choose a practical program whereas students with better grades more often choose a theoretical program. Though in my study, the students’ former grades did not differ that much. Further, studies have shown that students who would like to learn languages are divided into two types. The students are either so-called instrumental or integrative learners. My study showed that integrative exercises are used more often than instrumental exercises in upper-secondary school. Unfortunately, there are also some students that do not want to learn a second language at all and such students are in almost every class but they can be found more often in practical courses. To conclude, I found out in my study that there were differences between the courses in theoretical and practical programs. The differences affected the students in a way that made it easier to achieve a better grade in English in a theoretical program.