" Out of the box": A study on a school's international exchanges and the role of English in relation to them

• Main Author: Wales, Ida
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Malmö högskola, Lärarutbildningen (LUT) 2012
• Subjects: EIL; Exchange programs; Internationalization; Role of English; Social Sciences; Samhällsvetenskap
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-32831

This paper has two main focuses. It aims to investigate the role of English in relation to short term international exchanges in a secondary school in the south of Sweden and also discusses the reflections of the outcomes of a number of participating students and teachers. The data were collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews. The results indicate that the role of English is fundamental to the internationalization process and as the language of communication and the common language on the exchanges. Furthermore, English is seen as key in the implementation of internationalization in the education at the school. Both the interviewed staff and students reflected on communication problems when away and how they dealt with them through language strategies. Moreover, the data revealed that the reflections from the outcomes of the exchanges were centered round two aspects: the student’s development of their communicative English and the social aspect. The interviewed teachers and students discussed the fact that the short term exchanges provided new learning opportunities through the out-of school context. In addition, a possibility for further research within the area is proposed as a result of the data collection and based on the gap in the research concerning compulsory schools’ internationalization process.