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Globalization has led to English being the leading language of communication providing opportunities for pupils to develop their English proficiency in different contexts. In this study, teachers’ language choices in the EFL classroom are being observed and the reasons behind them are being discussed during the following interviews. The study aims to increase our understanding of what role the English language as the primary teaching language should have in the EFL classroom at Swedish lower secondary schools to benefit pupils’ language learning in the best way possible. Four teachers, that are teaching at two different lower-secondary schools in southern Sweden participated in the study. In total four classroom observations were conducted followed by four semi-structured teacher interviews. The results found during observations and interviews were then connected to the theories of Language Mode, Translanguaging and Codeswitching. The results of the observations showed a slight difference in the use of English and Swedish during teaching. This study concludes that there is a slight variation in what role the English language has in the four observed classrooms. However, the contexts in which it was used were all coherent. Furthermore, the use of Swedish also showed a slight variation but was explained to be used as a tool for explaining, clarifying and ensuring understanding. Finally, the use of translanguaging practices was believed to have a positive effect on pupils’ learning outcomes although a slight difference was shown here as well.

In this study, pupils’ use of digital tools for learning vocabulary is compared to the use of a traditional way of learning vocabulary from a list in a book. The goal of the study is to find out if digital tools are more efficient than using vocabulary lists, when learning new words. Furthermore, this study investigates how the use of words in a context affects learning. The 40 pupils who took part in this study are learning German in the ninth grade in two different schools in the southern part of Sweden. Three vocabulary tests were conducted within four weeks. During the experiment the pupils were divided into two groups, where one used digital learning tools and the other ordinary vocabulary lists. The results in the first test did not differ much between the groups. The second test on the other hand shows a difference where many in the digital group got better results whereas several in the traditional group got lower results. In the third test both groups showed better results in the vocabulary test. The conclusion of this study is that there is no big difference between the use of digital learning tools and a traditional vocabulary list when it comes to learning new words. However, the use of words in sentences was seen to have an effect on the words that pupils remembered best. In this study, the pupils were also asked to fill in a questionnaire. This study also shows that a combination of traditional and digital learning is preferred by the pupils.