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This paper draws from a collaborative project in which we piloted a Critical Multilingual Language Awareness approach (CMLA) in a preparatory class for recently arrived secondary school students in Sweden. We adapted material on Language Awareness from We Are Multilingual (https://www.wamcam.org). This adapted approach followed the five principles of educational design for multilingual learners, which also relate to cognitive, performative, affective, social and power domains of Language Awareness. Data consist of audio- and video-recorded interactions from classroom observations, student/teacher interviews, and teaching/student-produced material. With a process-oriented focus, we discuss student participation in this co-learning design as contingent upon practices of curiosity. A focus is also on the co-learning process through reflection on activity, and how cultivating new ways of listening, involving multilingual study mentoring, may spur linguistic participation.

This paper explores the role of collaborative teacher agency in facilitating translingual adjustments in a linguistically diverse primary school in Sweden. We focus on three multicompetent language teachers, who taught minoritized languages in the marginalized Mother Tongue (MT) subject, Modern Languages, and offered Multilingual Study Mentoring. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, including teacher interviews and fieldnotes from everyday MT practices and preparations for an annual musical performance, we investigated how the teachers adjusted to the students’ multilingual repertoires through relational agency and distributed expertise (Edwards, A. 2011. Building common knowledge at the boundaries between professional practices: Relational agency and relational expertise in systems of distributed expertise. International Journal of Educational Research 50(1). 33–39). These adjustments affected the offered language provisions beyond what was required, based on students’ linguistic competencies and parental involvement. Didactic adjustments also afforded migrant students literary experiences that starkly contrasted with the limited literacy content in beginner courses in Swedish. These “responsive professional actions” (Edwards, A. 2011. Building common knowledge at the boundaries between professional practices: Relational agency and relational expertise in systems of distributed expertise. International Journal of Educational Research 50(1). 33–39, p. 39) thus impacted on the students’ opportunities for multilingual development, expanded language registers, including verbal art, and linguistic inclusion. Through these actions, language was reformulated as asset, and we find that an ethics of care (Watkins, M. 2011. Teachers’ tears and the affective geography of the classroom. Emotion, Space and Society 4(3). 137–143) was closely intertwined with this relational agency. The findings contribute new knowledge on the role of collaborative teacher agency in diverse settings also of relevance to other national contexts.

This study emerged from the abrupt shift to online distance teaching due to the Covid-19 pandemic and reports of Mother Tongue Instruction (MTI) in Sweden, where online distance teaching was initially introduced in MTI only. In Sweden, MTI is offered to students whose parents/caregivers speak languages other than Swedish on a daily basis in the home. The focus is on how agentive space, as a body-space relationship, was created by students in a 9(th) grade class (ages 15-16 years) studying English MTI, in relation to both space and educational discourse. Despite the prescribed online distance teaching, many of the students collaboratively chose to assemble in a physical classroom without a supervisor on site. How the students created a new learning frame through their actions is discussed on the basis of video-recorded lessons, and two students' reflective follow-up talks. In this new - and in many respects difficult - learning space, educational discourse and educational ground rules were upheld through collaborative agency, which also facilitated expressions of identity and emotional space among the students. It is worth exploring further how schools can more efficiently draw on students' agency for language learning in similar and different contexts.

Focusing on the narrations of Omid – a Mother Tongue (MT) teacher of Arabic in a Swedish primary school – we analyze discursive constructions of Sweden, multilingualism and MT instruction in interview data and fieldnotes from parenting courses aimed at migrant parents. Omid constructed a performed role model – based in success stories – and a shared transnational identity with the function, we argue, of presenting an exemplum, and building trust and hope among parents in forced migration. This was evident in narrated alignment with the parents and claimed professional membership. The didactic narrations encompassed ideological space for multilingualism, and, we argue, both addressed and defused discourses on MT as a hindrance to integration through recurrent praise of Sweden and Swedish language learning.

Through the study of pedagogic discourse and practice in introductory classes (ICs) aimed at new migrant students at a linguistically diverse primary school in Sweden, we discuss pedagogic principl...

Drawing from an ethnographic project on the subject of Swedish as a second language (SSL1) in three linguistically diverse upper secondary schools, the aim of this study was to investigate how thre ...

This paper builds on a collaborative pilot project on Critical Multilingual Language Awareness (CMLA) in a linguistically diverse Preparatory Class with migrant adolescents in Sweden. Importantly, the approach involved Multilingual Study Mentors (MSMs), whose role normally is to provide scaffolding in the strongest language of recently arrived students to facilitate learning in the language of instruction. Previous research has shown that MSMs are left at the margins of education. This paper explores some of the many audio-recorded conversations on multilingualism between the six MSMs and the students as scenarios of possibility (Heath, S. B. 2000. “Seeing Our Way into Learning.” Cambridge Journal of Education 30 (1): 121–132. doi:10.1080/03057640050005816), facilitated by the MSMs' widened epistemic authority and invested symbolic self (Kramsch, C. 2011. “The Symbolic Dimensions of the Intercultural.” Language Teaching 44 (3): 354–367. doi:10.1017/s0261444810000431). Through their careful positionings and personal involvement, students were encouraged to engage in various themes on multilingualism via co-learning processes and translingual practices, beyond the mere display of accurate and efficient communication in the majority language, hence, moving towards increased student participation. These findings demonstrate the potential MSMs – or possibly other community members – have to shape co-learning that is of importance to CMLA.

This article focuses on language education policy for language learners in Sweden by building on a synthesis of findings from a research project on the school subject Swedish as a second language (SSL). The project was located in three upper secondary schools and one primary school with a large proportion of migrant students, of whom a majority studied SSL. We present previously published core findings, as well as revisit data for new analyses. The overarching aim is to contribute new knowledge on the complexities of arranging for sustainable, equitable and high-quality language educational provisions that include the teaching and learning of the language of schooling, through the lens of SSL. First, we outline and discuss the relatively unique design of SSL and discourses surrounding the subject, and also make some international comparisons with English as an Additional Language. Secondly, we discuss the role of pedagogical scaffolding of advanced literacy and literary content, and of multilingual aspects in SSL, as well as examine policy frictions in the data. We conclude by reflecting on the role of teacher competences and research methodology. Researching a second language subject is to stand in the crossroad of macro policy, the theory and practice of language education, and equity. All these aspects need to be considered to reach sustainable educational goals.

Utifrån en kritisk diskursanalytisk lins undersöker föreliggande studie hur fem flerspråkiga lärare i grundskolans tidiga år diskursivt positionerar sin egen flerspråkighet och i förhållande till undervisning, elever, kollegor och vårdnadshavare. Syftet är att bidra med ny kunskap om vilken betydelse lärares flerspråkighet kan ha i undervisningssammanhang i skolans tidiga år. Med en etnografisk ansats genomfördes deltagande observationer i två grundskolor med hög andel flerspråkiga elever (ålder 7–12 år) och lärare. Data består av transkriberade intervjusamtal med de fem flerspråkiga lärarna och fältanteckningar från deras undervisning. Resultaten visar hur lärarnas diskursiva positionering av sin flerspråkighet och av flerspråkig användning tog sig olika uttryck, som rättighet och resurs såväl som problem (Ruíz, 1984). Lärarnas flerspråkiga policy uppfattades ha särskilt stor betydelse i förhållande till vårdnadshavare även om det också fanns uttryck för ambivalens, t.ex. i positionering av språklig behärskning av svenska och andra språk. Negativa upplevelser fanns av att bli positionerad som icke-legitim talare av svenska, jämte uttryck för en mer dynamisk syn på språk och identitet hos några av lärarna. Trots lärarnas legitimering (Van Leeuwen,2007) av en flerspråkighetspolicy lokalt (Bonacina-Pugh, 2020) utmanades inte svenska som undervisningsspråk i stort, vilket t.ex. var märkbart i uttryckta gränser för användning av andra språk än svenska. Fler liknande fallstudier i ordinarie undervisning i skolans tidiga år behövs, då elever socialiseras in i skolans språkliga register, för ytterligare kunskap om hur flerspråkiga praktiker kan ta sig uttryck, var gränserna går och deras betydelse i dagens heterogena klassrum. Through an analytic lens of critical discourse, this study investigates how five multilingual primary school teachers discursively position their own multilingualism in relation to their instruction, pupils, colleagues and caregivers. The aim is to contribute new knowledge on the possible significance of teachers’ multilingualism in the early school years. Through an ethnographic approach, participant observations were carried out in two schools with a large proportion of multilingual pupils (ages 7–12 years) and teachers. Data comprise transcriptions from interviews with the teachers and field notes from their instruction. The teachers discursively positioned their multilingualism and multilingual practices as a right, a resource, and a problem (Ruíz, 1984). Teachers perceived the multilingual policy to be particularly important in contact with caregivers, although there were also expressions of ambivalence regarding matters such as the positioning of language proficiency levels of Swedish and other languages. The result included some negative experiences of being positioned by others as non-legitimate speakers of Swedish alongside expressions of a more dynamic view on language and identity among some teachers. Despite expressions of a legitimized (Van Leeuwen,2007) multilingual policy locally (Bonacina-Pugh, 2020), Swedish as the medium of instruction remained unchallenged, as notable in expressed boundaries regarding the use of languages other than Swedish. Similar studies are needed within mainstream classes in the early school years, where pupils are socialized into the school’s language registers, to gain more knowledge on how multilingual practices are expressed, where the boundaries are and their significance in contemporary diverse classrooms.

Reading the contributions to this special issue, it is striking how little research has hitherto been conducted on qur’anic schooling and Qur’an faith literacy practices in Scandinavia, despite it being well-known that the Qur’an schools constitute important religious and social meeting points for many Muslim faith members (e.g., Risenfors, Gurdal, & Sorbring 2011). In all of the Scandinavian countries, numerous children and adolescents regularly attend qur’anic schooling from a very young age. As argued by Day and Rogaly (2014), shared Islamic faith literacy practices and participation in qur’anic schooling thus contribute to creating a sense of social belonging and coherence for many faith members. Despite this being the case, we still know very little about faith members’ lived experiences of qur’anic schooling. This lack of attention in the research seems to be a global rather than a local phenomenon. For example, Moore (2011) claims that qur’anic schooling is “[o]ne of the least-studied and most poorly understood educational institutions in today's world.” Consequently, all of the papers in this special issue make a valuable contribution in widening the research focus, and in counteracting the invisibilization of qur’anic schooling and faith literacy in the research.

This paper targets the aim of ‘strengthening the students’ multilingualism’ in a second language subject in Sweden, Swedish as a second language (SSL), which represents a relatively rare L2...

The legitimacy of the mother tongue subject in a changing political landscape: An analysis of Swedish parliamentary debate in the twenty-tens. This paper highlights and discusses the arguments in favor of, or against Mother Tongue Instruction (MTI) in Swedish parliamentary debate between 2010 and 2020. New to this decade is the entrance of yet another nationalist and populist party with the abolishment of MTI on its political agenda. Building on a critical discourse analytical frame and argumentation analysis, we discuss this party’s rhetoric on MTI – based in an Othering discourse and the construction of MTI as a path to alienation – and the parliamentary counter-voices. The latter mainly concern the role of MTI for development of Swedish and learning in other school subjects, implying that MTI in its own right is subordinated. We argue that this counter-discourse represents a shift in how MTI is legitimized – and in fact plays into assimilationists’ hands – compared to the pluralistic ideology that initially made way for MTI. The importance of scrutinizing political rhetoric is stressed to anticipate political action.

This article investigates mother tongue instruction (MTI) in Sweden and Denmark in a historical, comparative perspective, with a view to accounting for key differences in language policy enacted in educational fields. Whereas in Sweden, MTI is offered to linguistic minority children irrespective of their linguistic and ethnic backgrounds, in Denmark the right to state-sponsored MTI has been abolished for children of non-European descent. Moreover, while the policies of both states devalue skills in mother tongues other than the legitimate language of each society, this position is more pronounced in the Danish context. The article explores the two state’s position on MTI, as expressed in policy as well as in discourse produced in the political and academic field of each state. It subscribes to Pierre Bourdieu’s framework, within which state policy is conceived as the product of historical struggle and cross-field effects. The analysis shows that the national differences in MTI exist because of the differing ways in which agents from the academic vis-a-vis the political field have succeeded in imposing their visions in the bureaucratic field from which policies are produced. Ultimately, this circumstance explains why the Swedish discussion on MTI may be characterized as having been academically founded, while the Danish discussion has remained a matter of political consideration. In the latter case, we argue, it is particularly tangible that MTI is a politicized object of struggle, where agents seek to control the exchange rate of linguistic resources and, in effect, the social worth of different speakers.

This article explores language use and investment among Somali-speaking children and adolescents in Sweden, through group interviews and survey data. Our findings indicate that there are incentives ...

I denna studie undersoker vi hur spansk-svensktalande hogstadieelever agerar i textsamtal kring samhallsorienterande larobokstext. Med utgangspunkt i textrorlighetsbegreppet analyseras elevernas ut ...

This paper explores the relatively unique educational design of the school subject Swedish as a second language (SSL) through ethnographic fieldwork in three linguistically diverse schools in Sweden. A main point is the importance of carefully considering the local educational context in relation to its organizational design and embeddedness in language ideologies and linguistic hierarchies when researching and discussing educational practices designed for linguistically and culturally diverse students. Since L2 education 2 may become part of a negative social categorization of students (e.g. Talmy, 2011 ), we focus on student perspectives, i.e. 15 students’ narrated experiences of SSL in upper secondary schools where SSL is a voluntary subject 3 and the teachers are highly qualified. On the basis of stance analysis ( Du Bois, 2007 , Jaffe, 2009 ), we discuss both the students’ motives for choosing SSL and their reasons for continuing to study SSL. Findings show an ambivalence toward the subject, which is related to conflicting discourses surrounding it ( Hedman & Magnusson, 2018 ). On the one hand, the narratives reflect that SSL may be associated with negative societal discourses on immigration and L2 use; on the other, they provide examples of affordances of SSL, i.e. counter images to these discourses (cf. contrastive insights, Hymes, 1996 ). Not least, pedagogical scaffolding of advanced content was analyzed as a main reward. The fact that attending SSL in these schools was not an exception, separating a few from the majority, also allows for a problematization of “mainstream”.

Denna studie undersöker relationen mellan modersmålsundervisning, elevers läsförståelse och deras skolresultat. Studien utgår från en tidigare undersökning som visade att somalisktalande elever som hade deltagit i modersmålsundervisning presterade bättre på tester av läsning och ordförråd i somaliska i jämförelse med elever i samma åldrar som inte deltagit i undervisningen (Ganuza & Hedman 2017a). I föreliggande studie ingår 36 av deltagarna från den tidigare studien, som alla går i samma skola och som alla har deltagit i modersmålsundervisning i flera år. Eftersom den tidigare studien visade att antalet år som eleverna deltagit i modersmålsundervisning främst bidrog positivt till deras läsförståelse på modersmålet, undersöks här sambandet mellan deltagarnas läsförståelse på somaliska och deras betyg; i ämnena modersmål, svenska som andraspråk, matematik och deras sammantagna betygspoäng i slutet av årskurs 6 och 7. Övergripande pekar resultaten på ett positivt samband mellan deltagarnas läsförståelse på somaliska och deras skolresultat. Sambanden är dessutom starkare och mer omfattande än de som finns mellan elevernas läsförståelse på svenska och deras betyg. I artikeln argumenterar vi för att resultaten indirekt antyder att modersmålsundervisningen har positiv inverkan på elevernas skolprestationer, vilket, om det bekräftas i framtida studier, är anmärkningsvärt med tanke på den begränsade undervisningstiden och ämnets marginaliserade position i det svenska utbildningssystemet. The present study explores the relationship between participation in mother tongue instruction (MTI), students’ reading comprehension, and their overall school results. The study expands on the results of an earlier study, which found that Somali–Swedish speaking students who had attended Somali MTI for several years, performed better on reading comprehension in Somali, than Somali–Swedish speaking students of the same ages, who had not taken Somali MTI (Ganuza & Hedman 2017a). The present study revisits the results of 36 participants in the earlier study, and explores the relationship between their scores on reading comprehension and their grades at the end of 6th or 7th grade; in MTI, Swedish as a second language, Mathematics, and overall grade points. Most importantly, the results show consistent positive correlations between participants’ reading comprehension in Somali and their school results. This correlation is also stronger and more comprehensive than the one found between their reading comprehension in Swedish and their school results. In the paper, we argue that these results indirectly point to a positive relationship between MTI and students’ school results, which, if confirmed by future studies, is quite remarkable considering the limited teaching time allotted to MTI and its’ marginalized position in the Swedish school system.

This article focuses on the pedagogical beliefs, practices and ideological assumptions of 15 teachers who work with mother tongue instruction in Sweden. Despite support through provisions in Swedis ...

This article addresses the issue of whether difficulties with reading and writing in a second language learner stem from developmental dyslexia or from issues associated with second language acquisition. In line with a phonological explanatory model of dyslexia, phonological processing and reading (decoding at both word and text levels) were tested, using data from 10 Spanish-Swedish speaking adolescents whose teachers had identified them as possibly having dyslectic difficulties, and a matched comparison group of 10 Spanish-Swedish speaking adolescents with no reading difficulties. Unlike previous studies, this analysis takes into account results from both languages and uses a matched bilingual comparison group as the norm. Based on these results, a bilingual dyslexia continuum is proposed as an analytical tool to be used for the assessment of developmental dyslexia from a bilingual perspective. The systematized continuum offers various degrees of difficulty -from high indications of dyslexia to no indications of dyslexia-and the positioning along this continuum by the target group participants of this study provides examples of both over- and under-identification of dyslexia. Overall, a greater number of participants in the target group were under-identified rather than over-identified by the schools. An important insight of this study is that the positioning of bilingual participants on the continuum would have been different if the analysis had taken only one of the two languages into account. Furthermore, possible effects from differences between Spanish and Swedish orthographies and syllable structure were observed, as, in general, the participants read more accurately in Spanish. The present data also suggest that decoding processing might vary more in second-language learners with dyslexia compared to monolingual individuals with dyslexia.