Children’s use of English as lingua franca in Swedish preschools

Larsson, Karolina; Björk-Willén, Polly; Haraldsson, Katarina; Hansson, Kristina

doi:10.1515/multi-2022-0062

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Teachers in Swedish preschools have observed that some children, particularly those with weak Swedish proficiency, often use English to communicate with one another and sometimes even with teachers when they have a difficult time making themselves understood in Swedish. A recent study of this phenomenon has shown that children in Swedish preschools located in multilingual areas use English and not Swedish as a lingua franca, even though teachers communicate with them in Swedish (Larsson et al., 2023). Even some children as young as 3 use English for different purposes.…”

Section: The Domains and Functions Of English In Swedenmentioning

confidence: 99%

English in Sweden: Functions, features and debates

Mežek

2024

World Englishes

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English has for a long time had a strong position in the Swedish sociolinguistic context. English is ubiquitous in the contemporary Swedish public sphere, and good knowledge of English can be found in all sections of society. Far from only being used as a lingua franca for international communication, English is today also pervasively used in domains of business, higher education and academia, as well as in the media and for entertainment purposes. This growing presence of English in Sweden has led to language debates about the status and the role of English in Sweden and concerns of whether English is a threat to Swedish. This article discusses the status and the manifold functions of English in Sweden and describes the uses and features of English in the Swedish context. It concludes with a discussion of the current debates on the uses and the role of English in Sweden.

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Section: The Domains and Functions Of English In Swedenmentioning

confidence: 99%

English in Sweden: Functions, features and debates

Mežek

2024

World Englishes

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“…Children's role play or so-called sociodramatic play, where participants take on various social roles within a dynamically changing play script, is considered a key social activity that is conducive to learning and the development of social skills and sociocultural knowledge (Corsaro, 2015;Vygotsky, 1978). Sociodramatic play is a notably complex activity requiring social, linguistic, and communicative skills to be able to participate creatively and on an equal footing (Garvey, 1990;Larsson et al, 2022). According to the Scandinavian pedagogical model, play takes up a large part of the time children spend in preschool, and play activities can be shaped and organized in various ways (Samuelsson & Asplund Carlsson, 2008).…”

Section: Theoretical Perspectivesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Guided Play Supporting Immigrant Children’s Participation and Bilingual Development in Preschools

Cekaite,

Simonsson

2023

IJEC

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In recent decades, refugee immigration has had significant impact on educational contexts in Sweden, with preschools the primary arenas for young children’s language learning experiences. The present study examines second language and literacy training practices for immigrant children (aged 1–5) in preschools in Sweden. The empirical data consist of video recordings of teacher-guided play activities. These were designed to create rich linguistic and cultural environments facilitating active and democratic participation by the children. Guided play activities were developed in close collaboration between teachers and researchers during action-based interventions that were aimed at constructing child-oriented participatory language learning practices in ethnically and linguistically diverse ECEC settings. The children’s first languages were Tigrinya, Arabic dialects, Somalian, Kurdish dialects, Russian, Spanish and Swedish. The participatory learning potential of guided play was collaboratively analyzed and assessed, and new and revised activities were implemented, based on the goals of inclusivity and children’s active engagement in play and language learning. The analysis shows that teachers’ use of multimodal semiotic means, such as questions, texts and cultural artifacts (stories, material story-related objects, play spaces) were important strategies for the preparation of appealing play environments and activities that contributed to children’s curiosity and participation. These resources served as affordances for guided play, allowing the simultaneous scaffolding of children’s play competencies and their language learning.

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“…Även om nämnda språkideologiska läroplansformuleringar kan sägas samspela med modern forskning genom synliggörandet av flera språk, omfamnar det politiskt formulerade uppdraget knappast den relationella komplexitet som flerspråkighet i reella sammanhang ofta är ett uttryck för (Martín-Bylund, 2017). Exempelvis säger läroplanen ingenting om barns användning av andra språk än modersmål, likt den enligt många förskoleverksamheter framväxande användningen av engelska, framför svenska, som ett lingua franca (Larsson et al, 2022). Detta trots att engelska beskrivs "fungera […] på många sätt som ett andraspråk för dem som växer upp i Sverige" (Isof, 2023).…”

Section: Introduktionunclassified

TRA_Professional trans-linguistic discernment in early childhood language education:

Martín-Bylund

2024

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How to sensibly educate young children in and through the language(s) they live by? In an era of increasing linguistic variation and change, this burning question keeps emerging in educational practices of the early years and is addressed in this paper, mapping a professional trans-linguistic discernment. Linguistic variation is a long time a fact, rapidly increasing in all parts of the Swedish society, including early years’ education. Yet, monolingual traditions of linguistic preservation are persisting. The Swedish language legislation aims at safeguarding both the Swedish language and Sweden’s linguistic plurality, ambitions reflected in the preschool curriculum. Aspirations to support children’s development of all their languages are internationally acknowledged as progressive, but the language issue as entangled in early childhood practice is multifaceted. The study is inspired by posthumanist applied linguistics and by contemporary philosopher Jonna Bornemark’s discussion of a professional discernment as a compound competence built in interaction with both experiences and theoretical knowledge, but also feelings and the human senses. These bodily dimensions of discernment make the concept particularly interesting to explore in relation to professions working with young children, where the close relationship between lexical language(s) and other bodily expressions is often made particularly prominent and where the teacher body may be considered a both caring and teaching ‘tool’. RQ1. What challenges and queries emerge at the intersection of practicing curricular linguistic assignments and meeting the linguistic and other diversities of concrete educational practices in early childhood? RQ2. What characterizes a professional discernment in relation to such challenges and queries? Data are produced through focus group interviews with early childhood educators and analyzed through a post-qualitative methodological approach. The results indicate that professionals struggle with how to support the development of languages that they do not themselves speak, and that the support of other mother tongues than Swedish sometimes seems to need to be done at the expense of the Swedish language. Additionally, children’s preference of English, not as a mother tongue, but as a "lingua franca" is pointed out as an emerging phenomenon in groups of children who do not share a common language and where Swedish speakers are a minority. Despite the wide use and special position of English in Sweden, it is still considered a foreign language and not specified in the linguistic assignments of the preschool curriculum. Professionals of early childhood language education are urged to think and act situationally and judiciously, in relation to local practices and different layers of linguistic and other needs, rather than to what may previously be defined and demanded at a generalized level. This, what may be labeled a professional trans-linguistic discernment, differs from recent years’ focus in education on standards and accountability, with an emerging instrumental understanding of teachers who implement and ensure routines, i.e., for language teaching in the early years. It is discussed what encouraging a professional, trans-linguistic discernment may practically, theoretically, and politically require. Keywords: professional discernment, translanguaging/translinguistic, linguistic variation/change, posthumanist applied linguistics, post-qualitative methodologies

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Children’s use of English as lingua franca in Swedish preschools

Cited by 9 publications

References 40 publications

English in Sweden: Functions, features and debates

English in Sweden: Functions, features and debates

Guided Play Supporting Immigrant Children’s Participation and Bilingual Development in Preschools

TRA_Professional trans-linguistic discernment in early childhood language education:

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