What are the core aims of English as a school subject? A study of teacher understanding in lower secondary school

Abstract

Teachers' interpretations of the core aims of a school subject open or constrain what can be taught and learned in the subject in school. The global spread of English and its changing status in the world have impacted how English as a school subject is understood and what it is meant to achieve. This article explores teachers' understandings of the core aims of English as a school subject at the end of basic English education in Norway. Data consist of interviews with 12 teachers across six schools in a large school district. Qualitative analyses of the data identify four core aims: 1) acquiring content knowledge of English-speaking countries, 2), developing communicative language ability 3) developing linguistic knowledge of English and 4) developing the democratic citizen. While acquiring knowledge and learning to communicate in English are dominant in teacher understanding IntroductionThe spread of English through globalization, technology, and migrationtogether with the rise in non-native users of English -is challenging previous definitions of what it means to know or to be proficient in English (Graddol, 2006;Jenkins, Cogo, & Dewey, 2011). As English increasingly becomes a language of contact for diverse speakers, new understandings of English competence potentially conflict with the established understanding and practices of the English language classroom (Hult & King, 2011;Nauman, 2011;Seidlhofer, 2011). Moreover, in many countries, changes in English education have often been top-down and rapidly implemented, assuming the benefits of early education and underestimating the teaching challenges involved in implementation (Hu, 2007).In anticipating a new subject curriculum for deeper learning of central elements in English as a school subject (Kunnskapsdepartement, 2017), it is timely to investigate how teachers understand these elements and the relationships between them. While much research on English language teaching in Norway has focused on developing specific English language skills -such as reading (Bakken, 2017;Brevik, 2014;Charboneau, 2012), writing (Burner, 2016), speaking (Bøhn, 2015;Bøhn & Hansen, 2017), and vocabulary development (Hestetraeet, 2012) -less research has focused on the overall aims of the subject and even less on teachers' understanding of these aims and how they expand or constrain what can be learned in the subject.The aim of this article is to investigate teachers' interpretations of the central aims of English as a school subject at the end of lower secondary school. The final years of lower secondary represent the culmination of 10 years of mandatory English education for all students in Norway. While the goal is not to The article begins with a discussion of current international trends in English language teaching and how these trends can be seen in Norway. This is followed by a description of the research design and analytical process used to explore teachers' understandings. The patterns in teacher understanding of the core aims of the subject are then presented...

Teacher ideologies of English in 21st century Norway and new directions for locally tailored ELT

“…Despite a long foreign language tradition for English education ( Simensen, 1999 ), in the early 2000s, learning English increasingly came to be viewed as resembling first language (L1) learning and as L2 learning in school ( Simensen, 2003 , 2005 ). Research suggests that, despite a predominantly functional view of English, tensions exist among: a) English for developing literacy (Hellekjær, 2008) and learning content ( Mahan, 2020 ; Mahan et al., 2018 ), b) English for more situated use ( Chvala, 2012 , Chvala, 2018 ; Rødnes, Hellekjær, & Vold, 2014 ), and c) English as a lingua franca (ELF) as a less legitimate and “hybrid” form ( Hild, 2018 ). An exploration of learners’ sociolinguistic practices in school have revealed underlying ideological tensions and exposed the need for more research on the meaning of “English” in a Norwegian school context ( Rindal, 2014 ).…”

5. «Historie selv menneske kan forstå»

“…Moreover, misalignments between policy intentions and teachers' perceptions of their subject and its practices are not uncommon (e.g., Chvala, 2018Chvala, , 2020. Findings from the LISA project show that teachers emphasised instrumental reading for content rather than encouraging analytical or critical questions.…”

3. Samisk litteratur i norskfaget

“…Moreover, misalignments between policy intentions and teachers' perceptions of their subject and its practices are not uncommon (e.g., Chvala, 2018Chvala, , 2020. Findings from the LISA project show that teachers emphasised instrumental reading for content rather than encouraging analytical or critical questions.…”