English

The subject's course offering for student teachers at F-3 and 4-6 aims to strengthen student teachers' linguistic and didactic competence in English through in-depth studies of the language's grammar, structure, word formation, pronunciation and usage, with a particular focus on differences between English and Swedish. The courses develop students' skills in both oral and written English, deepen students' linguistic analysis skills and provide them with didactic tools for teaching the subject. By working with fictional texts from different parts of the English-speaking world as well as English-language children's literature and children's culture, vocabulary is broadened, reading and listening comprehension is strengthened and the ability to express oneself freely, correctly and appropriately in different teaching contexts is developed. The courses also provide a foundation in language and language learning theory and train students to plan, implement and reflect on teaching English with a focus on speaking, writing, assessment and the future teaching role, based on the school's policy documents.

The courses in English within the subject teacher programme aim to support students' development as subject teachers in Swedish upper secondary schools through a combination of practical, didactic and theoretical elements. During the programme, students develop high proficiency in spoken and written English and deepen their knowledge of English linguistics, English-language literature and popular cultural forms of expression in relation to interculturality and education. The education strengthens the student's subject didactic competence and ability for academic writing and provides the conditions for independent work, including essay writing with individual and group-based supervision, with the aim of preparing the student for the professional role as a subject teacher.

The subject also offers courses in English-language communication, academic English, academic writing at advanced level.

Our research

The research conducted by the Subject of English reflects the subject's two orientations, i.e. literary and linguistics, but also includes subject didactics (including literary and language didactics) and interdisciplinary research.

Literature

In literary studies, research is conducted on American and British literature as well as other forms of English-language texts with links to multiculturalism and postcolonialism. Race and ethnicity, class society, and representation of minorities and refugees constitute some of the main areas within the subject's literary research, but research on English-language literature with a particular focus on gender, capitalism, or human rights is also conducted in the subject's various research projects.

Linguistics

The linguistic research conducted in the subject of English is mainly within sociolinguistics, discourse and conversation analysis, multilingualism, and cognitive linguistics. Much of the subject's research inlinguistics focuses on variations in contemporary English in the media and in popular culture. In line with the subject's postcolonial and multicultural profile, linguistic research also includes the encounter between English and other languages ​​and how this is expressed in different varieties of English as a second or foreign language.

Subject didactics

The subject's subject didactics research with a linguistic focus is mainly concerned with language teaching and classroom discourse. Subject didactics research concerning literature didactics has a particular focus on teaching critical reading.