Higher seminar in English and Swedish

English as a school subject at the Language Introduction Program: A presentation about power, language ideologies, othering, and organizational structures

This presentation is based on a research project investigating English as a school subject at The Language Introduction Program (LIP) in Sweden. LIP is an individual transit program to further education or the job market for newly arrived immigrants. The themes of the projects are language ideologies, power, othering, and organizational structures within LIP. The methodology is based on linguistic ethnography with observations and interviews at two schools for the duration of one school year. A Foucauldian perspective is used to analyse the data in combination with different analytical tools such as content analysis, critical discourse analysis, etc.

The results show how the organization endorse monolingual norms favouring the national language of Swedish and disfavour the international language of English. The positioning of English as complex, difficult, and not relevant for LIP student creates a situation where English is marginalised within the organization. In addition, the organisation of LIP reduces teachers’ ability to cooperate and assist each other in planning, assessment, and the development of teaching practices. In this process, principals withdraw their own responsibility and place a significant amount of organisational responsibility on the individual teacher. Furthermore, power structures of the organization strongly steer students towards vocational programs instead of theoretical programs sometimes despite students wishes.

In Swedish society a high proficiency in English plays an important role in accessing further education and the job market. Inadequate proficiency in English could eventually lead to inequality in education, thus in a longer perspective of inequality in society. My hope is to bring forward perspectives on English-language education at LIP that can be collectively discussed at the seminar.