| dc.description.abstract | The current Norwegian curriculum, LK20, emphasizes that teachers should recognize and use multilingual students’ language competence as a resource in the classroom (Ministry of Education and Research, 2017; 2019). This thesis has aimed to investigate how these demands are met in the Norwegian lower secondary EFL classroom. More specifically it has aimed to answer the following research questions: 1) What are the Norwegian lower secondary EFL teachers' experiences with and attitudes to the use of languages other than English in the EFL classroom? 2) Which multilingual learning strategies do the Norwegian lower secondary EFL teachers report using in order to address the needs of multilingual students in the EFL classroom? 3) What challenges do the Norwegian lower secondary EFL teachers report encountering when trying to address the needs of multilingual students in the EFL classroom?
The presented research questions were investigated through a qualitative study. Six Norwegian lower secondary EFL teachers participated in individual semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using a thematic analysis. The findings indicated that the interviewed teachers had a resource-orientated view of multilingualism both inside and outside the EFL classroom, even though they also had some concerns. There was some variation between how many strategies the teachers reported using in their teaching, but all reported using the reading and writing strategy ‘information gathering’. The other reported strategies were other reading and writing strategies, ‘comparison of languages’, ‘differentiation’, ‘bi- and multilingual resources’, and ‘digital resources’. The teachers met many challenges when trying to address the needs of multilingual students in the EFL classroom. They perceived that they lacked the time, suitable study materials, extra personnel, and the necessary competence. In addition, the teachers emphasized that it was a substantial challenge to make the minority language students to want to use their linguistic competence as a resource.
The findings suggest four main implications for teaching. The first implication is that more education should be given to teachers who seem to lack the necessary competence to make use of multilingual learning strategies in their teaching. Secondly, suitable study material and necessary personnel should be made available to the teachers if UDIR wants teachers to make use of multilingual learning strategies. Thirdly, in order for minority language students to be able to use their linguistic competence as a resource, they must have the ability to develop proficiency in all their languages. The final implication is that there is no need for a clearer curriculum regarding how to implement multilingual learning strategies. Strategies should be taught through formal teacher education rather than being provided through documents relating to the curriculum. | |
