Teaching and learning grammar in Swedish as a second language and modern languages

This poster presents an initial study within a larger research project which aims to describe and analyse various aspects of teaching and learning grammar. The project focuses on the school subjects Swedish as a second language and the most commonly taught modern languages (French, German, Spanish) in Sweden. The project addresses the role and place of grammar teaching in a communicative paradigm, particularly in linguistically diverse classrooms. Given their particular aims and traditions, Swedish as a second language and modern languages constitute different instructional settings where it is relevant to investigate to what extent and how multilingual resources are used in grammar teaching and learning.

This initial study investigates the content, structure, organization and conceptual underpinnings of grammatical syllabi as they are expressed in a selection of teaching materials for non-adult beginners. The selection is based on a survey distributed to language teachers working in secondary schools. The analyses focus on how language structure is introduced and treated in textbooks, workbooks, and teachers’ manuals. In addition, the analyses reveal the extent to which teaching materials include contrastive elements and encourage the use of multilingual resources. The results are discussed in light of curriculum documents, conceptions of language, and theories of language teaching and learning.