Perspectives on Swedish as a Second Language

Dear Colleagues,

We are planning to set up a Special Issue in the journal Languages, https://www.mdpi.com/journal/languages. The preliminary title is “Perspectives on Swedish as a Second Language”. Since the introduction of Swedish as a Second Language (SSL) in the Swedish school system as a subject parallel to Swedish in primary and secondary school, research (see Hyltenstam and Milani, 2012) and reports (e.g., National Agency for School Development, 2004; SI, 2010; Swedish National Agency of Education (SNAE, 2018)) have pointed out discrepancies in its implementation, such as a low level of teacher qualifications and perceived low status of the SSL school subject among both students and their parents (see also Hyltenstam and Milani, 2012). A general conclusion in the report from SNAE (2018) is that the education in SSL is not equivalent across schools, and that there is a risk that students will receive different education and be assessed differently depending on the individual school and teacher. SNAE (2018) also concludes that some students may not get the education that they need in SSL. In an analysis of discourses of SSL in the academic field in relation to the concept of equality, Hedman and Magnusson (2018) studied the contrast in the subject between a discourse that they call equality-as-uniformity and a discourse they call equality-as-equal opportunity. They concluded that crossing discourses about SSL both collided and intertwined with each other.

In contemporary Sweden, with its changing conditions and patterns for mobility, as in many other countries, the school system faces new challenges. The 2015 surge of migration in Europe resulted in new challenges and opportunities across public institutions, particularly for the school system. The Covid-19 pandemic has made the variable and changeable nature of mobility even more visible. The pandemic is likely to have effects on mobility, and thus on conditions for learning among students who find their linguistic environments changing, as well as their opportunities for education. At the same time, voices are raised in public debate that argue for changes in language policies for education, with other agendas than the one that characterizes research on SSL. Some examples include demands for language tests in relation to citizenship and employment, and recently for the closing of the subject Mother Tongue Tuition (https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/7570193). Ideologies expressed in these debates may result in changes at the policy level that will affect conditions for education for SSL students and for the SSL subject. Relevant for SSL as a school subject is also its relation to the subject Swedish, as the recent call for a review of the two subjects from the Swedish government suggests[1].

The scope of this Special Issue is to highlight the insights that can be gained from research in the second-language field focusing on the Swedish context. The main issue is education in Swedish as a second language in contemporary society, and the aim is to contribute to the international research field on multilingualism and education, multilingual pupils and their needs, as well as the status of second-language education in school and in the larger society. The specific purpose is to illuminate research on SSL from various perspectives, including the following:

• Establishment and growth of SSL over time as a school subject;
• Relation of SSL education to issues of ideology and policy, such as in debates and official discourse;
• Shortcomings and dilemmas such as relations between the school subjects Swedish and SSL;
• Issues of implementation (teacher competence, teacher education, organizational issues);
• Didactic questions and teaching and learning practices, for example regarding assessment, mapping, or language development among students;
• Relations between SSL and Swedish for immigrants for adults;
• SSL in primary and secondary school for children and adolescents.

Thus, this Special Issue will contribute to research on multilingualism and education with an international perspective, by situating contemporary Swedish research on SSL in the international research scene.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors ([email protected] and [email protected]) or to the Languages Editorial Office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

The tentative completion schedule is as follows:

• Abstract submission deadline: 15 February 2021
• Notification of abstract acceptance: 15 March 2021
• Full manuscript deadline: 20 August 2021

References

Hedman, C. & Magnusson, U. (2018). Lika eller lika möjligheter? Diskurser om skolämnet svenska som andraspråk inom det akademiska fältet i Sverige. [Equal ore qual possibilities? Discourses about the school subject Swedish as a Second Language in the academic field in Sweden]. Acta Didactica Norge, 12(1). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5617/adno.5569

Hyltenstam, K. & Milani, T. (2012). Flerspråkighetens sociopolitiska och sociokulturella ramar. [The sociopolitical an socicultural frames of multilingualism] In K. Hyltenstam, M. Axelsson & I. Lindberg (Eds.), Flerspråkighet: en forskningsöversikt [Multilingualism: A research overview] (p. 17–152). Stockholm: The Research Council.

National Agency for School Development. (2004). Kartläggning av svenska som andraspråk. [Mapping on Swedish as a Second Language]. Stockholm: National Agency for School Development.

SI (2010). Språk- och kunskapsutveckling för barn och elever med annat modersmål än svenska. [Development of language an knowledge among children an students with other mother tongue than Swedish]. Stockholm: School Inspectorate.

SNAE (2018). Svenska som andraspråk i praktiken: En intervjustudie om hur skolor arbetar med svenska som andraspråk i årskurs 7-9. [Swedish as a second language in practice:  An interview study about how schools work with Swedish as a Second Language in grades 7-9]. Report 470. Stockholm: Swedish National Agency of Education.

[1]https://www.regeringen.se/pressmeddelanden/2020/11/regeringen-beslutar-om-oversyn-av-svenskamnena/?fbclid=IwAR09zEKuEtqIq1RtcrIkpreO9QQKTgGw-4PZo8vJHTa2_SGujNxdXdRbwT8

Prof. Åsa Wedin
Dr. Boglárka Straszer
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Languages is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Swedish as a Second Language
• L2-students
• L2-classroom
• multilingualism and education
• ideology and policy
• teacher education