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The aim of this study is to shed light on discourses in national assessment material for recently arrived students and discourses about students' knowledge as they emerge from teachers’ use of the national assessment material for newly arrived students. The empirical material consists of assessment material for five students, two with little or no previous school background and three with long school background. The documentation in the mapping material is analyzed with Gee's discourse analysis. The result shows two different discourses in which information of different kinds is made significant: assessment discourse for newly arrived students and important knowledge at Language Introduction. Through the assessment material, the Swedish National Agency for Education supports a comprehensive assessment where information about students' previous knowledge and background regarding language and education is requested, with a particular focus on numeracy and literacy. What emerges from the study is that the documentation is inconsistent, often fragmentary and abbreviated. The results also show that the teachers consider personal matters, such as fleeing and arriving in Sweden, to be important knowledge at Language Introduction that they need to document. Additionally, the documentation regarding students who have experience studying in formal schools is more informative compared to the documentation for those students who have little or no experience of formal education. Thus, the information which is intended to be provided through assessment material appears only vaguely, and there is a discrepancy as some information is left out, particularly for students with short or no earlier schooling.

Syftet med den här artikeln är att rikta ljuset mot diskurser om språkintroduktionselever och deras kunskap, mer specifikt diskurser som framträder hos lärare som undervisar på Språkintroduktion. Programmet är ett av fem introduktionsprogram i svenska gymnasieskolan och tar emot nyanlända elever från 16 till 19 år. Eftersom studier påvisat att lärares uppfattningar, övertygelser och erfarenheter bidrar till att utforma den undervisningspraktik de genomför och är av betydelse för elevers skolgång är de viktiga att undersöka. Foucaults perspektiv på diskursteori- och analys valdes för att synliggöra lärares tal om undervisningen på programmet och den kunskapssyn som framställs i relation till språkintroduktionseleverna. Materialet i studien består av intervjuer med 24 lärare som arbetar på fyra olika gymnasieskolor. I analysen framträder de två diskurserna kunskap och flerspråkighet som innehåller utsagor om kunskap, kunskapsmässig heterogenitet, bakgrunder, skolbakgrunder och språk. I resultaten synliggörs att flerspråkigheten uppfattas som en resurs på det individuella planet men att den i en skolkontext blir ett hinder. Därmed positioneras eleverna som bristfälliga såväl kunskapsmässigt som språkmässigt, i synnerhet elever med kort eller ingen skolbakgrund.

Using the third space theory, the overall aim of this thesis is to study and problematize conditions for learning which are provided for newly arrived students in the Language Introduction Program in upper secondary school. By highlighting factors that affect these students' education in four sub-studies, the study contributes in-depth knowledge about the Language Introduction Program. The program is one of five introductory programs in Swedish upper secondary school that admits newly arrived students from the ages of 16 to 19. 

The thesis adopts an ethnographically inspired approach and consists of four qualitative sub-studies that highlight factors and issues that affect the education of students in the program. The data consist of observations of lessons in five different subjects, interviews with teachers and students, and assessment material that looks at the prior knowledge and experiences of students. The theoretical framework of the thesis is Bhabha’s third space theory, which is employed for the analysis of the results and conclusions.

The findings indicate that knowledge in Swedish and knowledge learned in Swedish schools is highly valued by the teachers. What teachers and students say demonstrates that knowledge of Swedish is perceived as key to employment and a place within society. The results also show that some school knowledge gained earlier by students, in addition to knowledge acquired in Swedish schools, is more highly valued and made visible in a different way than the knowledge gained in other ways. The findings also indicate that what teachers say about knowledge in relation to Language Introduction students positions the students as students not knowing Swedish, or as some of the participating teachers put it, students who do not "have the language", indicating specifically Swedish. The students themselves talk about how they lack Swedish and how they must learn Swedish, which corresponds then with what the teachers say. Furthermore, the results show that some teachers use the term "students without background" to refer to students with little or no experience of formal schooling. This makes knowledge gained through formal schooling visible, and knowledge gained in other ways by students "without background" invisible. 

A conclusion that can be drawn from this thesis is that the students at Language Introduction are stereotyped as students with different knowledge than expected, that the education on the program is not based on the students' conditions and that their opportunities for learning are therefore not equivalent to those of students in other programs in Swedish schools.

The ability to read is important for studies, work and social life, and therefore, reading needs to be central in all school subjects. The purpose of this article is to shed light on the factors that either facilitate or limit second-language students in a transitional program at an upper secondary school in Sweden in terms of their reading and reading comprehension skills. Observations of teacher-initiated reading practices and interviews with teachers about reading and texts, which were analyzed using Bernhardt’s compensatory model for second-language reading, show that all teachers highlight the importance of reading and the fact that reading in the subject they teach can help students to become competent readers of Swedish texts. Despite this, the amount of reading and processing of texts varies—in some classes, students do not read at all, and in other classes, they read a great deal. The only teacher who seems both to include the processing of texts and to choose texts that interest students is the teacher of Swedish as a Second Language (SSL).

In Social Sciences, subject content needs to be related to students’ experiences andknowledge. −In secondary school, the language used to construct knowledge is abstract, dense, andcomplex. −The concept of Third space (Bhabha,1994) revealed problems with teaching andteachers’ perceptions of L2 students’ needs. −Education here appears as a space for a restricted curriculum with Swedish as thegatekeeper. −This shows that subject teachers need to learn linguistic aspects of their own subject. Purpose: The aim is to analyse linguistic aspects of education in Social Sciences for L2 students. Method: Lingustic ethnography is used for studying the hybridity of Social Sciences with material from nine lesson observations and interviews with three teachers. Findings: Findings showed that students’ earlier experiences, knowledge, and perspectives on life were not acknowledged. The Third space appears as a transitional space where students are perceived as deficient, not yet reaching the goal of the introduction programme: To enter mainstream education. Students’ agency was related to this space where the transformation was expected to take place, while teachers positioned themselves as outside, and the knowledge presented was simplified and fragmentized. While teachers expressed dissatisfaction with students’ (lacking) Swedish proficiency, they did not seem to understand their own role to teach Swedish through Social Sciences. Implications: This shows that subject teachers need to learn linguistic aspects of their own subject and conditions for L2 students’ learning. © 2022, sowi-online e.V.. All rights reserved.

I föreliggande artikel studeras nyanlända elevers upplevelser av att vara elever på Språkintroduktion. Programmet är ett av fem introduktionsprogram i gymnasieskolan och tar emot nyanlända elever från 16 till 19 år. Eleverna placeras på Språkintroduktion eftersom de nyligen har kommit till Sverige och för att de ännu inte uppnått tillräckliga kunskaper i det svenska språket. I denna intervjustudie bidrar Homi Bhabhas teori om mellanrummet till en förståelse för hur erfarenheter av Språkintroduktion kan upplevas. Resultatet visar att elevgrupperna på Språkintroduktion är heterogena eftersom eleverna har olika erfarenheter av skola och arbete. Tre teman blir synliga i resultatet: elever med andra kunskaper och erfarenheter, elevidentiteter som särskilt framträder och det svenska språket som barriär. Resultaten visar att förvärvandet av det svenska språket för varje elev blir ett mål att nå samtidigt som det utgör ett hinder. Språket blir viktigt eftersom eleverna är beroende av det för att lyckas såväl i skolan som i samhällslivet. Likaså blir synliggörandet av elevers tidigare erfarenheter och kunskaper betydelsefullt eftersom det kan komma att påverka deras identitetsuppfattning.Nyckelord: språkintroduktion; nyanlända elever; mellanrum; elevidentitetNewly arrived upper secondary school students – Student identities and language barriersAbsractThis study investigates newly arrived students’ experiences of being students at Language Introduction in Sweden. The program is one of five introductory programs in Swedish upper secondary school and admits newly arrived students from the ages of 16 to 19 years old. Students are placed at Language introduction because they have recently arrived in Sweden and since they have not yet gained enough knowledge of the Swedish language. In this interview study, Homi Bhabha’s theory of the third space contributes to an understanding of how experiences from Language introduction can be perceived. The results show that student groups at Language introduction are heterogeneous as students have diverse experiences of school and work. Three themes appear in the results: students with other kinds of knowledge and experiences, student identities in transformation, the Swedish language as an obstacle and as goal. The results show that the acquisition of the Swedish language becomes to each student a goal to reach and at the same time a hindrance. The language becomes important because the students depend on it in order to be successful in school as well as in life in society. Likewise, making the students’ past experiences and knowledge visible, becomes important as it may affect their perception of identity.Keywords: språkintroduktion; nyanlända elever; mellanrum; elevidentitet

The aim of this article is to develop knowledge about recently arrived students’ agency in learning science in upper secondary school in Sweden. The material was created through observations of science lessons and stimulated-recall interviews with four students. Findings showed that the multimodal and multilingual practices students were involved in, and the diverse strategies they used in these lessons, were enabled by their access to multilingual teaching material, including varied digital resources. Students were invited to use varied languages, but this does not, however, mean that the other languages were appreciated, and there is a danger in relying entirely on students’ own capacity to translate and understand. Our main conclusion is that students’ own agency becomes a prerequisite for learning in these classrooms, but that too much responsibility is put on the students to understand and learn the content and to develop required language skills. With the focus on vocabulary in the teaching, the risqué is high that students do not develop other linguistic skills that they will need in their further studies. Although the agency of these students was visible regarding strategies for their studies, their agency was mainly restricted to learning the prescribed theme in prescribed time.

Den här licentiatuppsatsen behandlar berättade erfarenheter av att vara elev på Språkintroduktion. Programmet är ett av fem introduktionsprogram i den svenska gymnasieskolan och tar emot nyanlända ungdomar i åldrarna 16 till 19 år. Utbildningen på Språkintroduktion har en tyngdpunkt på svenska språket samt andra ämnen som eleverna har behov av att studera. Sålunda ska undervisningen organiseras utifrån varje elevs förutsättningar och behov.

Studien bygger på intervjuer med språkintroduktionselever. Analysen fokuserar följaktligen 22 elevers berättade erfarenheter av att vara elever på Språkintroduktion. Elevernas berättelser blir ett sätt att förstå hur deras erfarenheter av programmet flätas samman med tidigare skol- och arbetslivserfarenheter liksom med tankar om framtiden.

I resultaten presenteras tre teman som framträder i berättelserna.  Det första temat gäller samtliga elever och behandlar erfarenheten av att inte kunna svenska. Det andra temat innefattar vissa elever och synliggör två elevidentiteter som särskilt framträder. Den första av dem handlar om att gå från att vara en högpresterande elev till att vara nybörjare och den andra om att gå från att vara en elev med kort eller ingen skolbakgrund till att äntligen vara elev. Slutligen handlar det tredje temat om hur Språkintroduktion tar form som ett mellanrum.