English-medium instruction, or EMI, may be defined as the “use of the English language toteach academic subjects (other than English itself) in countries or jurisdictions where the firstlanguage of the majority of the population is not English” (Macaro 2018, p. 1). EMI programmesoften simply involve the practice of using English to teach academic subjects, withlittle or no attention paid to linguistic issues (e.g. Yoxsimer Paulsrud 2014; Toth and Paulsrud2017). However, recent research suggests that students in EMI programmes may benefit fromthe opportunity to use all of their linguistic resources, through pedagogical translanguaging(e.g. Toth and Paulsrud 2017; Toth 2018). Pedagogical translanguaging may include “differenttypes of pedagogical strategies that soften boundaries between languages . . . such as usinginput and output in different languages, translation, comparison of language structures, or theuse of cognates” (Cenoz and Gorter 2017, p. 314). The use of students’ full range of linguisticresources through translanguaging pedagogy may have implications for students’ contentlearning as well as language development, making this a matter of interest for researchers andteachers alike. In the present chapter, we explore the potential role of translanguaging in EMIprogrammes, focusing specifically on the use of translation as part of a translanguaging theoryand pedagogy.

This thesis aims to highlight the policies, perspectives, and practices of language use in a bilingual English-Swedish primary class during Grades 4–6, where English was the medium of instruction in several subjects. A rapidly increasing number of Swedish compulsory schools offer these programs, which are often associated with high status and academic achievement (Skolverket, 2010). Although several studies have investigated content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and English-medium instruction (EMI) at upper secondary schools in Sweden, there is little research on such programs for young learners in the Swedish context. As students may start learning English in Swedish schools as late as Grade 3, young learners who begin attending English-medium programs in Grade 4 may have limited knowledge of English, which can have implications for their content learning. 

In this thesis, which is situated within an ecology of language framework (van Lier, 2004), questions about language ideologies, teacher and learner beliefs regarding teaching and learning in an additional language, and translanguaging practices have been explored in the three studies included here. Data has been collected over three school years within the larger longitudinal case study, including policy texts, informational brochures, schedules, statistics, instructional materials, student texts, audiorecorded interviews with 13 members of staff and 22 students, audiorecorded lesson observations, fieldnotes, and photos of the school and classroom landscape as well as of instructional materials and student texts. 

Study I, which focused on stated and practiced language policies concerning languages of instruction in an EMI program in a Swedish compulsory school, revealed a linguistic hierarchy privileging English and a native speaker ideal. While Swedish was also valued as the other language of instruction, minoritized languages such as multilingual students' mother tongues were marginalized. Likewise, in Study II, which explored stakeholder beliefs about the EMI program, it was found that while English was highly valued among the participants and Swedish was considered to be a source of support for students in the English-medium classroom, other languages were mostly invisibilized in the mainstream classroom. However, despite a prevailing belief that students learned English naturally through language immersion by being "forced" to use it to communicate with the native English-speaking teachers, there were also concerns about implications for students' development of subject-specific Swedish. Finally, in Study III, analysis of language choices in English-medium Science and Mathematics lessons revealed how the use of English and Swedish could function as resources for teaching and learning. 

Although the findings from this case study may not necessarily apply to other English-medium programs, they nonetheless have implications for policymakers at the national and local levels, as well as for teachers and students involved in such programs. Ideological assumptions about languages and language learning have been shown to shape both policy and practice within educational contexts such as the school in this study. It is therefore imperative that stakeholders are made aware of the challenges involved with teaching and learning in an additional language, so that these programs can be organized in a way that promotes content learning as well as learners' multilingual development.

While several studies have investigated English-medium instruction (EMI) or content and language integrated learning (CLIL) in Swedish upper secondary and tertiary education, few have investigated such programmes in Swedish primary schools. This paper explores perceptions among staff and students about affordances and constraints in the learning of content and languages, drawing on data from a larger longitudinal case study of an English-Swedish bilingual primary class during Grades 4-6. Data consisted of semi-structured interviews with a school leader, 12 teachers and 22 students as well as fieldnotes and photographs from classroom observations. Thematic analysis of the data revealed the belief among staff that learners acquired English naturally by being ‘forced’ to use it in English-medium subjects taught by native speakers of English. The use of Swedish among students in these subjects was generally seen as a potential scaffold when communicative difficulties arose, as students who were more proficient in English could translate and provide their classmates with explanations of difficult concepts in Swedish. However, staff and students nonetheless voiced concerns about students’ content learning as well as about limited development of subject-specific language in Swedish, which could have implications for their future Swedish-medium studies. Meanwhile, although multilingual students’ mother tongues were valued by the students themselves, participants did not acknowledge them as legitimate learning resources for use in the mainstream classroom, where only English and Swedish were allowed to be used in interaction.

This case study explores the questions of how national and local education policies address languages of instruction for a Swedish compulsory school offering English-medium instruction (hereafter EMI) as well as how these policies are interpreted and implemented in practice. Critical discourse analysis provides a framework for examining the relationship between stated and enacted policies at the various institutional levels. Methods from linguistic ethnography yielded rich data including classroom observations, interviews, and artifact collection over a period of three school years in grades four through six. Findings from the study reveal discourses of language hierarchies, a native speaker ideal privileging English and practices that reflect varying degrees of language separation. While Swedish is occasionally used to support English-medium content learning, there is little space for students' mother tongues in the mainstream classroom. The findings from this study have implications for how stakeholders may put language-in-education policies into practice in EMI programs.

This presentation addresses language alternation in English-medium instruction (EMI) lessons as related to the concept of translanguaging, with a focus on the practices and perspectives of teachers and students in two Swedish schools offering EMI. The research questions were as follows:

1) What patterns of language alternation can be found in the EMI classroom?

2) What are the functions of language alternation in the EMI classroom?

3) How do teachers and students view the use of English and Swedish in these classrooms?

The studies, based in linguistic ethnography, included classroom observations and interviews with teachers and students in one elementary school classroom and one high school classroom, as well as the collection of artifacts (e.g. lesson plans). In the thematic analysis of the rich data, key concepts emerged, including the notions of affordances and constraints, agency and translanguaging.

The results indicate that language alternation is viewed as an affordance, allowing access to subject content and subject-specific language. Additionally, language choices reveal teacher and student agency in the EMI lessons. Teachers and students may use Swedish and English based on school policy as well as de facto classroom policies, although perspectives on language choice vary. In the elementary school, peer collaboration in Swedish provides support for comprehension and facilitates communication. Use of Swedish is, however, seen by the teacher as a constraint when it resists classroom policies. In the high school, the practice of translanguaging is not explicitly promoted, but is nonetheless a strategic feature of EMI. 

While this multiple case study may not be generalizable to all EMI, the results suggest broader implications in terms of how both implicit and explicit language policies are implemented in classrooms. Awareness of the possibilities presented by the process of translanguaging may provide educators with a meaningful tool for the development of bilingual pedagogies.