Although there have been some studies conducted in Sweden about the language attitudes
towards different varieties of English, most of these studies have focused on the language
attitudes found amongst students. There have not, however, been many studies conducted
that examines teachers’ language attitudes. The focus of the present study is to investigate
which attitudes are found towards two varieties of English, American English and British
English, amongst English teachers in Sweden. The study also aims to explore whether the
teachers’ age and language backgrounds have an impact on the teachers’ attitudes. The
hypothesis was that older teachers would be more positively inclined towards British
English while younger teachers would prefer American English. Furthermore, it was also
hypothesized that teachers who grew up monolingual would prefer British English and
those who grew up bilingual would favour American English. The data collection method
that was used in the study was a questionnaire which was distributed online to English
teachers in Sweden. 115 teachers participated in the study and answered the
questionnaire, which provided both quantitative and qualitative data. The results of the
study show that the teachers seem to display equally positive attitudes towards both
varieties. For example, American English is favoured in terms of being most familiar,
easiest to understand and easiest to teach. British English, on the other hand, is favoured
in terms of pleasantness and is in many ways seen as more respected. The findings of the
study did confirm the hypotheses to a certain degree. The results showed a tendency
amongst younger teachers and teachers who have grown up bilingual to prefer American
English. In contrast, the tendency amongst older teachers and teachers who have grown
up monolingual was to prefer British English. Overall, the results of the study raise the
question of how these attitudes affect the teachers’ teaching of English.