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This paper is based on a partial study within a research project about English education at The Language Introduction Program (LIP) in Sweden. LIP is a transit program for newly arrived immigrants at upper secondary school level, designed to secure a fast transit to further education or the job market (Swedish National Agency of Education, 2013). In Swedish society, English plays an important role in accessing higher education and the job market (Swedish National Agency of Education, 2022) and English is often ascribed status of a second language in Sweden (Gheitasi et al., 2022). Also, a mutual language competence in Swedish and English is often considered a norm in the English language classroom. However, the heterogeneity of LIP students’ prior knowledge of English unable this kind of assumption, and teachers at LIP must prepare for a classroom context where a joint knowledge of Swedish and English is not a reality. 

Foucauldian (2002) perspectives are used to analyse power structures and Othering (Bhabha, 2004; Said, 2016), exploring language ideology (Kroskrity, 2000), and access to equal education within a multilingual context. The chosen method is linguistic ethnography (Copland & Creese, 2015) with observations and interviews at two schools: Slope Hill High School and Meadow Hill High School (fictive names) for the duration of one school year. Observations in classrooms, at meetings, and of school environment were conducted. In addition, semi-structured interviews with students, teachers, principals, and other members of faculty were performed. 

The results show that English is regarded a difficult subject by many LIP students and that the importance of English in Swedish society is seldom discussed with them, positioning English in the margins of the organisation. LIP and its students are often described as different from the rest of the school and placed in the periphery of school organization. Moreover, the result show how LIP students often verbalize aspirations for a future academic career, but because of difficulty attaining a passing grade in English, they are often steered towards vocational programs instead. In this process, English becomes a gatekeeper and a factor of exclusion. Also, struggles of power linked to Foucault’s (2002) term governmentality can be observed in this process, where discourse related to migration, language proficiency, and education, surface. Furthermore, English teachers at LIP are given limited ability to co-operate and assist each other with assessment, planning, and evaluation of education resulting in lack of educational support for students and teachers.

Keywords: English education, governmentality, newly arrived students, power, othering

References:

Bhabha, H. K. (2004). The location of culture (1. ed. in Routledge Classics with a new preface by the author ed.). London: Routledge.

Copland, F., & Creese, A. (2015). Linguistic Ethnography: Collecting, Analysing and Presenting Data. London: SAGE Publications

Foucault, M. (2002). The essential works of Foucault, 1954-1984. : Vol. 3, Power. (Edit. Faubion, J. D.) London: Penguin.

Gheitasi, P., Lindgren, E., & Enever, J. (2022). The dynamics of foreign language values in Sweden: a social history. CEPS journal, 12(1), 125-146. doi:10.26529/cepsj.758

Kroskrity, P. V. (2000). Regimes of language: ideologies, polities and identities. Oxford: James Currey.

Said, E.  (2016). Orientalism (Nyutg. förord: Edda Manga ed.). (Edit Sjöström, H. O)  Stockholm: Ordfront.

Swedish Nationall Agency of Education. (2013). Introduktionsprogrammet Språkintroduktion. Skolverket

Swedish National Agency of Education (2022). Reviderad kursplan Engelska grundskolan. Skolverket