Adolescents who have newly arrived in Sweden face a considerable learning task in trying to acquire substantial Swedish proficiency in as little time as possible. One potential source of learning input could be out-of-school (extramural) exposure to the language, which has been identified as a key factor for students’ learning of English (e.g., Sundqvist, 2009). While the Swedish field of language education has considerable knowledge about the extramural English exposure of Swedish students, little attention has been directed to learners of Swedish in Sweden. Given that newly arrived students learning Swedish do so in a Swedish context means that they should have vast potential exposure to the language outside of school, which could facilitate their learning. However, Nuottaniemi (2023), as an example, highlights that many learners have few Swedish-speaking arenas outside of the classroom. This raises the question of the extent of extramural Swedish exposure for these learners. 

This study draws on the considerable knowledge base concerning the learning opportunities in informal out-of-school language exposure. This has been found in many studies focusing on extramural English and Swedish learners of English (e.g., Sundqvist, 2009; Sylvén & Sundqvist, 2012). It has also been suggested that extramural exposure poses challenges in the classroom, as students come with different levels of knowledge (e.g., Sundqvist & Olin-Scheller, 2013). Knowledge concerning the extent of extramural Swedish exposure could provide valuable insights about the realities of the Swedish as an L2 classroom and what learning opportunities students have that complement their Swedish classes in school. Extramural Swedish encounters could potentially occur not only in real world interaction but also in digitized contexts, such as online or in popular culture. Thus, the paper sheds light on language and communication in the digital age. Moreover, qualitative insights concerning students’ encounters with different languages offer additional perspectives on how the social realities of the students impact their extramural exposure and choices. 

The purpose of the study is to map the extent and nature of extramural Swedish that immigrant learners attending the Språkintroduktion program encounter. In this way, a knowledge gap is addressed as regards the informal Swedish learning opportunities of this student group. In this paper, the results of a pilot study mapping extramural Swedish exposure is presented. The data was gathered using self-reports in the form of language questionnaires and language diaries as well as follow-up interviews with learners. The follow-up interviews are valuable in this context, given the sociopolitical factors that have major impact on this group of learners. The paper shares tentative results concerning the amount of extramural Swedish exposure, a discussion on the methodological difficulties in gathering data in multilingual classes and an outline for the upcoming large-scale study where data is gathered from a larger sample and teacher perspectives are elicited for a deeper understanding of the classroom.

References:

Nuottaniemi, A. (2023). Flerspråkighetens gränser: Språkdidaktik på (o)jämlik grund i migrationernas tid [The limits to multilingualism: Language pedagogy on (un)equal grounds in the age of migrations] [Doctoral dissertation, Umeå University].

Sundqvist, P. (2009). Extramural English matters: Out-of-school English and its impact on Swedish ninth graders’ oral proficiency and vocabulary [Doctoral dissertation, Karlstad University].

Sundqvist, P., & Olin‐Scheller, C. (2013). Classroom vs. extramural English: Teachers dealing with demotivation. Language and Linguistics Compass, 7(6), 329–338. https://doi.org/10.1111/lnc3.12031

Sylvén, L. K., & Sundqvist, P. (2012). Gaming as extramural English L2 learning and L2 proficiency among young learners. ReCALL, 24(3), 302–321. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095834401200016X