Varieties of English in the Swedish Classroom

Many English teachers see British English as the standard variety and teach this variety in the classroom. Their students are, however, also exposed to a great deal of American English in today’s media. As a result, there are a lot of students who use a mixture of these varieties because of the double input, both from media and from the teachers in school. In this paper, I interviewed teachers from Swedish secondary and upper secondary schools to find out what their attitudes towards British and American English were and whether these attitudes were reflected in their teaching. I also examined whether the teachers actually spoke the variety of English they thought they did as well as what their views were on students using a mixture of varieties. The focus of this essay will be on American English and British English