Newly arrived students in English education : A study of difficulties encountered by students learning English as an L3

The purpose of this study is to investigate the difficulties newly arrived students encounter when they learn English, both from the perspective of students and of teachers, and how these difficulties materialise in the classroom. The study was carried out through interviews with teachers and newly arrived immigrant students on the language introductory program at an upper secondary school. Interviews were used to investigate teachers' and students' experiences and attitudes. The results show that the most significant difficulties the students encounter occur in connection with listening comprehension, and these appear when the students are tested in hearing comprehension. Important factors that influence students’ listening skills are, among other things, that the students learn two languages simultaneously, and also that they have not developed strategies for listening comprehension. It also emerged that both teachers and students use tools such as pictures in order to facilitate learning. Students also use Google to translate, to some extent. When examining both teachers' and students' responses, it was revealed that they have a negative attitude to learning Swedish and English simultaneously. This is explained by the fact that they lose focus, and everything becomes confusing. In conclusion, the result shows that there are no advantages to having newly arrived students learn two languages at the same time. According to the participating teachers, the students must be well-grounded in the Swedish language before they start with English.