Translanguaging at SFI. : A qualitative study abou tteachers’ and students’ use of their linguistic repertoires.

Swedish for Immigrants (SFI) is a study program provided by Swedish municipalities to those who are resident in the country, above the age of 16 and in need to acquire basic skills in the Swedish language. Through this course, students are expected to develop their language knowledge to a level that allows them to participate actively in society as well as communicate freely at work or in other educational environments. The aim of this study is to analyse how teachers and students in two different SFI classrooms use their linguistic repertoires to make meaning in oral interaction with each other. Moreover, the study intends to investigate the study participants’ stance of the use of different languages at SFI. This has been done with translanguaging as the main theoretical framework. Translanguaging is an approach to multilingualism which takes into consideration multilingual individuals’ lived experiences and language practices as ways for them to make meaning. Through this approach, every language that is represented in the classroom and other semiotic resources are valued as a part of a multilingual person’s linguistic repertoire and can therefore be used in interaction. Because translanguaging has been mainly used in research about primary school and in contexts where English is the target language, this thesis wanted to further explore how translanguaging is used as a pedagogical approach in a Swedish as a second language course where the students are adults. Designed as a qualitative research, the study has employed classroom observations and semi- structured interviews as the research methods. First, classroom observations were conducted in the two studied classrooms and were documented by means of field notes and audio recordings. After an initial analysis of all the data collected through the observations, the study participants were interviewed about their stance on the use of multiple languages as a mean of instruction and about their recollections of some critical moments using the stimulated recall technique. The study results showed that the teacher in one classroom only used Swedish as the language of instruction, while the teachers in the second classroom drew upon both their and their students’ linguistic repertoires in their teaching. The interview with one of these teachers showed a positive stance towards the use of the different resources from both teachers’ and students’ linguistic repertoires. Students in both classrooms were observed using different languages, such as Swedish, English and their mother tongues, as well as body language and other resources as a way to make meaning in interaction with others and solve tasks. Interviews with students showed though different attitudes towards the use of different languages in SFI-instruction: while some students see positive sides in the possibility of using their other languages during classes, other students expressed an opposition to this practice and a preference for the use of Swedish only