Challenges faced by newly arrived students with low English proficiency and their English teachers in Sweden : Three teachers' accounts

Students who have recently arrived in Sweden have a dual burden of learning the Swedish language as well as other subjects including the English language, and for those with low English proficiency, the burden is much heavier. The purpose of this research essay is to address this problem by examining three English teachers' experiences and perception of newly arrived students with low English proficiency. Previous studies in other countries, usually in the countries where newly arrived students learn English as second language, have reported challenges and difficulties that these students face. However, I found very few studies that address challenges and difficulties faced by those who have to learn English as the third language together with the hosting country's language, like the ones in Sweden. The method that has been used is interviewing three English teacher participants. The findings indicate that the challenges that newly arrived students with low proficiency and the English teachers encounter are many, yet solutions for such challenges are quite few. The teachers note that they are not prepared to teach newly arrived students with low English proficiency, and they are not able to scaffold these students within their zone of proximal development in learning English (Aljaafreh, & Lantolf, 1994). The discussion chapter brings this problem up and reviews it in relation to previous studies and theoretical framework. Moreover, it illustrates why teaching English to low level newly arrived students should not exclusively be teachers' responsibility as it is at present