Reading difficulties among multilingual students. : How do schools handle this?

Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine what procedures there are to discover reading difficulties amongst students with another mother tongue than Swedish, and what teaching strategies teachers use in their teaching of these students. Teachers' competences were also examined. The data consisted of one focus group interview with teachers, four interviews at the organizational level as well as 68 questionnaires to teachers. The result from the respondents and informants research questions were thematised and collated and compared with the background of the research. The result shows a lack of routine for revealing multilingual pupils with reading difficulties. The municipality where the study was conducted in 2012 focused on a language developing project, which has affected teachers' teaching strategies. However, teacher training in multilingualism is largely demanded among teachers. Conclusions from the study were that a routine to alert multilingual pupils in reading difficulties needs to be created. Even though there is recognition of the importance of early detection and early intervention when it comes to literacy development, multilingual pupils are rarely targeted with these efforts. Teachers are unsure about effective strategies for these students, this requires further skill enhancements