Having Swedish as a Second Language : A study of the language development of newly arrived pupils.

The aim of this study was to examine newly arrived pupils’ language and writing skills in Swedish over a shorter period of time. The pupils are in second grade and their native language is Farsi. The method of the study was a conversation with the pupils where they retell a story orally and then in writing. The conversations carried out for five weeks during three occasions. The findings of this study were that the pupils, after conversations, still could just retell few words in Swedish orally and in writing. They are not able to produce an entire sentence in a conversation. The finding also shows that it can take a long time before they reach the same level as a native speaking Swedish pupil of the same age.