English and Swedish in Sweden - Swedish pupils’ attitudes towards the prospect of diglossia

The English language holds a powerful role world-wide and is now used in some domains in Sweden. This has caused concern for the future of the Swedish language and whether or nor diglossia is underway. The aim of this dissertation is to investigate if there are differences in the attitudes towards the increasing use of English in Swedish society between two different populations of upper-secondary school students: a) students who attend the International Baccalaureate Programme (whose medium of instruction is English), and b) students who attend the Social Science Programme (whose medium of instruction is Swedish). The study investigates students’ pattern and language use and attitudes through the use of questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and reflective journals. The results show that the IB pupils are somewhat less positively disposed towards the increased influence of the English language in Swedish society and argue that it might pose a threat to the status of the Swedish language. However, the investigation also discloses that most IB pupils, to a much larger extent than the SP pupils, consider English paramount in order to succeed in today’s society. Furthermore, the results indicate that the IB pupils’ attitudes towards the expansion of the English language in Swedish society largely correspond to the main objective of Mål i mun, i.e. to protect the Swedish language as well as promote the English language. Key words: diglossia, domain, language shift, attitudes, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, reflective journal