Texts, Topics and Tasks

Acknowledgements 9

Preface 11

1. Teaching English in years 4–6: Some key factors 15

English in Swedish education 16

English in Sweden and the world 17

Sweden as a multicultural and multilingual society 19

The digitalisation of society and our lives  22

Educational ideologies 24

Theories and ideals about learning and language development 25

The relationship between research findings and teaching 32

Scientific knowledge, proven experience and evidence 34

The role of L1 38

Communicative competence 40

The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) 43

Traditions in language teaching 47

Communicative language teaching 48

The local context 52

Teachers’ beliefs and values 53

Learners, anxiety, self-confidence, effort, and motivation 55

2. The syllabus for English 61

Communication is at the heart of language development 62

The syllabus for English and consequences for teaching 64

3. Texts 83

Literacies – a diversity of texts used for different purposes 84

Multimodality and digital literacy 86

Challenges facing educators 87

Texts in the CEFR and the syllabus for English 89

Text types and genres 92

Coherence and cohesion 100

Digital reading and information literacy 104

Critical literacy 106

A task for critical reading/digital reading for years 5 and 6 109

Materials evaluation 111

4. Content: Topics/themes – culture 119

Themes/topics 119

English as a language-driven subject 121

Culture 124

Intercultural understanding, awareness, and communication 130

Assessing intercultural awareness 133

Concluding remarks 135

5. Tasks 137

The bases for English teaching 137

Tasks 139

Language activities: Exercises and tasks 143

Task design 147

Tasks and valid assessment 153

Lesson planning 157

Critique of tasks and some responses 159

Concluding remarks 160

6. Projects 163

Learner-centred approaches 163

Learner autonomy 165

Projects 167

A project in year 6 169

Concluding remarks 172

7. Words and phrases 173

The importance of words and phrases 173

Words 174

Phrases 176

Classroom English 181

Language play 184

Learning words and phrases 187

The effectiveness of different approaches 199

Words in textbooks and word activities in workbooks 200

8. Pronunciation and grammar 205

Pronunciation 205

Grammar 209

9. Listening 223

Listening as the foundation for language development 223

Listening in the syllabus for English 229

Listening strategies 230

Listening activities: different stages with different focuses 233

Assessing listening 234

Some concluding points 241

10. Reading 243

Reading different texts for different purposes and outcomes 244

Reading ability 245

Traditional and digital reading 251

Supporting reading development 256

Reading comprehension  260

Understanding advertising 266

Assessing reading 268

11. Speaking and interacting 275

Talk and conversations as social acts involving cognition 276

Speaking and interacting according to the syllabus for English 278

Building a repertoire of spoken language 282

Extending the repertoire 291

Classroom dialogue and oral feedback 295

Negotiation of meaning and tasks 298

Cooperative learning 301

Assessing speaking and discussing 303

12. Writing 307

Writing and speaking 309

Writing as a cognitive process 311

Writing as a social act 315

Writing development – language development 317

Writing frames 319

Creative writing 320

Digital storytelling 321

Book reports 322

Assessing writing 322

Feedback – assessing writing formatively 334

A summary of principles for teaching writing 341

13. “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” 343

Gail McHugh

The context 343

Using literature 344

Discussing right and wrong 345

What we did 348

The conclusion and some of the results  355

14. Lizzie Zipmouth in year 5 359

Marie Ronnebäck and Sara Sallroth Björk

Background 359

The novel and its links to Lgr22 359

The planning of ||Lizzie Zipmouth|| 362

References 375

Index 393