To Örebro University

The growing importance of internationalization for universities across Europe has resulted in an increasing use of English in higher education in Sweden (Bolton & Kuteeva, 2011), particularly as a reading language (Pecorari et al., 2011). In this paper, I will present the results of a study involving 505 Swedish university and upper secondary school students focused on their attitudes toward reading in English and their perceptions of their ability to read academic English.

Two questionnaires have been distributed in 36 classrooms and lecture halls, with follow-up interview involving a smaller number of participants. This sequential explanatory design, in which respondents can be asked to elaborate on their answers, allows for the collection of in-depth data (Creswell et al., 2003). The closed-ended questionnaire items have then been analyzed using a combination of descriptive and inferential statistics, while the open-ended questionnaire items and interview transcripts have been analyzed using content analysis.

Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB) is used to contextualize the attitudes expressed by the students in this study. In TPB, the impact of attitudes is modified by perceived social pressures and perceived ease or difficulty of performing the behavior (Dörnyei, 2001). In a Nordic context where citizens are exposed to English daily and a majority of the population are said to be bilingual in English (Falk, 2001), the perceived social pressure to be able to read academic English is likely greater than in many other parts of Europe. This could potentially result in the expression of negative attitudes toward the English language in general or the use of English texts in education in particular.

Results show that more than half of university students express negative attitudes toward reading in English. These attitudes include fear and anxiety, but also stress caused by a perception that reading in English is considerably more time-consuming than reading in Swedish. The results further show that university students perceive academic reading in English to be more difficult than upper secondary school students. Universities depend on upper secondary schools to provide students with the necessary English language skills for further education, but in this paper I will argue that students' negative attitudes are related to a perceived difficulty of performing the behavior which in part may be caused by a lack of preparation for reading academic English.

References

Bolton, K., & Kuteeva, M. (2012). English as an academic language at a Swedish university: Parallel language use and the 'threat' of English. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 33(5), 429-447. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2012.670241

Creswell, J., Plano Clark, V., Gutmann, M., & Hanson, W. (2003). Advanced mixed methods research designs. In A. Tashakkori, & C. Teddlie (Eds.), Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research (pp. 209-240). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Dörnyei, Z. (2001). Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Falk, M. L. 2001. Domänförluster i svenskan [Domain Losses in Swedish]. Stockholm, Språkrådet: Nordic Council of Ministers.

Pecorari, D., Shaw, P., Malmström, H., & Irvine, A. (2011). English textbooks in parallel-language tertiary education. TESOL Quarterly, 45(2), 313-333.

Phillipson, Robert. 1992. Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.