To Örebro University

The use of English in Swedish higher education has increased significantly in recent years (Malmström & Pecorari, 2022). This shift is particularly evident in the domain of assigned academic reading. In many disciplines, English texts are now as common as, or even more common than, Swedish texts, even in courses where Swedish is the official language of instruction (Malmström & Pecorari, submitted). This widespread reliance on English should be considered in light of reports indicating that many university students in Sweden, especially at undergraduate level, struggle to read and comprehend their assigned reading in English (see, e.g., Eriksson, 2023). In this paper, we introduce new research evidence offering further insights into students’ academic reading. We present the results of a national survey with students conducted in January 2025 in collaboration with Språkrådet. The survey, which was based on a representative sample of 1,000 students, explored students’ general views on and engagement with academic reading in English and Swedish. Additionally, respondents were asked about how well their previous education had prepared them to read academic texts in these two main languages. Descriptive and inferential statistics are used to analyze and present the quantitative data, which include the variables age, gender, academic discipline, and level of study. Additionally, interview data collected from twelve first-year university students complement the survey findings and help to contextualize and explain the survey data. The interviews, analyzed using qualitative content analysis, explored students’ expectations about required reading at university, focusing on their reading experiences and perceptions of who is responsible for preparing them for academic reading. In our discussion, we situate the findings (currently still under analysis) within the ongoing debate about a “reading crisis” in Swedish higher education and highlight how research of this nature can add important nuance to the debate and provide an important foundation for continued research. The discussion also emphasizes the importance of shared responsibility(ies) among educators, policymakers, and institutions at all levels of education in ensuring equal opportunities for all students to be adequately prepared for academic reading in higher education.  

En central aspekt av akademisk litteracitet är förmågan att läsa och förstå akademiska texter. På senare tid har studenters läsvanor och läsförståelse ifrågasatts av olika aktörer inom högre utbildning – ropen om en ”läskris” har ekat i olika medier. Sektorn är delad i sina åsikter om det verkligen handlar om en kris, och kritiken har stundtals varit hård mot användningen av isolerade observationer och anekdotiska bevis som inlägg i debatten. Mer forskning om studenters akademiska läsning har efterfrågats. Chalmers tekniska högskola (i samverkan med Örebro universitet och avdelningen språkrådet, Institutet för språk och folkminnen) genomförde i januari en enkät med 1 000 slumpmässigt utvalda studenter från ett riksrepresentativt urval. Syftet var att kartlägga studenternas akademiska läsvanor, deras preferenser för svenska respektive engelska texter samt hur väl grundskola och gymnasium förbereder studenter för akademisk läsning. Resultaten visar att en majoritet av studenterna verkar hantera akademisk läsning väl. Det betyder dock inte att det saknas anledning till oro. Uppfattningen om problemets omfattning beror till stor del på vilka förväntningar man har. Studien visar också att läsbeteendet varierar mellan olika grupper av studenter. Statistiskt signifikanta skillnader framträder bland annat mellan manliga och kvinnliga studenter, yngre och äldre studenter, studenter på olika utbildningsnivåer samt inom olika ämnesområden. I den här korta presentationen lyfter vi fram några av studiens nyckelresultat och bjuder in till diskussion om orsaker och konsekvenser kopplat till litteracitet och lärande inom högre utbildning.

In the third year of Swedish upper secondary school, students choose if they want to attend English 7; an optional course that incurs a credit increment which improves the chance of being admitted to university. The third-year course is the first that includes texts used in higher education and content of a scientific nature in the syllabus, yet the effects English 7 has on students’ language proficiency and level of preparedness for reading course literature in English remain unexplored. In this mixed methods study, descriptive and inferential statistics are combined with qualitative content analysis to analyse questionnaire and interview data from more than 300 upper secondary school and university students. The results suggest English 7 appears to act as a bridge between upper secondary school with students who attended English 7 significantly better prepared to read course literature in English at university. However, English 7 is also perceived as an elite course that is not for everyone, with students who need it the most to improve their English opting not to attend, leading to the conclusion there is a need to reevaluate the role of English 7. 

Students around the world are expected to read, comprehend and learn from growing numbers of English texts in higher educational contexts where the official medium of instruction is the local language. Despite this language shift, relatively little attention has been paid to the challenges academic texts in English present for students. The present paper provides insights into first-year university students’ perceptions of and attitudes towards academic reading in English in Sweden through a sequential explanatory design with questionnaires and follow-up interviews. Sweden is often seen as a model country in terms of second-language proficiency in English, but as this study shows, a majority of first-year university students expressed negative attitudes towards academic reading in English. Student responses suggested more than one third of first-year Swedish university students in social science subjects struggled to comprehend and keep up with their assigned reading, with vocabulary and reading speed cited as their biggest challenges. This paper further shows that a considerable number of students entered higher education unaware that they were going to be required to read academic texts in English, with some questioning this common practice. Finally, implications for teachers are discussed.

This paper aims to compare upper secondary school curricula for English studies in Norway and Sweden for the purposes of identifying similarities and differences in the description of the purpose and learning outcomes for using English as an academic reading language in higher education. In Scandinavian countries, most students are expected to read academic texts in English at university. Studies from both countries (e.g. Pecorari et al., 2011; Hellekjær, 2009) have found that upper secondary school does not necessarily prepare students for the English they encounter at university. Therefore, it is important to examine the focus and priorities of the national curricula in order to identify how these programs are designed to help students prepare for tertiary studies, and how this might differ between countries which are often considered to share many relevant characteristics. Both countries have undergone changes to the English curriculum in 2021, and this paper will also look at these changes and discuss them in relation to relevant research. This study takes a comparative approach to curricular research both between countries and over time. Preliminary findings suggest that a focus on academic English is potentially underspecified in both countries in the current as well as in the preceding curricula. The curriculum change in Norway has added information about the importance of academic English whereas in Sweden, the focus on academic texts and scientific content has been reduced. With respect to academic English reading proficiency as an indispensable preparation for university, the findings suggest that these seemingly similar countries have some interesting differences in their English curricula which could have implications for the teaching practices in the English classrooms.

A majority of course literature across most disciplines in higher education in Sweden, a Nordic country where English is a foreign language, are English-language publications (Bolton & Kuteeva, 2012), even in courses that do not have English as the official medium of instruction (Pecorari, Shaw, Malmström & Irvine, 2011). Swedes have a reputation as having high general competence in English and as a result, universities generally expect students to be able to read course literature in English without any help or guidance. Despite this, little research has been done on students' perceptions of academic reading in English or any potential problems that this practice may cause. In my PhD project, I aim to demonstrate not only to what extent Swedish university students have problems reading academic English, but also what the cause of these issues are and how they may be resolved. 

During the first phase of the project, a sequential explanatory design (Creswell, Plano Clark, Gutmann & Hanson, 2003) has been used, involving two questionnaires with 505 participants in social science and follow-up interviews with 12 of the participants. The closed-ended questionnaire items have 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. Results show that more than half of Swedish university students in social science express negative attitudes including fear, anxiety and stress toward reading in English. Students further perceive reading in English to be considerably more time-consuming, and report trying to avoid it entirely. Early results also show that students who are not the highest achievers are actively discouraged from attending additional English in upper secondary school, likely making the transition from school to university more difficult.

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.

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.

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

The ability to comprehend academic texts is one of the most important skills that university students who speak English as a second or foreign language need to acquire (Dreyer & Nel, 2003), but previous research has showed a majority of Swedish students understand less when the textbook is in English (Pecorari, Shaw, Malmström, & Irvine, 2011). Despite this, the role of upper secondary school in students’ preparedness for reading academic English at university has not been investigated. In this paper, the aim is to explore what role English 7 – an optional course in upper secondary school – has currently and suggest what role it should have in the future by looking at students’ perceptions of the course. In addition, this paper will present the results from quantitative analyses contrasting the reading ability of students who have attended English 7 with students who have not.

To answer these questions, a sequential explanatory design (Creswell, Plano Clark, Gutmann & Hanson, 2003) has been used, involving two questionnaires with 505 participants and follow-up interviews with 12 of the participants. The closed-ended questionnaire items have 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. Results show students who have attended English 7 report fewer difficulties with reading English course literature than students who only attended English 6 on a number of different variables. However, students who have attended English 7 also report having had higher grades in English in previous years (p < .001). Interview data suggests students with lower grades are discouraged from taking the additional course by teachers and other students, seemingly creating two large groups with varying abilities in English.

References

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). Sage Publications.

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

The use of English has been gaining ground in numerous educational contexts where another language was previously used (Gabriëls & Wilkinson, 2021). At university, students are frequently expected to engage with English texts even though the official medium of instruction is the local language. This shift toward English has resulted in new challenges for students, particularly for students who do not have the proficiency required to read English-language publications (Cenoz, 2012). Previous research on academic reading in higher education has primarily focused on the faculty perspective (Gorzycki et al., 2020). In this paper, I illustrate the issue through the Swedish case by discussing the transition from upper secondary school to university, with a particular focus on first-year university students’ experiences with academic texts in English in Swedish-medium instruction programmes. The ability to comprehend academic texts is one of the most important skills that university students who speak English as a second or foreign language need to acquire (Dreyer & Nel, 2003), but previous research has showed Swedish students understand less when the textbook is in English (Pecorari et al., 2011). The potential impact on student retention and academic success means there is a need for more attention to be paid to students’ experiences with reading in higher education. This paper aims to remediate this issue by providing insights into students’ perceptions and attitudes of English academic texts through a sequential explanatory design involving questionnaires and follow-up interviews. Results show that more than half of university students express negative attitudes toward reading in English and perceive reading in English to be considerably more difficult and time-consuming than reading in Swedish. Universities take it for granted that students have the ability to read academic texts in English without any support (Arnbjörnsdóttir, 2018), but I will argue that students' negative attitudes and self-reported challenges are related to a lack of preparation for reading academic English in upper secondary school. 

References

Arnbjörnsdóttir, B. (2018). Using English at university. In B. Arnbjörnsdóttir & H. Ingvarsdóttir (Eds.), Language development across the life span: The impact of English on education and work in Iceland (pp. 143-162). Springer.

Cenoz, J. (2012). Bilingual educational policy in higher education in the Basque Country. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 25, 41-55.

Dreyer, C., & Nel, C. (2003). Teaching reading strategies and reading comprehension within a technology-enhanced learning environment. System, 31(3), 349–365. 

Gabriëls, R., & Wilkinson, R. (2021). Two types of reflections about English as a medium of instruction. European Journal of Language Policy, 13(2), 161-180.

Gorzycki, M., Desa, G., Howard, P. J., & Allen, D. D. (2020). “Reading Is Important,” but “I Don't Read”: Undergraduates’ Experiences With Academic Reading. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 63, 499-508.

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