Trends in the study of Modern languages in Swedish lower secondary school (2000 – 2018) and the impact of grade point average enhancement credits
This paper investigates trends in the study of Modern languages or second foreign languages (SFLs) in Swedish lower secondary school between 2000 and 2018. Over the last decades, SFLs, i.e. French, German and Spanish, have been the target of several policy measures as a response to a declining inter...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2020-07-01
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Series: | Education Inquiry |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2020.1790099 |
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author | Jonas Granfeldt Susan Sayehli Malin Ågren |
author_facet | Jonas Granfeldt Susan Sayehli Malin Ågren |
author_sort | Jonas Granfeldt |
collection | DOAJ |
description | This paper investigates trends in the study of Modern languages or second foreign languages (SFLs) in Swedish lower secondary school between 2000 and 2018. Over the last decades, SFLs, i.e. French, German and Spanish, have been the target of several policy measures as a response to a declining interest. However, few reports on their impact have been published. We report the proportion of pupils studying an SFL at the national level and across demographic municipality groups and analyse a possible impact of one policy measure, grade point average enhancement credits (GPAEC, meritpoäng) for SFLs. We found an increase in the proportion of pupils studying an SFL, but mainly in urban areas. Moreover, we found important differences between SFLs. Spanish is the most widely studied SFL in all municipality groups. French is most popular in urban areas while German is more chosen in rural areas. If the increase of the number of pupils studying and SFL can be ascribed to GPAEC remains still to be seen, but if so, the GPAEC mainly had an impact on highly urban areas where the proportion of pupils studying an SFL was the highest already before introducing this policy measure. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-22T15:14:11Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-a79e968194284b9a8cc883ba0696bc81 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2000-4508 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-22T15:14:11Z |
publishDate | 2020-07-01 |
publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
record_format | Article |
series | Education Inquiry |
spelling | doaj.art-a79e968194284b9a8cc883ba0696bc812022-12-21T18:21:48ZengTaylor & Francis GroupEducation Inquiry2000-45082020-07-010012010.1080/20004508.2020.17900991790099Trends in the study of Modern languages in Swedish lower secondary school (2000 – 2018) and the impact of grade point average enhancement creditsJonas Granfeldt0Susan Sayehli1Malin Ågren2Lund University, Centre for Languages and LiteratureStockholm University, Centre for Research on BilingualismLund University, Centre for Languages and LiteratureThis paper investigates trends in the study of Modern languages or second foreign languages (SFLs) in Swedish lower secondary school between 2000 and 2018. Over the last decades, SFLs, i.e. French, German and Spanish, have been the target of several policy measures as a response to a declining interest. However, few reports on their impact have been published. We report the proportion of pupils studying an SFL at the national level and across demographic municipality groups and analyse a possible impact of one policy measure, grade point average enhancement credits (GPAEC, meritpoäng) for SFLs. We found an increase in the proportion of pupils studying an SFL, but mainly in urban areas. Moreover, we found important differences between SFLs. Spanish is the most widely studied SFL in all municipality groups. French is most popular in urban areas while German is more chosen in rural areas. If the increase of the number of pupils studying and SFL can be ascribed to GPAEC remains still to be seen, but if so, the GPAEC mainly had an impact on highly urban areas where the proportion of pupils studying an SFL was the highest already before introducing this policy measure.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2020.1790099swedenmodern languagesfrenchspanishgermanswedenpolicy measureslower secondary schoolgrade point average enhancement credits |
spellingShingle | Jonas Granfeldt Susan Sayehli Malin Ågren Trends in the study of Modern languages in Swedish lower secondary school (2000 – 2018) and the impact of grade point average enhancement credits Education Inquiry sweden modern languages french spanish german sweden policy measures lower secondary school grade point average enhancement credits |
title | Trends in the study of Modern languages in Swedish lower secondary school (2000 – 2018) and the impact of grade point average enhancement credits |
title_full | Trends in the study of Modern languages in Swedish lower secondary school (2000 – 2018) and the impact of grade point average enhancement credits |
title_fullStr | Trends in the study of Modern languages in Swedish lower secondary school (2000 – 2018) and the impact of grade point average enhancement credits |
title_full_unstemmed | Trends in the study of Modern languages in Swedish lower secondary school (2000 – 2018) and the impact of grade point average enhancement credits |
title_short | Trends in the study of Modern languages in Swedish lower secondary school (2000 – 2018) and the impact of grade point average enhancement credits |
title_sort | trends in the study of modern languages in swedish lower secondary school 2000 2018 and the impact of grade point average enhancement credits |
topic | sweden modern languages french spanish german sweden policy measures lower secondary school grade point average enhancement credits |
url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2020.1790099 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT jonasgranfeldt trendsinthestudyofmodernlanguagesinswedishlowersecondaryschool20002018andtheimpactofgradepointaverageenhancementcredits AT susansayehli trendsinthestudyofmodernlanguagesinswedishlowersecondaryschool20002018andtheimpactofgradepointaverageenhancementcredits AT malinagren trendsinthestudyofmodernlanguagesinswedishlowersecondaryschool20002018andtheimpactofgradepointaverageenhancementcredits |