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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Main Authors: Jonas Granfeldt, Susan Sayehli, Malin Ågren
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2020-07-01
Series:Education Inquiry
Subjects:
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.
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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
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AT susansayehli trendsinthestudyofmodernlanguagesinswedishlowersecondaryschool20002018andtheimpactofgradepointaverageenhancementcredits
AT malinagren trendsinthestudyofmodernlanguagesinswedishlowersecondaryschool20002018andtheimpactofgradepointaverageenhancementcredits