Utdrag: Teaching and Learning English

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Christian Carlsen, Magne Dypedahl and Sarah Hoem Iversen (Eds.)

Teaching and ­Learning English 2nd edition

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Table of contents Preface....................................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 1 A brief history of English teaching and learning in Norway ......................... 19 Aud Marit Simensen English didactics: an academic discipline ........................................................... 19 The making of a discipline: before 1950 .............................................................. 22 Towards a new reform: up to the mid-1970s ...................................................... 26 New winds blowing: towards a new millennium ............................................... 29 At the start of the new millennium: from the English subject curriculum of 2006 (LK06) to the English subject curriculum of 2020 (LK20) ..................... 33 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 36 References ................................................................................................................. 37 Chapter 2 National curricula and i­ nternational perspectives ......................................... 40 Heike Speitz The English subject curriculum (LK20) and its sources of influence ................ 40 Steering documents in general education .......................................................... 41 Changing times and changing curricula .............................................................. 42 The status of English ............................................................................................... 43 The national curriculum (LK20) ........................................................................... 44 The Council of Europe ............................................................................................. 46 The Common European framework of reference for languages (CEFR) .............. 47 The European language portfolio (ELP) .................................................................. 49 International trends ................................................................................................. 50 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 50 References ................................................................................................................. 51

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Chapter 3 What the 2020 curriculum reform means for English teachers ................. 53 Tony Burner Introduction .............................................................................................................. 53 What’s new? ............................................................................................................. 54 Implications and challenges for English teachers .............................................. 57 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 59 References ................................................................................................................. 60 Chapter 4 Plurilingual learning and teaching ...................................................................... 62 Åsta Haukås and Heike Speitz What is plurilingualism? .......................................................................................... 62 The value of plurilingualism ................................................................................... 65 The English subject curriculum and plurilingualism ............................................. 66 What is a plurilingual pedagogical approach? ................................................... 68 Examples of plurilingual teaching and learning ................................................. 69 Plurilingual awareness and the European language portfolio (ELP) ................. 71 Fostering writing skills across languages ............................................................ 73 Third language learners in the L2 English classroom ........................................ 74 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 75 References ................................................................................................................. 77 Chapter 5 Intercultural competence and culture ............................................................... 81 Magne Dypedahl and Henrik Bøhn What is intercultural competence? ...................................................................... 81 Why intercultural competence is important ...................................................... 83 Language education and intercultural competence .......................................... 84 A model for intercultural competence ................................................................. 85 The intercultural learning cycle ............................................................................. 86 The intercultural dimension in the English language classroom .................... 89 Culture pedagogy .................................................................................................... 91 Assessment of intercultural competence ........................................................... 94 Resources for being an interculturally competent teacher .............................. 95 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 96 References ................................................................................................................. 97

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Chapter 6 Teaching oral skills: ­Speaking and listening .................................................... 100 Theresé Tishakov Oral skills ................................................................................................................... 100 Language and context ............................................................................................. 101 Communication as the goal of the curriculum ................................................... 104 Oral communication ............................................................................................... 106 Speaking and listening to learn ............................................................................. 110 In the classroom ....................................................................................................... 111 Process speaking ..................................................................................................... 114 Classroom activities ................................................................................................ 115 Example lesson plan ................................................................................................ 117 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 120 References ................................................................................................................. 121 Chapter 7 Writing in English ................................................................................................... 122 Ragnhild Elisabeth Lund and Maria Casado Villanueva Why write in English? ............................................................................................. 122 What does the English subject curriculum say? ................................................ 123 Different types of writing ....................................................................................... 124 How to motivate for writing? ................................................................................ 126 How to help learners get started? ........................................................................ 127 Scaffolding learners’ writing .................................................................................. 129 Ideas to practise different text types and strategies ......................................... 131 Responding to texts ................................................................................................. 137 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 138 References ................................................................................................................. 139 Chapter 8 Collaborative writing in the English classroom: How and why? ................... 141 Hilde Brox Ways of writing together ....................................................................................... 141 Tools for collaborative writing ............................................................................... 143 Real-time text editors ............................................................................................. 144 Wikis .......................................................................................................................... 146 Challenges with collaborative writing – and how to overcome them ............ 151 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 153

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References ................................................................................................................. 154 Chapter 9 Digital learning tools in the age of machine intelligence .............................. 156 Jon Hoem and Sarah Hoem Iversen Introduction .............................................................................................................. 156 Digital skills in the English subject curriculum ................................................... 158 “Free” digital tools: no such thing as a free lunch? ............................................ 159 Speech-to-text technology .................................................................................... 161 Machine translation ................................................................................................ 162 How can machine translation be used in the classroom? ............................... 164 Digital writing assistants and spell checkers ...................................................... 167 Practical criteria for selecting and evaluating digital tools for pedagogical purposes ............................................................................................. 171 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 173 References ................................................................................................................. 174 Chapter 10 Reading skills and s­ trategies ............................................................................... 177 Theresé Tishakov Literacy and reading ................................................................................................ 177 Reading in the English subject curriculum .............................................................. 178 Genre approach to reading .................................................................................... 180 Helping the students become strategic readers ................................................ 184 Effective reading strategies .................................................................................... 185 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 189 References ................................................................................................................. 190 Chapter 11 Multimodal texts in the English classroom ...................................................... 191 Hege Emma Rimmereide What are multimodal texts? .................................................................................. 191 Multimodality and multiliteracies ........................................................................ 193 Multimodal texts in the classroom ....................................................................... 195 Different types of multimodal texts ..................................................................... 196 Encountering multimodal texts in textbooks ...................................................... 196 Visual literacy in picturebooks and graphic novels ............................................ 198 Creating multimodal texts in the English classroom ......................................... 200

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Ideas for practising production of different text types using Book Creator ..... 202 Wiki Storyline ........................................................................................................... 204 Assessment .............................................................................................................. 206 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 207 References ................................................................................................................. 207 Chapter 12 Reading literature ................................................................................................... 209 Christian Carlsen Literature and the English subject ........................................................................ 209 Literature and students’ reading skills ................................................................. 211 Reading and working with literature .................................................................... 212 Youth literature ........................................................................................................ 216 Recommended books ............................................................................................. 220 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 224 References ................................................................................................................. 225 Chapter 13 Working with literature: Two case studies ....................................................... 227 Gro-Anita Myklevold Developing language awareness and cultural awareness ................................ 227 Reading Revolting Rhymes and Funny in Farsi: What, how and why? ................. 228 How can teachers use Revolting Rhymes? ........................................................... 229 How can Funny in Farsi be used in the classroom? ............................................ 237 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 245 References ................................................................................................................. 246 Chapter 14 Working with grammar ......................................................................................... 248 Monika Bader and Magne Dypedahl The role of grammar in language instruction ..................................................... 248 What is grammar? .................................................................................................. 250 What grammar to focus on? ................................................................................. 253 Grammar in context ................................................................................................ 256 How to work with grammar in the classroom .................................................... 258 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 264 References ................................................................................................................. 265

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Chapter 15 Teaching pronunciation ......................................................................................... 267 Eivind Nessa Torgersen The place of pronunciation in English language teaching and learning ........ 267 Fluency and accuracy in the English classroom ................................................. 269 The English subject curriculum: “patterns” of pronunciation ............................. 269 Is there one standard for how English should be pronounced? ...................... 271 English as a lingua franca ....................................................................................... 273 What should be the goal for teaching pronunciation? ..................................... 274 Comprehensibility and new contrasts ................................................................. 276 Pronunciation activities in the English language classroom ............................ 278 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 280 References ................................................................................................................. 281 Chapter 16 Vocabulary learning ............................................................................................... 283 Camilla Bjørke What is vocabulary? ............................................................................................... 283 Vocabulary in language learning research .......................................................... 285 What does it mean to know a word? ................................................................... 286 Which words should be learnt? ............................................................................ 288 Transparent words ................................................................................................... 290 Cognates ................................................................................................................... 291 How are words learnt? ........................................................................................... 293 Word-learning strategies ....................................................................................... 294 A classification of word-learning strategies ....................................................... 295 How can word-learning be arranged in the classroom? ................................... 296 Vocabulary training on the internet ..................................................................... 300 The explicit teaching of strategies ........................................................................ 300 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 301 References ................................................................................................................. 302 Chapter 17 General perspectives on assessment ................................................................ 304 Henrik Bøhn Assessment – a basic aspect of teaching and learning .................................... 304 Ipsative assessment ................................................................................................ 305

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Norm-referenced assessment ............................................................................... 306 Criterion-referenced assessment ......................................................................... 307 Final assessment (“Sluttvurdering”) .................................................................... 307 Continuous assessment (“Undervegsvurdering”) ............................................ 312 Feedback ................................................................................................................... 316 Gathering information about the students’ level of achievement .................. 317 Four principles of good, continuous assessment ............................................... 318 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 319 References ................................................................................................................. 320 Chapter 18 Developing language ­awareness ........................................................................ 322 Anja Angelsen and Helene Hauge What is language awareness? ............................................................................... 322 Language awareness and the English subject curriculum ................................... 324 Learning languages .................................................................................................. 326 Second language acquisition ................................................................................. 326 Individual differences in language learning ........................................................ 328 Domains of language awareness .......................................................................... 330 Teaching (about) language awareness ................................................................ 333 Activities to develop language awareness .......................................................... 334 Morphology and word learning ............................................................................. 334 Word order ................................................................................................................ 335 Error identification ................................................................................................... 336 Children’s books ....................................................................................................... 336 Dictionaries ............................................................................................................... 337 Automatic translation tools ................................................................................... 338 Text analysis ............................................................................................................. 339 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 340 References ................................................................................................................. 341 Chapter 19 Teaching and learning m ­ aterials ......................................................................... 343 Ragnhild Elisabeth Lund Teaching and learning materials – what are we talking about? ...................... 343 Published materials in Norway ............................................................................. 345 Published materials on the global market ........................................................... 346

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Teachers’ and learners’ perceptions of published materials ........................... 347 The affordances of published materials .............................................................. 350 Visuals, design and layout ..................................................................................... 356 Checklist .................................................................................................................... 357 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 359 References ................................................................................................................. 360 Chapter 20 Teachers’ beliefs about language instruction .................................................. 363 Åsta Haukås What is meant by teachers’ beliefs? ...................................................................... 363 Student teachers’ (resistant) beliefs about language teaching ...................... 365 What language teachers think, and what they do ............................................. 368 Becoming conscious of one’s own beliefs ........................................................... 371 A student teacher examines her own beliefs ..................................................... 372 New challenges create new beliefs ...................................................................... 375 Concluding remarks ................................................................................................ 377 References ................................................................................................................. 378 Contributors ............................................................................................................. 381 Index .......................................................................................................................... 383

Online Chapters: https://www.cappelendamm.no/_teaching-and-learningenglish-9788202671082 Chapter 21 Formative assessment in English Tony Burner Chapter 22 Norms and variation in English language teaching Henrik Bøhn and Thomas Hansen Chapter 23 Corpora in English language teaching Hilde Hasselgård

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Preface This second edition of Teaching and Learning English has been completely revised and updated. The purpose has not only been to reflect the new national curriculum (LK20), but also to widen the scope of the book. Four entirely new chapters have been added, and the anthology now comprises 23 chapters that cover central topics for teaching and learning English. Of these, 20 chapters are included in the printed version of the book and the last three chapters are freely available online: https://www.cappelendamm. no/_teaching-and-learning-english-9788202671082 The first edition of this anthology was published as recently as 2018, but a new edition is warranted by the very favorable reception that the first edition received, with a large number of institutions putting it on their primary reading lists. Many contributing scholars and institutions played a part in making it a popular book, and in the new edition there are contributions from no fewer than 22 scholars representing eight different institutions of higher education Teaching and Learning English is published alongside the third edition of Fremmedspråksdidaktikk (2020). The two publications share many common characteristics with regard to structure and content, but the most important shared feature is that both projects draw on the expertise of authors and editors all across the board. We would, in particular, like to thank the present editors of Fremmedspråkdidaktikk – Camilla Bjørke and Åsta Haukås – and former co-editors of Teaching and Learning English – Henrik Bøhn and Gro-Anita Myklevold – for their contributions in developing this successful concept.

All the chapters in Teaching and Learning English are structured in the same way. Each chapter begins with a brief overview of its content and ends with concluding remarks and reflection questions. Obviously, the reflec13

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tion questions relate to the content of the chapter, but more importantly their intention is to make readers reflect on how knowledge can be used to increase students’ learning outcomes. These questions are in accordance with one of the main aims of this anthology, namely to underscore the close relationship between theory and practice.

Each chapter in the book focuses on a central theme within the field of English didactics. However, it should be noted that the book represents a holistic approach to language learning. The chapters and themes are closely intertwined. Even though individual chapters focus on specific topics or competences, this does not exclude the relevance or importance of other topics or competences. Several chapters also focus on the same topic, but from different perspectives. In all chapters, whenever relevant, the topics are illustrated with practical examples. In the following, each of the 23 chapters is introduced briefly.

Chapter 1 is written by one of the most distinguished scholars in the field of English didactics in Norway, Aud Marit Simensen. She gives a historical overview of the development of English as a school subject and of English teaching in Norway. Simensen describes how the various subject curricula reflect different times and schools of thought and shows how teaching methodology has changed over time. In chapter 2, Heike Speitz then gives an overview of the steering documents that guide general education in Norway. In addition to focusing on features of the English subject curriculum (LK20), she describes European influences on the development of language curricula, not least from the Common European framework of reference for languages (CEFR). Chapter 3, a new chapter in this edition written by Tony Burner, takes a closer look at new aspects of the English subject curriculum (LK20), such as the cross-curricular topics and increased focus on assessment, and what these elements mean for English teachers.

In chapters 4 and 5, two of the most central features of European language policy and the English subject curriculum (LK20) are presented, namely plurilingualism and intercultural learning. In chapter 4, Åsta Haukås and Heike Speitz present and discuss plurilingualism as a central component of language learning and teaching. They also provide examples of plurilingual teaching and learning, and show how students’ previous linguistic 14

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resources can be of great help in learning new languages. In chapter 5, Magne Dypedahl and Henrik Bøhn show how intercultural competence is an important part of a language user’s competence and consider what implications the focus on intercultural competence has for cultural pedagogy in modern English teaching. They argue that a model of intercultural competence, focusing on specific knowledge, skills and attitudes, may be a very good starting point for developing students’ intercultural competence in language education.

The next six chapters concentrate on the basic skills of language learning.

Speaking and listening are the topics in chapter 6. Here, Theresé Tishakov discusses the importance of oral skills and gives examples of how teachers can introduce a variety of scaffolded listening and speaking tasks to support students’ oral communication in the classroom. In chapter 7, Ragnhild Elisabeth Lund and Maria Casado Villanueva explain why writing has a central position in foreign language learning and describe how teachers can assist their students in developing better writing skills. They give many examples of how teachers can work with these skills and, not least, they confront the very issue of why learners of English should write.

Writing can also be a social activity, and in chapter 8 Hilde Brox explains how digital technologies can be used for collaborative writing.

She addresses two technologies in particular, namely real-time editors and wikis. In chapter 9, an entirely new chapter in this edition, Jon Hoem and Sarah Hoem Iversen examine digital tools for teaching and learning, with an emphasis on machine learning tools, such as translation, grammar and spelling tools. In chapter 10, Theresé Tishakov presents reading skills as a key component of literacy, and she argues that the teaching of reading strategies can aid reading and overall language proficiency. She also discusses how genre pedagogy can be used as an approach to the teaching of reading skills. In chapter 11, which is another entirely new chapter, Hege Emma Rimmereide discusses multimodal texts in the context of teaching and learning English. Arguing that multimodal texts are invaluable in the English classroom, she looks at ways in which learners can engage with – and create – such texts.

The two next chapters focus on literature. In chapter 12, Christian Carlsen looks at why and how literature can be used in English teaching, 15

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not least how digital storytelling can be used in connection with literature.

He outlines some principles for using literature effectively in the classroom and presents recent trends within youth fiction. In chapter 13, Gro-Anita Myklevold analyzes the humorous books Revolting Rhymes (1982) by Roald Dahl and Funny in Farsi (2003) by Firoozeh Dumas as two case studies of how teachers can work with literature. These books illustrate how literature can be related to the three core elements, language learning, communication and encounters with texts in English.

Acquiring knowledge of grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary are prominent aspects of language education. In chapter 14, Monika Bader and Magne Dypedahl argue that both implicit grammar learning and explicit focus on grammatical form and meaning can be central to the concept of communicative competence. They describe a holistic approach to grammar, and their main focus is on text grammar and making grammar an integral part of other learning activities. In chapter 15, Eivind Nessa T ­ orgersen discusses the place of pronunciation in English language teaching. He provides a historical perspective on how pronunciation has been treated in the English classroom and shows how this issue is dealt with in contemporary teaching materials. He also discusses the question of a standard for pronunciation and which phonological features it may be worth concentrating on in the teaching and learning of English. In chapter 16, Camilla Bjørke focuses on vocabulary learning strategies. She shows how general knowledge about language and language learning can be of help in learning a new language.

When teaching and learning English, an all-important issue is assessment. In chapter 17, Henrik Bøhn provides a general introduction to the issue of language assessment and examines the why, what, and how of assessment. More specifically, he outlines different types of assessment, why and how these could and should be used, and discusses important questions such as validity and reliability in assessment.

Learning English can also be used to reflect on language learning in general and help learners to become more efficient language learners. In chapter 18, Anja Angelsen and Helene Hauge discuss language awareness and how learners can work to develop their understanding of languages along with other language skills.

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In the fourth new chapter of this edition, chapter 19, Ragnhild E ­ lisabeth Lund describes some perspectives on different types of teaching and learning materials and their significance in a Norwegian context. She outlines potential benefits and challenges connected with such materials in the teaching of English, and presents a range of criteria that teachers can consider when evaluating their usefulness.

Lifelong learning is a key to being a good teacher. Graduating as a teacher is only a milestone, not the end of an educational road. One aspect of this is to continue to gain new knowledge and improve one’s own skills. Equally important is the need for reflection on the teacher’s role and on how teachers can help learners enhance their learning outcomes to the best of their abilities. In the last chapter of the printed book, chapter 20, Åsta Haukås writes about how teachers can become more aware of their own beliefs by opening up to new knowledge and challenging themselves in various ways.

Assessment is also the topic of the first of three online chapters: https:// www.cappelendamm.no/_teaching-and-learning-english-9788202671082.

In chapter 21, Tony Burner takes a closer look at formative assessment and its central place in English language teaching in Norway. He describes different types of formative assessment and outlines some of the requirements for making formative assessment an effective tool in the promotion of language learning. Process writing and portfolio assessment are used as examples of how formative assessment can be used successfully in the English language classroom.

Chapter 22 then treats the issue of speaking standards in English education. In this chapter, Henrik Bøhn and Thomas Hansen show how the focus has shifted from the native speaker as a model for teaching and assessment in earlier days towards an emphasis on intelligibility and communication in contemporary English learning and teaching. Against this background, they discuss the implications that this shift has had for language teaching and learning. In chapter 23, Hilde Hasselgård discusses the use of corpora in teaching and learning English. She explains what a corpus is and what answers a corpus can provide about language use that are different from what can be garnered from search engines and other tools. She gives many examples of ways of using of corpora in language learning.

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In sum, these chapters give a good overview of topics that are central to teachers of English. While readers are encouraged to draw on additional resources as well, this book can serve as an excellent starting point for discussions and further development of the teaching and learning of English in Norway.

Christian Carlsen

Magne Dypedahl

Sarah Hoem Iversen

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Chapter 1

A brief history of English teaching and learning in Norway Aud Marit Simensen

The aims of teaching and learning English have changed over the years. In order to understand the present-day situation, English teachers can bene­ fit greatly from knowing about the history of English teaching, or English didactics as it is frequently referred to. In this chapter, one of the pioneers of modern English didactics in ­Norway, Aud Marit Simensen, shares her invaluable insights into this field of study. She outlines the development of the field over time and describes how the various subject curricula reflect different times and schools of thought.

English didactics: an academic discipline In this chapter, the term English didactics is used to refer to the teaching and learning of English as a field of study in Norway. Didactics can be understood as the practice of planning, carrying out, evaluating and improving teaching. It is intimately linked to the learning of English. In English-speaking countries, the term has been less widely used, since for many years it was seen as carrying a flavor of moral instruction. In continental Europe, on the other hand, it is much more common, and in Norway 19

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terms such as didaktikk, fagdidaktikk, English didactics and even English subject didactics, are commonplace in higher education.

English didactics is an applied discipline. Like most applied disciplines, its purpose is to deal with practical questions, and it may look for relevant knowledge and experience in several branches of learning. This field is concerned with issues related to the teaching and learning of English as a foreign or second language. The acronym TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) is normally used to refer to language courses for learners of English in a country where English is not commonly spoken. TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) on the other hand is normally used to refer to language courses for learners of English of different language backgrounds and taught in an English-speaking country.

As an academic discipline, English didactics goes back to around 1900, with textbooks for the education of English teachers and language ­planners often attracting an international readership. Among the first and most widespread textbooks in the discipline were the books The Principles of Language Study by Harold E. Palmer (1922) and How to Teach a Foreign Language by Otto Jespersen (1904, with a first edition in Danish dated 1901).

One current way of understanding the discipline English didactics is to say that it consists of answers to the questions what, how and why. Planning a course in English means making many decisions about what and how.

These decisions should be made on the basis of answers to why-questions: What?

• What should the objectives of a course in English as a foreign language be?

• What should the content be?

How? • How should content (for example types of teaching materials, progression and types of learning activities) be dealt with?

• How should teaching be organized?

• How should the students’ progression be evaluated (for example types of assessment, tests and evaluation criteria)?

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a brief history of english teaching and learning in norway

Why? • Why should English be taught in compulsory education?

• Why these objectives, this content, these teaching materials and so on?

Some central bases for finding answers to these questions at any time are: • the needs of students and society; • the resources available (material as well as human); • the conceptions and traditions within the existing educational community (for example in schools and among teachers of English); • the theories, concepts, and research studies that are relevant.

These bases are changing continually. The needs of students and society are, for example, different today from what they were 50, 75 or 100 years ago. But it is also important to recognize that English language teaching at any point in time is largely based on an understanding of what language is and how languages are learned. This essentially applies to theories and conceptions in disciplines such as linguistics, sociolinguistics, psychology and psycholinguistics. We may therefore say that, to some extent, these fields constitute the parent disciplines on which English didactics as an applied discipline is based. Thus, over time, we have had a succession of different objectives in and approaches to TEFL. Such issues are central for the present chapter (for details, see Simensen, 2007). This chapter is the story in brief of what English didactics has been over the years and what it is now. It may be appropriate at this point to add that today’s state-of-the art in the field is unlikely to last forever.

English didactics is currently a study component in current teacher education programs in Norway. This was also the case in comparable programs in the previous century, although the term then was normally språkmetodikk or engelskmetodikk. The term metodikk usually signalized more focus on how-questions and less on why-questions. Today English didactics is also an established field of research in teacher education programs as well as in related academic fields, such as applied linguistics. For example, a large number of MA and PhD theses in English didactics have been written in the last few decades. Among the crucial areas studied in English didactics are: 21

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• the changing role of English in Norway and in the world; • the major ideas and principles influencing subject curricula in English as a foreign language; • the preference for varieties of English among today’s students; • the teaching and learning of language components in English, such as vocabulary and grammar, and skills, such as speaking and writing; • the teaching of English literature and culture; • the types of assessment in English; • the role of technology in the teaching and assessment of English.

In the following, some aspects of these comprehensive areas will be explored.

There are several sources that can be used when reviewing English didactics as a discipline. Among the most frequently used here are some of the most influential subject curricula in English over time, such as the two editions of Mønsterplan for grunnskolen (Kirke- og undervisningsdepartementet, 1974, 1987). Subject curricula normally bring to light new perspectives, practices, and essential questions in the discipline from period to period in the history of English teaching. They are therefore manifestations over the years of research findings, ideas, beliefs and theories about language teaching and learning generated by academic expertise, practicing teachers and school authorities.

English as a school subject had a slow start in Norway, and for a long time it was taught only to a very small section of the school population. An important political ambition in the 20th century was therefore to introduce English as a subject for all students. All the same, more than two thirds of the century passed before English became a compulsory school subject. This happened in 1969 with a new Education Act for the nine-year compulsory school system: Lov av 13. juni 1969 om grunnskolen (Kirke- og undervisningsdepartementet, 1969).

The making of a discipline: before 1950 A problem in the first half of the previous century was that the model of teaching at the time was not based on the premises of English as a modern language. The dominant teaching method was the grammar-translation 22

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