Second-Language Pupils Talk about School Life in Sweden: How Pupils Relate to Instruction in a Multilingual School

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to show second-language pupils' experiences in school and their understanding of school through analysis of how they talk about the multilingual primary school and instruction. These stories about school life are studied with a life story approach, and the research process can be described in three steps: tell, analyse and read. The analysis is based on the pupils' own stories, interpreted with post-colonial theory and theories of social capital. Using the database Skrivbanken, 16 essays, written as part of the national exam in 2003, and with the titles ‘My School Years' or ‘My View of School’, were selected. The analysis shows that in school these pupils experience themselves as outside and without a key to the school's linguistic context. Other results show the importance of the majority language for the minority-language-speaking pupils, the pursuit of a common language, and the school's importance for pupils' increased social and cultural capital.