Teaching grammar – "sort of like a maths lesson" : Newly graduated Swedish teachers'conceptions of teaching grammar

The aim of this study is to analyse newly graduated Swedish L1 teachers’ conceptions of teaching grammar. The data is collected from three semi-structured interviews with newly graduated Swedish L1 teachers and is then compared to two curricula and two textbooks for Swedish L1 through triangulation. The results are then analysed through thematic analysis and discussed through Dewey’s and Freire’s perspectives of learning by doing and communicative teaching. The results indicate that the participating teachers favour contextualised methods of teaching grammar even though they rarely employ it in practice, instead opting for a traditional way of teaching grammar. Furthermore, the teachers imply that they would be open to utilising contextualised ways of teaching grammar more as they become more comfortable teaching. Previous research shows that traditional grammar teaching is ineffective compared to a contextualised approach and provides students with less opportunity for self-agency. The overall findings of the study highlight the importance of newly graduated teachers being given support in their new profession through collegial learning, support from management and textbooks to make sure their teaching practice is scientifically up to date.