This paper aims to discuss competing discourses (cf. Foucault 1984) identified in research and reports within the academic field (Bourdieu 1991) in Sweden regarding the school subject Swedish as a second language (SSL) from 1995, and in relation to the notion of equity. In Sweden, SSL is constructed as a parallel subject to the subject Swedish within the curriculum for both secondary and upper secondary school and is arranged “if it is necessary” for students with another mother tongue than Swedish (The Swedish Ministry of Education and Research, 2011). SSL provides qualifications for studies at upper secondary school and university levels. The syllabi and grading criteria are more or less identical in SSL and Swedish, and SSL represents a different path towards the same goals. There have, however, been implementation problems since the introduction of the subject, and previous research and reports have found that students and parents may associate SSL with less prestige as compared to the “real” Swedish subject. Within the bilingual and second language research field, an “SSL discourse” was identified, in which the particular language educational needs among students who learn in a second language are recognized as an expression of equity (equality-as-equal-opportunity) and resistance against difference blindness. Moreover, SSL is seen as part of a pluralistic language policy encompassing SSL as well as mother tongue instruction. Meanwhile, a conflicting discourse portrays SSL as an expression of a deficiency perspective regarding its target students, and objects to the separation of students, with arguments employing an “inclusion discourse” (equality-as-uniformity).The anticipatory stance of the analyzed discourses indicates high levels of agency among which reflects the substantial influence of the academic field in Sweden on the political field regarding pluralistic language educational policy. In addition, the analyses highlight elements of interdiscursivity, e.g. how statements from the inclusion discourse are incorporated into the SSL discourse and how the crossing discourses construct colliding perceptions of the SSL subject and its aims.
References
Bourdieu, P. 1991. Language and Symbolic Power. Malden: Polity Press.
Foucault, Michel. 1984. “The Order of Discourse.” In Language and Politics, ed. Michael J. Shapiro, 109–138. Basil Blackwell: Oxford.
