Kaja Granum Skarpaas

• Skarpaas, Kaja Granum & Rødnes, Kari Anne (2022). Vocabulary Teaching Practices of L2 English in Upper Secondary Vocational Classrooms. Languages. ISSN 2226-471X. 7(1). doi: 10.3390/languages7010055.
• Skarpaas, Kaja Granum & Hellekjær, Glenn Ole (2021). Vocational orientation – A supportive approach to teaching L2 English in upper secondary school vocational programmes. International Journal of Educational Research Open. ISSN 2666-3740. 2-2. doi: 10.1016/j.ijedro.2021.100064. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This study investigates how upper secondary school English teachers experience using the vocational orientation (VO) approach when teaching English as a second/foreign language (L2) in vocational study programmes. It combines interviews with 10 L2 English teachers in Norway and supplementary classroom observations. The analysis shows that the teachers use VO to facilitate adaptive L2 English teaching by drawing on student interests, promoting subject relevance and scaffolding learning. Impediments to successful VO use include teacher collaboration issues, students’ vocational commitment and the availability of learning material. The informants find that VO supports student learning and increases their engagement with L2 English, which is evidence for the importance of understanding and reducing the challenges to the VO approach.

• Brevik, Lisbeth M.; Lund, Andreas; Skarpaas, Kaja Granum & Røkenes, Fredrik Mørk (2020). Language and technology: Digital competence in English . In Brevik, Lisbeth M. & Rindal, Ulrikke Elisabeth (Ed.), Teaching English in Norwegian classrooms: From research to practice. Universitetsforlaget. ISSN 9788215032283. p. 43–64.
• Brevik, Lisbeth M.; Skarpaas, Kaja Granum & Ramfjord Isaksen, Anja (2020). Vocational English. Building vocational orientation and relevance . In Brevik, Lisbeth M. & Rindal, Ulrikke Elisabeth (Ed.), Teaching English in Norwegian classrooms: From research to practice. Universitetsforlaget. ISSN 9788215032283. p. 65–90.
• Skarpaas, Kaja Granum; Wiese, Eline F. & Engelien, Kirsti Lyngvær (2015). Utilizing MOOC technology in a campus based Teacher Education Programme. In Ho, Curtis P. & Lin, Grace (Ed.), E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2015. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). ISSN 978-1-939797-20-9. p. 664–669.

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• Skarpaas, Kaja Granum (2021). L2 English in vocational study programmes: Comparing teacher and student views. Show summary

  In Norway, as in other countries, upper secondary vocational students are required to study a certain number of general subjects, among them English. The presence of so-called theoretical subjects in vocational education has been the object of debate, often centring on their negative effects on student motivation. As a remedy, common core teachers in Norway are required by law to adapt their instruction to the study programmes of their students. In other words, they must plan and deliver lessons with a vocational orientation. In the case of English, a vocational orientation is not only intended to boost motivation, but also to assure that students learn the language skills needed for work. Compared to academic programmes, very little research addresses L2 English instruction in vocational study programmes. Thus, to contribute to a better understanding of such instruction, this paper compares English teachers’ aims and intentions when utilising a vocational orientation to vocational students’ perceptions and desires for their English instruction. The paper uses qualitative data collected (in 2018 and 2019) from an ongoing doctoral research project involving teachers and students in 10 schools in eastern and western parts of Norway. It compares results from teacher and student interviews, and draws on secondary data from classroom observations. The aim of the paper is to address the following research question: “To what extent do teachers and students share a common vision for the vocational orientation of English language instruction in upper secondary vocational study programmes?”.

• Skarpaas, Kaja Granum (2021). Conference paper: Vocational students and the English school subject – engaging and disengaging classroom practices . Show summary

  This qualitative study examines how vocational students in Norwegian upper secondary school perceive English as a school subject, with the main aim of presenting their views of engaging and disengaging classroom practices. Academic subjects, like L2 English, have been seen as detrimental to the school experience of vocational students, either by being too theoretical (Dæhlen, 2017), or by hampering students’ perceptions of relevance and meaning in school (Dahlback et al., 2011; Hiim, 2013). Mercer and Dörnyei (2020) propose that to increase students’ engagement for learning, they must be given meaningful opportunities to shape the way they learn. This study is one such contribution, as a mouthpiece for vocational students’ experiences with the English subject. To access vocational students’ views of engaging and disengaging practices, the study compares their experience with English in lower- and upper secondary school. It relies on group interviews with 50 vocational students from 10 classrooms in year 11 and 12 in 10 different schools. The study identifies two main threats to vocational students’ engagement in the English subject: lack of perceived relevance and repetition across school years. It is a clear trend for the students to describe lower secondary English as based on irrelevant and repetitive content, while upper secondary offers more variation. Predictably, the students prefer lessons that are framed as relevant to their lives, including their future careers. Furthermore, they want English lessons to be based on student-active learning forms, preferably organised as groupwork. The students are adamant that they will need English for work and express an interest in being able to perform their regular work tasks in English. Lessons with a vocational orientation thus emerge as promising in these classrooms, being (ideally) neither irrelevant nor repetitive.

• Skarpaas, Kaja Granum (2018). How do you VOI - Vocationally oriented instruction in Norway and Sweden.
• Skarpaas, Kaja Granum (2018). Practical and relevant? Vocationally oriented English instruction in Norwegian upper secondary school.
• Skarpaas, Kaja Granum & Brevik, Lisbeth M. (2018). Engelskfaget: Relevans som forutsetning for god yrkesretting. Bedre Skole. ISSN 0802-183X.
• Brevik, Lisbeth M. & Skarpaas, Kaja Granum (2016). Digitale ferdigheter i engelsk: Forskning og praksiseksempler fra seks klasserom . Bedre Skole. ISSN 0802-183X. p. 64–69.
• Gilje, Øystein; Ingulfsen, Line; Dolonen, Jan A.; Furberg, Anniken Larsen; Rasmussen, Ingvill & Kluge, Anders [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2016). Med ARK&APP. Bruk av læremidler og ressurser for læring på tvers av arbeidsformer. Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo.
• Skarpaas, Kaja Granum; Ingulfsen, Line & Gilje, Øystein (2015). "In my spare time I like to..." - En casestudie i prosjektet ARK&APP, engelsk, 5. klasse. Universitetet i Oslo. ISSN 978-82-569-7019-3.

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