Stockholm university
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BethAnne Yoxsimer Paulsrud

About me

Senior lecturer of English Language Education in the Department of Teaching and Learning.

Associate Professor of English Applied Linguistics.

My work as a teacher educator and researcher is informed by my many years of experience as a qualified preschool and primary school teacher, as well as a mother tongue teacher. My research focuses on multilingualism in education policy and practice, teacher education, and English and English-medium instruction in Sweden. While I have mainly worked, taught, and conducted research in Sweden, I have also spent time working in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Mozambique, and South Africa as a visiting researcher and lecturer.

I received my PhD in 2014 in Educational Sciences with a focus on language and language development at Stockholm University, with a monograph on English-medium instruction in Swedish upper secondary schools. From 2015 to 2018, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Bilingualism Research at Stockholm University and participated in a research collaboration with the University of Helsinki. In 2021, I became an associate professor of English with a specialization in applied linguistics (Dalarna University). During the autumn semester of 2023, I was a STINT Fellow at the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Latest publications

Paulsrud, B. & Gheitasi, P. (2024). Embracing Linguistic Diversity: Pre-Service Teachers’ Lesson Planning for English Language Learning in Sweden. Education Sciences, 14(12), 1326. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14121326

Paulsrud, B., & Cunningham, U. (2023). Parallelingualism, translanguaging, and English-medium instruction in Nordic higher education. In E. Peterson & K. Beers Fägersten (Eds.) English in the Nordic countries: Connections, tensions, and everyday realities. (127–147). Routledge.

Paulsrud, B., Juvonen, P. & Schalley, A.C. (2023). Attitudes and beliefs on multilingualism in education: Voices from Sweden, 20(1), 68–85. International Journal of Multilingualism.

Paulsrud, B., Straszer, B. & Rosén, J., Guest Eds. (2022) Special Issue: Translanguaging in the age of mobility: European Perspectives. Multilingua - Journal of Cross-Cultural and Interlanguage Communication, 41(3).

Edited volumes

Paulsrud, B. Tian Z. & Toth J. (Eds.) (2021). English-Medium Instruction and Translanguaging. Multilingual Matters.

Paulsrud, B., Rosén, J., Straszer, B. & Wedin, Å. (Eds.) (2018). Transspråkande i svenska utbildningssammanhang. Studentlitteratur.

Paulsrud, B., Rosén, J., Straszer, B. & Wedin, Å. (Eds.) (2017). New Perspectives on Translanguaging and Education. Multilingual Matters.

Publications

More publications and conference presentations may be found on DiVA here.

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • English-Medium Instruction in Sweden: Perspectives and practices in two upper secondary schools

    2014. BethAnne Yoxsimer Paulsrud.

    Thesis (Doc)

    This thesis presents English-medium instruction (EMI) in the Swedish context, focusing on perspectives and practices in two schools. The research question is as follows: How and why is EMI offered, chosen, and practiced in the Swedish upper secondary school today? The aim is to explore the status of the educational option, the reasons for offering EMI to stakeholders, the stakeholders’ beliefs about and goals of EMI, and the implementation of EMI in the classroom.

    A survey of all upper secondary schools in Sweden was conducted to ascertain the spread of content teaching through a foreign language. The educational context was studied from an ecological perspective using methods based in linguistic ethnography. Language alternation, academic language, and language hierarchy were all considered. Interviews were analysed for content; and classroom language use was analysed for language choice and function. The concepts of affordance and scaffolding together with translanguaging were key. The de facto policies of the micro contexts of the schools were examined in light of the declared national policy of the macro context of Sweden.

    The results indicate that the option in Swedish schools has not increased, and also tends to only be EMI—not Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) or instruction through other languages. EMI is offered for prestige, an international profile, marketing potential and personal interest. EMI students are academically motivated and confident, and see the option as “fun”. 100% EMI in the lessons is not the goal or the practice. Translanguaging is abundant, but how language alternation is perceived as an affordance or not differs in the two schools. One focuses on how the languages are used while the other focuses on how much each language is used.

    In conclusion, the analysis suggests that a development of definitions and practices of EMI in Sweden is needed, especially in relation to language policy and language hierarchy.

    Read more about English-Medium Instruction in Sweden

  • Essentializing vs. non-essentializing students' cultural identities: curricular discourses in Finland and Sweden

    2017. Harriet Zilliacus, BethAnne Paulsrud, Gunilla Holm. Journal of Multicultural Discourses 12 (2), 166-180

    Article

    This article examines how students' cultural identities are discursively constructed in the Finnish and Swedish national curricula for the compulsory school. The aim is to illuminate the manifold discourses on cultural identity which prevail within Nordic educational policy. The study employs a critical multicultural education and postcolonial perspective with a particular focus on essentialist and non-essentialist views of identity in the curricular discourses. Through discourse analysis, key terms such as 'cultural identity' and 'multicultural identity' as well as different aspects of cultural identities such as language, gender and religion are investigated. The results show diverging discourses, with distinct differences in their explicitness and implicitness in the two countries. A clear effort to see all students as having multi-layered and multicultural identities is evident in the Finnish curricular discourse whereas a more essentializing discourse emerges in the Swedish curriculum. We conclude with a discussion on the importance of addressing policy discourses on students' cultural identities in order to ensure non-essentialist and socially just teaching and educational practice.

    Read more about Essentializing vs. non-essentializing students' cultural identities

  • New Perspectives on Translanguaging and Education

    2017. .

    Book (ed)

    This edited collection explores the immense potential of translanguaging in educational settings and highlights teachers and students negotiating language ideologies in their everyday communicative practices. It makes a significant contribution to scholarship on translanguaging and considers the need for pedagogy to reflect and embrace diversity. The chapters provide rich empirical research and document translanguaging in varied educational contexts, with studies from pre-school to adult education in different, mainly European, countries, where English is not the dominant language. Together they expand our understanding of translanguaging and how it can be applied to a variety of settings. This book will be of interest to students and researchers, especially in education, language education and applied linguistics, as well as to professionals and policymakers.

    Read more about New Perspectives on Translanguaging and Education

  • English-medium instruction in Sweden: Perspectives and practices in two upper secondary schools

    2016. BethAnne Paulsrud. Journal of Immersion and Content Based Language Education 4 (1), 108-128

    Article

    This article presents a multi-site and multi-method doctoral dissertation study of English-medium instruction (EMI) in the Swedish context, focusing on perspectives and practices in two upper secondary schools. The research explores the status of EMI, reasons schools offer EMI, beliefs about EMI, and implementation of EMI in classrooms. The educational context is studied from an ecological perspective using methods based in linguistic ethnography. The results indicate that the few Swedish schools teaching content through another language tend to offer EMI — not content and language integrated learning (CLIL). Neither language learning nor 100% English instruction are the main goals of the schools.Translanguaging is abundant, affording both pedagogic and non-pedagogic functions. The study concludes that a development of definitions and practices of both EMI and CLIL in Sweden is needed, especially in relation to language policy and language hierarchy.

    Read more about English-medium instruction in Sweden

  • Transspråkande i svenska utbildningssammanhang

    2018. .

    Book (ed)

    Begreppet transspråkande är användbart för att analysera språkande där en mångfald av språkliga resurser ingår. Transspråkande som pedagogik utmanar traditionella förhållningssätt och arbetssätt till förmån för sådana där elevernas språkliga repertoarer erkänns och används i lärprocesser. Transspråkande som praktik innebär därmed att man i den pedagogiska verksamheten utgår från flerspråkighet som norm för människors sätt att vara i och använda språk.

    Författarna i denna antologi utforskar transspråkande i svensk utbildningskontext från förskola till högre utbildning och i relation till svenska styrdokument och rådande pedagogiska villkor. Syftet är att studera och synliggöra språkideologiska, teoretiska och pedagogiska perspektiv på transspråkande, bland annat som resurs för elevers utveckling och lärande, i förhållande till digitala medier, som meningsskapande praktik, som norm och ideologi samt som rum för transspråkande.

    Boken aktualiserar på så sätt frågor som många lärare brukar ställa om hur en transspråkande undervisning kan se ut och vad teoretiska och ideologiska reflektioner kring den kan innebära för den dagliga praktiken. 

    Transspråkande i svenska utbildningssammanhang vänder sig främst till lärarstuderande, verksamma lärare och andra med intresse för flerspråkighet och lärande.

    Read more about Transspråkande i svenska utbildningssammanhang

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