English language teaching material in Iceland : how does it support students’ attainment of Icelandic National Curriculum competences?

Abstract

The status of the English language in Iceland has been up in the air for a number of years, closing in on a decade. Icelanders are exposed to the language daily and the exposure has only grown since the early 2000s, when English’s status in Iceland became vague due to increased exposure. The knowledge that Icelanders have of the language does not align with the expectations of the Icelandic National Curriculum; in fact, many Icelanders have more spoken interaction and listening skills than the Curriculum expects students to have at the beginning of English language instruction in school. However, many Icelanders also overestimate their English skills, especially when it comes to writing, reading comprehension and cultural literacy. The listening and spoken interaction skills may be overestimated as well since a lot of those skills are learned through media before school, so they are conditional to context clues that are often visual.This thesis will discuss the status of the English language in Iceland with reference to studies that have been made relating to the topic. The National Curriculum will be examined and its requirements for foreign languages will be discussed. The teaching material that is available to teachers and students in Iceland will be analysed and compared to the National Curriculum’s criteria. Two studies relating to teaching methods will be examined and reported on. The question “How does the English language teaching material support students in reaching the competences of the Icelandic National Curriculum guide?” will be looked into and answered to our best abilities.