STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- A proposal to mandate the teaching of English in Swedish grade schools is built on a "false belief," the secretary of the Swedish Academy says.
Peter Englund says the Liberal Party's plan to start English instruction in first grade has no scientific basis, The Local, a Stockholm newspaper, reported Friday.
Englund says the proposal "is built on a simplified view of language learning" since there is no evidence that students master English better if they start learning it in first grade rather than third or fourth grade.
Englund and his predecessor Horace Engdahl wrote an article attacking the plan in the Swedish newspaper Sveska Dagbladet.
They charge it is "an unnecessary reinforcement of the status of English in Sweden."
In addition, they say introducing English in first grade could create problems for immigrant children who already have problems with Swedish.
