Most pupilsin grade 5 and grade 9 pass the oral part of the national exam. The aim of thispaper is to find out when and how often the pupils speak English in theclassroom. There is also a question of when and how often the teachers speak inEnglish and why the teachers make these choices.

The studywas carried out by using a questionnaire. The pupils were asked two questionsand the teachers were asked almost the same two questions with the addition offive open questions. 71 fifth graders from four different classes and 94 ninthgraders from four different classes responded. 3 teachers from grade 5 and 4teachers from grade 9 also participated.

Theresults show that both the teachers and the pupils use spoken English in avariety of situations such as communication between teacher and pupil and amongpupils. The younger pupils take on a more passive role, like imitating theteacher, but there is a progression from more controlled situations to moreopen situations. There seems to be a more varied, but less regular communicationin the older ages. The teachers want to speak English as much as possible, butoften explain difficult parts in Swedish in order for the pupils to understand.