Arild Høie Henriksen

• Summer, Theresa; Przybył, Jakub & Henriksen, Arild H. (2025). Learner attitudes to English instruction in Germany, Norway, and Poland: Insights from the ELT Survey. Language Teaching Research. ISSN 1362-1688. doi: 10.1177/13621688251333092. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Language learner attitudes have been linked to motivation, willingness to communicate, and attainment in second language (L2) learning research. Yet, explorations of learner attitudes remain scarce, especially concerning learners’ perspectives on the language instruction they receive in schools. To contribute to a more complete picture of L2 English instruction, we gathered data from 2,721 adolescent learners of English in German, Norwegian, and Polish schools through the English Language Teaching (ELT) Survey. Our measures of attitudes included summarized ratings of classes, semantic differentials, and responses to a reflective scale, all of which we subjected to inferential analyses. To explore the reasons behind learners’ attitudes towards L2 English instruction, we supplemented quantitative data with qualitative insights and interpreted attitudinal differences in the three countries. Although the evaluations of English lessons appeared relatively positive, participants’ perceptions of their L2 English instruction were largely unfavourable. English lessons were most often labelled monotonous by students learning in German and Polish schools. This remains in stark contrast to earlier findings on learners’ attitudes to English as a school subject from various countries. At the same time, our analyses revealed statistically significant differences across the three countries, with students in Norwegian schools being the most enthusiastic about their L2 English classes, and students in Polish schools being the most critical. These differences were largely parallel to the variation in participants’ self-assessment of attainment in English and, to some extent, their most recent marks in English. In the process of a reflexive thematic analysis, we identified five main themes illustrating explicit criticism related to a narrow scope of teaching methodologies, limited opportunities for communication, lack of real-life relevance, teacher-related challenges, and little emotional-motivational support. These qualitative insights allowed us to explain reasons behind learners’ generally negative attitudes. Our findings highlight the need to consider learners’ voices in research on attitudes to L2 instruction.

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• Henriksen, Arild H.; Galteland, Tone Marie B; Aanensen, Mariette & Horverak, May Olaug (2023). Helping Refugees and Immigrants in Norway to Finish Lower Secondary School – Self-Regulation, Motivation and Mastering of English in Adult Learning. doi: 10.22492/issn.2435-9467.2023.12. Full text in Research Archive
• Horverak, May Olaug; Aanensen, Mariette; Galteland, Tone Marie & Henriksen, Arild Høie (2023). Helping Refugees and Immigrants in Norway to Finish Lower Secondary School – Self-Regulation, Motivation and Mastering of English in Adult Learning. Full text in Research Archive
• Henriksen, Arild Høie (2022). Hva er egentlig galt med passiv? Språkprat. Et populærvitenskapelig tidsskrift. Full text in Research Archive
• Aanensen, Mariette & Henriksen, Arild H. (2022). A closer look at the Norwegian curriculum in subject English. Full text in Research Archive
• Henriksen, Arild Høie (2018). Oppslagsord: personlig pronomen. In Bolstad, Erik (Eds.), Store norske leksikon (snl.no 2018). Store norske leksikon AS. Full text in Research Archive
• Henriksen, Arild Høie (2018). Oppslagsord: egennavn. In Bolstad, Erik (Eds.), Store norske leksikon (snl.no 2018). Store norske leksikon AS. Full text in Research Archive
• Henriksen, Arild Høie (2018). Oppslagsord: denotere. In Bolstad, Erik (Eds.), Store norske leksikon (snl.no 2018). Store norske leksikon AS. Full text in Research Archive
• Henriksen, Arild Høie (2018). Oppslagsord: regress - filosofi. In Bolstad, Erik (Eds.), Store norske leksikon (snl.no 2018). Store norske leksikon AS. Full text in Research Archive
• Henriksen, Arild Høie (2018). Oppslagsord: pekeord. In Bolstad, Erik (Eds.), Store norske leksikon (snl.no 2018). Store norske leksikon AS. Full text in Research Archive
• Henriksen, Arild Høie (2018). Oppslagsord: ordenstall. In Bolstad, Erik (Eds.), Store norske leksikon (snl.no 2018). Store norske leksikon AS. Full text in Research Archive
• Henriksen, Arild Høie (2018). Oppslagsord: mengdeord. In Bolstad, Erik (Eds.), Store norske leksikon (snl.no 2018). Store norske leksikon AS. Full text in Research Archive
• Henriksen, Arild Høie (2018). Oppslagsord: iterativ. In Bolstad, Erik (Eds.), Store norske leksikon (snl.no 2018). Store norske leksikon AS. Full text in Research Archive
• Henriksen, Arild Høie; Åfarli, Tor Anders & Hasund, Ingrid Kristine (2020). The expletive passive and beyond : A comparative analysis of passives in English and Norwegian. Universitetet i Agder. ISSN 9788271179984. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This thesis argues that passives in English and Norwegian can be explained by a casetheoretic approach inspired by Chomsky (1981, 1995, 2000 and 2001). I argue that the passive morpheme originates in little v and blocks little v's case-assigning properties in English but not in Norwegian. Thus the passive feature —[PASS]—forces a postverbal DP to move out of the vP phase in English so that the basic passive, although seemingly driven by the EPP, is in reality a result of a combination of the EPP and case theory. Following Bruening (2013), I further argue that the by-phrase is an adjunct just like instrumental PPs that can be freely inserted in structures that have external arguments that are free, such as passives and certain nominals. As such, by-phrases are blocked from occurring with middles or unaccusatives, and this is the same thing that happens with instrumentals and comitatives.

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