There are discursive situations where second-language-speaking teenage boys are repeatedly constructed as deviant or problematic in both the Swedish public and the school environment (e.g. Jonsson, 2014, 2017). Prior analyses of Swedish policy and curricula indicate that the school subject Swedish as a Second Language (SSL) is discursively contrasted with “regular” Swedish (SL), positioning students as in need of specialized instruction and responsible for linguistic shortcomings: patterns consistent with deficit framings and structurally embedded roles that narrow perceived agency (e.g., (Boréus & Bergström, 2018; Hedman & Magnusson, 2018; Siekkinen, 2017). Internationally, narrative and cultural‑psychological research cautions that such discourses shape what becomes sayable and doable in school (Bruner, 1991).  

This study examines second language speaking boys’ narratives of languaging, learning, and identity at a liminal moment, late spring of ninth grade, just before upper‑secondary choice. Semi‑structured narrative life‑history interviews were conducted with seven boys (≥15 years), all enrolled in SSL, attending the same suburban school and representing diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. All used at least three languages in daily life; six had both parents born outside Sweden, and six had migrated during childhood. Interviews followed a chronological past–present–future sequence. Analysis followed Riessman’s (2008) thematic narrative approach, moving from holistic readings to case‑level narrative portraits and then cross‑case patterns, informed by narrative sense‑making (Bruner, 2004), narrative identity/agency (McAdams, 2013) social and institutional context (Goodson, 2013). 

The results indicate that the boys consistently casted school as a gateway to imagined futures and emphasized its importance: "Otherwise you have no future". The patterns accord with narrative identity theory, whereby adolescents integrate reconstructed pasts and imagined futures into evolving self‑stories that confer unity and purpose (McAdams & McLean, 2013). The same applied to languaging. Strikingly, peers, not teachers, were cited as the primary drivers of “real” language learning, indicating that everyday interactional arenas were central to linguistic development and belonging. All informants told a story of a journey from times when the language was difficult to today when they maneuvered the language almost flawlessly. The boys saw multilingualism as a resource but still chose not to use their mother tongue in favour of Swedish and English, even though this meant that communication failed with their parents at home. This choice is in line with the school's organization, where national exams are only conducted in the languages of Swedish and English. A consequence was that the informants focused on the languages they perceived to be high status languages to get through school and have the future they dreamt of, but at the same time forgot their mother tongues. 

In the boys’ futural narratives, visions of economic wealth and considerable freedom were most prominent. Only one boy described a future primarily centred on becoming happy. This can be understood in relation to McAdams (2001), who argues that individuals’ life stories are shaped through culturally available master narratives, in which economic success often functions as a central ideal. The stories were also characterized by a consistent use of “we” and “they,” where “they” referred to those the boys described as “Swedes.” According to Bruner (1991) identity is created through such narrative positionings, where storytelling is used to structure social distinctions and affiliations. In line with Goodson’s (2013) view of narratives as socially situated expressions, this division may be understood as part of a broader societal narrative which frames how the boys construct their own and others’ identities.

This study draws on narrative life history interviews with seven adolescent male second language speakers with a foreign background. Participants were selected through criterion sampling. To ensure sufficient proficiency in Swedish to understand questions and articulate experiences, all were enrolled in Swedish as a Second Language. At the time of the interviews, they were in ninth grade and aged 15 or older. The interviews were conducted in late spring of ninth grade, a period considered a critical turning point in identity development (McAdams, 2015), as students were required to make decisions regarding upper secondary pathways, future orientations, and their envisioned lives. All seven participants attended the same suburban school, which was not classified as socially disadvantaged. They represented diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. The proportion of students with a foreign background at the school was slightly above the Swedish national average but not dominant. All participants used at least three languages in their everyday lives. Six had parents born outside Sweden, while one had one Swedish born and one foreign born parent. One participant arrived in Sweden as an infant, and six had migrated during childhood. Interviews were conducted as semi structured narrative interviews. An interview guide ensured that central themes were covered, while open ended questions enabled participants to shape their stories in their own words. This narrative approach supported an egalitarian interview dynamic and generated richer accounts (Hollway & Jefferson, 2000; Kartch, 2017). The interviews focused on three overarching themes—language, learning, and identity—and followed a chronological structure from past to present and future. This sequencing encouraged reflection on experiences and identity development over time (Turvey, 2016). Each interview lasted 30–60 minutes, was audio recorded, supplemented with field notes, handled in accordance with research data guidelines and was ethically reviewed and approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority. Data analysis followed Riessman’s (2008) thematic narrative analysis. The first analytic phase involved holistic readings to identify meaning bearing statements, emotional expressions, value orientations, priorities, and attitudes. In the second phase, narrative themes were identified and formulated. Individual narrative portraits were developed, describing each participant’s meaning making, thematic emphases, positioning, and agency, drawing on theories of narrative sense making (Bruner, 2004), social and institutional context (Goodson, 2013), and narrative identity and agency (McAdams, 2013). A cross case analysis was then carried out to identify shared and divergent narrative patterns, which were subsequently related to learning.

The second language speaking teenage boys’ life history narratives depicted school as a gateway to imagined futures, linked literacies and social conduct to mobility, and marked a shift from truancy toward responsibility. When listening to the stories, futural hope, freedom, social connections, broad linguistic landscapes, and an opposite discourse from the discursive patterns that Jonsson (2014, 2017) describes, emerged. Multilingualism appeared as valued in the narratives yet described how focus on Swedish and English led to a gradual loss of mother tongues. This loss provoked shame and revealed tensions between institutional language hierarchies and the personal value of maintaining a full linguistic repertoire. Viewed through a narrative lens, the boys’ accounts positioned school as a mediating institution that furnished the plots, characters, and moral orders through which futures were imagined (Bruner, 1991). The stories mobilized culturally available master narratives of mobility, responsibility, and respectable citizenship: translating basic literacies and appropriating conduct into promises of movement to accountability (McAdams, 2001). The articulated hope for a bright future, thus functioned as a narrative resource, orienting identity towards possible selves and socially valued endpoints. At the same time, emphasizing on Swedish and English, alongside expressed shame about losing mother tongues, revealed how narrative identity was negotiated within asymmetric language ideologies that elevated some languages as capital while relegating others to the margins, shaping what was hoped for and what must be silenced to belong (Bruner, 1991; McAdams, 2001). Following Goodson (2013), such stories are not only personal but institutionally situated, and scaffold the boys’ self accounts, encouraging alignment with dominant scripts, articulated throughout the stories by the attributes "we" and "they". The life history narratives illustrate identity work that is simultaneously agentic and constrained, using the very cultural and institutional storylines that define legitimacy, value certain literacies and languages, and contours belonging.

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