Marcus Warnby
Deputy Head of Department
Department of Education and Special EducationSenior Lecturer
Department of Education and Special EducationAbout Marcus Warnby
I hold a PhD in Language Education and serve as Senior Lecturer, Deputy Head, and Director of Studies at the Department of Education and Special Education (IPS).
Research
My research focuses on education, with particular attention to how linguistic resources, language choices, and language demands shape the conditions for participation, learning, and progression. I study language not as an isolated phenomenon, but as a central dimension of educational content, assessment, and organisation.
A recurring interest in my work concerns how access to linguistic resources shapes opportunities to participate in educational practices and to engage with and make use of knowledge. This includes research on academic literacy, multilingualism, English-medium instruction (EMI), parallel language use, and disciplinary language in both school and higher education. A central strand of my research also addresses educational assessment, test development, and validity. Here, I examine how language- and reading-related measures can be used to understand and critically interrogate how educational systems define and impose demands.
My methodological approach has developed from primarily quantitative analyses to a mixed-methods orientation of combining quantitative and qualitative designs, including statistical modelling, content analysis of student data, interview studies, and policy and document analysis.
I am a co-applicant and local coordinator at the University of Gothenburg in the Swedish Research Council-funded graduate school ASSESS III – Educational Measurement in Educational Systems. Within this framework, I contribute to research and doctoral supervision in areas such as assessment, validity, reliability, and educational equity.
https://www.gu.se/forskarskolan-assess/assess-iii
Teaching and collaboration
My teaching and collaborative work are primarily situated within teacher education and school leadership programmes. Much of my teaching focuses on educational assessment and educational leadership, and on how pedagogical practices, organisational conditions, and leadership can support meaning-making, motivation, and agency, as well as how curricula and policy frameworks shape educational practice. Together, this reflects a broader interest in the institutional conditions under which learning and socialisation take place, and how language and relational dimensions are intertwined with these processes.
I am involved in practice-based research collaboration with schools, where students’ experiences of teaching and everyday school life form the basis for collegial school development. The work combines analysis of survey and interview data with long-term development processes within schools’ systematic quality work, while also contributing to research-based knowledge on teaching quality, relational dimensions, and student participation.
Background
I began my career as an upper secondary school teacher in 1999, teaching Swedish, French, and Latin. Since 2003, I have combined school teaching with work in teacher education in Stockholm and Gothenburg, initially focusing on academic writing and subject-specific education courses. I have been employed at the University of Gothenburg since 2006.
Between 2008 and 2012, I was responsible for the national tests in French within the National Assessment of Foreign Languages (NAFS), which strengthened my focus on assessment. In 2012, I left academia to work as a lower secondary school principal; I obtained my principal certification in 2015 and worked as a principal between 2012 and 2017. I subsequently returned to academia as Director of Studies in special education (2017) and Vice Head of Department for teacher education (2018).
In 2018, I began my doctoral studies at Stockholm University and obtained my PhD in 2023 with the thesis English Academic Vocabulary Knowledge among Swedish Upper Secondary School Students. Since 2023, I have been working full-time at the University of Gothenburg, primarily in teacher and school leadership education, and since 2024 also as Deputy Head of Department and Director of Studies.
Over time, my research profile has developed towards educational research with a focus on academic literacy, assessment, multilingualism/parallel language use, and education policy, in close relation to issues of equity, student participation, and school development.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9317-0233
Scopus ID: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=57642702600
PUBLICATIONS
Articles:
Pecorari, D., Malmström, H., & Warnby, M. (2025). A test of controlled productive knowledge of English academic vocabulary. Acta Didactica Norden. 19(1), Art. 11, 1–32. https://doi.org/10.5617/adno.11584
Malmström, H., Borght, M. V., & Warnby, M. (2025). Teaching approaches and language proficiency among teachers in English-medium education: exploring correlations and pedagogical implications. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2025.2492854
Warnby, M. (2025). Relating academic reading with academic vocabulary and general English proficiency to assess standards of students’ university-preparedness – the case of IELTS and CEFR B2. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 69(3), 506–523. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2024.2318434 (Online first January 2024)
Malmström, H., Pecorari, D., & Warnby, M. (2025) Teachers’ receptive and productive vocabulary sizes in English-medium instruction. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 46(7), 1905–1923. https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2023.2260781 (Online first 2023)
Bylund, J., & Warnby, M. (2024). Didaktiska perspektiv på flerspråkighet i lärarutbildningen. Acta Didactica Norden, 18(2), Art. 10, 1-23. https://doi.org/10.5617/adno.11555
Warnby, M. (2024). Exploring student agency in narratives of English literacy events across school subjects. Education Sciences, 14(5): 447. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14050447
Warnby, M. (2023). English academic vocabulary knowledge among Swedish upper secondary school students [Doctoral dissertation, Stockholm University]. Department of Teaching and Learning, Stockholm University. https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1730999/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Warnby, M., Malmström, H., & Yang Hansen, K. (2023). Linking scores from two written receptive English academic vocabulary tests – the VLT-Ac and the AVT. Language Testing, 40(3), 548–575. https://doi.org/10.1177/02655322221145643.
Warnby, M. (2023). Academic vocabulary knowledge among adolescents in university preparatory programmes. Journal of English for Academic Purposes, 61(2023):101203, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeap.2022.101203
Warnby, M., Malmström, H., & Bardel, C. (2022). Ett svenskt akademiskt vokabulärtest – revidering, validering och förslag på vidareutveckling. Nordic Journal of Literacy Research, 8(1), 106–127. https://doi.org/10.23865/njlr.v8.3282
Warnby, M. (2022). Receptive academic vocabulary knowledge and extramural English involvement – is there a correlation? ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 173(1), 120–152. https://doi.org/10.1075/itl.21021.war
Warnby, M. (2006). Frågans värde i språkklassrummet. Lingua, 3/2006. LMS (Lärarna i Moderna språk). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368655353_Fragans_varde_i_sprakklassrummet
Doctoral dissertation:
Warnby, M. (2023). English academic vocabulary knowledge among Swedish upper secondary school students [Doctoral dissertation, Stockholm University]. Department of Teaching and Learning, Stockholm University. https://su.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1730999/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Book chapters:
Warnby, M. (2025). Akademisk engelska. I H. Malmström & L. K. Sylvén (Red.), Engelska som målspråk och undervisningsspråk (pp. 61–78). Gleerups.
Conference presentations, reports, and other:
Bylund, J. & Warnby, M. (2026, 4-6 mars). Conceptual Positioning as Responsibility in Teacher Education Curricula: The Case of Multilingualism. NERA, Aarhus, Denmark.
Warnby, M., & Bylund, J. & (2026, 4-6 mars). Coping with the invisible: Student transitions and agency in partial English-medium instruction. NERA, Aarhus, Denmark.
Karlsson, S., Malmström, H., & Warnby, M. (2025, 17 december). Studenter föredrar svenska framför engelska på universitetet. Forskning och Framsteg. https://fof.se/artikel/studenter-foredrar-svenska/
Malmström, H., Karlsson, S., & Warnby, M. (2025). Parallella fackspråk – studentperspektiv på språk i högre utbildning. Språkrådet, Institutet för språk och folkminnen. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:2020304/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Vander Borght, M., Malmström, H., & Warnby, M. (2024, June 17-19). Teaching approaches and language proficiency in English-medium instruction teaching. NU2024, Umeå, Sweden. https://research.chalmers.se/publication/542242
Warnby. M. (2024, June 17-19). Behovet av en medveten högskolepedagogik för att stötta läsningen av kurslitteratur på engelska (Conference paper presentation). NU2024 (nationell konferens för högskolepedagogisk utbildning och utveckling), Umeå, Sweden. https://gup.ub.gu.se/publications/show/338919
Vander Borght, M., Warnby, M., & Malmström, H. (2024, June 13-14). Low English proficiency impedes teachers’ hybridity in English-medium instruction. In Norwegian Forum for English for Academic Purposes, Oslo, Norway. https://research.chalmers.se/publication/542799
Vander Borght, M., Malmström, H., & Warnby, M. (2024, April 18-19). Correlating language proficiency and teaching approach in contexts of English-medium instruction. In ASLA 2024, Falun, Sweden. https://research.chalmers.se/publication/541033
Warnby, M. (2023, November 22–23). Academic vocabulary knowledge in pre-tertiary education: Unveiling disparities in knowledge despite shared curriculum [Conference presentation]. Multilingual Education in Sweden – Assets and Challenges, Stockholm, Sweden.(Book of Abstracts: https://www.su.se/polopoly_fs/1.676471.1700207649!/menu/standard/file/multilingual-education-in-sweden-book-of-abstracts-uppdaterad.pdf)
Eriksson, L., Warnby, M. & Busby (2023). Preparing students for academic reading in English: A comparative study of Swedish and Norwegian university-preparatory curricula (Conference paper presentation). International Symposium on Comparative Didactics (ISCOD), Örebro, Sweden, January 11-12, 2023 http://oru.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2:1795966
Warnby, M. (2022, June 16–19). How does CEFR-B2 relate to IELTS band scores and academic vocabulary scores[Conference presentation]. The Paris Conference on Education, Paris, France. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361408091_How_does_CEFR-B2_relate_to_IELTS_band_scores_and_academic_vocabulary_scores
Warnby, M. & Lemmouh, Z. (2021, October 1–3). What? of academic lexis in curriculum learning outcome – the case of Sweden [Conference presentation]. 3rd International Conference on Language Education and Research (LERC2021), Athens, Greece.
Warnby, M. (2021, August 15–20). Do leisure activities promote upper secondary students’ acquisition of academic vocabulary? [Conference presentation]. AILA 2021, Groningen, the Netherlands.
Warnby, M. (2019, August 28–31). Exploring the Swedish and English passive academic vocabulary of upper secondary students [Conference presentation]. EuroSLA29, Lund, Sweden. https://www.eurosla2019.se/wp-content/uploads/sites/42/2019/08/EuroSLA_Book_of_Abstracts.pdf
Warnby, M. (2019, July 1–3). Investigating upper secondary students' Swedish and English receptive academic vocabulary [Conference presentation]. Vocab@Leuven 2019, Leuven, Belgium. https://vocabatleuven.wordpress.com/
Warnby, M. (2019, June 17). Piloting, investigating and analyzing an academic Swedish word test [Conference presentation]. QRM 2019 - Quantitative Research Methods in Education Conference 2019, Gothenburg, Sweden. https://qrm.gu.se/english/conference/earlier/2019/programme
Warnby, M. (2010). Rapport om provmaterialet i franska åk 9/steg 2 vårterminen 2008/09. Skolverket.
Warnby, M (2009). Vad händer i den nationella provbanken i moderna språk? LMS-konferensen "Upplev språk", 21–22 mars 2009, Uppsala. (Poster presentation)
Holmé, A. & Warnby, M. (2008). Rapport om provmaterialet i franska steg 3 vårterminen 2007. Skolverket.
Lodeiro, J. & Warnby, M. (2008). Om nationellt bedömningsstöd för grundskolan och gymnasiet – nationellt provmaterial i moderna språk åk 9/steg 2. Lingua, 1/2008. LMS (Lärarna i Moderna språk).
Sundblad, B. & Warnby, M. (2006). Tröskelvärden och kvalitativ progression i lärarutbildningen (Paper presentation). Högskolverket: Den sjunde kvalitetskonferensen, Lärarhögskolan i Stockholm, 6-7/4 2006.