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 Education at the Department of Education and Special Education (IPS).
Research: My work is anchored in pedagogy and centres on the structure–agency relation: how language (academic literacy across languages, including multilingualism and parallel language use/partial EMI), assessment and test validation, and curriculum/policy together shape conditions for participation, progression, and equity for teachers and students. A specific strand concerns L2 reading and predictors such as vocabulary, metacognitive strategies, extramural English use, and background variables (e.g., gender, language background, age). I also examine how language choices affect teaching and attainment, how academic literacy is organised in Swedish and English, and the extent to which assessment aligns with what we actually value. Methodologically, I combine quantitative modelling and instrument development with qualitative analyses of experiences and practices.
Teaching: In teaching and external collaboration, I translate these interests into teacher and principal education, student health, and school development focusing on how leadership, organisation, and health-promoting approaches can support meaning-making, motivation, and agency, and how curricula and steering documents condition these processes. Taken together, this provides a holistic view of the institutional conditions under which learning and socialisation occur, i.e., core concerns of pedagogy.
Background: I began as an upper-secondary teacher in 1999, teaching Swedish, French, and Latin. From 2003 I intermittently combined school teaching with work in teacher education in Stockholm and Gothenburg, initially as a writing pedagogy lecturer in core courses and Swedish didactics. I joined the University of Gothenburg in 2006. From 2008–2012 I led the national test materials in French within NAFS (National Tests in Foreign Languages), which deepened my focus on assessment. In 2012 I left academia to become a compulsory-school principal; I completed the Swedish National Principal Training Programme in 2015 (Karlstad University) and served as principal 2012–2017. I then acted as Director of Studies for Special Education (autumn 2017) and Vice Head for Teacher Education (spring 2018) at IPS. In autumn 2018 I started doctoral studies at Stockholm University and defended my thesis, English academic vocabulary knowledge among Swedish upper secondary school students, on 31 March 2023. Since 2023 I have been full-time at IPS, mainly teaching in teacher and principal education, and since July 2024 serving as Deputy Head and Director of Education. Over time, my research profile has moved further into pedagogy with emphases on academic literacy, assessment/validation, multilingualism/parallel language use, and education policy, closely connected to questions of equity, student health, 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)
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
Malmström, H., Pecorari, D., & Warnby, M. (2023) Teachers’ receptive and productive vocabulary sizes in English-medium instruction. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 1–19 https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2023.2260781
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:
Vander Borght, M., Malmström, H., & Warnby, M. (2024, June 17-19). Teaching approaches and language proficiency in English-medium instruction teaching. In 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.