This article responds to the need of further qualitative insight into teachers’ supporting students’ factual reading by introducing reading strategies. Inspired by ethnographic methods and action ...research, the material of the study consists of observations and audio recordings (20 lesson) of teaching in Grade 4 which integrated the subjects Swedish and Science (Physics and Biology). The analysis is mainly based on Langer’s stances for building knowledge in academic disciplines and a social-semiotic perspective inspired by Macken-Horarik’s knowledge domains. The findings show that the classroom interaction involved considerable attention to both the features of the disciplinary texts, verbal as well as visual, and the process of reading. The reading practice allowed the students to share previous experiences and discover a need for new information. However, the teacher and the students largely relied on informal metalanguage and foregrounded connections to everyday experience, rather than using a more elaborate metalanguage to explore how knowledge is construed from the perspective of physics and biology. Implications for teaching reading strategies in ways which promote students’ engagement with disciplinary content are discussed.
Forskning har visat att skönlitteraturära texters position i nordiska klassrum ofta är som redskap för att utveckla språkfärdigheter och undervisa om strukturella aspekter av texterna. Detta ...perspektiv undanskymmer den lika viktiga kreativa och lekfulla sidan av att läsa litteratur. Denna teoretiska artikel adresserar denna obalans genom att visa hur konceptet lekvärld (Lindqvist, 1992, 1996) kan användas för att för att främja unga elevers agentskap och kreativa uttryck i läsandet av barnlitteratur. Mer specifikt svarar artikeln på frågorna, 1) hur kan muntlig och skriftlig interaktion baserad på läsningen av en barnbok förstås i termer av lekvärd, och 2) på vilket sätt kan konceptet lekvärld berika förståelsen av studenters och lärares möte med barnböcker. Forskningen baseras på en klassrumsstudie i en svensk årskurs 4 med fokuset på diskussioner och aktiviteter under högläsningen av Wegelius Legenden om Sally Jones. Resultatet möjliggör att skifta perspektivet från individuella läsare och läsresponser till ett dialogiskt samspel mellan barnen och den vuxne som på ett kreativt sätt omstöpte och utvecklade texten. Konceptet lekvärld visas som ett redskap som kan främja både lärares och elevers kreativa möten med litterära texter som bidrar till en kollektiv fantasi.
Studien bidrar med kunskap om funktionella aspekter av vuxna andraspråkselevers arbete med skrivrespons och argumenterande texter. Den genomfördes inom grundläggande vuxenutbildning, en svagt ...representerad skolform i skrivdidaktisk forskning. Materialet består av inspelade responssamtal i mindre grupper samt de elevtexter som låg till grund för samtalen. Studien synliggör vilka aspekter i texterna som eleverna fokuserar på i samtalen och vilka aspekter som skulle behöva stärkas i argumentationen. I analysen används systemisk-funktionell genreteori. Resultatet visar att eleverna identifierade utvecklingsområden i texter baserat på den genrestruktur undervisningen hade utgått ifrån. Samtidigt hade eleverna hade eleverna svårt att identifiera vad som krävdes för att genrestrukturen skulle byggas ut på ett fungerande sätt. Studien ger teoretiska redskap för att synliggöra språkliga mönster på lokal textnivå för att stödja andraspråkselevers skrivutveckling.
”Lots of things are missing”: Genre-theoretical perspectives on adult second-language students working with feedback and argumentative texts.
The article contributes knowledge about functional aspects of adult second-language students working with writing feedback and argumentative texts. It was conducted in basic adult education, which is underrepresented in writing pedagogy research. The material consists of recorded feedback discussions in small groups and the student texts the discussions were based on. The study highlights the aspects of text the students focused on in the discussions and the aspects that could further strengthen the argumentation. In the analysis, systemic-functional genre theory is used. The result shows that the students identified areas of improvement based on the genre structure the teaching had focused on. However, the students had difficulties in identifying how the genre structure could be developed in a functional way. The study gives theoretical tools to highlight patterns of language on a local text level to support second-language students writing development.
•Placement-related words were negotiated multicontextually and collaboratively.•The teacher explicitly pointed out differences in contextual meaning.•The student contributed questions, specialized ...expressions and personal experiences.•Placement experiences provided context-specific meaning and scaffolding.•The study develops the concepts of contextual elaboration and shifts.
This study aims to contribute knowledge about how the meanings of words selected by students based on workplace experiences (placements) in basic adult L2 education were negotiated in classroom discourse. The study, conducted in the context of Swedish for Immigrants (SFI), drew inspiration from practice-based and ethnographic methodology. It focuses on a vocabulary assignment connected to students’ placements at preschools and a hotel. The analysis was based on transcribed audio recordings and underpinned by the theoretical perspective of knowledge-building interaction. As a theoretical contribution to the field, the study develops the concepts of contextual elaboration and shifts. The findings show that some students successfully used placement experiences to contextualize their chosen words, while others found it challenging to contextualize abstract words. In the follow-up discussions, the teacher, and the students collaboratively and multi-contextually expanded on word meanings by exploring different collocations and contexts of use.
Exploring how the information flow of social studies textbook spreads is negotiated in teacher-led interaction, the concern of this study is the conscious and critical use of teaching material in ...diverse student groups. The study involved a teacher and her Grade 6 students in a school with many migrant language learners. The data was gathered by observations, field notes, voice recordings, and the collection of teaching materials. Using social semiotic theory of visual design, the analysis of the textbook used in instruction shows that the layout perpetuated a Western-centric view of a divided world, along with an individualistic and anthropocentric view of environmental sustainability. The oral interaction, highlighting different text elements, largely reinforced the meaning perspectives promoted in the textbook. However, on occasion, the students were positioned to take a more analytical stance. Implications for using knowledge about information flow in textbooks to promote critical literacy practices in teaching are discussed.
•The teacher's text choice can greatly influence disciplinary literacy practices.•Choosing simple texts over challenging ones may limit discursive shifts.•Students’ spoken and written participation ...closely build on text read.•Quality of disciplinary input is important for students’ active language use.
A crucial issue for literacy research is how teaching practices are shaped to promote diverse learners’ engagement with content knowledge and use of disciplinary language. In this article, based on a classroom study in Sweden, I explore the teaching of two historical events where the participant Grade 6 teacher created opportunities for writing and peer interaction in the content area. Using discourse analysis informed by systemic-functional linguistics, the study contributes to existing research by highlighting the role of teachers’ text choices in the shaping of disciplinary literacy practices in the teaching of history. The texts chosen and rejected by the participant teacher are analyzed and put in relation to transcripts of peer interaction and samples of students’ writing. The results show that the texts chosen – unlike those rejected – largely relied on everyday linguistic resources. As the students’ peer interaction and writing closely mirrored the texts presented to them, their opportunities to use the resources of abstract language commonly associated with school history seemed restricted. Implications for teaching are discussed.
•Shifting priorities are evident in the studied genre-based instruction.•An initial focus on technical terms is abandoned in favour of genre structures and “linking words”.•Linguistic features are ...mostly modelled in everyday contexts rather than disciplinary ones.•A focus on knowledge about language can have a colonising effect on content instruction.
Teachers who teach content to immigrant language learners are often asked to attend explicitly to linguistic features of texts dealing with disciplinary knowledge. This study uses the theoretical frameworks of Systemic-Functional Linguistics and Legitimation Code Theory to explore the role of language, more specifically technical terms, grammatical metaphors, and genre structures, in knowledge building. The study is based on observations and voice recordings during a curriculum area about maps and population in grade 6 with the participating teacher employing genre-based pedagogy. The studied interaction shows that an initial focus on technical terms within the field of geography in later phases shifts to features of language: genre structures, logical connections and instances of grammatical metaphors. However, these features of language are modelled in texts and wordings belonging to everyday experience rather than disciplinary knowledge. By closely examining the relationship between field knowledge and metalinguistic knowledge, the study contributes to the discussion about the role of language in content learning.
The aim of the present study was to contribute knowledge about how adult L2 learners perceived their possibilities to use and develop the target language (Swedish) when formal language teaching was ...combined with placements. Situated in the context of Swedish for Immigrants (SFI), the study drew inspiration from action research and ethnographic methodology. A thematic analysis was conducted underpinned by the systemic-functional linguistic concepts of field, tenor and mode. The findings showed that the students highly valued interaction with L1 Swedish speakers outside of the classroom. Several of the students described rich opportunities to interact socially, which, however, also entailed anxiety about their status as L2 speakers. A few of the students reported accessing field-specific language and literacy practices that aligned with their current career goals. However, students with placements relating to kitchen, garage and warehouse work voiced feeling isolated and having little opportunity for social interaction. While students in the first of two course instances found it difficult to discuss and exemplify language they had learnt, a vocabulary assignment developed for the second course instance facilitated discussions about placement-related words and expressions. Implications for teaching are discussed, including using authentic examples of workplace discourse as preparation for placement visits.
This contribution explores how subject positions and perspectives are negotiated in the discursive practices of teaching social studies. The study involved a teacher and a group of second-language ...learners in Grade 6, the data being gathered by observations, voice recordings, and collection of teaching materials throughout seven weeks. The analysis, drawing upon discourse theory and sociological theories of education, is conducted from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis. The result, highlighting a curriculum area about living conditions, shows how Western-centric beliefs about a divided world were perpetuated both during introductory activities and in the searching for information about different countries. This mainstream meaning perspective was also sustained when the teacher modelled ways of using language for expressing content knowledge. Throughout, the migrant language learners were positioned as privileged Swedish citizens. Implications for shaping discursive practices of teaching in ways which builds on students' diverse knowledges and experiences are discussed.
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