The purpose of our study is to find the reasons behind teachers' different choices of literature in the Swedish subject at Sixth Form level in Sweden. These choices have didactical consequences regarding what is actually taught through literature. There is a risk that the diverse subject of Swedish, according to the Swedish curriculum, is not taught to its full extent due to a lack of understanding of what literature should be used for. We believe that one way to counteract this misunderstanding is finding a consensus in the choice of literature between teachers of Swedish. The literature review covers central Swedish sources with student and teacher perspectives on literature use in school. We also included more recent international studies to include further perspectives on different kinds of literature and literature use. To accomplish our study, we interviewed six teachers of Swedish at three different schools in the Southwest of Sweden about their choices of literature as well as their view of literature in Swedish education. The teachers' choices of literature were compared and analysed using theories on categorization of the Swedish subject in school and other factors that might play a role in the choice of literature. We also interpreted what kind of reading was prioritized by teachers to analyse the didactic implications of different literature choices. Additionally, we searched for any sign of consensus between the teachers that might show us whether or not teachers of Swedish do have consensus in their choice of literature. We concluded that our informants all have different views on literary education, which guide their choices, and we have made suggestions for finding consensus in the choice of literature.

The purpose of this study is to discern the didactic potential of fanfiction and transmedial storyworlds in a classroom context. This is studied through the analysis of works from two transmedial storyworlds: Star Trek and Sherlock Holmes. The works are examined using Herman’s (2009) four narrative elements. The study shows that fanfiction writers change one or more narrative elements of a story to build their own narrative. Some writers keep the narrative elements intact but instead write stories that reflect their own lives. Both the Star Trek and Sherlock Holmes narratives are prototypical stories that are easy to follow and recreate and that might be why they are popular in a fanfiction context. The study shows that fanfiction has a didactic potential and that one important aspect of using fanfiction in the classroom is to be open to student’s interpretations of the narrative.

According to standardized tests, Swedish students’ reading comprehension skills are getting worse. The Swedish National Agency for Education has also stated that the lack of sufficient reading comprehension skills is particularly noticeable in regards to reading fiction. This study aims to examine theories and methods for using fiction with the purpose of increasing reading comprehension in upper secondary school. The study of previous research is coupled with interviews where four teachers share their experiences on working with fiction and reading comprehension. The results show that researchers and teachers are largely agreed upon one thing: the reading experience should come first. The teachers also claim that the students’ interest in what they are reading has a considerable impact on the development of their reading skills. However, students’ interests and experiences while reading are not explicitly part of the regulatory documents teachers are required to relate their teaching to. Furthermore, the regulatory documents are conflicted on the purpose of reading literature. While the aim of the subject Swedish focuses in part on the merits of fiction as a source for self-awareness and understanding of other people’s experiences, this is not reflected in the knowledge requirements needed to pass in the subject. If interest and reading experience were deemed as important aspects in the regulatory documents it might become easier to increase students’ reading comprehension skills. / <p>VT 2018</p>

Cette recherche porte sur l’enseignement de la littérature dans un cursus universitaire de français langue étrangère. Elle questionne la notion de culture littéraire à travers les « canons littéraires », les littératures « mineures » selon la terminologie de G. Deleuze, et leur contextualisation d’une part, et, d’autre part, à travers la mise en place de pratiques enseignantes visant sa transmission / construction. Cette recherche étant ancrée dans les sciences humaines par ses champs d’étude – la littérature et la didactique – et étant, par conséquent, relativement subjective, nous avons choisi d’étudier un cas particulier, celui dans lequel nos questions sont apparues, afin de mettre en évidence ses spécificités mais aussi des traits généralisables ou, du moins, ouvrant des pistes de réflexions transposables dans d’autres contextes. Pour effectuer cette étude, nous avons privilégié une approche inductive et compréhensive et nous avons opté pour une méthode mixte ou une triangulation permettant le croisement de différentes données dans le but d’avoir une vision globale de la situation en termes de pratiques, de potentiels et de limites. Les résultats obtenus dans ce contexte ouvrent un champ de possibles pour penser une didactique du FLE adaptée à un enseignement littéraire en milieu universitaire. / This research focuses on teaching literature at a university-level French language department. It questions the concept of literary culture through the concepts of “literary canon”, “minor” literature, following G. Deleuze’s terminology, and their contextualization on the one hand, and on the other, through the implementation of teaching practices aiming at transmitting / building it. This research, rooted in human sciences because of its fields of study – literature and didactics – and as a consequence, being relatively subjective, is focused on a specific case, the one where our questions first emerged from: the French department at Birzeit University in Palestine. This approach allows us to enhance the specificities of this context while drawing at the same time some features that could be generalized, or at least that could open some opportunities for transferable reflections on other contexts. In conducting this study an inductive and comprehensive approach has been favored. A mixed-method approach or triangulation was used, allowing us to cross-compare data in order to get a more global view of the situation in terms of practice, potential and limits. The results obtained in this context then open new horizons to think adapted French as a foreign language didactics to literary teaching/learning in an academic context.

Detta arbete undersöker hur homosexuella killar skildras i ungdomslitteraturen. Syftet problematiserar dikotomin maskulint/feminint och män/kvinnor. Målet är att införa ett icke heteronormativt perspektiv i ungdomslitteraturforskningen kring genus och queer. Detta görs utifrån teorier av Judith Butler, Tiina Rosenberg och R. W. Connell. De böcker som analyserats är Ung, bög och jävligt kär, Regn och åska och Ibland bara måste man (Boy meets boy). Romanerna är skrivna under 2000-talet. Det är primärt inga komma-ut romaner utan fokus ligger på hur det är att träffa första kärleken och känslorna kring det. I analysen framträder tre centrala teman: Identitet, homosexuellas situation och samhället och kulturens påverkan. Protagonisterna konstruerar sin identitet i samband med nära vänner, estetiska uttryck, miljö och kroppen.    Arbetet har också ett didaktiskt syfte där de efterfrågats en större medvetenhet kring ämnet sexuell läggning och identitet i skolan och utgår från litteraturdidaktikerna Louise M. Rosenblatt och Gunilla Molloy. / This essay problematizes how gay guys are portrayed in youth literature. The purpose problematizes the dichotomy of male / female and the subject of men / women. The goal is to introduce a non-heteronormative perspective in youth literature research on gender and queer. This is based on theories of Judith Butler, Tiina Rosenberg and R. W. Connell. The books that have been analysed are Ung, bög och jävligt kär, Regn och åska, and Ibland bara måste man (Boy meets boy). The novels are written in the 2000s. The novels are primarily no coming-out novels, the focus is what it's like to fall in love with the first person and the feelings around that moment. The analysis showed that three key themes: Identity, the situation of homosexuals and the society and culture influence. Protagonists construct their identity in the context of close friends, aesthetic, body and society.   The work also has a didactic purpose in which they demanded a greater awareness on the topic of sexual orientation in the school and is based on literature didactics as Louise M. Rosenblatt and Gunilla Molloy.

This essay, “Education in literature, for what reason?” with the subtitle “A qualitative study of teachers reflections on the didactic questions what and why in the education of literature” has as its purpose to research how gymnasium teachers in literature reflects on the didactic questions what and why in relationship to the literature field of education. This is explored using qualitative interviews made with five teachers that is teaching literature in the Swedish gymnasium. The collected data is categorized into five aspects and analyzed with a focus on which aspects and raison d'être the informants use as a base for their reflections around the didactic questions. In the discussion chapter  of the essay the result of the study is put against current literature didactic research and also relevant theories of general didactics. The result shows that the informants conducts a meta reflexive process in the education of literature and that there also exists inner conflicts in the didactic process, which in the discussion is connected to a discrepancy between the measurable goals in the teaching and the raison d'être that is in the essay called the socio cultural aspect. A consequence of this discrepancy that is being lifted in the final discussion is that the pupils understanding of why they are reading literature in school and the teachers understanding of why is not in alignment, which could cause confusion amongst the pupils. / Denna uppsats, ”Litteraturundervisning, av vilken anledning?” med undertiteln ”En kvalitativ studie av gymnasielärares reflektioner om de didaktiska frågorna vad och varför i litteraturundervisningen” har som syfte att undersöka hur gymnasielärare i ämnet svenska reflekterar över de didaktiska frågorna vad och varför i förhållande till litteraturundervisningen. Detta undersöks genom kvalitativa intervjuer utförda med fem undervisande svensklärare i gymnasieskolan. Den insamlade empirin kategoriseras utifrån fem aspekter och analyseras med ett fokus på vilka aspekter och legitimeringsgrunder som informanterna utgår ifrån i sina reflektioner kring de didaktiska frågorna. I diskussionen ställs studiens resultat mot aktuell litteraturdidaktisk och allmän didaktisk forskning. Resultatet visar att informanterna har en metareflexiv process i litteraturundervisningen. Samt att det finns inre konflikter i den didaktiseringsprocessen som i uppsatsens diskussion diskuteras kopplat till en diskrepans mellan det mätbara i undervisningen och den legitimeringsgrund som i uppsatsen kategoriseras som den sociokulturella aspekten. En konsekvens av detta som lyfts fram i den avslutande diskussionen är att elevernas förståelse för varför de ska läsa litteratur i skolan och lärarnas bild av ämnets legitimering skiljer sig åt, vilket kan skapa förvirring hos eleverna.

This licentiate thesis investigates fiction writing and reading in up- per secondary school in Sweden. Inspired by fanfiction I created a teaching project of derivative writing in which the students in a se- cond-year social science class wrote short stories derived from 20th century novels. They also gave peer response, both orally and in writing. Finally they wrote a reflective text about the project. The main purpose of the study is to describe and analyse the teaching project. The primary material is the students’ short sto- ries. Drawing from theories of intertextuality, most notably Genette’s transtextuality theory and fanfiction theories, I analyse how the students make use of the source text. Theories of narratology have been used to analyse techniques of storytelling, mainly characterization and focalization. In the analysis of the stu- dents’ written comments on each other’s texts I draw from re- sponse theories. The results show that the students tend to stay close to the source texts. The most common subgenre is refocalization, that is to change the perspective to one of the secondary characters’ view. Refocalization seems to be an efficient way of deepening the under- standing of the main character of the source text; in many of the students’ stories the protagonist functions as the focalized object. Which novel the students read plays an important part in how fo- calization is expressed, however. Short stories based on novels with complex focalization tend to be focalized in a variety of ways whereas stories based on novels with fixed focalization mostly fol- low the pattern of the source text. Reading the short stories and, not least, the reflective texts it becomes evident that the characters  are extremely important in this kind of literature, more so than semiotic theories of characters have acknowledged; the characters are more than merely functions. In the chapter about peer response I argue that many students write analyses of the text they are about to respond to rather than give advice about how to proceed. It is difficult to see if the response is of any help to the writer. Thus, I question whether peer response has any other effect than strength- ening the social bonds between the group members. The study shows that creative writing could very well be an in- tegral part of the education in Swedish in upper secondary school. Derivative writing may function as an alternative to traditional lit- erary analyses. Refocalizing is a way of seeing the story from a dif- ferent viewpoint, which could enhance the students’ sense of empa- thy. Questions of focalization might also lead to discussions of power. Furthermore, creative writing may make the students more attentive as writers. In the new syllabus Gy 11, however, the op- portunities for working with creative writing are, unfortunately, limited.

Denna systematiska litteraturstudie ägnas åt att undersöker vad dagens tillgängliga forskning belyser om litteraturundervisning i skolans mellanår samt om forskningen lyfter något om litteraturundervisning som kan vara fruktbar för högpresterande elever. Tidigare forskning visar att undervisningen behöver stärkas när det gäller att stimulera och utmana högpresterande elever. Samtidigt lyfter vissa studier fram undervisningsformer som kan vara användbara inom ramarna för den ordinarie undervisningen och som kan leda till att inga elever behöver falla mellan stolarna.

En France et au Québec, la littérature pour la jeunesse fut longtemps négligée par les enseignants du secondaire ou exclue des cours de français. Or, en 1996, elle apparaît dans des listes ministérielles qui lui sont exclusivement consacrées et qui sont destinées aux professeurs du collège. Un an auparavant, les enseignants québécois sont invités à l’inclure dans des pratiques de lecture. Elle était jusqu’alors considérée comme relevant de la lecture personnelle des élèves. L’objectif de cette recherche est d’identifier les œuvres de littérature pour la jeunesse qui ont été sélectionnées pour l’enseignement secondaire français et québécois, puis de connaître les finalités que les prescripteurs leur confèrent et les pratiques pédagogiques que les enseignants mettent en œuvre lorsqu’ils l’introduisent dans leurs classes. La première partie retrace l’histoire de la littérature pour la jeunesse à travers celle des premiers supports, créés pour instruire, éduquer ou divertir les enfants dans les lieux divers qui leur sont ouverts (périodiques et livres variés). La deuxième partie évoque la place que l’enseignement secondaire a accordée à la littérature pour la jeunesse, dans ses différents programmes. Enfin, la troisième partie aborde les textes pour la jeunesse et les pratiques que les enseignants proposent à leurs élèves actuellement. Notre recherche appartient au champ de la didactique du français et touche aux domaines spécifiques des didactiques de la littérature et de la lecture. À visée descriptive, elle consiste à interroger des corpus figés, destinés aux enseignants (instructions officielles, notes de lecture et documents issus de revues pédagogiques), dans une perspective diachronique et synchronique. / In France and in Quebec, youth literature has been neglected for a long time by the secondary teachers or discorded from french lessons. Nevertheless, in 1996, it appeared in ministerial lists exclusively dedicated to it and intended to the high school teachers. One year before, the Quebec teachers were invited to include it in reading practices. It has been considered as a matter for pupils’ personal reading. The aim of this research is to identify youth literature works that have been selected for French and Quebec secondary teaching, then to know the purposes given by the teachers and their pedagogical practices when they introduce it in their classes. The first part relates the history of youth literature through the first teaching aids’ one, created to teach, to educate or to entertain children in the different places that are opened to them (periodicals and various books). The second part is about the place that the secondary teaching gave to youth literature, in its different programs. At last, the third part moves on the texts for the youth and the practices that nowadays teachers propose to their pupils. Our research belongs to the sphere of French language didactics and affects the specific fields of literature and reading didactics. It has a descriptive purpose and it asks questions to fixed corpus, intended to teachers (official instructions, reading notes and documents extracted from pedagogical reviews), in a diachronic and synchronic view.

The purpose of this study is to analyze commonly read children’s literature from a gender perspective. The study also contains a discussion about what these books can convey to students and how they can be used in a didactic perspective. The selection of books has been made based on a research that showed which ten books teachers mostly use for reading aloud across the country. The books have been placed in relation to the current stereotypes found in our society. The study shows that there are a large variety of gender structures in the books, with some characters who follows the norm and some who breaks it. Despite that, generalizations have been made and each book has been divided into category breaks the norm or follows the norm. The result has shown that most of the books breaks the norm, but most books also requires a discussion about gender afterwards in order not to be misinterpreted and spread wrong values. The study therefore reveals that children’s literature can be used in the teaching to highlight and discuss value-based issues, through reading aloud and book discussions. / Syftet med undersökningen är att analysera vanligt förekommande skönlitterära högläsningsböcker ur ett genusperspektiv. I undersökningen förs en diskussion om vad dessa böcker kan förmedla till elever och hur de kan användas i ett didaktiskt perspektiv. Urvalet av böcker har gjorts av en förundersökning som visat vilka tio skönlitterära böcker lärare mest använder till högläsning runt om i landet. Böckerna har sedan ställts i relation till de rådande stereotyperna som finns i vårt samhälle. Undersökningen visar att det finns en stor variation i genusstrukturerna i respektive bok, med några karaktärer som följer normen och några som bryter den. Däremot har generaliseringar kunnat göras och respektive bok har blivit indelat i kategorin bryter normen eller följer normen. Resultatet har visat att majoriteten av böckerna bryter mot normen, men att de flesta böckerna kräver en efterföljande diskussion om genus för att inte misstolkas och sprida felaktiga värden. Av undersökningen har man därmed kunnat konstatera att det går att använda skönlitterära böcker i undervisningen för att belysa och diskutera värdegrundsfrågor, genom högläsning och boksamtal.