<p>“ if you only read the book … you get the knowledge into your head once. If you talk about it, you get a more distinct memory of it, I think” (Emma, 11)</p><p>This thesis shows how a novel by Maj Bylock, Drakskeppet, was used in education within thematic work, the Viking Age, among ten-year-olds and eleven-year-olds for five weeks. The aim of the project was to investigate if and how pupils create or develop an historical consciousness when they had written and talked about the text in a novel. The study examines and analyses how three pupils in particular look upon history and ‘time’ in this process and if identification with characters in the novel takes place.</p><p>In the theoretical framework, which focuses on Judith Langer and her theories on ‘envisionment building’, that is on how children create text worlds , a general survey presents research findings about how children (10-12 years) interpret fiction. Furthermore the very complex construct of ‘historical consciousness’ is discussed.</p><p>In the second part, the study is described and its results are discussed: When these children form their personal historical consciousness their focus on the past and the present is apparent, while they have few links to the future. From the way characters’ lives are presented in Drakskeppet these young readers notice social differences in this fictional society of the past. Even though they also see parallels with the time they live in, they often conclude that ”things were worse” in the past. Another result is that an historical consciousness is generally developed when children can emotionally connect to their own lives.</p><p>A second conclusion drawn in the analysis of this project is that children should read fiction to learn about and understand History. In thematic work of this kind, pupils are offered opportunities to develop their reading and interpreting capacities even though the purpose of the work is the emergence of the pupils’ historical consciousness. It should be understood from this investigation, though, that reading without talking about the texts seems to have very little effect on how children develop their understanding of texts or an historical consciousness.</p>

“ if you only read the book … you get the knowledge into your head once. If you talk about it, you get a more distinct memory of it, I think” (Emma, 11) This thesis shows how a novel by Maj Bylock, Drakskeppet, was used in education within thematic work, the Viking Age, among ten-year-olds and eleven-year-olds for five weeks. The aim of the project was to investigate if and how pupils create or develop an historical consciousness when they had written and talked about the text in a novel. The study examines and analyses how three pupils in particular look upon history and ‘time’ in this process and if identification with characters in the novel takes place. In the theoretical framework, which focuses on Judith Langer and her theories on ‘envisionment building’, that is on how children create text worlds , a general survey presents research findings about how children (10-12 years) interpret fiction. Furthermore the very complex construct of ‘historical consciousness’ is discussed. In the second part, the study is described and its results are discussed: When these children form their personal historical consciousness their focus on the past and the present is apparent, while they have few links to the future. From the way characters’ lives are presented in Drakskeppet these young readers notice social differences in this fictional society of the past. Even though they also see parallels with the time they live in, they often conclude that ”things were worse” in the past. Another result is that an historical consciousness is generally developed when children can emotionally connect to their own lives. A second conclusion drawn in the analysis of this project is that children should read fiction to learn about and understand History. In thematic work of this kind, pupils are offered opportunities to develop their reading and interpreting capacities even though the purpose of the work is the emergence of the pupils’ historical consciousness. It should be understood from this investigation, though, that reading without talking about the texts seems to have very little effect on how children develop their understanding of texts or an historical consciousness.

This thesis focuses on interaction among young toddlers during their second year of life in a Swedish preschool. The overall aim of this thesis was to explore interaction, communication and the creation of friendship between the young children during self initiated play activities. In addition, this thesis presents the background of Early Childhood Education in Sweden, which may serve as an extended context for the study. An ethnographic study was carried out in a toddler unit with 15 children. Six one year old girls and boys were in focus during the observations for nine months. Participatory methods, photos, fieldnotes and videorecordings, were used for the data collection. The theoretical framework for the study is built on phenomenology, the view of the child as a social person and a child oriented perspective. The overall findings support a theoretical perspective where the young toddlers are seen as social actors, with social competencies. Their play invitation strategies, as well as their play enactment and play-closing moves, were mostly found to be based on nonverbal communication such as movements, gestures, voice quality and facial expressions. The competencies of attunement, taking others’ perspectives and turn-taking were found in play among the young toddlers, and they also showed negotiating skills while playing. The findings also show how young toddlers make friends. During their second year of life, they monitor and pay attention to individual peers, displaying intentionality and agency by spontaneously greeting their peers, by offering play invitations, and by helping peers. Mutual awareness, joint attention, shared smiles, coordinated movements, as well as other types of synchronized actions are seen as parts of nonverbal elements in emerging friendship. The findings in this thesis support an understanding of young toddlers as social persons in the preschool, engaged in consistent interest and attention towards each other while playing. / Avhandlingens fokus är hur små barn interagerar med varandra under sitt andra levnadsår i en svensk förskola. Det övergripande syftet var att undersöka interaktion, kommunikation och skapandet av vänskap mellan yngre toddlare under lekstunder då barnen hade möjligheter att ta egna initiativ. Lek betraktas som en rik arena för studier av toddlares samspel. Avhandlingen presenterar även svensk förskolas utveckling som en bakgrund som placerar in den enskilda förskolan i ett större sammanhang. En etnografisk studie genomfördes på en småbarnsavdelning med 15 barn i åldrarna ett till tre år. Sex ettåriga flickor och pojkar fokuserades särskilt genom observationer under nio månader. Deltagande observationer, fotografier, fältanteckningar och videoobservationer, användes för datainsamlingen. Teoretiskt vilar studien på fenomenologi, synen på barn som sociala personer och ett barnperspektiv. Resultaten stöder ett teoretiskt perspektiv där mycket små barn betraktas som sociala aktörer med social kompetens. Deras initiativ till lek, under lek och avslut av lek byggde framför allt på icke-verbal kommunikation, som exempelvis rörelse, gester, röstkvalitet och ansiktsuttryck. Barnen visade i sin lek förmåga till intoning, att ta andras perspektiv och turtagning samt att de förhandlade med varandra under lekens gång. Resultaten visar också hur yngre toddlare bygger vänskap. Ettåringarna uppmärksammar sina kamrater även som individer, exempelvis genom att spontant hälsa på dem, bjuda in till en särskild lek och genom att hjälpa varandra. I skapandet av vänskap använde barnen sig av icke-verbala handlingar i form av ömsesidig och gemensamt riktad uppmärksamhet, smittande leenden och koordinerade rörelser, vilka kan tolkas som intentionellt agerande. Sammanfattningsvis visar resultaten att små barn under sitt andra levnadsår kan betraktas som sociala personer som i leken i förskolan intresserar sig för och uppmärksammar varandra. / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following paper was unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Accepted.

I förskolans läroplan beskrivs att pedagoger ska lägga stor vikt vid att uppmuntra varje barn till att utveckla sitt språk. Under verksamhetsförlagda delar av utbildningen och arbete på förskolor har vi sett att små barn ibland får stå åt sidan för att gynna verksamhet för äldre barn. Att låta barn utveckla sitt språk med stöd av pedagoger och en social miljö är något som påverkar oss resten av livet. Att behärska språket är en nödvändighet i samhället. Syftet med studien är att synliggöra verksamma pedagogers arbete med ett- till treåringars språkutveckling i förskolan. Studien syftar vidare till att påvisa eventuella skillnader i språkligt bemötande ur genusperspektiv. Studien är kvalitativ och bygger på fyra observationer och fyra intervjuer, vilka är genomförda på två olika förskolor. Resultatet presenterar pedagogers arbetssätt och tankar bakom arbetet med språkutveckling, vilka möjligheter respektive hinder de ser och deras tankar bakom bemötande av flickor och pojkar ur språkutvecklingsperspektiv. I resultatet framkom att pedagogerna arbetar med språket på många sätt på förskolan, till exempel genom samlingar, vardagliga möten med barnen och genom att minska barngrupperna för att få mer tid för varje barn. I arbetet med språket ser pedagogerna möjligheter att använda sig av samlingen som pedagogiskt redskap men även utnyttja de vardagliga mötena. Pedagogen själv kan vara ett hinder om inte tiden finns för samtal med barnen då en viktig del av språkstimulansen går förlorad. Vissa pedagoger ser inga hinder alls för språkutvecklingen. Beträffande eventuell skillnad i bemötande gentemot flickor och pojkar visar resultatet att pedagogerna inte gör någon märkbar skillnad utan de alla har värderingen att bemöta alla barn lika. Slutligen diskuteras resultatet i relation till litteraturen och våra egna reflektioner. Studiens slutsats är att uppmuntran, benämning och bekräftelse kännetecknar det språkliga bemötandet i pedagogernas arbete med små barns språkutveckling. / In the curriculum of the nursery school it is said that the teachers shall lay stress on encouraging each child to develop his/her language. During trainee work of the education and the work at nursery schools, we have been witnessing young children step aside in the favour of the older children’s activity. Letting children develop their language with the support of the teachers and a social surrounding affects them for the rest of their lives. Controlling the language is a necessity in the society. The purpose with this study is to visualise how active teachers are thinking and working with a language education for one- to three-year-olds. The study aims further to point out any differences in a linguistic treatment from a gender perspective. The study is qualitative and it is based on four observations and four interviews, which are carried out at two different nursery schools. The result presents the teachers’ way of working and thoughts behind the work with language education, what possibilities and obstacles they see and their thoughts behind the treatment of girls and boys from a language developing perspective. In the result it appeared that the teachers work with the language in many different ways at the nursery school, for instance by gatherings, everyday meetings with the children and by reducing the children groups to gain more time for each child. In the work with the language, the teachers see the possibilities of using the gathering as an educational tool and utilising the everyday meetings as well. The teacher him/her self can be an obstacle if there is no time for talk with the children, whereas an important part of the language stimulation is lost. Some teachers don’t see any obstacles whatsoever for the language development. Regarding a possible difference in the treatment against girls and boys, the result shows that teachers don’t make any remarkable distinction, but they all share the value of treating every child equally. Finally, the result is discussed in the relation to the literature and our own reflections.

<p>I förskolans läroplan beskrivs att pedagoger ska lägga stor vikt vid att uppmuntra varje barn till att utveckla sitt språk. Under verksamhetsförlagda delar av utbildningen och arbete på förskolor har vi sett att små barn ibland får stå åt sidan för att gynna verksamhet för äldre barn. Att låta barn utveckla sitt språk med stöd av pedagoger och en social miljö är något som påverkar oss resten av livet. Att behärska språket är en nödvändighet i samhället. Syftet med studien är att synliggöra verksamma pedagogers arbete med ett- till treåringars språkutveckling i förskolan. Studien syftar vidare till att påvisa eventuella skillnader i språkligt bemötande ur genusperspektiv. Studien är kvalitativ och bygger på fyra observationer och fyra intervjuer, vilka är genomförda på två olika förskolor. Resultatet presenterar pedagogers arbetssätt och tankar bakom arbetet med språkutveckling, vilka möjligheter respektive hinder de ser och deras tankar bakom bemötande av flickor och pojkar ur språkutvecklingsperspektiv. I resultatet framkom att pedagogerna arbetar med språket på många sätt på förskolan, till exempel genom samlingar, vardagliga möten med barnen och genom att minska barngrupperna för att få mer tid för varje barn. I arbetet med språket ser pedagogerna möjligheter att använda sig av samlingen som pedagogiskt redskap men även utnyttja de vardagliga mötena. Pedagogen själv kan vara ett hinder om inte tiden finns för samtal med barnen då en viktig del av språkstimulansen går förlorad. Vissa pedagoger ser inga hinder alls för språkutvecklingen. Beträffande eventuell skillnad i bemötande gentemot flickor och pojkar visar resultatet att pedagogerna inte gör någon märkbar skillnad utan de alla har värderingen att bemöta alla barn lika. Slutligen diskuteras resultatet i relation till litteraturen och våra egna reflektioner. Studiens slutsats är att uppmuntran, benämning och bekräftelse kännetecknar det språkliga bemötandet i pedagogernas arbete med små barns språkutveckling.</p> / <p>In the curriculum of the nursery school it is said that the teachers shall lay stress on encouraging each child to develop his/her language. During trainee work of the education and the work at nursery schools, we have been witnessing young children step aside in the favour of the older children’s activity. Letting children develop their language with the support of the teachers and a social surrounding affects them for the rest of their lives. Controlling the language is a necessity in the society. The purpose with this study is to visualise how active teachers are thinking and working with a language education for one- to three-year-olds. The study aims further to point out any differences in a linguistic treatment from a gender perspective. The study is qualitative and it is based on four observations and four interviews, which are carried out at two different nursery schools. The result presents the teachers’ way of working and thoughts behind the work with language education, what possibilities and obstacles they see and their thoughts behind the treatment of girls and boys from a language developing perspective. In the result it appeared that the teachers work with the language in many different ways at the nursery school, for instance by gatherings, everyday meetings with the children and by reducing the children groups to gain more time for each child. In the work with the language, the teachers see the possibilities of using the gathering as an educational tool and utilising the everyday meetings as well. The teacher him/her self can be an obstacle if there is no time for talk with the children, whereas an important part of the language stimulation is lost. Some teachers don’t see any obstacles whatsoever for the language development. Regarding a possible difference in the treatment against girls and boys, the result shows that teachers don’t make any remarkable distinction, but they all share the value of treating every child equally. Finally, the result is discussed in the relation to the literature and our own reflections.</p>

<p>“ if you only read the book … you get the knowledge into your head once. If you talk about it, you get a more distinct memory of it, I think” (Emma, 11)</p><p>This thesis shows how a novel by Maj Bylock, Drakskeppet, was used in education within thematic work, the Viking Age, among ten-year-olds and eleven-year-olds for five weeks. The aim of the project was to investigate if and how pupils create or develop an historical consciousness when they had written and talked about the text in a novel. The study examines and analyses how three pupils in particular look upon history and ‘time’ in this process and if identification with characters in the novel takes place.</p><p>In the theoretical framework, which focuses on Judith Langer and her theories on ‘envisionment building’, that is on how children create text worlds , a general survey presents research findings about how children (10-12 years) interpret fiction. Furthermore the very complex construct of ‘historical consciousness’ is discussed.</p><p>In the second part, the study is described and its results are discussed: When these children form their personal historical consciousness their focus on the past and the present is apparent, while they have few links to the future. From the way characters’ lives are presented in Drakskeppet these young readers notice social differences in this fictional society of the past. Even though they also see parallels with the time they live in, they often conclude that ”things were worse” in the past. Another result is that an historical consciousness is generally developed when children can emotionally connect to their own lives.</p><p>A second conclusion drawn in the analysis of this project is that children should read fiction to learn about and understand History. In thematic work of this kind, pupils are offered opportunities to develop their reading and interpreting capacities even though the purpose of the work is the emergence of the pupils’ historical consciousness. It should be understood from this investigation, though, that reading without talking about the texts seems to have very little effect on how children develop their understanding of texts or an historical consciousness.</p>

Previous research has shown how home and parental characteristics support or hinder the development of children’s self-regulation in the family context. There have only been limited attempts to understand these mechanisms in early childhood education settings. This study used the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (when participating children were 36-months old) to examine the relations among various aspects of the early childhood education setting, the interactions in the setting, and children’s self-regulation in center-based and home-based settings. Structural equation modeling was used to test a model proposing the deconstruction of early childhood education quality into structural (i.e., environmental and caregiver characteristics) and process quality components (i.e., positive and negative interactions) and to examine these as predictors of three-years old children’s self-regulation abilities. A meditational model was tested in which positive and negative interactions in the classroom mediated the relations between the structural characteristics and self-regulation. There were three important findings. First, although there were no consistent patterns of associations between structural features and self-regulation across the two types of care, there were more significant relationships in home-based care compared to center-based care. These findings showed that the home-based caregiver characteristics were more closely tied to the processes in the classroom than those characteristics of caregivers in center care. Second, both positive and negative caregiving were associated with children’s compliance, which suggested that compliance may have been influenced differently by process quality compared to other self-regulation measures, such as self-control and emotion-, behavior-, and attention-regulation. It may be that high rates of compliance may be markers of highly restrictive caregiving rather than the result of good quality caregiving. Third, there were very few significant relationships between process quality measures and children’s self-regulation measures, which suggested that commonly used process quality measures may not be capturing the processes that are most important for the development of self-regulation. / text

Föräldraskattningsformuläret The Swedish Communicative Development Inventory (SCDI-III) är en modifierad form av MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventorys tredje form (CDI-III), och har tagits fram som ett forskningsinstrument för undersökning av språkförmågan hos barn i åldersgruppen 2;6-4;0 år. Det är av stor betydelse att barn i riskzonen för att utveckla en språkstörning upptäcks i tid för att språket ska kunna stimuleras under gynnsamma utvecklingsfaser. Kliniskt verksamma personer har givit uttryck för ett behov av ett material som kan ge en överblick av ett barns språkförmåga inför vidare språkutredning. Behovet av ett sådant material bidrog till att validiteten hos SCDI-III behövde undersökas, vilket utgjorde grunden för föreliggande studie. Syftet var att validera det redan normerade föräldraskattningsformuläret SCDI-III med etablerade språktest för att undersöka om det kan användas för att identifiera barn som ligger i riskzonen för språkstörning. Fyrtioen barn (21 flickor och 20 pojkar) i åldersgruppen 3;0-3;11 med svenska som modersmål, och 41 vårdnadshavare deltog i studien. Barnens grammatiska förmågor undersöktes med valideringsinstrumenten SIT (Språkligt Impressivt Test) och Gramba (Grammatiktest för barn) och deras lexikala förmågor undersöktes med BNT (Boston Naming Test) och PPVT-III (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test). Testningen utfördes på deras respektive förskolor och vårdnadshavarna fyllde i SCDI-III, varefter resultaten jämfördes.  Medelstarka signifikanta korrelationer konstaterades mellan skattningarna på SCDI:s ordproduktionsdel och barnens resultat på BNT respektive PPVT-III, samt mellan föräldrarnas skattningar på formulärets meningsbyggnadsdel och testresultaten på Gramba. Inga signifikanta eller starka korrelationer för meningskomplexitetsdelen i SCDI-III hittades mot något av de fyra testen. Utöver dessa resultat framkom att flickor presterade signifikant bättre än pojkar på Gramba och de äldsta barnen fick signifikant högre resultat än de yngsta på BNT. Resultaten i föreliggande studie tyder på att olika metoder och perspektiv behövs för bedömning av barns språkförmågor. SCDI-III skulle därför kunna vara ett kompletterade verktyg i form av ett samtalsunderlag mellan kliniskt verksamma logopeder och vårdnadshavare, men kan inte användas som enskilt bedömningsinstrument. / The Swedish Communicative Development Inventory (SCDI-III), a parent report instrument, is a modified form of the third version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory, and has been developed as a research tool for the investigation of the language ability of children aged 2;6 - 4;0 years. It is of great importance that children who are most at risk of developing a language impairment are identified in time in order to increase the possibility to stimulate their language in favourable developmental phases. Clinicians have expressed a need for a material that can provide an overview of a child’s language ability, prior to carrying out further language assessment. The need of such material has contributed to the need for an investigation of the validity of SCDI-III, which has formed the basis for the present study. The purpose was to validate the already standardized parent estimation form SCDI-III with established language assessments to investigate whether it can be used to identify children who are at risk for language impairment. Forty-one children (21 girls and 20 boys) aged 3;0 - 3;11 years, with Swedish as their mother tongue, and 41 guardians participated in the study. The grammatical abilities of the children were examined using the validation tools SIT (Språkligt Impressivt Test) and Gramba (Grammatiktest för barn) and the lexical abilities were examined using BNT (Boston Naming Test) and PPVT-III (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test). The testing was performed at their respective daycare center, and the guardians filled in SCDI-III, after which the results were compared.   Moderate significant correlations were found between estimations in SCDI’s word production section and the children’s production on the BNT and the result of the PPVT-III, and between parents’ evaluations in the sentence construction section of the questionnaire and the test results on Gramba. No significant or strong correlations in the sentence complexity section of the SCDI-III were found on any of the four SLP assessments. In addition to these results, girls performed significantly better than boys on Gramba and the oldest children had significantly better results than the youngest on the BNT. The results of the present study suggest a need for different methods and perspectives for the assessment of children’s language abilities. SCDI-III could therefore be a complementary tool in providing a basis for discussion between practicing speech-language pathologists and guardians, but cannot be used as an assessment tool by itself.

Barns fem första levnadsår präglas av en omfattande utveckling av språkliga förmågor och exekutiva funktioner, vilka är färdigheter som visat sig ha en stor påverkan på hur barn utvecklar förståelse för sina egna och andras tankar, det vill säga deras Theory of Mind. En central aspekt inom forskning har varit att undersöka hur förmågorna samvarierar vid olika åldrar. Syftet i föreliggande studie var att undersöka sambandet mellan Theory of Mind, språkliga förmågor och exekutiva funktioner hos barn i tre års ålder med typisk utveckling. Av intresse var även att undersöka om det förelåg skillnader i resultat mellan pojkar och flickor samt om de del-tagande barnens demografiska förhållanden vad gäller antal äldre och/eller yngre syskon, socio-ekonomisk status och vuxenkontakt påverkade de deltagande barnens Theory of Mind. Totalt medverkade 30 barn med typisk utveckling, varav 16 var flickor och 14 var pojkar. Åldersanpassade testmaterial användes för att undersöka Theory of Mind, grammatisk förmåga, semantisk förmåga, kognitiv flexibilitet, arbetsminne och fonemdiskrimination. Den demografiska informationen inhämtades i form av en enkät som föräldrarna fick fylla i. Resultatet indikerar att treåriga barns förmåga att hantera och förstå Theory of Mind-uppgifter samvarierar med både grammatisk förmåga och kognitiv flexibilitet. Samvariationer påträffades även mellan grammatisk förmåga och kognitiv flexibilitet, vilket stärker att språk, exe-kutiva funktioner och ToM har ett beroendeförhållande till varandra. Föreliggande studie framhåller att samtliga förmågor är mer eller mindre integrerade vid olika åldrar och korrelationerna visar på att vissa delförmågor inom språk, ToM och exekutiva funktioner går hand i hand och utvecklas i samspel med varandra. Specifikt kan den exekutiva komponenten kognitiv flexibilitet och den språkliga förmågan grammatik ses som viktiga förmågor för just treåriga barns ToM. / A childs’ first five years are characterized by an extensive development of language abilities and executive functions. These are skills that have demonstrated large impact on how children develop their understanding of their own and others’ thoughts, that is, their Theory of Mind. Within contemporary research, a central question has been to investigate how these abilities correlate at different stages of age.  The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between Theory of Mind, language and executive functions in typically developed three-year-old children. A central part in this study was also to assess whether differences in performance between boys and girls occurred and also if the number of younger and/or older siblings, socioeconomic status, and adult contact did affect the children’s performance.  A total of 30 children with typical development participated, of whom 16 were girls and 14 were boys. Age-appropriate test materials were used to examine, Theory of Mind, grammatical ability, semantic ability, cognitive flexibility, working memory, and phonetic discrimination. The demographic information was based on a questionnaire that parents of the participating children had to answer.  The result of this study indicates that the three-year child's ability to manage and understand tasks that assess Theory of mind seems to covariate with both grammatical skills and cognitive flexibility. A Correlation was also found between grammatical skills and cognitive flexibility, which indicate that language ability, executive functions and ToM have a strong dependent relationship.  The present study confirms that all abilities are more or less integrated at different ages and the correlations indicate that certain abilities in language, ToM and executive functions are de-veloped in interaction with each other. Specifically, the executive component cognitive flexibility and the grammatical ability are important abilities for three-year children’s ToM.

“ if you only read the book … you get the knowledge into your head once. If you talk about it, you get a more distinct memory of it, I think” (Emma, 11) This thesis shows how a novel by Maj Bylock, Drakskeppet, was used in education within thematic work, the Viking Age, among ten-year-olds and eleven-year-olds for five weeks. The aim of the project was to investigate if and how pupils create or develop an historical consciousness when they had written and talked about the text in a novel. The study examines and analyses how three pupils in particular look upon history and ‘time’ in this process and if identification with characters in the novel takes place. In the theoretical framework, which focuses on Judith Langer and her theories on ‘envisionment building’, that is on how children create text worlds , a general survey presents research findings about how children (10-12 years) interpret fiction. Furthermore the very complex construct of ‘historical consciousness’ is discussed. In the second part, the study is described and its results are discussed: When these children form their personal historical consciousness their focus on the past and the present is apparent, while they have few links to the future. From the way characters’ lives are presented in Drakskeppet these young readers notice social differences in this fictional society of the past. Even though they also see parallels with the time they live in, they often conclude that ”things were worse” in the past. Another result is that an historical consciousness is generally developed when children can emotionally connect to their own lives. A second conclusion drawn in the analysis of this project is that children should read fiction to learn about and understand History. In thematic work of this kind, pupils are offered opportunities to develop their reading and interpreting capacities even though the purpose of the work is the emergence of the pupils’ historical consciousness. It should be understood from this investigation, though, that reading without talking about the texts seems to have very little effect on how children develop their understanding of texts or an historical consciousness. / <p>Licentiatavhandling i litteraturvetenskap: alternativet Svenska med didaktisk inriktning</p>