The overarching aim of this thesis is to probe more deeply into how col­laborative writing can help to socialise students in a writing practice. More specifically, the thesis deals with lab report writing and the relationship of three students with different backgrounds to the educational practices of a university department. The three students differ in language background, previous higher education and vocational experience. The material comprises recordings of student discussions while writing lab reports in a group. The students and their lab report writing in different group con­stellations has been followed longitudi­nally for between two to four semesters. In addition the development of the lab reports over time has been studied, as well as teachers’ comments on them. Student acquisition of the genre is linked to internal textual criteria (textual aspects) and to extratextual criteria in the educational context. In view of the study’s focus on group collaboration a socio-cultural per­spective has been adopted as a frame. A model developed by Storch (2002) based on Vygotsky’s role relationships between expert and novice is used to shed light on how the students resolve problems related to the writing task through group discussions. The results show that the students’ backgrounds play a role in the creation of their profiles in the collaborative writing groups. The student with a second-language background often seeks support, not least where linguistic correctness is concerned, and cites what teachers say as arguments. The student with prior experience of academic writing appears to be a seasoned writer, for instance by daring to deviate from instructions and teachers’ directives. The third student uses his professional experience of writing lab reports in discussions to gain acceptance for his ideas.

Among scholars of applied linguistics and composition studies, the notion of academic literacy has generated discussions regarding L2 students' intellectual growth and academic performance in the college context. Several studies provide a detailed account of how students adapt their literacy practices in response to their perceived needs for task completion; however, as the notion of academic literacy has gradually been linked to concerns of disciplinary enculturation, a situated process of becoming involved in disciplinary discourse, there has been a call for attention to the disciplinary discourse communities into which students are initiated through literacy tasks. Although some previous studies have forged early linkages and integrated disciplinary discourse into the notion of academic literacy, the empirical data comes from graduate students (Casanave, 2002; Prior, 1998) or L1 students (Hass, 1994; Herrington, 1985; Sternglass, 1997). The study reported in this dissertation, however, investigates the situated and enculturating literacy practices of L2 students in undergraduate settings. Also, as compared to previous studies that describe the literacy strategies in or students' views of disciplinary discourse, the present study attempts to schematize the connection between literacy practice and disciplinary enculturation, drawing on the notion of genre and its framework. This study has a clear focus of analysis by discussing the literacy practice of two L2 students as they engage in genres, mostly written work, in class, herein referred to as genre practice or genre-mediated literacy practice. This study follows the L2 students' learning throughout their undergraduate college experience, providing an analysis of their genre practice across disciplines from their first year to graduation, and at the same time tracing the factors that contextualize their genre practice, such as previous genre encounters, class work, writing assignment guidelines, cultural norms, individualized perceptions of disciplinary expectations, etc. Through careful textual analysis and interviews, this study focuses on the L2 students' developing academic literacy as mediated by discipline-specific genre practice in three different learning contexts: writing in general education courses, writing in business writing courses, and writing in courses in their majors. The results of the study show that both students' genre practices varied, depending on how genre was cued, interpreted, and performed, by social affordances such as lectures, class readings, class discussions, and interactions with peers and instructors. The study shows the students' genre practice taking shape in the way they were situated in disciplinary discourse, while at the same time their understanding of disciplinary discourse was mediated by their engagement in genre. In addition, by looking at the students' genre practice in four different knowledge dimensions—formal, rhetorical, procedural, and subject matter (see Tardy, 2009)—this study documents a detailed process of constructing discipline-specific literacy. Despite its context-dependent, individualized positioning in disciplinary discourse, this study captures a series of patterns of literacy practice cutting across the two L2 students' approach to genre and highlights the issues inherent in classroom-based instructional settings. The theoretical and pedagogical implications of this study suggest the need to reexamine the role of writing for discipline-specific literacy, both to enhance college writing instruction and to advocate for writing across the curriculum.

Detta examensarbete behandlar undervisning i läsförståelsestrategier och genrekunskap. Studien utgår från forskning som visar att undervisning i dessa områden är av stor vikt för elevernas utveckling av läsförståelse. Läsförståelse i sig är grunden för framtida kunskapsinhämtning och vidare studier. Studien har som syfte att undersöka hur lärare i förskoleklass t.o.m. årskurs 3 arbetar explicit med läsförståelsestrategier och genrekunskap. Undersökningen bygger på en webbaserad enkätstudie till samtliga lärare för gällande årskurser i ämnena svenska, matematik, SO och NO/Teknik. Studien begränsar sig till att undersöka en kommun i södra Sverige. Resultaten är samstämmiga på så sätt att övervägande antal tillfrågade lärare anser sig undervisa explicit i läsförståelsestrategier. Något färre anser sig undervisa explicit i genrekunskap. Svaren visar även att undervisning förekommer i mindre omfång i denna kommun än vad som är önskvärt enligt forskningen i både läsförståelsestrategier och genrekunskap. / This master thesis focuses on teaching in reading comprehension strategies and genre knowledge. The study is based on research that shows that education in these areas is important for students' development of reading comprehension. Reading comprehension in itself is the basis for future knowledge acquisition and further studies. The purpose of this study is to investigate how teachers, active in the range from pre-school classes to third grade classes, works explicitly with reading comprehension strategies and genre knowledge.  The research is based on a web-questionnaire survey of all teachers for current grades in the subjects Swedish, Mathematics, Social studies and Science/Technology. It is limited to investigating a municipality in southern Sweden.  The results are coherent in such a way that the majority of teachers asked consider themselves to educate explicitly in reading comprehension strategies. Slightly fewer participants consider themselves to educate explicitly in genre knowledge. Also, based on the answers given by the participants, it turns out that both reading comprehension strategies and genre skills are less taught in this municipality compare to what is recommended according to science.