Magister Educationis - MEd / South Africa in the past-apartheid era has undergone a series of curriculum changes that collectively have not yet yielded the desired results. Evidence of this is to be found in the continued low pass rates and poor performance in the annual National Senior Certificate (Grade 12) examinations, including the subject English as a First Additional Language (EFAL). Apart from language policy considerations, reasons related to the teaching approach used in EFAL may have a bearing on the results.The Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) recommends the use of a text-(genre) approach, alongside a communicative approach, to the teaching of languages in schools to replace the old content-based methods with their aims and objectives. While the old curriculum did advocate communicative language teaching, the addition is a text-based approach. This study focuses on investigating the various approaches teachers employ in the teaching of English writing and specifically seeks to identify the extent to which a text-based approach is realized in the teaching of EFAL in Grade 9 in two schools in the Western Cape. The study does so, amongst other ways, by analysing the various texts learners are exposed to in English lessons and taking note of how teachers introduce and negotiate the different stages of writing. This study uses genre theory and Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) in combination with social constructivist approaches to language learning. This theory is based on the premise that language is functional and cannot be detached from the social context of the learner.A qualitative research paradigm is used and the study is underpinned by interpretive theory.According to Richards (2003), qualitative research is the study of human action in its natural setting in the context of people’s daily lives. In this case the school classroom has to function as the natural setting. The qualitative data collection instruments for this study include interviews,(particularly open-ended interviews), classroom observation schedules and audio recordings. The teaching processes in the classroom and interview sessions are recorded.The research participants for this study were two qualified English teachers. Secondly, samples of notebooks including class exercises of a selected numbers of learners of English Language in Grade 9 were collected for analysis with regard to the implementation of a text-based approach.The findings revolve round the themes derived from the analysis chapter, and are expected to provide ways of promoting the teaching of English using this approach. They reveal that the teachers in this study do not have sufficient understanding of the theories that underpin the teaching of writing in the English FAL curriculum. They attend to the use of text-based approach superficially but they apply other teaching strategies in their lessons during the teaching of English as a first additional language. The study concludes by summing up the main findings,and by spelling out some implications for further research.

Studiens syfte är att få en djupare förståelse för hur svensklärare ställer sig till språk- och kunskapsutvecklande arbetssätt och synliggöra lärarnas självförståelse i arbetssättet. Studien består av fyra intervjuer med svensklärare på mellanstadiet i Mellansverige som arbetar som ämneslärare. Studien visar att lärarna har en positiv inställning till språk- och kunskapsutvecklande arbetssätt i svenskundervisningen och anser således att de har en vital roll i eleverna språkliga utveckling. Dock framgår det i resultatet att det skiljer sig åt mellan lärarna och hur de praktiserar arbetssättet beroende på vilka erfarenheter de har och vilken skola de arbetar på. Ett visst motstånd finns där man kan notera en tendens på att den konservativa ämnestraditionen finns kvar utifrån att lärare har svårt att samarbeta och släppa in andra lärare i den egna undervisningen. Vidare visar resultatet att samtliga lärare på ett eller annat sätt arbetar med språk- och kunskapsutvecklande arbetssätt i svenskundervisningen. Utifrån lärarnas utlåtanden är det tydligt att de är influerade av Vygotskijs sociokulturella perspektiv och Hallidays systemiska funktionella grammatik. Skillnaderna mellan lärarna är stora och det är enbart två lärare som är medvetna i teorierna och arbetsmodellerna medan de övriga två är omedvetna om dem. Detta synliggörande, som också är en förspråkligande, kan i bästa fall höja lärares professionella medvetenhet och bidra till att möjliggöra kollegiala samtal om hur språk- och kunskapsutvecklande undervisning kan utvecklas. / The purpose of the study is to gain a deeper understanding of how Swedish teachers approach language and knowledge-developing working methods and to make the teachers self-understanding visible in the working method. The study consists of four interviews with Swedish teachers in middle school in Central Sweden. The study shows that teachers have a positive attitude towards language and knowledge development working methods in Swedish teaching and believe that they have a vital role in student language development. However, the results show that there are differences between the teachers and how they practice the working method depending on what experiences they have and which school they work at. There is some resistance where we can see a tendency for the conservative subject tradition to remain based on the fact that teachers have difficulty cooperating and letting other teachers into their own teaching. Furthermore, the results show that all teachers in one way or another work with language and knowledge development methods in Swedish teaching. From the teacher statements, it is clear that they are influenced by Vygotsky's socio-cultural perspective and Halliday's systemic functional grammar. The differences between the teachers are large and only two teachers are aware of the theories and working models, while the other two are unaware of them. This visibility, which is also advocacy, can at best raise teachers’ professional awareness and help to enable collegial conversations about how language and knowledge development teaching can be developed.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur svensklärare på mellanstadiet arbetar med bokrecensioner i undervisningen, vad de anser att bokrecensioners syfte är samt vilka metoder de anser vara gynnsamma i arbetet. Detta är en kvalitativ studie där semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med åtta lärare för att påvisa likheter och skillnader mellan deras olika arbetssätt och tankegångar. Efter genomförda intervjuer analyseras de utifrån en tematisk analys.Resultatet visar att lärarna har en övervägande positiv inställning till bokrecensioner. Dock förekommer det en tvetydighet bland dem, samtidigt som de menar att bokrecensioner är ett fördelaktigt moment som kan inkludera flera viktiga kunskapsutvecklande delar menar de också att momentet inte ska ta allt för stor plats i undervisningen då det finns andra saker som behöver mer utrymme. Syftet med bokrecensioner tycks inte vara att eleverna ska utveckla sina kunskaper kring bokrecension som genre utan de används mer som ett verktyg till att kontrollera elevernas läsförståelse och andra färdigheter. Resultatet visar också att särskilda metoder i själva verket sällan används i arbetet kring bokrecensioner eftersom syftet mer är av kontrollerande karaktär än utvecklande av elevernas genrekunskaper. / The purpose of the study is to examine how teachers at secondary school work with book reviews in their teaching, what they consider the intent of book reviews to be and what methods they consider to be favourable in the work. This is a qualitative study in which semi-structured interviews have been conducted with eight teachers to demonstrate similarities and differences between their different approaches and mindset. After the interviews have been transcribed, they are analysed on the basis of a thematic analysis.The results show that the teachers have a predominantly positive attitude towards book reviews. However, there is an ambiguity among them, while they consider that book reviews are a favourably element that can include several important knowledge development elements, they also consider that the element should not take up too much space in the teaching as there are other things that need more space. The idea of book reviews does not seem to be to develop students' knowledge of book reviewing as a genre, however they are used more as an implement to verify students' reading comprehension and other abilities. The results also show that specific methods are in fact barely used in the writing on book reviews because the intention is more of a controlling nature than developing students' genre knowledge.

I mitt examensarbete undersöker jag hur svensklärare gestaltar genrepedagogik i sin undervisning i ämnet svenska och vilken potential genrepedagogik tillmäts och på vilka grunder. Genrepedagogiken är en stram undervisningsmodell som har sin grund i Australien där undervisningsidealet är synlig undervisning där man namnger språkets delar och lär utdem till eleverna från tidig ålder. I Sverige har genrepedagogiken fått sitt genomslag i ämnet svenska som andraspråk. Där får eleverna möjlighet att skapa texter i olika genrer vilket ger eleverna förutsättningar att förstå och bearbeta olika texttyper. Genom att läraren utför en formaliserad undervisning och anpassar den efter elevernas intresse och behov främjas läroprocessen.Jag har använt mig av kvalitativ metod när jag analyserat svaren från informanterna. Detta är en analysmetod som hjälpt mig att hålla fokus på frågeställningarna, värdera svaren och få tydlighet i analysen. Jag har intervjuat tolv lärare som undervisar på samma skola och precis avslutat en kurs om genrepedagogik.I analys- och resultat delen av mitt examensarbete presenterar jag min empiri som svarar mot mina frågeställningar utifrån olika aspekter beträffande genrepedagogiken och dess påverkan på undervisningen.I min resultatdel kan jag se att lärarna använder sig av genrepedagogik i sin undervisning, dock inte hela tiden utan de delar upp cirkelmodellen och använder sig av de delar de tyckerär det bästa för gruppens och den enskilda individens utveckling. De har utvecklat enförståelse för genrepedagogiken och dess syfte för att utveckla elevernas arbete med olika texttyper, men de vill även fortsätta med en undervisningsmodell som är tydligt funktionaliserad samt ge eleverna möjlighet att utveckla sitt lärande på olika sätt. Nyckelord: Cirkelmodellen, genrepedagogik, inramning, formaliserad undervisning, funktionaliserad undervisning, osynlig undervisning, synlig undervisning

The aim of this study is to investigate how five boys in grade 3 of compulsory school structure and use language when they write narrative texts retelling and assessing personally experienced events. This is studied by interpreting how the boys use genre steps that are typical of the structure of personal narrative texts and by detecting and naming different linguistic features in the texts. The material in the study consists of five boys’personal reports and the method, which is based on the theories of genre pedagogy (see Johansson & Sandell Ring 2012:28ff, 223f), comes from systemic functional linguistics. A central finding of the study is that the boys structure their texts in varying combinations of genre steps which commonly occur in texts of a narrative kind. Another central finding is that the language in the boys’ texts consists of many verbs and verb groups which explain that someone is acting or doing something, different discourse connectives to indicate time, along with expressions for emotions and descriptions of experiences or objects.

This is a qualitative analysis that, based on systemic functional linguistics, or SFL, and genre theory, has aimed to study the genre pedagogical implications on written language as they occur in narrative stories and expositions whilst the model is introduced. Systemic functional linguistics is a linguistic theory that views the organisation of language as functional options for meaning; language is a set of resources to channel meaning through realisation. Genre theory elucidates the pragmatic and educational uses of SFL in the categorizing of language in configurations of meanings as they are set and understood in different cultures.  The purpose of the survey is to do so with focus on successful and less successful writers by attempting to answer two primal issues: How is development of written language in reference to the introduction of the genre pedagogical model visible in the studied texts? How does genre pedagogical teaching influence successful and less successful writers as visible in their writing with a certain purpose? To answer these issues the survey is based on narratives and expositions written by high school students who have been divided into two groups according to the purpose of the survey. One text in each genre has been written by the students before and after lessons based on the genre pedagogical learning wheel explaining the relevant genres. Thereafter the texts have been analysed, both in accordance to the staging of the relevant genres, but also with an inductive focus on the variations of the texts.  The results show that significant development of the texts, after the genre pedagogical lessons, is visible in both student groups in different ways. This demonstrates how the genre pedagogical approach to teaching language is a method that is able to lift students regardless of their prior merits.

The purpose of this study is to examine the use and application of the curriculum cycle in Swedish as a second language teaching and how the relationship between theory and practice might look like. The questions that formed the basis of this study addresses how the curriculum cycle is used in teaching of Swedish as a second language and how the curriculum cycle is applied in teaching materials for students learning Swedish as a second language. The research methods chosen for this study are a qualitative semi-structured interview study and a qualitative teaching material analysis where I interviewed three teachers and analyzed two textbooks. The theory on which this study is based is Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of learning that clarifies the idea of that communication and interaction between people are crucial parts for how sociocultural resources are formed and passed on. After analyzing the interviews, it can be concluded that it is used frequently where each phase is essential in order to achieve the goal. The teachers also explained that the students develop cooperation and communication skills and a learning experience where they learn from each other when accomplishing the phases. The other method used in this study was a systematic conceptual analysis focusing on verbs in imperatives where I studied which forms of work and phases of the curriculum cycle that were presented in textbooks for Swedish as a second language. As a result, it can be concluded that the curriculum cycle is applied as a method and a tool with different strategies that help students to achieve a certain goal. The analyses also showed that both teaching materials contain elements where students work individually, in pairs and in groups.

Denna studie baseras på elevers skrivande av berättande texter i ämnet svenska från årskurs 5 och 6. Syftet var att undersöka hur lärare kan arbeta stöttande för både låg- och högpresterande elever i arbetet med skrivande av genretexter. Vidare ville vi undersöka vilka utmärkande drag vi kunde finna i låg- respektive högpresterande elevers berättande texter och hur lärare beskriver sin undervisning i förhållande till begreppen inkludering samt differentiering. I studien analyserades 16 elevtexter från de utvalda elevgrupperna, Fyra lärare till dessa elever har intervjuats för att få ta del av deras tankar om undervisningen. Studien baseras på genrepedagogiken med tillhörande bakomliggande teorier, inklusive den sociokulturella teorins scaffolding- och ZPD-begrepp samt systemisk funktionell grammatik. Intervjun undersöks även i relation till begreppen inkluderande och differentierande undervisning samt hur det används i arbetet med eleverna. I resultatet från textanalysen kunde vi se att den största skillnaden mellan de två elevgrupperna var berättelsens händelseförlopp vilket bidrog till diskussionen om grammatiska orsaker. I intervjun beskrev lärarna att de använder sig av explicit undervisning och formativ feedback med ZPD som utgångsläge, vilka utgjorde deövergripande teman som var mest jämförbara med genrepedagogikens stöttning. Lärarna strävade efter att eleverna skulle kunna arbeta med samma uppgifter så långt som möjligt och fokuserade på att anpassa kraven efter elevernas förmågor. Det visade sig att lärarna undervisade något mer differentierande än de själva var medvetna om då vissa av deras kommentarer om inkluderande undervisning även kan kopplas till differentierad undervisning.

By combining qualitative and quantitative methods, this study investigates which writing tasks Swedish as a second language teachers use in their teaching of the different school-related text types, how they justify their choices and adaptations of the writing task, and whether any connections can be seen to the national tests in Swedish as a second language writing tasks. The material used is survey responses and previous national tests whose results are then analysed through theories, such as genre pedagogy and Ivanic writing discourses to answer these questions. Previous research shows how factors such as writing task design and real readers can contribute to writing development in students. Previous research also shows how to work with text types in a language development way and how writing instruction is influenced by teachers' writing discourses. This paper shows from the survey responses that a trend among writing tasks in the different text types can be seen and how 8 out of 10 can be linked to previous national tests in Swedish as a second language. The results show that the teachers' reasons for their choice of writing tasks could be linked to previous national tests, to their suitability in writing the text type and the teacher's writing discourse. The teachers' adaptations of the writing tasks have been more about their way of working than the design of the writing task, but adaptations such as simplified language and adapted language have been mentioned. These results are important because they indicate how established genre pedagogy and its circular model have become in Swedish as a second language teaching and how much influence the national test in Swedish as a second language has on the teachers' choice of writing tasks in the different text types.