Det här arbetet syftar till att undersöka vilka textorienterade aktiviteter elever i en grundskola i Indien ingår i. Uppsatsens frågor berör därmed hur, samt i vilka sammanhang detta sker. Vidare syftar arbetet till att undersöka hur eleverna erövrar skriftspråk, samt vilka redskap de använder sig utav då detta sker. Arbetets teoretiska utgångspunkt är sociokulturell teori, vilken lyfter att samspelet med den omgivande miljön är av stor betydelse för människans lärande. I december 2012 aktualiserades det i de internationella kunskapsmätningarna gjorda av TIMS 2011 och PIRLS 2011, att svenska fjärdeklassares läsförmåga har försämrats. Då Sverige jämförs med andra länder såsom Indien i dessa mätningar, finner vi det intressant att undersöka hur barns erövrande av skriftspråkskompetenser kan te sig i en annan kulturell kontext. Ett ytterligare skäl till att undersökningen utförs i en skola i Indien, är att de materiella förutsättningarna kan skilja sig åt från svenska skolor, vilka i mångt och mycket kan erbjuda elever datorer, internetåtkomst, tillgång till böcker samt skrivmaterial. Vår studie är utförd i en indisk grundskola där urvalsgruppen består utav elever i åldrarna fem till tio år. Under vår vistelse besökte vi fem olika klasser med cirka 50 flickor i varje klass. Vi utgår från en etnografisk ansats där forskningsmetoden är deltagande observation. Detta då våra observatörsroller befinner sig i spänningsfältet mellan deltagande och enbart observerande. Som kompletterande källor till observationerna används informella samtal, intervju samt statliga styrdokument. Utifrån analysen av det insamlade datamaterialet framkommer det att eleverna är involverade i en rik mängd läs- och skrivhändelser, literacy events, vilka är initierade av elever som såväl lärare. I elevernas erövrande av skriftspråk använder de sig utav de fysiska och intellektuella redskap som finns att tillgå i skolmiljön. Exempel på fysiska redskap som används är: böcker, papper, penna, affischer och mobiltelefoner. Språket som lärare och elever kommunicerar genom samspelet, fungerar som ett intellektuellt redskap. Med hjälp utav redskapen deltar de i aktiviteter som: högläsning, läsning, stencilövningar, härmande klotter, lappskrivande, dramatisering, ramsor och sånger. I klassrumsundervisningen kretsar många aktiviteter kring exempelvis stavning, kontroll av läsförståelse samt stencilövningar, då lärarna i många fall har för avsikt att kontrollera elevernas kunskaper. Utifrån detta kan vi se ett kommunikationsmönster som kan kopplas till den lärarstyrda fråga-svar-bedömningsformen. Elevernas olika literacy events är därmed starkt påverkade av skolans monologiska läs- och skrivinlärningskultur, literacy practice.

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abstract: Small-group literacy instruction is frequently used in schools in order to engage students in discussions around texts. Instructional settings vary and produce a range of results. They are complex social spaces in which students position one another and themselves as they enact different identities. These identities are associated with sets of literacy practices. This paper describes the results of a study examining the ways in which 3rd and 4th grade students and their teachers positioned themselves and one another in three different small-group literacy settings and the literacy practices that they used as they performed their identities. Using a multimodal discourse analysis (Kress, 2012) and D/discourse analysis (Gee, 2005, 2011), the form and function of language and gestures were used to look at the kinds of identities that the participants enacted and the literacy practices that the students engaged in the different settings. The results of the analysis suggested that the identities that the participants performed were related to the context in which interactions around texts took place. The identities themselves were connected to the use certain literacy practices. The literacy practices used by the participants were also related to the classroom context. The findings suggest that it is important for teachers to consider the figured worlds active in small-group settings, the identities performed within those worlds, and the literacy practices in which students engage. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Curriculum and Instruction 2015

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The aim of the dissertation is to demonstrate and explain the place and function writing has in all subjects in two vocational classes in a Swedish upper secondary school. The material has been collected through ethnographic field studies in construction and health care classes over one school year. The material consists of literacy events, where pupils write, and the context of situation and text are noted. In theoretical terms the study takes a discourse analysis perspective, where writing is seen from within different frames. Writing is analysed based on an ideological view of literacy inspired by New Literacy Studies using the context of situation and text with the aim of describing different literacy practices in both classes. The material was classified into three different situation types, two school-initiated and one non-school-initiated. The first school-initiated situation type is orally-governed, the second writing-governed, while it is less clear how the non-school-initiated type is inspired. In the writing situations we investigate the writing activities that are used, while texts are analysed based on text acitivites. Writing and text activities are used together to explain the writing competences that are used in the writing situations. The conclusions are that writing gets little space and attention in both classes. The health care class writes in more situations and also writes longer texts than the construction class. Literacy practices differ between the classes. The health care class demonstrates one school-governed writing practice, while the construction class moves between two different school-governed practices. The literacy practices in the construction class are similar to the writing usage that can be found at a building site. Writing is used in both classes mainly to structure and store knowledge. The non-school-governed material also shows differences between the classes. Here too more writing takes place in the health care class. The function of the non-school-governed writing is to communicate and inform through writing.

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.

This master's thesis examines how the social activity of the library with books and literature can strengthen the contact between imprisoned fathers and their children. The project Godnattsagor inifrån has been studied from three different perspectives, the library, criminal authorities and the prisoners with their children. Interviews were conducted with the different actors of the project. The perspective social constructivism and the concept literacy practice were used to analyze the interviews and the project. In the prison reading program Godnattsagor inifrån the fathers choose a story from a children’s storybook and read the text, the story is recorded on a CD and sent to the child on the outside. The project attempts to create or strengthen the bonds between fathers and children with help of reading experiences. The fathers take part in a study circle where they are introduced to the library activities and practice how to read out loud to their children. This also includes reading and appreciating literature for themselves. I have noticed that Godnattsagor inifrån can inspire children to be reading people. It has also been noticed that the project can have the same impact on the prisoner´s identity. The cooperation between the prison, the library and the families increase the possibilities for both the children and their fathers. My knowledge contribution is to show how important reading is and why. What happens to the individual when given the opportunity to read? This is a two years master´s thesis in Library and Information Science.

The purpose of this master’s thesis was to study literacy practices in a reading group of nine women discussing fiction in Swedish sign language. The following research questions were examined: What patterns of action have taken form in this practice and what meaning is attributed to these patterns? How can this reading group be understood in the light of Päivi Fredäng’s research on identity and cultural changes in the Swedish Deaf world? How do the participants handle using two different languages and modalities during the discussions, and to what extent can this be understood using Mary Louise Pratts concept contact zone? Finally, the last question aims to explore the reasons behind the very scarce number of reading groups in Sweden discussing fiction in sign language. An ethnographic study was conducted through one participant observation and three semi-structured interviews face to face recorded on camera, one email interview and one recorded phone interview. The interviews in sign language were translated into written Swedish. What Peplow terms a ‘mimetic’ reading practice was the most dominant way of discussing literature, whereas thematic or synthetic reading practices were less frequent.  The participants found that the reading group broadened their reading habits and that the discussions sometimes had bibliotherapeutic elements. They often discussed issues related to the oppression of women whereas questions related to Deaf people and sign language were not often discussed. The reading group could be understood in the light of the changes that the Swedish Deaf world, and society at large have gone through over the last decades. The collective Deaf identity is more frequently based on shared values concerning sign language rather than ideological standpoints. More individualized perspectives and interest-based networks based on sign language become more common. This falls under what Fredäng describes as co-culture where deafness loses its superior position in the identity. The participants’ audiological and linguistic backgrounds were diverse, only around half of them had Swedish sign language as their first language. The literacy practices were to a great extent influenced by the diversity concerning the participants’ backgrounds. Some of the informants said that one main reason for joining was to improve their skills in sign language. To others, the reading group seemed to strengthen their skills in written Swedish. One aspect of the literacy practices of this reading group was language preservation, where the participants helped each other to a more ‘pure’ sign language. Using the theoretical framework developed in New Literacy Studies, the lack of reading groups discussing fiction in sign language could be understood as a result of the literacy practices used in the Swedish Deaf education system that followed the Milan Conference that took place in 1880. The conference led to the banning of sign language in favour of oral methods. Contemporary literacy practices in the Swedish Deaf world can be traced back to these practices in the education system. Further research is needed to study literacy practices among Deaf people in Sweden, for example among younger generations that have taken part of a bi-lingual education. This is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur pedagoger i förskolan arbetar för att skapa en lärmiljö som främjar barnens språkutveckling. Studien fokuserar på hur pedagogerna använder lärmiljön och litteraturen för att stötta barn i språklig sårbarhet. Studien utgår ifrån samspel ur ett sociokulturellt perspektiv där vi fokuserar på Bruners begrepp scaffolding. Studien använder sig även av literacy med fokus på begreppen literacyevent, literacy practice samt emergent literacy.  För att undersöka vårt syfte använder vi oss av kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer och en kvalitativ enkät. Resultatet pekar på att samspelet spelar en stor roll i barns språkutveckling och att pedagogerna kan dra nytta av samspelet för att främja barnens språkutveckling när de planerar verksamheten och utformar lärmiljöer. Resultatet visar även att pedagoger i många fall arbetar på samma sätt med barn i språklig sårbarhet som med övriga barn. Detta beror på att de arbetssätt man använder med barn i språklig sårbarhet anses vara givande för alla barns språkutveckling.  Pedagoger anser att det mest betydande för barns språkutveckling är att man är närvarande och tydlig i sin ledarroll och att man använder sig av TAKK och bildstöd. Pedagogerna betonar även att kunskapen om hur man använder material och arbetar språkfrämjande är nödvändig för att skapa en språkfrämjande lärmiljö. Studien kommer fram till att högläsning är oerhört betydelsefullt för barns språkutveckling och att pedagogerna lägger stort fokus på hur man arbetar med litteraturens innehåll genom musik, dans, skapande, dramatisering och boksamtal.