Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This thesis deals with the before-, during- and after- reading activities when working with text in teaching literature in grades 6-9. The first part describes results from testing the critical literacy of Czech students in the PISA 2009 international comparison, as well as levels of critical literacy and its place in the Framework Education Programme for Elementary Education. The reasons for using these activities and examples of them are also discussed. In the practical part, I carried out research using questionnaires to find out if and how often teachers use these types of activities and I have provided examples of those used. Next I wanted to find out which types of readers the teachers use and how these readers contribute to a student's reading literacy development.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Läsningen i dagens skola påverkas av såväl internationella kunskapsmätningar som normer av kritiska förhållningssätt i en utsträckning som utmanar skönlitteraturens roll för skolans värdeutvecklande uppdrag. Ämnesplanen för svenska i gymnasieskolan motiverar läsning som läsfärdighetsträning, kritisk läsning såväl som inlevelsefull läsning, vilket innebär en komplex litteraturundervisning. Forskning har dessutom visat att lärare saknar kunskap om litteraturdidaktiska förhållningssätt och deras uttryck i skolans verksamhet. Tidigare forskning har i hög grad studerat legitimeringen av skönlitteraturens roll i skolan, men har i begränsad utsträckning utforskat legitimering av läsning och föreställningar om skönlitterär läsning som färdighet. Mot denna bakgrund studerar detta arbete läromedlet Svenska impulser för gymnasieskolans kurser i svenska 1, 2 och 3. För att synliggöra läromedlets didaktiska potential studeras litteratursyner och legitimeringar av litteraturläsning samt hur detta relaterar till läsning i en vidgad digital textvärld. Den didaktiska potential som analysen synliggör är ett studieinriktat motiv som legitimerar läsning efter det centrala innehållet i ämnet samt efter en tänkt målgrupps akademiska och intellektuella intresse. Det finns inslag av olika litteratursyner, men analysen visade att även om läromedlet ibland relaterar till elevernas egna erfarenheter och textvärldar bjuds de samtidigt till att ta del av ett litterärt kulturarv och mer traditionella textvärldar. Läromedlet är användbart för att arbeta systematiskt med kursernas innehåll och ger överlag mer utrymme åt kritisk läsning och läsning som läsfärdighetsträning än inlevelsefull läsning. Läromedlet är i mycket begränsad utsträckning anpassat till en vidgad digital textvärld. Det skapar vissa möjligheter för en social eller interaktiv läsning, men läromedlet främjar snarare en koncentrerad och inlevelsefull läsning av traditionell skönlitteratur. / Reading in today’s school is influenced by international assessments as well as norms of critical approaches to a degree that challenges the role of fictional literature in the value-developing mission of the school. The curriculum for the subject of Swedish in upper secondary school motivates reading to develop literacy, critical reading and empathetic reading, which imply a complex literary education. Research has further shown that teachers lack awareness of literary-didactical approaches and their place in the educational practice. Research on the subject has studied the legitimation of literature in school, but not so much legitimation of reading and approaches fictional reading as a competence. To this background this essay study the learning material Svenska impulser for the courses of Swedish 1, 2 and 3 for upper secondary school. To make visible the didactic potential of the material its views on literature and legitimation of fictional reading is studied and how this relates to reading in a widened digital text-world. The didactic potential that the analysis make visible is an academic motif that legitimate reading based on the curriculum of the subject and based on the students supposed academic and intellectual interest. There are examples of different views of literature, but the analysis showed that although the material sometimes relates to the students own experiences and text-worlds, they are invited to take part in a literary heritage and more traditional text-worlds. The material is useful to work systematic with the courses content and generally gives more room for critical reading and literacy enhancing reading than it gives empathetic reading. The material is to a very limited degree customized for a widened digital text-world. It offers some possibilities for social or interactive type of reading and rather promotes a concentrated and empathetic type of reading based in traditional literature.

This licentiate thesis, When emotions are allowed to rule, a study on reading literature in a multicultural classroom in upper secondary school, attempts from a didactic perspective to understand literature reading in the school subject Swedish in the light of a multicultural and changing society. From a socio-cultural perspective, the study illustrates the teacher's choice of literature, the teacher's and the students' attitudes to literature, and the ways of reading that are being negotiated in the common reading and what opportunities for understanding and meaning making that are made available. The analyses are based on reception theories and have an underlying intercultural perspective. The study has been conducted in a class represented by students with many different mother tongues in the school subject Swedish during the first year at the natural science programme at an upper secondary school. The main methods are recordings of literature discussions, which have been documented by video and digital voice recorder, qualitative interviews with students and teacher, log books, and the students' novel reading logs. The empirical material is presented in two chapters. The first chapter, The conditions of the reading, focuses on the teacher's and the students' attitudes to literature and literature reading while the second chapter, The actual reading, brings forward the ways of reading that are being negotiated in the common reading of two novels in the class. The results show that there are several factors that are of importance to the understanding and the meaning making that are made possible in the teaching of literature. The students speak about experience oriented attitudes focusing on life experiences and cultural meetings. This differs from the teacher's attitude which is focused on providing the students with language skills and literary history education. The study shows how the reading of the novel Herakles (Kallifatides 2006) results in ethic ways of reading and a rejection of the text while the reading of the optional novel leads to a subjective reading and a common interpretation from ways of reading of enjoyment. The study discusses the importance of safeguarding the students' knowledge, experiences, and emotions and of making explicit their different ways of reading as well as the different readings of the teaching. Discussed further is the need for a teaching that catches and challenges the students' general and literary repertoires from various perspectives in order to provide context and contribute to an active meaning making. The study suggests a caring way of reading, which is characterised by interpretive communities focused on openness to the foreign and different view and a reading that strives towards a cognitive, moral, and emotional understanding.