<p>I have in this thesis looked at the reasons for why boys, in upper school classes, read so little fiction. Several surveys show that boys in their teenage years stop reading fiction. If they read fiction it is only as a school assignment and not as leisure. There has been research done in boys attitude towards literature, but there hasn’t been any research done asking them about <em>why</em> they don’t read fiction</p><p>I have interviewed a group of boys about their reasons, and attitude, for why they don’t choose to read fiction on their spare time after school. I have interviewed five boys and from their answers I have made a conclusion.</p><p>The main reason to why the boys in my survey chose not to read fiction was that they found it ‘boring’. The reasons to this were that they found the assignments to the books boring and they found the books boring. They said that the assignment usually was to answer questions which were to easy to answer.</p><p>I have used Judith A Langers’ reception theories to try to explain why the boys find the task of reading so boring.</p>

I have in this thesis looked at the reasons for why boys, in upper school classes, read so little fiction. Several surveys show that boys in their teenage years stop reading fiction. If they read fiction it is only as a school assignment and not as leisure. There has been research done in boys attitude towards literature, but there hasn’t been any research done asking them about why they don’t read fiction I have interviewed a group of boys about their reasons, and attitude, for why they don’t choose to read fiction on their spare time after school. I have interviewed five boys and from their answers I have made a conclusion. The main reason to why the boys in my survey chose not to read fiction was that they found it ‘boring’. The reasons to this were that they found the assignments to the books boring and they found the books boring. They said that the assignment usually was to answer questions which were to easy to answer. I have used Judith A Langers’ reception theories to try to explain why the boys find the task of reading so boring.

<p> </p><p>This study examines the way Swedish students in Upper Secondary School respond to two excerpts from a classic Swedish novel. The paper’s aim is both to give an overview over some of the theoretical concepts concerning the field of reader-response criticism, and to describe and analyse what the students experience in their first meeting with an older text. The background to my interest is the many studies showing that young readers regard reading of fiction in school as boring. By using the method of written reading responses I want to contribute to a deeper understanding of how an older text can be received, understood and engage its readers. The readers’ responses have been analysed using an analysis tool that categorises the responses under different aspects. The result shows that the older texts actually often do engage its readers in various ways, and indicates that it is the teaching method, rather than the classic text, that is viewed as “boring”. Another finding was that the specific reading response method used in this study and my own method of analysis could function as a pedagogical tool in order to understand the students’ reading act, with both its obstacles and possibilities.</p><p> </p>

This study examines the way Swedish students in Upper Secondary School respond to two excerpts from a classic Swedish novel. The paper’s aim is both to give an overview over some of the theoretical concepts concerning the field of reader-response criticism, and to describe and analyse what the students experience in their first meeting with an older text. The background to my interest is the many studies showing that young readers regard reading of fiction in school as boring. By using the method of written reading responses I want to contribute to a deeper understanding of how an older text can be received, understood and engage its readers. The readers’ responses have been analysed using an analysis tool that categorises the responses under different aspects. The result shows that the older texts actually often do engage its readers in various ways, and indicates that it is the teaching method, rather than the classic text, that is viewed as “boring”. Another finding was that the specific reading response method used in this study and my own method of analysis could function as a pedagogical tool in order to understand the students’ reading act, with both its obstacles and possibilities.

Syftet med undersökningen är att försöka förstå vad som händer i mötet mellan högstadieelever och den populära skönlitterära boken Förr eller senare exploderar jag. Genom boksamtal med elever i årskurs 7-9 framkommer det att bokens genomslagskraft skapade förväntningar inför läsningen av den, att boken väcker frågor om livet och döden och att den oväntade vändningen i boken verkar fängslande för många av elevernas läsning av den. Detta kan i sin tur kopplas till berättelsens dramaturgi och hur berättelsen i sig kan hjälpa oss att skapa struktur och mening i livet. I undersökningen framkommer det även att det verkar bli en matchning mellan många av elevernas och bokens allmänna och litterära repertoarer vilket, enligt tidigare forskning, är en viktig del för att litteraturläsning ska bli meningsfull för elever.

Syftet med studien är att undersöka i vilken mån ett urval arbetsuppgifter till skönlitterära texter i läroböcker skapar möjlighet för elever att nå de mål gällande skönlitteratur, som fastställts i läroplanen. Det empiriska underlaget består av de frågor som hör till totalt nio texter ur tre olika antologier för grundskolans senare del. Materialet har bearbetats med en innehållsanalys och analyserats dels utifrån ett receptionsteoretiskt perspektiv och dels utifrån begreppet literacy, litteracitet. Resultatet visar att läroböckernas uppgifter ger eleverna möjlighet att träna flera olika kompetenser, eftersom olika typer av frågor erbjuds till de allra flesta texterna. Brister finns dock då det är en övervikt av frågor som tränar ytlig läsförståelse. Frågor som väckts rör främst lärarens roll, samt i vilken mån det skapas möjligheter även för de svagare eleverna att träna alla aspekter av läsförståelsen.