This thesis investigates how various text-talks, i.e. text-focused classroom discussions, may scaffold students’ reading of specialised texts in upper secondary school. The study consists of qualitative case studies based on classroom observations of two teachers’ History instruction, focusing on parts defined as text-talks. An intervention study was conducted where one teacher worked with two text-talk approaches. The research questions regard how students move in relation to the text in the text-talks and how text content is incorporated, what scaffolding structures emerge, and whether and how the text-talks differ. A secondary aim is to generate theories concerning the potentials and limitations of text-talk as a reading scaffold. Analyses were done in terms of text movability to show reading positions, intertextual cohesion to show relations between source text and text-talk, and scaffolding which includes peer scaffolding, teacher scaffolding and the text-talks as a scaffold per se. A methodological contribution is the development of a model for content-based analyses of authentic text-talks. The results show that in text-talks that work as a scaffold, students take the expected positions toward the text, and the talks are clearly related to the source text, by means of lexical and conjunctive cohesion that is often varied and built-out. For more demanding texts, the students show dynamic text movability and move between exploring contents, subject field and context. Other characteristics are either peer scaffolding showing dialogicity and negotiation of meaning, or teacher scaffolding enabling students to progress and develop tools for text reception. The intervention approaches seem to scaffold reading to a greater extent than text-talks within ordinary instruction where the framing is weak. In conclusion, the results suggest that both student- and teacher-led text-talks may scaffold reading, but they need to be well planned and prepared with a structured framing.

This thesis investigates how various text-talks, i.e. text-focused classroom discussions, may scaffold students’ reading of specialised texts in upper secondary school. The study consists of qualitative case studies based on classroom observations of two teachers’ History instruction, focusing on parts defined as text-talks. An intervention study was conducted where one teacher worked with two text-talk approaches. The research questions regard how students move in relation to the text in the text-talks and how text content is incorporated, what scaffolding structures emerge, and whether and how the text-talks differ. A secondary aim is to generate theories concerning the potentials and limitations of text-talk as a reading scaffold. Analyses were done in terms of text movability to show reading positions, intertextual cohesion to show relations between source text and text-talk, and scaffolding which includes peer scaffolding, teacher scaffolding and the text-talks as a scaffold per se. A methodological contribution is the development of a model for content-based analyses of authentic text-talks. The results show that in text-talks that work as a scaffold, students take the expected positions toward the text, and the talks are clearly related to the source text, by means of lexical and conjunctive cohesion that is often varied and built-out. For more demanding texts, the students show dynamic text movability and move between exploring contents, subject field and context. Other characteristics are either peer scaffolding showing dialogicity and negotiation of meaning, or teacher scaffolding enabling students to progress and develop tools for text reception. The intervention approaches seem to scaffold reading to a greater extent than text-talks within ordinary instruction where the framing is weak. In conclusion, the results suggest that both student- and teacher-led text-talks may scaffold reading, but they need to be well planned and prepared with a structured framing.

Textsamtal har en viktig roll i undervisningen och för elevernas lärande. Genom att delta i textsamtal kan eleverna utveckla sina läsförmågor, språkligaförmågor och läsförståelseförmågor. Fördelen med att lärare använder sig av textsamtal är att textsamtal inte är begränsad till svenskundervisningen, utan kan nyttjas i alla skolans ämnen. Textsamtal ger lärare goda möjligheter till att arbeta ämnesövergripande och diskutera kring saker som inte är direkt kopplade till svenskämnet. Däremot utgår denna studie i ämnet svenska med fokus på diskussioner kring olika livsfrågor med några elever i årskurs 3. Syftet med studien är att analysera vilka livsfrågor elever i årskurs 3 läser om i de böcker eleverna väljer att läsa. Studien syftar också till att lyfta fram de tankar som eleverna uttrycker i textsamtal kring livsfrågor. Studien utgår ifrån den sociokulturella teorin för att lyfta fram de sociala aspekterna i undervisningen och betydelsen av att lära sig av och med varandra. Materialet i studien grundar sig på de två genomförda fokusgruppsintervjuerna samt läsning av de böcker eleverna har läst. Resultatet visar att eleverna stöter på en mängd olika livsfrågor i sin läsning, bland annat kamratskap, saknad och död. Likaså visar resultatet att textsamtalen i ämnet svenska ger eleverna goda möjligheter till att få uttrycka sig och dela med sig av sina tankar kring olika livsfrågor. / Text conversations have an important role in teaching and for students' learning. By participating in text conversations, pupils can develop their reading skills, language skills and reading comprehension skills. The advantage of teachers using text conversations is that text conversations are not limited to Swedish teaching, but can be used in all school subjects. Text conversations give teachers good opportunities to work interdisciplinary and discuss things that are not directly connected to the Swedish subject. However, this study is based on the subject Swedish with a focus on discussions about various life issues with some pupils in year 3. The purpose of the study is to analyse which life issues students in year 3 read about in the books the students choose to read. The study also aims to highlight the thoughts that pupils express in text conversations about life issues. The study is based on the socio-cultural theory to highlight the social aspects of teaching and the importance of learning from and with each other. The material in the study is based on the two completed focus group interviews and reading of the books the students have read. The results show that students encounter a variety of life issues in their reading, including friendship, loss and death. The results also show that the text conversations in the Swedish subject give pupils good opportunities to express themselves and share their thoughts on various life issues.

“You just say ‘yes!’ Say something more!” A study of pupils participation, active involvement, motivation and development through student discussion of factual texts about the concepts of climate and sustainable development.  The purpose of this study is to investigate whether student-led text conversations about concepts in the subject of geography, with the help of support structures, can be designed in a way that promotes discussion between pupils. The further aim is to investigate how support structures for increased participation affect the dialogue in text conversations for pupils in upper primary school. The research questions in this study were: How is pupils' participation in text conversations affected by different support structures? How are pupils' participation in text conversations affected by different support structures? How is pupils' dialogue in text conversations affected by different support structures? How do pupils experience structured text conversations as a form of work? As this is a practical study based on the model of a lesson study, where the aim is to increase participation and promote dialogue between a group of pupils, a hermeneutic approach is used in the analysis. Hermeneutics is about interpreting meaning and actions by subjectively trying to put yourself in the place of a text author or participant. This is done by moving in the analysis between partial perspectives and holistic perspectives. In this study, conversation analysis has been used as an analysis tool. It focuses on detailed transcriptions of conversations and studies various aspects of the interaction, including overlaps, turn-taking and conversational structure. By analysing these elements, one can identify social norms, conventions and strategies used by participants to create meaningful interactions. The result of the study can be interpreted as that with a high level of participation and active involvement from the pupils, the dialogue between the pupils was convulsive and bordering on monologic, however, in a dialogically well-functioning text conversation, instead, the participation and active involvement were low.