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Reading on Equal Terms? : A Comparative Study of the Importance of SocialBackground and Cultural Capital in Vocational vs. University-preparatoryEnglish Training

This degree project has three aims. First, it will investigate students’ attitudes towards reading novels in English and how their motivation for reading differs whether they attend vocational or university-preparatory programs.  In order to investigate this, a total of 73 students were asked to participate in the implementation of a questionnaire. Second, this degree project sets out to study if there are differences in how four teachers approach reading novels in English and third, it will study how these four teachers motivate their students in their studies. This part of the investigation was conducted by performing qualitative interviews with each of the teacher informants. The theoretical framework of this degree project has its basis in the theories regarding cultural capital by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. The results show that there are clear divisive lines between the attitudes and the motivation of students depending on which program they attend and that these divisions can be attributed in part to students’ social background. The results also indicate that teachers are aware of these differences and approach reading novels in the classroom accordingly.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-24706
Date January 2013
CreatorsBergdahl, Susanne
PublisherLinnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk (SPR)
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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