Exploring critical literacy in Swedish education : Introductory notes

This article is an introductory note to The thematic section in this issue of Education Inquiry has its background in the need for research interpreting literacy from a critical perspective. Teaching literacy is not solely about technical reading skills but is also about understanding and the making of meaning. From that point of view, teaching must also consider the use of language, the context within which language is used, and issues of power. The thematic section includes five articles about critical literacy in Swedish education. The contributions were developed after a workshop conducted by Professor Hilary Janks, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She introduces the framework of a critical literacy theory in the first article of the issue. Further, the contributions of Swedish scholars are united in their interest in applying a mode of critical literacy designed by Janks to different practices, sites and speech-events, for example policy documents, home reading, teaching and learning practices. The articles offer a wide perspective of critical literacy in education and further understanding of the complex processes in teaching.

Reading That Matters : A Literature Review on Meaningful Reading Experiences in the EFL Classroom

This thesis is a literature review on literature reading in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and the English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom, of mainly upper secondary schools. The underlying objective for this work is that meaningful reading experiences can have a positive impact on a developing young individual on his or her way into adulthood. The aim of this thesis is to explore what theories and methods are used when trying to create prerequisites for meaningful reading experiences, and how these experiences actually are realized. Qualitative methods are mainly used, except for a small section of the methodology of finding the sources, which is quantitative in nature. Since very little previous research has been done in the field, the six sources used in this review are internationally spread over five continents. They are mainly analyzed from a theoretical background of reader response and critical literacy perspectives. The main findings show that a number of theoretical approaches and methodologies can be useful in creating meaningful reading experiences. What may have proven most effective was addressing actual problems in the students’ everyday lives through applied critical literacy.

Literary Studies in the Border Zone : International Students Studying American Fiction in Dalarna

Det amerikanska subjektets rekonstruktion: en studie av prisbelönad amerikansk skönlitterär prosa från 1990-talet

Bridging discourses in a writing classroom

The aim of this study is to describe and analyse the writing discourse in one classroom and how students learn through studying a topic, i.e. the teaching and learning of written argument. The study takes its stance from a sociocultural perspective and is influenced by discourse analyses, new literacy studies and critical literacy (Fairclough1989; Barton 2007; Janks 2010; Ivanič 2004). Data from year 6 in Sweden consists of observations, informal conversations, teachers’ planning and students’ written texts, i.e. letters to a newspaper editor. The results are presented in terms of four themes that became apparent during the reading of the data, viz. (1) teaching for learning - deconstruction; (2) dialogue and scaffolding for learning – enabling access; (3) reconstruction, feedback and students’ reflections for learning; and (4) writing to learn. The data is analysed and discussed on the basis of four concepts for developing critical literacy, viz. access, deconstruction, reconstruction and domination (cf. Janks 2010:21 – 32). The study indicates that explicit teaching of a written argument gives students access to the dominating structure of the genre if they are given the time and tools to reflect and be given feedback from the teacher.