Nordic Literature Instruction

This compilation thesis investigates and compares Nordic literature instruction in the first year of lower secondary school, with the aim of contributing to the knowledge on how lower secondary language arts teachers across the Nordic countries use literary texts in their ordinary instruction and how they promote students’ development of literary competence. Two overarching theoretical perspectives – didactics and literary competence – frame this thesis, which relies on two kinds of data and involves both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The thesis comprises four research articles. Articles 1–3 are based on video observations from 71 literature classrooms that are part of Linking Instruction and Student Achievement, a large-scale Nordic video study, while Article 4 draws on an online questionnaire that was answered by 701 teachers. This thesis shows that literature plays an important role in Nordic language arts instruction. A key finding was that teachers in all Nordic countries, especially Swedish, Icelandic and Finnish teachers, considered the development of students’ reading comprehension a major reason for using literary texts in language arts instruction. Another key finding was the lack of encouragement for literary readings, meaning that students were rarely given the opportunity to develop their literary competence. Even in cases where students were expected to learn to identify genre features and literary devices, this knowledge was not used to promote the aesthetic reading of literary texts. A third key finding was that teachers in all Nordic countries valued reading literature as a way to provide positive reading experiences. They often made student-oriented choices of literary texts and mostly had students read narrative texts, such as short stories and teenage novels. In summary, this thesis reveals that Nordic classrooms should give more space to reading literature for its own sake, not just to achieve general literacy.