L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature
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On the emergence of the L1 research field: A comparative study of PhD abstracts in the Nordic countries 2000–2017
Get PDFResearch of L1 education is recently established in the Nordic countries. Since the turn of the century we have seen the emergence of national and Nordic research networks, conference and publication series, research programs, and the designation of positions as professors and associate professors. Stud-ies of Nordic L1 research have taken stock of the disciplinary sub fields, but empirical studies of the L1 school subject as a unitary field are still in demand. The aim of this study is to investigate the emergence of Nordic L1 research and its present profile(s) through PhD research. The present study examines the abstracts of Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish L1 PhD dissertations defended between 2000 and 2017. The results point to a growing field. A general observation is that the research focuses on reading and writing, whereas oral and aesthetical expressions are minor topics. Another result is a set of national differences which are related to governmental policy documents and school curricula. Further, the re-search has become more internationally oriented during recent years. The L1 research is characterized as a professionalized region (Bernstein, 2003) with strong didactization (Ongstad, 2004), and a potential for powerful disciplinary knowledge (Lambert, 2017)
Development of a questionnaire to measure reflective attitude toward conversation
Get PDFThis study aimed to develop a valid questionnaire to measure upper secondary learners\u27 Reflective Attitude toward Conversation. In the preliminary stage, 27 items were formulated under the three constructs we defined theoretically: Thoughtful Action, Content and Process Reflection, and Premise Reflection. In the exploratory stage, 467 high school students responded to the 27 items. The results of an exploratory factor analysis showed that 12 of the 27 items had good communalities (> 0.30) and good factor loadings (> 0.40). Further, the 3-factor-model showed a non-significant chi-square test result and a suitable TLI value (.979). In the confirmatory stage, 1,055 high school students responded to the 12 items finalized across two sessions. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis with the first confirmatory stage sample (568 students), showed that the NFI (.849) and CFI (.879) did not satisfy the necessary criteria (> .900). After revising two items, the results of the CFA with the second sample (487 students), revealed a CFI of .912, a GFI of .936, an RMR of .037, and an RMSEA of .076, which satisfied the necessary criteria, although the NFI of .897 still did not satisfy the necessary criterion. We recommend that future studies use the developed measure
Designing and testing a new concept for inquiry-based literature teaching: Design Principles, development and adaptation of a large-scale intervention study in Denmark
Get PDFDeparting from a newly developed phenomenological inquiry-based approach to literature, this article examines the process of designing, developing, and refining a large multi-pronged intervention program in Danish lower secondary schools (86 schools, 265 classes, 5531 students), including randomized controlled trials in 72 schools. In order to offer greater insight into the complex causality between design, process, output, and outcome, the intervention process is described by means of an initial program theory, a pre-study with three reviews of available evidence and practice, and a Design Based Research (DBR) process with iterations and interconnected phases: small-scale interventions, a pilot study, and three rounds of large-scale interventions with randomized controlled trials with different samples. This article focuses particularly on the crucial decision points at which participants change their role, and redesigns contribute to a deeper insight into the social mechanisms of the complex intervention
Self-efficacy as a predictor of reading instruction: A comparison between Norwegian and Swedish teachers
Get PDFThis study departs from socio-cognitive theory to describe differences in Swedish and Norwegian teachers\u27 attitudes towards reading instruction. The overall aim of the study is to describe how Swedish (n = 340) and Norwegian teachers\u27 (n = 236) self-efficacy for motivating their pupils and adapting their read-ing instruction vary with their attitudes towards reading instruction—more particularly: reading aloud, conducting text talk in whole class, or conducting teacher-guided text talk in small groups. The study reports a structural equation model using diagonally weighted least squares. We tested that the scales had the same meaning in both countries (invariance analysis) to ensure that the scale was comparable across countries. The results suggest that when compared to Norwegian teachers, the sampled Swedish teachers reported more positive attitudes towards reading instruction and higher self-efficacy for reading instruction. Specifically, reading self-efficacy for reading motivation was substantively higher in the latent (probit) means. In addition, self-efficacy for reading instruction positively predicted higher propensity for positive attitudes towards reading instruction. The study also reports measures for individual reading attitudes (reading aloud, conducting text talk in whole class, or conducting teacher-guided text talk in small groups)
Toward the validation of a literature classroom intervention to foster adolescents\u27 insight into human nature: an iterative design process.
Get PDFWe report on the design process of a literature classroom intervention for 15-year-old students in the Netherlands, which aimed to foster their insight into human nature―insight into themselves, fictional others, and real-world others. Starting from a model of transformative reading, an exploration of the educational context, and a review of previous intervention studies, we designed an intervention in an iterative process. We evaluated the validity and practicality of two versions of the intervention. From teacher and student data, we concluded that the validity and practicality of the first version were subop-timal and identified various suggestions for improvement. In a second iteration, the initial design princi-ples were reoperationalized. Based on these reoperationalized principles, we designed a second version of the intervention, which was found to be sufficiently valid and practical. In addition, the second itera-tion led to specifiying the initial design principles, by formulating subprinciples for operationalization in the classroom. All in all, this study demonstrates that an iterative design process is needed to arrive at a valid and practical intervention, and that this process may have the potential to further specify initial design principles
Design principles for professionalizing primary school teachers on promoting reading motivation
Get PDFStudies show that teachers\u27 continuing professional development (CPD) is essential for educational quality, and moreover, when it comes to reading, key for students\u27 success in education and participation in our 21st-century society. Most of the research investigating professional development programs on improving teachers\u27 self-efficacy for teaching reading and in particular on fostering students\u27 reading motivation, however, fails to include clear and detailed descriptions of the design principles underlying the programs. Therefore, the present study provides a comprehensive description and operationalization of the design principles of a CPD program for primary school teachers focusing on promoting students\u27 reading motivation combining Desimone\u27s (2009) framework for effective professional development with Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Consequently, the CPD program\u27s core features as distinguished by Desimone (i.e., content focus, coherence, active learning, collective participation and duration) and the need for autonomy, competence and relatedness as put central in SDT are analytically described and elaborated on. In view of reporting on the implementation check of the CPD, we further provide insight into whether these operationalized design principles were also perceived as such by the teachers participating in a first iteration of the CPD intervention
Friction in fiction: A study of the importance of open problems for literary conversations
Get PDFThe present paper is part of a multiple case study of literary classroom work at Norwegian lower-secondary schools (students aged 13–16) where three classes are invited to discuss texts presented to them as open problems. The first case study carried out showed that the text and the task had the power to attract as well as the ability to generate student engagement. The second case study identified varia-tion in student engagement based on a description of intensity and an analysis of students\u27 discursive valuation mechanisms. Following those findings of engagement, there is a need to understand what it is about the three short stories involved―Raymond Carver\u27s Little Things (Carver, 2004), Roy Jacobsen\u27s Run for Your Life (Jacobsen, 2001) and Franz Kafka\u27s Before the Law (Kafka, 2000b)―that may yield that engagement. The main finding made is that what attracts students\u27 attention are different forms of friction that delays the unfolding of the motif or plot of the story. This friction can therefore also be seen as the basis for the engagement shown by students in conversations. The findings suggest that lower-secondary students take an approach characterized by substantial engagement to those aspects of the text that represent problems of high relevance even within the field of literary studies. At a general level, the findings of the study open up for a discussion about whether greater use should be made of the genuine problems of literary studies in order to create student engagement
Teachers\u27 concepts on the teaching of grammar in relation to the teaching of writing in Spain: A case study
No full textThis article presents the results of a study conducted in Spain concerning a secondary school teacher\u27s conceptualizations of grammar teaching and its relation to writing. Concepts are considered of the utmost importance when confronting any educational change. In dealing with the controversial issue of the role played by grammar in learning to write, the authors defend their positioning of the debate around the concept of metalinguistic activity as a source of grammar learning rather than the notion of an implicit/explicit grammar dichotomy. A number of studies have deemed the former as a promising avenue for research. Some preliminary results concerning Carla\u27s concepts show that she combines ideas of implicit grammar and explicit grammar with an incipient awareness of the importance and possibilities of promoting metalinguistic activity. This implies that while awareness of metalinguistic activity can anchor the re-orienting of classroom practices towards reflection within planned activities designed by the teacher and intended to promote students\u27 autonomy and awareness, it is a much-needed process of structuring by means of which teachers enhance this perspective
Literature education as a school for thinking: Students\u27 learning experiences in secondary literature education
Get PDFCritical thinking and cognitive well-being are commonly associated to tendencies that do not come naturally to humans: inhibition of automatized cognitive processing (de-automatization) and thoughtful (re)construction of meaning. A previous study showed that students\u27 growth in literary interpretation skills can be partly explained by skills and dispositions related to de-automatization and (re)construction. The present study aims to identify students\u27 learning experiences of automatization and (re)construction during lessons in literary fiction. We selected 21 students (grade 10-12, mean age 17,2) of whom 15 students had shown growth in literary understanding (growth group) and 6 had not (no-growth group). We conducted stimulated recall interviews focused on learning experiences during four months of a specific literature course, using students\u27 literature portfolio as stimulus. All interviews were fully transcribed. First, segments containing learning experiences with de-automatization and/or (re)construction were selected. To chart the nature of de-automatization and (re)construction experiences each segment was then coded bottom-up, iteratively and axially. Findings indicate three types of de-automatization (questioning, interpretation awareness and delay), and three types of (re)construction (reasoning, considering alternatives and concluding), with participants in the no-growth group recalling significantly less experiences of questioning, delay and reasoning than students in the growth-group. Thus, the specific literature education under study potentially offered students experiences that might stimulate their tendency to engage in de-automatized (re)construction of meaning
Grammar education at the turn of the millennium: The case of Poland
Get PDFThe aim of the article is to theorize, analyse and discuss today\u27s grammar education in the Polish context, focusing on empirical examples from textbooks. It starts with an outline of international debates on grammar in L1 education. Afterwards, it connects these specifically to the Polish situation. In the next section, the methodological clarification of the research which the paper reports on, are outlined. The main body of the paper presents a typology of approaches to grammar instruction which has been con-ceived in Polish L1 research. This typology makes a distinction between systemic, communicative and functional approaches; the latter is further subdivided into ‘linguocentric\u27 and ‘textocentric\u27 approaches. The models distinguished are illustrated by grammatical tasks from textbooks. In its concluding considera-tions, the paper argues that reforming teacher education and amplifying empirical research are the main challenges which must be met in the future