"Äger du en skruvmejsel?” Litteraturstudiets roll i läromedel för gymnasiets yrkesinriktade program under Lpf 94 och Gy 2011

Abstract

Ph.D. Dissertation at University of Gothenburg Title: “Are you the owner of a screwdriver?” Literature Study in Textbooks Produced for Swedish Vocational Training Programs under two Curricula Author: Katrin Lilja Waltå Language: Swedish with an English Summary Department: Department of Literature, History of Ideas, and Religion Abstract This thesis investigates two task-based textbook series which are meant to be used together – Bra Svenska and Blickpunkt – produced for Swedish high schools and upper secondary schools (Gymnasiet) and tailored for students in the vocational training programs in Sweden. They were produced for two different curricula between 1994 and 2011. The dissertation focuses on the opportunities created for the reading and analysis of literature and the role the study of literature is given in the textbooks. This is done by using a in-depth analysis, exploring the pedagogy behind the texts and the choice of texts. Similarly, a content analysis which examines the texts themselves is applied. The overall purpose of the dissertation is to examine how expectations for reading literacy achievement and processing and analyzing literary texts are conveyed to students through the two textbook series. The dissertation also makes an attempt to interpret what opportunities for creating understanding the texts and related questions offer. The main theoretical premise is that a given textbook presumes a certain type of reader – this is supported by Eco’s theory that an author always writes with a specific reader in mind: a Model Reader.The following research questions are used in order to examine and analyze the materials: o What different types of approaches to literature, interpretation of the subject matter, and epistemology are being utilized in the textbooks? How do the texts suggest the construction of a certain Model Reader? o How were the textbooks revised and changed in connection with the new curriculum? The results of this survey indicate that there are differences in the textbooks concerning the demands made on students when it comes to literature study and the Swedish subject matter.The Model Reader who is postulated is assumed to be uninterested in literature and is motivated by instrumental needs. The textbooks examined can be said to reproduce the old idea about the small role of literature in vocational training programs. The textbooks’ tasks generally favor components’ parts and not the whole, i.e., an atomistic approach. The student is neither challenged to make independent observations and interpretations, nor challenged to meet something previously unknown to his or her sphere of life. The dimension of self-cultivation, education, and formation, or Bildung, is more or less absent in the textbooks and their materials. They propose a conflict between the instrumental and utilitarian demands and Bildung. Finally, the study concludes with a discussion about whether the forces acting outside of the national school system, such as market promoters and politicians, are given more and more space to influence what skills and knowledge the educational system communicates. Keywords: Model Reader, Eco, epistemology, view of literature, Swedish High School, textbook research, literature study, subject concept, Bildung, literature education