Bilden av svenskläraren. En kritisk diskursanalys av svenskdidatisk forskning

Abstract

Published research can influence norms, perceptions and political decisions. The theory of the critical discourse analysis states that language affects the phenomenon it describes. Hence, the use of language in different research publications has the power to affect the researched phenomenon. Therefore, it is important to study the ways in which phenomena are portrayed within different research fields. In this study, the conclusion chapters from 19 doctoral theses within the field of Swedish didactic research are analyzed to make visible how the upper secondary school´s Swedish subject teacher is portrayed in the research field. The analyzed theses are published between 2008 and 2018. The aim of this study is to contribute to a discussion about how research results can affect teachers´ professional status and is based on the theory of the critical discourse analysis. The method used is also dominated by the critical discourse analysis with analyses through connotations of words and implications in sentences. The implications are generated from four baselines which holds claims regarding what is included in the professional responsibility of teachers in the subject of Swedish. The analysis shows that the upper secondary school teacher in the subject of Swedish is portrayed through two discourses, a competence discourse and a deficiency discourse. In the former the teacher is portrayed as competent and in the latter the teacher is portrayed as deficient. The two discourses are equally represented between the year 2008 and 2018. However, mainly one of the two dominates within each individual thesis. Within the two discourses different parts of the teachers´ profession are valued. Within the competence discourse teachers are described as competent mainly in relation to their work with teaching methods and educational content in working with reading practices. Within the deficiency discourse, on the other hand, they are described as deficient mainly in their