Att kommunicera historia. Språkliga resurser och kunskapserbjudanden i högstadiets historieundervisning

Abstract

The overarching aim of this thesis is to deepen the understanding of how substantive historical knowledge is communicated to lower secondary students and what knowledge-building opportunities this communication affords. The thesis explores classroom practice, with a particular focus on how three history teachers organize their instruction and use subject-specific language, particularly first-order concepts, during teacher-led whole-class interactions to support students’ substantive knowledge. Grounded in the view that language plays a crucial role in the construction and communication of knowledge, the thesis draws on social semiotic theory, Legitimation Code Theory (LCT), and history education theory to guide the analysis and interpretation of data. The thesis comprises three sub-studies based on ethnographic fieldwork, including classroom observations and video recordings generated in three linguistically diverse classrooms in Grades 7 and 8 in a Swedish school setting. The findings indicate that teacher-led instruction and whole-class teaching serve as central arenas for introducing, consolidating, and reviewing substantive knowledge. Moreover, the results show that teachers employ various first-order concepts in diverse ways, integrating new knowledge with students’ prior experiences. This integration may enhance students’ opportunities for cumulative knowledge-building. The shifts in how these concepts are employed both in general terms and within specific historical contexts, offer students deeper conceptual understanding of subject-specific language. Furthermore, the teachers’ use of first-order concepts to make comparisons between historical contexts emphasizes connections across time. This indicates that first-order concepts serve as temporal bridges, enabling conceptual understanding and historical thinking. The findings suggest that teachers’ proficiency in using such concepts is crucial for fostering knowledge-building. However, the study also identifies a need for a pedagogical metalanguage that can make the function and use of first-order concepts explicit and accessible to all students.