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Lärares val av texter och arbetsuppgifter påverkar vad elever lär sig och vilket lärande som blir möjligt i klassrummet. Lärares textfrågor styr också hur elever bör läsa och vad som anses vara viktigt i en text; hur läsning undervisas är därför en viktig fråga för huruvida elevens läsutveckling blir framgångsrik. Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap om hur sakprosatexter och skönlitterära texter används i svenskundervisningen på gymnasiet och därmed vilken typ av kunskaper eleverna får möjlighet att lära sig genom att läsa olika texter. Empirin består av fem svensklärares undervisningsmaterial under ett läsår i kursen Svenska 1 på gymnasiet samt fyra individuella intervjuer med varje lärare och en gruppintervju.

      Resultaten visar att de fem lärarna har förhållandevis likvärdiga texturval i sina Svenska 1-kurser, även om antalet texter som eleverna får läsa varierar. Skönlitteratur och sakprosatexter tycks ha olika funktion i undervisningen. För sakprosatexterna står formen i fokus och de fungerar som exempeltexter för elevernas skrivande under det att de skönlitterära texterna i huvudsak uppmärksammas för sitt innehåll. Eleverna lämnas också i högre utsträckning ensamma med läsningen av sakprosatexter, emedan läsning av skönlitteratur sker med handledning från lärarna. En slutsats är att sakprosatexterna skulle behöva få mer uppmärksamhet både vad gäller den innehållsliga potentialen men framför allt vad gäller att stötta eleverna i deras läsprocess när de ska läsa sakprosatexter i svenskundervisningen.

Gymnasiereformen 2011 medförde en ny läroplan och ett ökat antal nationella prov, bland annat för svenskämnet. Där infördes ett nytt nationellt prov i årskurs 1 bestående av ett läsförståelseprov samt prov i muntlig och skriftlig framställning. Att genomföra ett nationellt prov redan i årskurs 1 och att testa elevers läsförståelse är en ny företeelse för gymnasiet, vilket innebär ett förändrat uppdrag för svensklärarna. Studiens syfte är att bidra med kunskap om hur den lokala kontexten, det vill säga skolors och lärares enskilda förutsättningar, kan få betydelse för hur lärare möter ett förändrat uppdrag i form av ett nytt nationellt prov. Forskningsfrågorna handlar om vilka policypositioner lärarna intar i relation till ett nytt nationellt prov i ämnet svenska på gymnasiet och hur deras inställning till provet relaterar till fyra kontextuella dimensioner. Det empiriska materialet består av parintervjuer och fokusgruppintervjuer med svensklärare på gymnasiet. Studien tar sin teoretiska utgångspunkt i policy enactment.

Resultaten visar att de kontextuella dimensionerna har betydelse för hur lärarna positionerar sig i relation till det nationella provet. De lärare som känner sig väl förberedda för det nya uppdraget och har ett elevunderlag som de beskriver som högpresterande är mer positivt inställda till provet, jämfört med de lärare som anser att de inte fått möjlighet att förbereda sig och som har elever som i högre utsträckning kämpar med sin läsning. Resultaten visar också skillnader mellan skolornas resurser och organisation kring de nationella proven, samt pekar på vikten av en tydlig konstruktiv länkning mellan

The Swedish reform for upper-secondary school of 2011 brought about a new curriculum and an increase in national testing. In the subject of Swedish a new national test, consisting of a reading comprehension test as well as testing of oral and writing skills, was introduced in the first year of upper-secondary school. To carry out a national test as early as in the fist year and to test students’ reading comprehension was something new at upper-secondary school, bringing about an altered work task for teachers of Swedish. The aim of this study is to contribute knowledge about how the local context, that is the pre-conditions for individual schools and teachers, play a role in how teachers handle an altered work task in the form of a new national test. The research questions focus on what policy positions the teachers take in relation to a new national test in the L1-subject Swedish at upper-secondary school and how the teachers’ attitudes towards to the test relate to four contextual dimensions. The study draws on qualitative data from pair and group interviews with fifteen teachers of Swedish in upper-secondary school, and the theoretical framework consists of policy enactment.

The findings indicate that the contextual dimensions are significant for how the teachers position themselves in relation to the national test. The teachers who feel well prepared for their altered work task and have students that are described as high performing students have a more positive attitude to the test, compared to the teachers who feel they were not given opportunity to prepare for the altered work task and who have students who, to a larger extent, struggle with their reading. The results also show a difference between schools concerning resources and organisation in connection with the national tests, and they also point to the importance of distinct constructive alignment between a national test and all parts of the curriculum for teachers to prioritise the test as intended.

This study investigates reading instruction in the first year of upper-secondary school in Sweden in the L1-subject Swedish. The thesis focuses both on what happens to students’ reading and teachers’ teaching when classroom reading is controlled by assessments, examinations and a national reading comprehension test, and on what teachers of Swedish want their students to learn when reading and comprehending different types of texts. The aim of this study is to contribute knowledge about what didactic challenges teachers of Swedish in upper-secondary school face when choosing content for their reading instruction in a policy-laden and performative context. Specific focus is on what the teachers consider important for students to learn and what powerful knowledge is made visible in their narrative about their practice. 

The study draws on qualitative data from interviews with five teachers of Swedish in upper-secondary school. The interviews were carried out in a series of four individual interviews with each teacher and a final group interview with all five teachers. Also included in the data are all the texts and student assignments the teachers used in the course Swedish 1 during a school year. The theoretical framework has three theoretical perspectives where theory of policy enactment is the overarching theory, and where theories on reading and the concept powerful knowledge make contributing analytical and theoretical perspectives.

The findings indicate that the local context such as resources, the culture and the organisation of the school, in combination with preferences of students and teachers, is important when it comes to what texts teachers can choose. Teaching content seems to be quite comparable between the five teachers’ courses, despite the different local contexts, even though there is a large variety in how many texts the students read. The five teachers all state that central to their teaching is to encourage students both to read for pleasure and view themselves as readers, and to process basic values and existential questions by reading and working with various types of texts. However, the teachers say they encounter challenges in the classroom such as growing resistance to read and a lack of focus among students. The thesis points out how essential it is that teachers of Swedish have the professional competence to support and develop students’ reading ability throughout their schooling, and that reading instruction should not be regarded as something that ends once students acquire basic reading skills.

The findings also indicate that the course knowledge requirements have a major impact on how texts are chosen and how examinations of reading are conducted, and that examination of students’ reading in the classroom is considered more reliable and nuanced than in the national reading comprehension test that forms part of the Swedish 1 course. The teachers also criticise the notion that reading can be objectively measured in a test. The reading comprehension test seems to have little impact on instruction and the teachers say they pay little attention to test results when setting the final grades for the course. The teachers state that they would rather not examine and grade students’ reading at all as this hinders students from reading for pleasure and from experiencing reading as something that can bring with it great personal value. The performative context, including the national Swedish 1 test, affects teachers and their classroom practices significantly in several ways. 

This study examines the washback effects of a national test in Swedish at upper secondary schools. The test consists of three parts-reading, writing and speaking-and this study specifically focuses on the washback effects in relation to Stephen Ball's theory of policy enactment. The study draws on qualitative data from a total of 21 interviews conducted with five teachers of Swedish in upper secondary education in a series of four individual interviews and a concluding group interview. The results indicate that the reading comprehension test has had little washback effect on reading instruction whereas the writing and the oral tests seem to have had a substantial washback effect. The teachers also exhibit what Ball refers to as resistance and capitulation in relation to the national test, and to the reading comprehension test in particular.