“All texts are texts.”

Abstract

Teachers’ text choice and the activities they assign their students when reading the texts impact what students learn. The design of the assignments also direct students’ attention toward what is implicated as important in the text, which is why how reading instruction is designed in the classroom is important to whether students’ reading development is successful. The aim of this study is to contribute knowledge about how non-fiction and fiction is used in the classroom in the L1-subject Swedish at upper-secondary school, and thus what students have the opportunity to learn in the classroom. The study draws on qualitative data from interviews with five teachers of Swedish in upper-secondary school and their teaching material for the course Swedish 1 during a school year. The findings indicate that the teaching content seems to be quite comparable, even though the amount of reading varies between the teachers studied. However, non-fiction texts and fiction texts seem to be ascribed different roles in the classroom. Non-fiction texts are mainly read with a focus on text form and stand model for students’ own writing, while fiction texts are noted for their content. Students are also largely left on their own while reading non-fiction, whereas reading of fiction is accompanied by guidance from the teachers. One conclusion is that non-fiction texts need to be attributed more attention in the classrooms of L1-subject Swedish, both for the potential of what the content of the texts may contribute with but above all when it comes so supporting and developing students’ reading competence of non-fiction.

Keywords

• L1-subject of Swedish
• upper-secondary school
• non-fiction
• fiction
• use of texts
• forms of reading