Litteraturundervisning og litterære tekstpraksiser i grunnskoletilbud for voksne innvandrere

Abstract

This study investigates literature didactics issues related to literary practices and literature teaching in a specific type of second language classroom; primary and lower secondary education for adult immigrants. The project takes an exploratory approach based on empirical data from three primary and lower secondary education classes consisting of adult second language users who have lived in Norway for a relatively short period of time. The thesis is article-based, and the four sub-studies or articles explore a selection of aspects relating to reading literature, text practices and teaching, from the pupil, teacher and classroom perspectives, respectively. As a whole, the thesis offers several ways of approaching the same data material. The four sub-studies focus on adult pupils' literary practices from their country of origin and Norway, individual pupils' reception of a novel with a migration theme, whole class literature discussions, and the teachers' reflections and personal subject constructs. The sub-studies identify a number of challenges related to the reading and teaching of literature in a second-language classroom. These challenges concern differences in the pupils' and teachers' ability to access the literary text used in the teaching situation, but also other, more general framework conditions. At the same time, the sub-study that investigates individual pupils' reception shows that a literary text can be perceived as meaningful and personally significant despite presenting language barriers.