Läsning i ny tid : Pappersburen skrift i ett multimodalt perspektiv

This thesis investigates a practice at an upper secondary school in Sweden. The starting point is the teachers’ questions concerning the possibilities of supporting the development of the students’ reading abilities through texts that are long, alphabetical and printed, and in this study, non-fictional. The thesis suggests that by applying a multimodal and multiliteral approach the possibilities are widened. The purpose of the study is to investigate how teachers handle the challenge of teaching using lengthy alphabetical printed texts in the text realities of today, and to describe such teaching through a multimodal framework. Data was collected through ethnographical methods and includes information gathered in interviews with three teachers, observations of lessons, and group discussions on texts. The data also include the texts used in the history and social science classes. Three analyses were made. Firstly, the practical theory of the teachers was analysed using the discourse analytical tool suggested by Roz Ivanic. She presents two dynamic models, one showing four layers of language and one providing a framework of six discourses for understanding the layer in focus. The models were used in this study to examine each of the teachers’ approaches to reading, reading development, and learning as a whole. In the first analysis the teachers are shown to be focusing on different discourses but they all result in explicit, structured teaching. In the second analysis, the texts used in the history and social science classes are categorised and discussed from a multimodal point of view, and the questions used to influence the students’ reading strategies are examined in terms of what kind of meaning-making they promote. The third analysis focuses on the students’ group discussions, with and without the teacher. The discussions are described through a didactic designing model as a learning sequence. The results show that the teachers’ approach offers possibilities for working with lengthy alphabetical printed texts: in applying a multimodal view of text the teachers try to incorporate the text worlds of today. Through structured teaching they aim to develop the students’ skills in meaning-making processes in a multimodal world, which includes designing through texts that are alphabetical and printed. By using modelling in text conversations the teacher is pointing out reading paths to the students, guiding them through the questions. By using the field of multimodality in describing what is taking place in the study the thesis points to possibilities when the fields of didactics and multimodal research come closer together. It is suggested that by putting reading into a multimodal perspective it is possible to empower the students’ design authority and by using a didactic approach to other texts multimodal meaning-making is put in a broader perspective