Reading Comprehension and Reading Strategies - How Teachers Interpret and Work Towards the Reading Goals for Year 9

The aim of this dissertation is to examine how teachers perceive the reading goals stated in the syllabus for English, and how they work towards the goals for year 9 that emphasize reading comprehension and reading strategies. Reading comprehension in English among students in year 9 had weakened in the period in-between the latest national survey of the Swedish school-system NU03, which was carried out in 2003, and the national survey done in 1992. The period in-between these two surveys saw the introduction of a new curriculum, a new syllabus and a new grading system. Thus questions arise about the role and status of the new syllabus, and how the teachers perceive the goals for reading and choose to work towards these. Through the use of qualitative interviews, this paper investigates how three teachers at a secondary school in the south of Sweden interpret the goals to attain, and how they work on increasing the reading comprehension and improving the reading strategies of their students