Abstract #1826

Abstract: Teachers´ perception and practice of didactic literature learning resources in terms of enhancing Bildung among students in grade five end six

The aim of the project is to develop new knowledge about the interrelation between teacher, didactic learning resources and literature teaching.
Background
One of the main purposes of literature teaching is traditionally connected with the task of Bildung. In a modern democracy, Bildung can be defined as development of personal and cultural identities, and the shaping of students as citizens for a democratic society (Kemp, 2013; Klafki, 2011; UVM, 2014). The interest of this project is how literature teaching in school is understood and how learning resources impact on this area of school practice.
A newly published comprehensive quantitative study of the selection of learning resources among teachers in Danish L 1 concludes that teachers in general select learning resources that do not enhance the competences to interpret, reflect and discuss the information they get from reading texts. Teachers seem to select learning resources focusing on the training of specific skill (Bremholm, Bundsgaard, Fougt, & Skyggebjerg, 2017).
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A hypothesis of this project is that literature teaching includes a potential for the students dialogues on philosophical themes of life. The study is to some extent based on empirical research that focuses on language and practices that characterize dialogical teaching.
Research on teachers learning resource practice indicates that teacher’s perception of the core of learning, their educational background and teaching experience are influencing their practice (Stein and Coburn, 2008; Hodgson, Rønning and Tomlinson, 2012; Tallaksen and Hodne, 2014; Penuel, Phillips and Harris, 2014).
One of the projects´ hypothesizes is that learning resources strongly influence teaching practice and the learning processes in the classroom (Heyerdahl-Larsen, 2000; Slot, 2010, Bremholm et al., 2017). The interrelations between the selection and use of learning resources and the enhancing of student’s Bildung-aims will be investigated.
Research questions
How do didactic learning resources for teaching literature support teachers in their planning and practice in order to achieve development of students´ Bildung?
• How is the interpretation of the implicit intensions of the learning resources among teachers?
• What are the impacts of teacher’s interpretation on the possibilities that teachers establish in classes for increased development of students´ Bildung?
Theoretical framework
The project has a sociocultural approach to learning (Säljö, 2005) and sees literacy as connected to social practice (Barton & Hamilton, 2000; Cope & Kalantzis, 2009; Group, 1996). Didactical learning resources are defined as material artifacts in which ideologies, norms and values are embedded (Hansen, 2010). The project is developed within the framework of three levels of assessment of learning resources: “The potential learning potential, the actualized learning potential, the actualized learning” (Bundsgaard & Hansen, 2011). Ideas of how literature teaching are seen to have potentials regarding development of the student’ Bildung, are inspired by (Gee, 2012; Klafki, 2011; Langer, 2011).
Research design and method
The project is a qualitative case study with multiple cases that will help provide understanding of the research question. The aim is to provide exploration and explanation of the complex interactions in classroom between teachers, learning resources and literature teaching with special focus on supporting students´ Bildung. The researchers role is defined as Peripheral-member researcher (Angrosino, 2007), and I will be performing ethnographic classroom observations (video and field notes), semi-structured interviews with teachers and analysis of the learning materials used in class.
In January-March 2018, I performed a pilot study. The purpose of the pilot study is find empirical data for the development of framework for classroom observation and for the interview guide. In the pilot study, two Danish teachers and their classes (fifth and sixth grade) were monitored and observed during six lessons. In addition, two semi structured interviews with the teachers where carried out. Some of the preliminary conclusions of the pilot study are that many authorities or discourses are at stake in class. Thus, I have identified the learning resource, the official documents of Danish as Language 1, the final school examinations, the students and the teachers’ ideas of the students´ Bildung in the analyzed data.
The pilot study has in addition to other research results of the field, resulted in reflections on which cases to select for the actual empirical study (Creswell & Creswell, 2018; Flyvbjerg, 1991). As consequence of theses reflections, the study will be carried out in cooperation with six teachers and their classes. Three of the teachers will have relatively long teaching experience and three will be newly educated.
The pilot study has furthermore developed considerations about the complexity of observing classes. In order to grasp this complexity I seek inspiration in the report of observation studies in the Danish Demonstrationsskoleforsøgene (Bundsgaard & Hansen, 2016). I am inspired by the definition and delimitation of lessons sequences in the main category Activity, which is defined as sequences of interaction where the participators in a certain period are part of a homogeneous division of roles and are repeating homogeneous response patterns (Bundsgaard & Hansen, 2016).
The pros and cons by using codes defined by others researchers should be evaluated. There is a risk that the codes do not match the specific context that you want to examine (Klette & Blikstad-Balas, 2017). For that reason, the codes for this PhD study are adjusted to the specific context of the literature classes. Activities that indicate dialogic classroom interaction are registered for further analysis and assessment.

Methological challenge to be discussed at the seminar:

• As my scientific basis is in the tradition of social constructivism, I am aware that I exert an influence of the case that I want to examine. Therefore, there has to be transparency between my project and the informants of the study. In that respect, I find it challenging to on one hand having to explain how I see the field for the participating teachers and on the other hand ´draw a picture´ of how they understand the field.

References
Angrosino, M. (2007). Doing ethnographic and observational research. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
Barton, D., & Hamilton, M. (2000). Literacy practices. Situated literacies: Reading and writing in context, 7, 15.
Bremholm, J., Bundsgaard, J., Fougt, S. S., & Skyggebjerg, A. K. (2017). Hvordan ser danskfaget så ud? In Læremidlernes danskfag (pp. 273-282): Aarhus Universitetsforlag.
Bundsgaard, J., & Hansen, T. I. (2011). Evaluation of Learning Materials: A Holistic Framework. Journal of Learning Design, 4(4), 31-44.
Bundsgaard, J., & Hansen, T. I. (2016). Blik på undervisning : rapport om observationsstudier af undervisning gennemført i demonstrationsskoleforsøgene. Retrieved from https://pure.au.dk/ws/files/95991875/Bundsgaard_Hansen_2016._Blik_p_undervisning._Rapport_om_observationsstudier_af_undervisning_gennemf_rt_i_demonstrationsskolefors_gene.pdf
https://www.statsbiblioteket.dk/au/#/search?query=recordID%3A%22sb_pure_ddfmxd%3A3a73f620-787f-4725-89d0-98c8cf7992f9%22
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Langer, J. A. (2011). Envisioning literature : literary understanding and literature instruction (2. ed. ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.
Säljö, R. (2005). Læring i praksis : et sociokulturelt perspektiv (1. bogklubudgave ed.). Kbh.: Gyldendals Bogklubber.