Quality L1 Teaching: What is it, and how could we investigate it?

• Michael Tengberg & Camilla G Magnusson & Marte Blikstad-Balas
  L1 Across Nordic Countries: What and how are students reading, and what does this tell us about quality L1 teaching?
  
  Drawing on classroom data (observation data, observation instruments, and student perspective surveys) from Language Arts classrooms (grade 7/8) in respectively Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, we explore what characterizes the L1 subject across these countries, in particular how the different countries embed reading in their instruction and to what degree digital reading is emphasized. Using Nordic classroom data for such an endeavor is especially interesting since the Nordic countries share many structural similarities (e.g. a comprehensive, non-tracked, non- streamed model of schooling; the tradition of national curricula; and an emphasis on inclusive and heterogeneous classrooms, and high ambitions for digitalization). On the other hand, there are interesting cultural differences in instructional practices across the Nordic countries such as the amount of whole class teaching and classroom discussions (Klette et al., 2017), the role of technology (Olofsson et al., 2011) and scores on international achievement tests (Nordic Council of Ministers 2018, OECD, 2018). In the presentation, we will show how the different countries emphasize different aspects when it comes to teaching reading; as such, we focus on the experienced dimension of quality teaching. We will analyse, quantitatively and qualitatively, what texts students are reading across these Nordic countries, and how this work is being done in the classroom. We will also look into how different countries embed digital reading and critical judgment of texts to a limited degree. Preliminary findings suggest that while there are some differences across countries, the L1 teachers prioritize reading, and to a large extent they prioritize traditional print reading rather than digital reading. There are interesting differences across countries when it comes to text length (which is also found in PISA 2018) and the ways texts are used. These findings will be discussed in light of the analytical framework for investigating teaching quality developed within QUINT.
  
  References:
  
  Klette. K et al (2018). Justice through participation: Student Engagement in Nordic Classrooms. Education Inquiry, Volume 9 (1), pp 57-77.
  
  Magnusson, C. G., Roe, A., & Blikstad‐Balas, M. (2019). To what extent and how are reading comprehension strategies part of language arts instruction? A study of lower secondary classrooms. Reading Research Quarterly, 54(2), 187-212.
  
  Nordic Council of Ministers (2018). Northern Lights on PISA and TIMSS, Copenhagen: Council of Ministers Unit.
  
  OECD (2018). PISA 2015 Results in Focus, Paris: OECD
  
  Olofsson A.O. et al (2011).Uptake and Use of Digital Technologies in Primary and Secondary Schools – a Thematic Review of Research. Nordic Jourmal of Digital Literacy, Vol.6. No 04 pp 207-225.
• Christina Olin-Scheller & Marie Nilsberth
  Teachers today use social media in their teaching practice (Liljekvist et al., 2020) and not least, lesson plans are published and disseminated via social media, websites and other digital platforms in a fast and easy way. The material is often produced and shared by teachers who have many followers who can be considered school influencers or so called edu-influencers (Shelton, Schroeder & Curcio, 2020). In Sweden, several of these teachers are also highlighted by the National Agency for Education, trade unions and others as role models. The motive for sharing planning and assignments is described by the teachers in altruistic terms, such as "Sharing is caring" (Randahl, 2018), and the material that these teachers produce today often seems to replace publisher-produced and (at least to some extent) reviewed teaching materials about literature teaching (Läromedelsförfattarna, 2021). As such, hitherto established notions and practices of ‘good’ learning resources, are being contested. In light of the concept of re-contextualisation (Bernstein, 1971), the purpose of the study is partly to deepen knowledge of the digitally published material about literature teaching in secondary school, and partly how this material is actually staged in teaching. A specific focus is that we discuss the relationship between everyday knowledge and scientific knowledge in planning and implementation of literature teaching and in what way the disciplinary and literature didactic knowledge about interpretation and literary reading is made visible. The methodological approach is video ethnographic, and the material is collected in 2020. Preliminary results show that interpretation aspect of literary texts are highlighted both in the digital lesson planning material and in the staged teaching. The tasks in relation to literary interpretation are, however, embedded in many different complementary purposes and goals, and everyday knowledge about literary reading and interpretation is in the forefront of teaching. This raises questions in relation to what resources Swedish teachers are offered in the form of teaching materials that are spread via social media by edu-influencers, but also what knowledge about literary reading and interpretation that students are given the opportunity to develop in literature teaching. More broadly, this raises the basic quality question of what counts as knowledge in L1.
  
  References:
  
  Bernstein, B. (1971). Class, codes and control, theoretical studies towards a sociology of language. Routledge.
  
  Liljekvist, Y. E., Randahl, A., van Bommel, J. & Olin-Scheller, C. (2020). Facebook for Professional Development: Pedagogical Content Knowledge in the Centre of Teachers’ Online Communities. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research DOI: 10.1080/00313831.2020.1754900
  
  Läromedelsförfattarna, (2021). https://www.laromedelsforfattarna.se/ratten-till-laromedel/
  
  Randahl, A-C. (2018). ”Sharing is caring”. Svenskläraren, 18(2), s. 6–8. www.svensklararforeningen.se/sharing-is-caring/
  
  Shelton, C., Schroeder, S. & Curcio, R. (2020). Instagramming their hearts out: What do edu-influencers share on Instagram? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 20(3), 529–554.
• Nikolaj Elf & Thomas I. Hansen
  This presentation highlights the ongoing Quality Literature Education (QUALE) project within QUINT. QUALE is a small-scall qualitative intervention of an inquiry-oriented approach to literature education carried out in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In the project, we explore how learning resources designed for a large-scale intervention project in Denmark that tested a program theory for inquiry-oriented literature teaching (the so-called KiDM project, cf. Hansen et al., 2019) could be translated into Swedish and Norwegian and used by teachers and students in local Swedish and Norwegian schools.
  
  Theoretically, QUALE draws on a multidimensional understanding of teaching quality. This implies that the program theory for inquiry-oriented literature teaching is a ‘prescriptive’ theory of what quality literature teaching might be. We hypothesize that the prescriptive model of quality teaching will be transformed, to a lesser or higher degree, when used by participating teachers and students in different national school contexts, and this variety is co-shaped by the unique constellation of didactic reality, didactic theory and didactic practice in different countries (O'Dowd, Winther-Jensen, & Wikander, 2015). However, we also hypothesize that due to the existential nature of literature as well as language and cultural similarities in Nordic L1 subjects, it is possible to extend, in meaningful ways, the KiDM program theory and learning resources across Nordic borders.
  
  Methodologically, the QUALE project applies a multi-case qualitative comparative design across national contexts which involves researchers from both Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Sharing and analysing data in a joint intersubjectively validating effort, we ask: i) How do students and teachers in Swedish, Norwegian and Danish classrooms transform inquiry-oriented design material for literature education in L1 classrooms?; ii) how do teachers perceive the effects and interpret an inquiry-based approach in relation to contextual factors, needs and potentials for conducting literature education of a high quality?; and iii) to what extent does local and/or national contexts, such as curricula, systemic constraints and local school resources, co-shape teachers’ and students’ transformations and understandings?
  
  Preliminary analyses of the project’s developmental and first intervention phases (Christensen, 2021; Gabrielsen, 2021; Randahl, Olin-Scheller, & Blix, 2021) suggest that the basic model and resources for inquiry-oriented teaching resonate with and at the same time challenge Nordic L1 teachers’ literature teaching practices. However, we find that the translation of material into Nordic languages reveal language as well didactic differences linked to differences in the national curriculas’ prescriptive understandings of quality teaching, among other reasons.
  
  For discussion, we argue that the QUALE project could be interpreted as one case of a pluralistic approach to teaching quality. Engaging in subject-specific studies of teaching help us understand that a ‘surplus of quality’ (Elf, in press) is found in teaching. Dependent of the subject- and domain-specific unit of analysis and the situated nature of teaching, a rich variety of qualities for teaching is found.
  
  References:
  
  Elf, N. (in press). The surplus of quality: How to study quality in teaching in three QUINT projects. In M. Blikstad-Balas, K. Klette, & M. Tengberg (Eds.), Analysing Teaching Quality: Perspectives, Principles and Pitfalls. Oslo: Oslo University Press.
  
  Christensen, V. (2021). “How do we translate citronmåne*?” Problematizing the idea of similarities in Nordic language, culture and pedagogy. Paper presented at the NERA 2021 / Nordic Educational Research Association, Odense, Denmark.
  
  Gabrielsen, I. (2021). Inquiry in The Norwegian Curriculum. Paper presented at the NERA 2021 / Nordic Educational Research Association, Odense, Denmark.
  
  Hansen, T. I., Elf, N., Gissel, S. T., & Steffensen, T. (2019). Designing and testing a new concept for inquiry-based literature teaching: Design Principles, development and adaptation of a large-scale intervention study in Denmark. Contribution to a special issue Systematically Designed Literature Classroom Interventions: Design Principles, Development and Implementation, edited by Marloes Schrijvers, Karen Murphy, and Gert Rijlaarsdam. L1 - Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 19. doi:10.17239/L1ESLL-2019.19.04.03
  
  O'Dowd, M., Winther-Jensen, T., & Wikander, L. (2015). Comparative Education in the North. In S. Jokila, J. Kallo, & R. Risto (Eds.), Comparing times and spaces : historical, theoretical and methodological approaches to comparative education (Vol. 69, pp. 31-56). Jyväskyl: Fera. Finnish Educational Research Association, Jyväskyla, Research in Educational Sciences = Kasvatusalan tutkimuksia.
  
  Randahl, A.-C., Olin-Scheller, C., & Blix, M. W. (2021). The teachers’ perspective in a Swedish context. Paper presented at the NERA 2021 / Nordic Educational Research Association, Odense, Denmark.