Ett metaspråkligt vakuum. En intervjustudie av svensklärares grammatikundervisning på gymnasiet
A metalinguistic vacuum. An interview study of Swedish language teachers' grammar teaching in upper secondary school
Author
Summary, in English
The syllabus in Swedish in upper secondary school should be based on, but not overlap, the syllabus in Swedish in primary school. Grammar is only implicitly described in Swedish 1 and is explicitly mentioned only once you move on to Swedish 2. This means that grammar teaching and metalanguage in Swedish in upper secondary school is to a large extent dependent on the students' prior grammatical knowledge acquired in primary school.
The purpose of this study is to investigate how Swedish language teachers handle the metalingual vacuum that arises in Swedish teaching at upper secondary school, and what possible consequences this has for Swedish as a subject. In order to address and answer the purpose, four research questions were formulated based on Swedish language teachers' opinions of (1) students' prior grammatical knowledge, (2) grammar teaching, (3) factors of grammar teaching and (4) metalanguage. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven Swedish language teachers from two different schools. The interviews were transcribed, coded and analyzed.
The analysis reveals that students' prior knowledge of grammar is heterogeneous and often falls short. As a result, some teachers choose to teach grammar already in Swedish 1, while other instead wait for the grammatical knowledge requirement in Swedish 2. While Swedish 2 comprises traditional grammar teaching, practical language skills are the focus of Swedish 1 – however, the metalinguistic knowledge becomes peripheral. The students' lack of prior grammatical knowledge, core content open to interpretation and a lack of grammatical knowledge requirements in Swedish 1 result in an education in grammar that cannot be considered adequate.
The purpose of this study is to investigate how Swedish language teachers handle the metalingual vacuum that arises in Swedish teaching at upper secondary school, and what possible consequences this has for Swedish as a subject. In order to address and answer the purpose, four research questions were formulated based on Swedish language teachers' opinions of (1) students' prior grammatical knowledge, (2) grammar teaching, (3) factors of grammar teaching and (4) metalanguage. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven Swedish language teachers from two different schools. The interviews were transcribed, coded and analyzed.
The analysis reveals that students' prior knowledge of grammar is heterogeneous and often falls short. As a result, some teachers choose to teach grammar already in Swedish 1, while other instead wait for the grammatical knowledge requirement in Swedish 2. While Swedish 2 comprises traditional grammar teaching, practical language skills are the focus of Swedish 1 – however, the metalinguistic knowledge becomes peripheral. The students' lack of prior grammatical knowledge, core content open to interpretation and a lack of grammatical knowledge requirements in Swedish 1 result in an education in grammar that cannot be considered adequate.
Department/s
Publishing year
2021
Language
Swedish
Full text
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Document type
Student publication for Master's degree (two years)
Topic
- Languages and Literatures
Keywords
- grammatik
- grammatikundervisning
- metaspråk
- lingvistisk litteracitet
- gymnasieskolan
- grammar
- grammar teaching
- metalanguage
- linguistics literacy
- upper secondary school
Supervisor
- Katarina Lundin (Docent i nordiska språk)