Interpretive and reflective reading of fiction is an important element of the school subjects of Swedish and Swedish as a second language, pivotal for fostering free-spirited, democratic citizens (Svedner, 2012), in turn making the pedagogical process of literature instruction an important object of study. This pedagogical process has been widely examined from different theoretical standpoints (Hultin, 2006; Bergman, 2007; Langer, 2011). While many of these studies are grounded in observation of classroom practice, few have, however, involved teachers in the systematic process of designing and developing pedagogical interventions.
Our small-scale study uses a design-based research approach (Cobb et al., 2003), involving 9 teachers from elementary and lower secondary school in the process of developing a pedagogical design for interpretive and reflective fictional reading of potential meanings, or “messages”, in literary texts. The aim of the study is to explore powerful pedagogical design principles (Cobb et al., 2003), grounded in teachers’ knowledge of reading instruction.
Although the notion of “message” in texts has been questioned (Lundström et al., 2011), the term is stated in the content description of the Swedish curriculum, and thus a part of the reality of teachers’ pedagogical planning. The present study frames the, arguably problematic, term “message” in a theoretical framework informed by Langer (2011), and the adjunct concept of envisionment.
The study poses the research question: what pedagogical design principles need to be foregrounded, when teaching with the aim of developing students’ fictional reading of texts’ messages?
Empirical material consists of students’ texts, recorded lessons and talks with teachers, and texts documenting teachers’ instructional design documents. Preliminary findings include design principles for using multi-media when exploring texts’ messages, and principles for “safe-guarding” students against teachers’ own message-reading, as this privileged reading may, unintentionally, limit the interpretive range of classroom discourse.