WRITING IN THE LITERACY ERA. SCANDINAVIAN TEACHERS’ NOTIONS OF WRITING IN MOTHER TONGUE EDUCATION

This study is part of a Scandinavian research project, Nordfag.net, that investigates Scandinavian mother tongue teachers’ didactic profiles and conceptions of the mother tongue education (MTE) subject through an ethnographic approach. The purpose of the present study is to discuss the aims of the teach-ing of writing in MTE in the light of contending MTE paradigms and discourses of education tied to the concepts of Bildung and literacy. 26 teachers’ diaries and interviews are examined through two analyti-cal approaches. The first approach is a phenomenological investigation of the teachers’ descriptions of their practice and their pedagogical goals, locating different teacher profiles in the material. The second approach is a discourse analysis of the teacher profiles, aiming at connecting these with larger discoursal and paradigmatic notions of the teaching of writing in MTE.Three fairly distinct teacher profiles are found, viewing writing in MTE as respectively a strategic, a ritual and a communicative endeavour. Through the discourse analysis the notions of writing as well as the positioning of teachers and students in the profiles are foregrounded, and the different discourses are discussed as possible answers to the contemporary educational challenges of MTE.