Samhällskunskap med språket i fokus. : En kvalitativ intervjustudie om språkutvecklande undervisning i samhällskunskap

Sammanfattning

This qualitative interview study presents social studies teachers’ approaches, methods and perceived challenges within language development teaching in social studies. The study was conducted through qualitative interview studies where the focus was on the teachers’ teaching in language development. In total, eight interviews became the results of the study. The results show that social studies teachers perceive that language development teaching is a natural part of social studies teaching, but it can also be difficult to create teaching in social studies with focus on language development. Language development teaching can be done in different ways through concept lists, start-sentences, oral discussions with and between students, reading activities and writing reflective texts. On the contrary, the methods could take time from teaching and planning time from teachers. In the teachers’ classrooms there were factors like previous knowledge, hesitation to work in groups and to engage in discussions, the timeframe for teaching and language support to second language learners that could be challenging and, in some cases, decisive in the opportunities for language development teaching. To create language development teaching, the teachers turned to language developing literature, digital assistive technology, collegial work, and the students’ learning materials. With the help of these tools, the teachers could more easily understand and focus the social studies teaching with language development. All the teachers in the study were united in that language development, with its natural characteristics in social studies, gives students the opportunity to reach far in their development of linguistic abilities.