Literary socialisation through education. A comparative study of Swedish and French upper secondary school students’ reception of a narrative text

Abstract

Different ways of teaching literature in school are often a result of tradition, cultural heritage, and the underlying assumptions of the motivating reasons for studying literature at all. This paper presents results from a comparative study of Swedish and French upper secondary school students' reception of a narrative text and discusses the impact of literary socialisation in relation to curricula. In the first part of the paper, Swedish and French upper secondary school students' written comments on a short story are analysed in terms of literary socialisation, comprehension and interpretation. The study displays differences in the way the students interact with the text. The French students pay more attention to literary aspects, such as style and language, whereas Swedish students tend to focus more on content and extratextual aspects. In the second part of the paper, the Swedish curriculum for the subject Swedish for upper secondary school is analysed. The study argues that a combination of analytic and emotional reading seems to be the most efficient way to create skilful readers. Reading for pleasure in a school context is challenged by the strong framing provided by knowledge requirements and examinations. The study concludes that this paradox of literature education can be met by focusing on the reading experience as a point of departure for in-depth literature studies.

Methods of Analysis of Lyrical Texts in Foreign Literature Classes in Higher Educational Institutions (Based on the Works of Nazim Hikmet)

“…The study shows differences in the ways students interact with the text and, as a result, the difference in interpretation of the same text fragment: the French focus more on style and form, and the Swedes on extra-textual parameters: topic, problems, content. The basis of studying literature at the university should be reading for pleasure with the acquisition of literary skills for deeper analysis in the future [3].…”

“…Exploring the ways of interaction with the text in different cultural traditions, the author confirms the fact that the foundations of critical thinking of a certain people differ from the mechanisms that guide other peoples. The basis of literary education at the university is the acquisition of reading skills using the main methods of analysis, which would contribute to the development of a holistic personality in the future [3].…”

“She doesn’t consider it to be real literature”

“…An absolute reversal of cultural values has not occurred, however, as there still exists a fundamental tension between reading at school and reading in leisure time. 'The paradox of literature education', argues Johansson (2021), 'lies in the collision between reading for pleasure-which is related to reading outside of school-and reading for education and to learn about literature ' (p. 22).…”

Dialogue and defamiliarization

“…Although complexity in literature is partly subjective and related to reader, context, and cultural socialization (Johansson, 2021;Zyngier et al, 2007), we propose a working definition of narrative complexity. This definition applies to the short stories used in the project and is adapted to age and literary socialization of the students.…”

“…The most concise definition of our operationalization of narrative complexity lies of course in the stories we select for the project. As described above, our understanding of complexity in narration is theoretically framed, but it is also based on empirical evidence from prior research (Johansson, 2021;Sønneland & Skaftun, 2017;Johansen, 2017) as well as from our own teaching of literature at different levels. In literary theory, narrative complexity often refers more generally to the degree to which a story is characterized by intricate and interwoven plot lines, layered (or round) characterizations, and ambiguity in terms of story theme (Iser, 1978;Miall, 2006;Nikolajeva, 2011).…”