“It was that Trolle thing” Negotiating history in Grade 6: A matter of teachers’ text choice

Abstract

A crucial issue for literacy research is how teaching practices are shaped to promote diverse learners’ engagement with content knowledge and use of disciplinary language. In this article, based on a classroom study in Sweden, I explore the teaching of two historical events where the participant Grade 6 teacher created opportunities for writing and peer interaction in the content area. Using discourse analysis informed by systemic-functional linguistics, the study contributes to existing research by highlighting the role of teachers’ text choices in the shaping of disciplinary literacy practices in the teaching of history. The texts chosen and rejected by the participant teacher are analyzed and put in relation to transcripts of peer interaction and samples of students’ writing. The results show that the texts chosen – unlike those rejected – largely relied on everyday linguistic resources. As the students’ peer interaction and writing closely mirrored the texts presented to them, their opportunities to use the resources of abstract language commonly associated with school history seemed restricted. Implications for teaching are discussed.