Ulrika Bergmark, Linda Wikström, Charlotta Melander and Sara Viklund.
25 November 2022
New research to promote reading among children
How can teachers promote reading engagement and reading competence? This will be studiet by researchers in education in close collaboration with teachers in Piteå. The project “The power of reading” has received a grant from the Swedish Institute for Educational Research of a total of SEK 4.5 million over three years.
The purpose of the project “The power of reading” is to, through action research, identify successful working and teaching methods in order to strengthen pupils’ engagement to the reading of fiction and to promote reading competence in Swedish and Swedish as second language in primary, secondary and upper secondary school.
“Strengthening students' reading engagement and reading competence is of great importance for pupils' learning now and in the future, but also for the education and social system as a whole. Ultimately, it is a question of democracy, as good reading skills are required to be able to participate in the democratic conversation,” says Ulrika Bergmark, Professor at Luleå University of Technology and project manager.
The project is designed in collaboration between teachers and researchers in a network, and is based teaching challenges identified by teachers. Three action research groups in primary, secondary and upper secondary school, each consisting of five teachers, identify and test successful working and teaching methods to strengthen pupils' reading engagement and competence. 15 classes, about 375 pupils, participate in the project.
The researchers will collect data within the action research groups, for example though written reflections by pupils and teachers, focus group discussions and student-produced material. The researchers will analyze the data thematically in collaboration with the teachers.
“We hope that we will see results from teachers being involved in practical research, together with the pupils. This is a collaborative project between university and schools where teachers make an important contribution together with researchers,” says Ulrika Bergmark.
About the project:
Name: The power of reading: Successful working and teaching methods to promote students’ reading engagement and reading competence.
Project period: 1 January 2023 – 31 December 2025
Participating researchers:
- Ulrika Bergmark, Professor, Luleå University of Technology.
- Maria Löfgren, Associate Professor, Umeå University.
- Lena Manderstedt, Associate Professor, Luleå University of Technology.
- Annbritt Palo, Associate Professor, Luleå University of Technology.
Participating teachers:
Charlotta Melander, Strömbackaskolan.
Linda Wikström, Språkslussen.
Finansed by: The Swedish Institute for Educational Research.
External link.
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