To Örebro University

This paper aims to show how letters, as a genre of literacy, are used in Karagwe in Tanzania, in relation to authority and secrecy. It is shown that literacy, in the form of letters, plays an important role in the negotiation of authority. Authorities as well as ordinary people use letters according to official norms to claim or manifest authority, while grassroots forms of literacy, dominated forms, are used to resist authorities. Through secret messages and letters people find opportunities to resist that are less dangerous than open rebellion, although the effects may be limited because of the secrecy. It is also shown how children are socialized into this pattern of secrecies through literacy as they are used as messengers. When delivering secret letters and messages, they may be said to exercise a passive voice through literacy.

Classroom interaction is particularly important for those students who learn school knowledge in a second language. In this article two episodes of whole class teaching in pre-school and standard one are analyzed. The analysis shows the importance of making teachers aware of interactional patterns in classrooms. Although knowledge was presented clearly and concretely and teachers used routines that made norms explicit, inconsistencies in interactional patterns made the role of the teacher stand out as unclear. Whole class teaching of this type does not provide students with such linguistic and intellectual demands that are necessary for their language development.

In this paper I argue that language policies for education have effects on pupils’ educational possibilities. With the case of Karagwe district inTanzania, the paper suggests that the policy of ‘Swahili only’ in primary school education inTanzaniafavors the small minority of the school children that live in a context where Swahili is used. This appears to lead to inequality in pupils’ chances in education and to a low level of achievement of academic content in schools. This also promotes the development and use of what I call safety strategies among teachers and pupils that hide failure and prevent pupils’ learning.

This chapter discusses effects of monolingual educational policies in a multilingual setting, with the case of Karagwe in rural Tanzania as an example. The discussion is based on an ethnographic study on literacy practices carried out between 2000 and 2003. The results show that the policy of Swahili-only in primary school favors the minority of the children who are raised in a Swahili-speaking setting, while the far majority is not given a fair chance in school. The high pressure put on teachers and pupils due to both the huge gap between expectations and possible outcome and the authoritative system, has resulted in strategies used on classroom-level that constitute major obstacles for pupils’ learning. In the chapter is argued that new educational policies should be created that take the fact into account that pupils learn Swahili as a second language and that are based on relevant research on second language teaching and learning. Also the importance of policies being created inside Tanzania, without parroting western education, of policies giving room for teachers’ creativity and of adapting policies to local conditions, is pointed out.

I denna artikel analyseras tre elevers språk under åren f-3, en med enspråkigt svensk bakgrund och två med flerspråkig bakgrund. Materialet består av inspelade intervjuer och skrivna texter insamlade under en etnografiskt inriktad klassrumsstudie. Analysen är inriktad på textuell kompetens, det vill säga förmåga att föra ordet en längre stund och att uttrycka längre tankar och är genomförd med performansanalys som bas.

Analysen visar att de två andraspråkselevernas språkliga nivå i svenska är mycket låg i slutet av år tre, i både tal och skrift. En trolig anledning till den låga skriftspråkliga kompetensen antas vara att undervisningen har skett på ett språk som eleverna inte behärskar i tillräckligt hög grad. Samtidigt kan den svaga skriftspråkskompetensen ha bidragit till den låga kompetensen även i talspråket. Genom att dessa elever har varit hänvisade till talet för sin språkutveckling, och detta har givit eleverna få tillfällen till att möta och själva producera längre tal, har inflöde och utflöde av sådant språk varit litet. Det visar att språkutvecklande arbetssätt som även innefattar talet, är av avgörande betydelse för elever som är sena i sin skriftspråksutveckling. Detta gäller särskilt andraspråkselever men även andra elever som inte möter det kunskapsrelaterade språket utanför skolan.

The focus of this article is on relations between classroom interaction, curricular knowledge and student engagement in diverse classrooms. It is based on a study with ethnographic perspective in which two primary school classes in Sweden are followed for three years. The analysis draws on Halliday’s Systemic Functional Linguistics. The results indicate that language use in the classrooms is on a basic everyday level and that high teacher control results in low demanding tasks and low engagement among students. Interaction in the classrooms consists mainly of short talk-turns with fragmentised language, frequent repairs and interruptions while writing and reading consists of single words and short sentences. Although the classroom atmosphere is friendly and inclusive, second language students are denied necessary opportunities to develop curricular knowledge and Swedish at the advanced level they will need higher up in the school system. The restricted curriculum that these students are offered in school thus restricts their opportunities to school success. Thus, I argue for a more reflective and critical approach regarding language use in classrooms.

I denna artikel argumenteras för vikten av att språkbedömning och lästestning i grundskolans tidigare år ger en mer rättvisande bild av elevernas kunskaper och färdigheter. Med lästest som endast mäter läsning i en begränsad form, som en teknisk färdighet, riskerar man att missa elevers förmåga att använda skrift i andra sammanhang än i skolmiljö. Dessutom riskerar man att flerspråkiga elever i hög grad nedvärderas genom att inte ta hänsyn till deras flerspråkiga kompetens. Sett ur ett demokratiperspektiv bör alla elever ha rätt inte bara till en bedömning som är mer rättvisande, utan också till att själva få ta aktiv del i planering och genomförande av testning. Detta ställer stora krav på lärare som därför behöver ha tillräcklig kunskap både om barns och ungdomars språkutveckling och om bedömning. Av den anledningen är det viktigt att lärarutbildning och lärarfortbildning utformas så att möjligheter ges även för lärare mot skolans tidigare år att skaffa sig fördjupad kunskap.