To Örebro University

The increasing use of written texts in society, and curriculums emphasizing reasoning, highlight the skill of expressing oneself orally and in writing in all subjects. The study aims to investigate the role of written texts in Physical Education and Health (PEH). The research question guiding the study is:

• What texts, and for what purposes, do students in a lower secondary class read and write in PEH?

• The study builds on New Literacy Studies, based on the idea that reading and writing are always situated within specific social practices, which are shown in literacy events, i.e. events where texts have a role.
• The study takes an ethnographic approach, and analysis is based on field notes, transcripts of video- and audio recordings from lessons and interviews, photografs, and texts used and produced during the study.
• The results show that paper-based texts and texts on whiteboard are used almost every lesson for varied purposes, e.g. in order to build theoretical or bodily knowledge, and in formative and summative assessment.