To Örebro University

In Physical Education and Health (PEH), a previously almost entirely practical subject, the use of written texts has increased considerably, which can be assumed to have consequences on the subject and on students’ meaning making. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the functions of written texts in PEH. Three research questions are answered: 1. How, when, and why are texts used in instructional practices in PEH?; 2. What text themes are most dominant in the used texts, and what specific subject content is entextualized?; and 3. What disciplinary identities do PEH-texts offer the students?

The main theoretical framework is New Literacy Studies (NLS), and an ecological approach to literacy as social practice is employed. Text ethnographic methods are used for data collection and analysis along with concepts from discourse and genre studies. Texts and ethnographic data are collected during a three-semester-long field study of a PEH-teacher and a class in a lower secondary school. In addition, interviews with five PEH-teachers are performed.

Article 1 shows that texts are used for a wide array of purposes, and as tools for theoretical as well as physical learning activities. Movement is shown to be the most frequently entextualized subject content. Written assessment comments, investigated in Article 2, most often acknowledge subject specific knowledge in students’ written assignments. In Article 3, the most prominent genres identified address measuring and training of the body. The students are mainly positioned physiologically, but also in relation to ideas from the humanities and social sciences. In Article 4, the use of texts is legitimated as practical, timesaving and a well-known tool for instruction and assessment. However, writing and text practices steal time from embodied learning and may not suit all students.

In summary, the thesis shows that it is possible to use texts and still maintain the focus on embodied learning. If they are used functionally and strategically, texts can contribute to and develop instruction in PEH, rather than threaten the subject.