Textual Practices in Nordic Language Arts: What Texts Do Teachers Bring into the Classroom, How Are They Enacted, and for What Purposes?

Exposing students to various types of texts and text activities is central in both Nordic curricula and the Nordic Didaktik tradition. Nordic language arts (LA) teachers have strong autonomy in how they prioritise and design their text instruction and balance the selection of texts and what role they should have in the LA classroom. In this chapter, we investigate textual practices in Nordic LA classrooms by examining (1) what kinds of texts teachers bring into their classrooms, (2) how these texts are enacted, and (3) for what purposes. The analysis relies on video observations of 112 LA classrooms across the five Nordic countries. The findings show that teachers predominantly use literary texts over nonfiction texts and that these are most often introduced to students in a read-aloud format and discussed in whole-class dialogues. The purpose of these textual practices are, in general, to practise reading comprehension, mainly on a superficial level. We discuss how these textual practices are aligned with known successful practices and goals for Nordic literature instruction and how equitable access to a variety of textual practices can be ensured for all students across Nordic LA classrooms.