This Masters thesis is a study of the truck-driver profession and their use of libraries located in gas-stations and restaurants along the highways in Sweden. The reason for this interest is the positive trend that has occurred concerning men without any university education and their reading-habits, that is due to their increased interest in listening to audio books. This challenges the general opinion that this group is not particularly interested in reading literature. Questions posed in this study are: How do the truck-drivers relate to the activity of reading literature, what part does the road-libraries play, and how can the services that the road-libraries offer be improved according to the truck-drivers. The method used in the study is interviews made by telephone.

The purpose of the essay is to examine the views on sexuality that guide the Swedish Migration board and court?s judgments and decisions in asylum cases. The essay investigates seven cases from the Swedish Migration court regarding asylum seekers from seven different countries seeking protection in Sweden due to their sexuality and/or gender identity. By applying discourse analysis, along with the theoretical perspectives of Judith Butler and the postcolonial critique of Chandra Talpade Mohanty, the essay discuss what kind of criteria and/or practice is demanded of the asylum seekers to be rendered as trustworthy. The essay concludes that the asylum seekers are considered untrustworthy by the migration authorities when not acting according to a (hetero)normative sexuality.

The purpose of this study is to describe some primary school teachers understanding of language development and approach of first and second language speakers with Arne Tragetons Writing to reading, for pupils in early ages.By using a qualitative method with interviews and participant observations and informal conversations, the basis for the survey was collected. Four teachers in three schools participated. The proportion of second-language pupils at each school was 35%, 17% and 0%. My theoretical starting point in the study was the hermeneutic research tradition, which has been used to interpret and understand the collected material. Theories of behaviorism, constructivism and socio-cultural perspective has been used in the analysis part of this study.

This thesis is an investigation of Iranian immigrants and their use of libraries in Sweden. It isbased on a combination of a qualitative and a·quantitative method.Using a qualitative method, I give an outline of the history of lran from ancient times up to the present, as well as the different ethnological groups in Iran and their cultures. The main objective of this part is to clarify the contrasts between Iranian and Swedish cultural, social, linguistic and family structures, and also the characteristics of the crisis that most immigrants go through on their arrival in the new country. The qualitative method also involves structured telephone interviews with eight highly educated Iranians.This method was supplemented by a quantitative study through questionnaires of the attitudes· of lranian immigrants to libraries and reading. Iranians in Sweden turned out to be frequent Iibrary users.

In this study I try to answer the question what to consider when teaching about identity andreligious identity in Religious Studies at Upper Secondary Schools in Sweden. This inquiry isbased on the fact that the latest Program manuals for upper secondary school, GY11, instructsthe teachers to talk about identity and religion, while in the Curriculum for upper secondaryscool, Lpf 94, as well as the latest curriculum, SKOLFS 2011, the idea of identity seemslinked with ethnicity.With this in mind I want to clarify what might be meant with the concept of identity. Byreferring to several different identity theories I propose to illustrate the complexity of theconcept. I study gender, queer and postcolonial theory as well as different aspects of classstructure and commodification of identity, all through the perspective of intersectionality.Intersectionality is not a theory as such but a method of studying various perspectives of anissue. It is an analytical praxis of using several angles of investigation and explanationtogether, all phrased with the background of the question of power.

Reading Recovery (RR) programmet är en kompenserande läs- och skrivutvecklingsmetod från Nya Zeeland som utvecklats av Marie M Clay. Vi har under 5 veckor studerat RR programmet genom observationer och intervjuer av elever, föräldrar och lärare på en skola i Nya Zeeland. Detta med syftet att uppmärksamma om och i så fall vilka för- och nackdelar som finns i programmet och vad vi skulle vilja använda oss av i vår roll som blivande lärare. Vi har valt att avgränsa och fokusera vår studie enbart kring för- och nackdelar eftersom detta är sådant vi ser relevant till vårt gällande syfte. Vår studie visar på såväl fördelar som nackdelar vid användandet av programmet.

Reading Recovery (RR) programmet är en kompenserande läs- och skrivutvecklingsmetod från Nya Zeeland som utvecklats av Marie M Clay. Vi har under 5 veckor studerat RR programmet genom observationer och intervjuer av elever, föräldrar och lärare på en skola i Nya Zeeland. Detta med syftet att uppmärksamma om och i så fall vilka för- och nackdelar som finns i programmet och vad vi skulle vilja använda oss av i vår roll som blivande lärare. Vi har valt att avgränsa och fokusera vår studie enbart kring för- och nackdelar eftersom detta är sådant vi ser relevant till vårt gällande syfte. Vår studie visar på såväl fördelar som nackdelar vid användandet av programmet.

The purpose of this study is to examine the view of Swedish language teachers on the role of fiction and of school libraries within the compulsory school?s teaching of Swedish of form 6-9. The questions to be answered are:? What part do Swedish language teachers (hereafter called teachers) think fiction is playing regarding the pupils inclination to read and reading promotion?? What is the attitude of teachers regarding the function of fiction in the Swedish subject?? What do teachers consider being the role of the school library in education, and can this be related to the local school library resources?To answer the questions a questionnaire was sent out to thirty-five teachers. Four qualitative interviews were also carried out among the fourteen teachers that answered the questionnaire.

This Master?s thesis provides insights into adult women?s fictional reading within the conceptual phrase ?a good book?. Eight qualitative and semi-structured interviews were performed in order to examine the nature of response and perceived benefits. The collected data were analyzed by Louise M. Rosenblatt?s reception-oriented transactional theory of reading and the cognitive psychology-based model of reading developed within the joint Nordic project SKRIN.

The purpose of this study was to explore preschool- and primary school teachers? perceptions of fairytales, why they use fairytales and what thoughts they have about the impact of fairytales on children?s reading and writing development. We interviewed seven teachers and three preschool teachers in northern Sweden to find out how work with fairytales is carried out in preschool and primary school. We also interviewed twelve pupils who were seven and eight years old to find out what they thought of fairytales in primary school. The result showed that preschool- and primary school teachers had a positive attitude towards fairytales and the opportunities provided by fairytales.

The aim of my thesis was to examine if educators need to be critical of what they read to the children from a gender perspective. I examined how picture books depict gender and if the books enhances or breaks perception of gender roles. I also examined educator?s perception of gender and if they think picture books can affect children?s perceptions of gender, but also what educators think about gender equality through picture books. The study is based on analysis of five picture books and interview with five educators.The results of analyzes showed that picture books are stereotyped and enhances perceptions of gender roles.

The purpose of this thesis is to do an inventory of Swedish Bronze Age rock carvings depicting intercourse, and other sexual acts; applying gender traits on these in order to get a glimpse of what kind of normative outlook people at this time had upon sexuality. .

This Master?s thesis explores three contemporary Swedish poets? ? Lars Mikael Raattamaa, Anna Hallberg and Johan Jönson ? understanding of their work as a political activity. By using Jonathan Culler?s theory on literary competence and literary conventions as a theoretical tool for an idea analysis, the three poets' arguments for or against certain literary techniques, and their ideas about readers and reading, are explored and discussed. In what ways are established literary methods questioned by the three poets? In what ways are established theories on readers and reading questioned? In what way can their poetic work be regarded as political? As a background, the debate about poetry in Swedish newspapers and literary magazines is presented, as well as the common focus on readers and reading in social sciences and in humanities and arts.

I ett försök att låta poststrukturalismen närma sig materia, för min studie samman en queer psykoanalytisk syn på subjektskap, presenterad av Judith Butler, med miffoteori, en poststrukturell förståelse av funktionalitet, mestadels influerad av Robert McRuer och Lennard J. Davis, för att undersöka hur ramverket inom vilket subjektskap kan intas påverkas. Studien visar att det normata är kontextuellt definierat, och vidare att subjektskap är beroende av mötet mellan subjektet och en potentiellt funktionshindrande miljö; i vilken subjektet antingen passerar som normat eller inte. Detta rörliga subjektskap påverkas därigenom av faktorer såsom rädslan för det miffoeska, en kapitalistisk syn på medborgarskap samt möjligheten att (undermedvetet) nå en (temporär) position mellan det normata och det miffoeska, vars förhållande även genererar en ökad möjlighet för subversivt motstånd. Vidare menar jag att detta kan sägas utgöra ett ramverk inom vilket det blir möjligt att studera subjektskapet, genererat av maktordningar såsom klass, etnicitet etc..

This is a study of how four teachers work with pupils? early literacy learning. Interviews were conducted with two teachers who chose to use a specific method, Writing to Read (WTR), for teaching pupils to read, and with two teachers who had not chosen a specific method. The aim of the study was to compare how the teachers worked, their motives for their choice of method, and the ideas the teachers have about early literacy learning. To see whether the teachers? choice of method was related to the individualization of the teaching and their views of pupils? learning in interaction, Vygotsky?s theories about children?s learning have been used.