This article examines Swedish civics teachers' perspectives on difficulties and opportunities that their second-language (L2) students encounter when reading textbook texts in civics. The study is based on individual semi-structured interviews with teachers in Grade 9. Civics teachers report uncertainty about identifying the source of difficulties…

As leisure-time reading among adolescents declines in the western world, stakeholders try to increase students' motivation for school-related reading. We examine the relationship of students' autonomous and controlled reading motivation with their amount and experiences of school-related reading in four school subjects, controlling for students'…

This study examined how teachers relate literacy teaching to their ordinary subject teaching in professional development settings. The study is conducted within the large Swedish professional development program the Literacy Boost (in Swedish "Läslyftet"), which can be viewed as an example of an international focus on reading ability…

Since reading and writing digitally demand partially different competencies, there is a change in some of the premises of related educational practices. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of educational reading practices by scrutinizing how literacy events evolve in a digital classroom where each student has a personal digital device…

In this article we examine teacher instruction on scientific literacy tasks and teacher expression of ultimate and subordinate purposes during one teaching sequence of a science unit. By using a Practical Epistemology Analysis and Systemic Functional Grammar we can provide a view of the direction learning takes and the consequences for student…

In this study we investigate students' ability to discern conceptual variation and the use of multiple models in genetics when reading content-specific excerpts from biology textbooks. Using the history and philosophy of science as our reference, we were able to develop a research instrument allowing students themselves to investigate the…

Many studies show positive correlations between content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and the learning of English as a foreign language. However, findings from CLIL research in Sweden do not match those obtained elsewhere. The aim of this article is to show that some explanations for discrepancies in results obtained across CLIL contexts…

Multimodal learning materials are frequently met in education assuming enhanced learning outcomes. This study examined whether contrasts in such materials are likely to support reading comprehension for all readers. Young adults (n = 46) met either text-only or text+picture material. Participants (19 with low phonological awareness [PA] and 27…

Is content literacy exclusively a U.S. phenomenon? In this installment we report on the state of content literacy from four international perspectives. Descriptions of content literacy from Ireland, Sweden, Germany, and Bulgaria offer insights into (a) the value policymakers may be placing on reading practices for content learning, and (b) the…