Slöjdundervisning med nyanlända elever – om multimodal interaktion och kommunikation i slöjdklassrum

Sloyd Education with Newly Arrived Students – Multimodal Interaction and Communication in the Sloyd Classroom

This thesis aims to identify and describe sloyd teachers and newly arrived students’ multimodal interaction and communication, and how this is expressed in sloyd teaching and the learning environment of the sloyd classroom. The study uses an ethnographic methodology and the empirical material is analysed at a micro and macro level, and a handheld camera is used to document sloyd teaching with newly arrived students at two elementary schools in Years 8–9, during one semester. Through video documentation, it is possible to capture the complexity of the sloyd teaching and learning environment. The thesis consists of four articles. The thesis uses a sociocultural and multimodal theoretical framework, and another premise in the thesis is the use of the theory of community of practice. The theoretical approaches implies focus on participation, interaction, and communication in sloyd teaching where newly arrived students and teachers do not share the same verbal language. Thus, other resources are used for meaning-making. The findings show that sloyd teaching and the learning environment of the sloyd classroom offer newly arrived students rich multimodal possibilites for multimodal communication and interaction in a situated context. The learning environment in sloyd classrooms enables social encounters and participation for newly arrived students, which the students seem to seek and take initiative to. Further, the results show how the sloyd subject content and subject-specific concepts are complex and abstract, however, there is a potential in sloyd teaching with newly arrived students when the students sloyd projects can be set in concrete learning situations. Sloyd teachers and newly arrived students use a variety of multimodal resources to make meaning. When newly arrived students and sloyd teachers do not share the same verbal language, multimodal interaction and communication become central to make meaning. Demonstrating one’s skills multimodally can also create confidence in one’s abilities and the ability to show one’s knowledge beyond words. Finally, it is shown that knowledge of the Swedish language is not decisive for newly arrived students’ participation in sloyd teaching.