Grammar as a system and an opportunity Grammar explained and practiced in two textbooks for junior high school students

Abstract

This article explores how grammar is explained and practiced in two textbooks in Norwegian language arts for students in lower secondary school; Kontekst 8-10 (2020) and Synopsis 8-10 (2020). More precisely, I examine how the textbooks balance a systemic grammar perspective and grammar related to a text perspective. The distinction between language system and language use has a long tradition both in linguistics (Iversen et al, 2011) and in Norwegian language arts (Haugen, 2019). Because of this distinction, grammar and grammar teaching have been legitimized and practiced in different ways throughout the history of the subject. Based on the concepts of systemic and text oriented grammar, as well as guidelines in the new Norwegian language arts syllabus (LK20), I have found that the new textbooks place focus on systemic grammar. Grammar related to a text perspective is to a small extent included in Synopsis, and to a somewhat greater extent in Kontekst. In both textbooks, I find a rather limited theoretical description of word classes. I also find few grammar assignments that make use of grammatical terms outside the traditional grammar chapters. In addition, Synopsis also contains quite few assignments in the grammar chapter, which means that students are offered relatively few explicit opportunities to think, talk and write about grammar. In Kontekst, students are offered more varied opportunities to work with grammar. Although half of the grammar assignments here are linked to an overall text perspective in, relatively few assignments address grammatical text function explicitly.