Changing literacy practices according to the Finnish core curriculum

Abstract

We investigated how a teacher implemented principles of literacy teaching and learning set forth in the Finnish core curriculum in a first-grade classroom, focusing on two aspects of the curriculum: (1) a community-oriented view of language, which can be understood from a socio-cultural perspective; and (2) a broad conception of text, which involves diversified literacy practices including both digital and printed environments. We understood the classroom as a place where the teacher deployed her pedagogic habitus (Bourdieu 1977; Pahl 2012), which in turn shaped the practices. Our analysis of videotapes of classroom literacy events and the teacher's diary during one school year showed that change in practices turned the classroom habitus (Bourdieu 1977) into a communicational entity where the pupils worked collaboratively with meaningful literacy activities with oral and print texts, including old and new technologies.

Keywords:

• literacy curriculum implementation
• habitus
• interaction order
• broad conception of text
• early literacy instruction

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Cultural Foundation of Finland and the University of Oulu, Faculty of Education.