Against the background of the increased importance of multimodal expressions in today's textual landscape and the importance of young people's reading skills in the encounter with argumentative texts on the internet, the aim of this thesis is to increase knowledge about lower secondary students' critical reading of digital multimodal argumentative texts in L1, such as digitally published opinion pieces, Youtube videos, and websites. 

Drawing on multimodal social semiotics combined with critical literacy, the following research questions were studied: How do students read and make meaning of digital multimodal argumentative texts? How does students’ agency emerge through their descriptions of reading digital multimodal argumentative texts? What educational implications for teaching about reading multimodal argumentative texts can be discerned?

12 lessons in three classes (students aged 14-15) in Sweden have been filmed using three video cameras, in which the students make meaning of texts individually, in pairs, and in groups of four. 12 interviews with students in pairs have been conducted using video recordings as stimulated recall. Intertextual content analysis was used to examine the transcripts of the video recordings with an expansion to include aspects of visual grammar. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse the recorded and transcribed interviews. 

Findings indicate students’ awareness of ulterior motives in the texts, yet relying on professional-looking texts or senders who appear authoritative. Lacking knowledge of argumentative text analysis, the students invent strategies when examining the texts. The students show agency in their reading process when finding their individual reading paths and making use of previous knowledge. Multimodal affordances are primarily used when reading texts dominated by other modalities than verbal text. Consequently, reading education needs to deal with reading and analysing argumentative as well as multimodal texts.

This compilation thesis investigates and compares Nordic literature instruction in the first year of lower secondary school, with the aim of contributing to the knowledge on how lower secondary language arts teachers across the Nordic countries use literary texts in their ordinary instruction and how they promote students’ development of literary competence. Two overarching theoretical perspectives – didactics and literary competence – frame this thesis, which relies on two kinds of data and involves both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The thesis comprises four research articles. Articles 1–3 are based on video observations from 71 literature classrooms that are part of Linking Instruction and Student Achievement, a large-scale Nordic video study, while Article 4 draws on an online questionnaire that was answered by 701 teachers. This thesis shows that literature plays an important role in Nordic language arts instruction. A key finding was that teachers in all Nordic countries, especially Swedish, Icelandic and Finnish teachers, considered the development of students’ reading comprehension a major reason for using literary texts in language arts instruction. Another key finding was the lack of encouragement for literary readings, meaning that students were rarely given the opportunity to develop their literary competence. Even in cases where students were expected to learn to identify genre features and literary devices, this knowledge was not used to promote the aesthetic reading of literary texts. A third key finding was that teachers in all Nordic countries valued reading literature as a way to provide positive reading experiences. They often made student-oriented choices of literary texts and mostly had students read narrative texts, such as short stories and teenage novels. In summary, this thesis reveals that Nordic classrooms should give more space to reading literature for its own sake, not just to achieve general literacy.

Choral singing has a long history in Sweden. Today, choral singing is regularly practised in both sacred and secular organisational forms, involving an estimated six percent (600.000 individuals) of Sweden's population. These choral organisations are widespread and currently cover the entire geographical area of Sweden. Choral organisations can thus not be seen as marginal either in relation to population or area. Paradoxically, despite the number of participants and their distribution, research on choir activities has only been scarcely studied in Sweden. The aim of this thesis is to make a contribution to Human Geography by illuminating and creating an understanding of the relationship between choral organisations and geography. Place, Urban – Rural and Sacred – Secular are central elements in this thesis. The empirical basis consists of primary data collected through questionnaires and secondary data in the form of official statistics. In this sense, the thesis makes a contribution to human geography research on choral organisations in Sweden and, more broadly, other contexts. The thesis concludes that choral organisations have a strong relationship to place in Sweden. The thesis presents a mapping of choir organisations in Sweden. The thesis then problematises the common binary perceptions of Rural – Sacred and Urban – Secular. The results indicate that these binaries should be nuanced in relation to choral organisations. The thesis also concludes that choral organisations in Sweden should be interpreted from a post-secular perspective.