Title of presentation: FINDING VOICES, NEGOTIATING IDENTITIES. STANDARD LANGUAGE EDUCATION AS SOCIAL CONTEXT FOR REWRITING AND RESTAGING STORIES ABOUT WORLD AND SELF.

Abstract: What curriculum is needed to make students active participants in their societies and contributors to changing cultures? What are the "basic competencies" needed in our time? How can students learn to use available communicative resources in new ways for new purposes? Starting from a discussion of the aims and goals for the school subject "Norwegian" in Norway, this lecture discusses how standard language education can become a site for the development of critical literacies.

Jon Smidt is Professor of Norwegian in Teacher Education at Sør-Trøndelag University College, Trondheim. His main research fields are the reading of and use of literature in Standard Language Education, and writing and the development of discoursal identities in school writing in many school subjects. At present he is in charge of a research project examining the use of writing in several school subjects from kindergarten classes to upper secondary school (SKRIV). Among his recent publications are Sjangrer og stemmer i norskrommet [Genres and voices in the "Norwegian room"] (2004), and Å skrive i alle fag [Writing in all subjects] (2008), coedited with Rutt Trøite Lorentzen.