Trapped in the Genres - A student's writer development in the subject of Danish. On possibilities and restrictions of narratives in Danish Upper Secondary Education

• Main Author: Anke Piekut
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018-07-01
• Series: Education Inquiry
• Subjects: Genre writing in L1; writer development; identity; narrative writing; small stories
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20004508.2017.1415096

Since the reform of Upper Secondary School in 2005 in Denmark, genre writing has been mandatory in the L1 subject. In the predefined genres, argumentative reasoning, textual analysis and disciplinary knowledge are given high priority, whereas creative or narrative reasoning and writing are not part of the curriculum. In this article, the writer development of a student participant will be investigated, focusing on how narrative nonetheless becomes present in his assignments and how he negotiates the predefined genres he is supposed to write in the L1 subject. The main focus of this study is to explore how on the one hand narrative is a resource for writer development and disciplinary knowledge and on the other hand becomes part of the student’s writer identity and identification with an exploratory student position. The empirical data consists of interviews and assignments, collected through the student’s 3 years of upper secondary education. In conclusion, it is argued that narratives should be part of the L1 curriculum, as narratives have the potential to provide more holistic writer development and to contribute to disciplinary knowledge.