Course Objectives

The nature of the subject, development and legitimisation

Students will:

• Become familiar with the basic trends in the development of the school-subject of Norwegian in order to place their practice as a Norwegian teacher in perspective.
• Develop the ability to read the curricula in a critical and constructive way, in order to decide how the curricula may be applied in actual teaching situations.
• Explore Norwegian as a subject related to matters of identity, culture and general education, and reflect on how this insight may be applied in practical teaching.
• Develop a reflective approach to the role that Norwegian should play in more comprehensive interdisciplinary teaching plans.
• Develop an awareness of how Norwegian may be used to help encourage tolerance in fields such as equal opportunities between the sexes, the multicultural society and internationalisation.
• Learn to understand the relationship between the nature of the subject and the various teacher-roles.

Complex texts, and the school subject, Norwegian

Students will:

• Develop an awareness of the new digital genres.
• Learn to evaluate ICT-based teaching aids for Norwegian.
• Learn to discuss the role that Internet and online communication forms will play in tomorrow’s school.

Literature didactics

Students will:

• Acquire textual skills and be able to analyse literature in order to prepare effective learning situations, such as literary discussions.
• Develop an awareness of how the various literary genres may be used in classroom situations.
• Become aware of the opportunities that literature may provide for a wide variety of students with different requirements, providing them with experiences, food for thought and ethical engagement.
• Develop an open attitude to working with mythical and mythological material in teaching, including the Sami cultural heritage.

Language didactics

Students will:

• Learn to plan and teach traditional language disciplines such as language history, grammar and dialects.
• Develop knowledge regarding didactic aspects of Norwegian as a second language, and discuss how a comparative and international perspective with regard to first-language teaching may be achieved.
• Learn to plan teaching that aims to offer practise of both oral and written skills.
• Learn to discuss and develop didactic strategies regarding the teaching of New Norwegian and secondary language forms.

Assessment

Students will:

• Acquire knowledge of national and important assessment arrangements for the subject Norwegian.
• Be able to discuss the assessment of oral and written texts.
• Develop an awareness of how response and pupil assessment should function within process-oriented writing training.
• Learn how portfolio assessment as an assessment method of written work may be used.

Course Description

The course focuses on these aspects of Norwegian didactics:

• The characteristics of the school subject, Norwegian
• History of the subject
• Complex texts and Norwegian
• Legitimation of the discipline as a school subject
• Language didactics
• Literature didactics
• Teaching of reading and writing

Learning Methods

The course is organised into lectures and combined with seminar activities. In addition, there will be subject didactics activities using Classfronter; Classfronter will also be used to provide information about the course. The semester plan will provide information regarding obligatory attendance.

Assessment Methods

During the course students must complete an individual project assignment of roughly 12 pages which focuses on a Norwegian didactics question; the question must be approved by the subject teacher. The assignment guidelines are given in the semester plan. In addition, students must take an oral examination in which they will be asked questions about their project assignments and the syllabus literature. The project assignment counts for 60% and oral examination 40% of the final grade. In order to register for the written examination, students must first have carried out an oral presentation in which they provide a description of a specific teaching plan (guidelines will be given).

A final grade will be entered on the diploma, graded from A to F, where A represents the highest grade, and E the lowest passing grade. Please refer to Telemark University College’s examination regulations for further information.

Supplementary 15 ECTS credits

Students who take 30 ECTS credits must in addition to the 15 ECTS course write a project assignment. The semester plan provides guidelines on how to write a large project assignment. The theme of the project must be approved by the subject teacher.

The final grade for 30 ECTS credits is achieved by adding the grade for the project assignment to the grade for the 15 ECTS course. The final grade will be entered on the diploma, graded from A to F, where A represents the highest grade, and E the lowest passing grade. Each part of the assessment must receive a passing grade in order to achieve a final passing grade for the course. Please refer to Telemark University College’s examination regulations for further information.

Minor adjustments may occur during the academic year, subject to the decision of the Dean