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This literature review asks the following: How is writing instruction realized in L1-classrooms (in the Swedish upper secondary school or its equivalent globally), considering standardized testing as a background factor? Standardized testing has become established in Sweden as one way to audit the school system and evaluate knowledge levels for the sake of guaranteeing an equitable education. However, standardized testing may influence the way in which classroom instruction is realized by teachers, as observed by Popham (2001). The literature review utilizes a qualitative conventional content analysis in order to produce a result of ten studies relevant to our research question. They are then thematized, presented, and later discussed using Popham’s (2001) item-teaching and curriculum-teaching, Biesta’s (2010) reasoning around how measurability impacts the perceived value of different types of education and Janks’ (2010) synthesis model. We found that writing instruction in classrooms subjected to standardized testing often showed a narrowed curriculum and formulaic writing. This particularly impacted classrooms consisting of diverse learners. We noted that teachers faced a complex task when instructing in these classrooms. They generally drifted towards either item-teaching or curriculum-teaching. We also found that the writing skills and knowledge that were highly valued in the classroom corresponded to skills measured by the tests. Finally, using Janks’ (2010) synthesis model we found that both access without design and diversity without access were present in our chosen studies. This implies that standardized testing maintains existing (and excluding) power relations between the dominant and the non-dominant groups. Our discussion is then related to the Swedish national curriculum, pointing to potential self-refuting goals formulated in the syllabus for the subject Swedish. We suggest that studies should be performed in a Swedish context in order to highlight any potential consequences of standardized testing for writing instruction in Swedish classrooms. |
