Author Information
Anna Martín Bylund, Linköping University, SwedenLinnéa Stenliden, Linköping University, Sweden
Mattias Arvola, Linköping University, Sweden
Abstract
Amid discourses that portray young people’s changing relationships to text as jeopardizing democratic society and warranting urgent interventions, this paper maps primary students’ conceptions of reading through three cartographies—simple, complex, and potentializing—using survey responses, logbooks, and co-creation sessions with 10–11-year-olds. Drawing on two Swedish Research Council–funded projects (“The Heart of Reading” and “How Hot Is the Book-Bot?”), it reveals how a simple, abstract cartography reinforces normative binaries of readers as either enthralled or disengaged. The complex cartography, grounded in students’ concrete experiences, uncovers the spatial, temporal, bodily, and emotional dimensions shaping classroom reading. Potentializing cartographies capture students’ curiosities, affirmations, problematizations, and individual variations in bodily and spatial preferences, showcasing diverse ways reading might unfold. Employing an interdisciplinary, post-qualitative cartographic approach, the study problematises and pluralises the concept of reading, moving beyond narrow literacy discourses and the perceived “reading crisis”. It argues that leveraging students’ openness to develop embodied, self-directed reading practices can enrich primary reading instruction. Ultimately, this work emphasizes the transformative power of questioning and reimagining conventional definitions of reading.
Paper Information
Conference: PCE2025Stream: Language Development & Literacy
This paper is part of the PCE2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Bylund A., Stenliden L., & Arvola M. (2025) Slow Torture, Magic Books or Potentially Worth Further Exploring: Mapping Young Students’ Thoughts About Reading and Creative Alternatives ISSN: 2758-0962 The Paris Conference on Education 2025: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 813-828) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2758-0962.2025.62
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2758-0962.2025.62
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