A study on how “Other” in English-speaking countries is presented in the Norwegian school system

Abstract

This thesis explores how the Norwegian school system discusses cultures in their curricula and how a selection of teacher’s guides for year five presents the “Other” as a response. During a student exchange semester in South Africa, I learned that the country and its cultures differ from what I was taught in school. I recognize a bias in Norwegian schools regarding the “Other”. This thesis aims to uncover what the Norwegian school system teaches learners about “Other” cultures through teaching material. The teaching material used in my thesis is teacher’s guides from both LK06 and LK20. These teacher’s guides are Explore 5 (Edwards et al., 2015; 2020), Link 5 (Mezzetti et al., 2021), Stairs 5 (Solberg & Unnerud, 2006), and Engelsk 5 (Solberg & Unnerud, 2020). To investigate this topic, I will perform critical discourse analyses of the mentioning of “Other” in the teacher’s guides and discuss these findings in light of relevant theories and the curricula’s aims for the EFL subject. Based on my research, I argue that teachers should add authentic sources to their lessons about “Other” cultures. For the learners to develop their intercultural competence, they need exposure to the “Other”. It is not sufficient to only learn about the Anglo-American culture. However, the government and the authors of teaching and learning materials are responsible for providing the teachers with quality material and guidance that can lead the teachers in the right direction. This cannot solely be the teacher’s responsibility because the responsibility is too big for just the teachers. It must be shared to give the learners the best possible education.