At håndtere flertydighed under pres – elevskriveres tekstnormer og skriverselv ved folkeskolens afgangseksamen i skriftlig fremstilling
Authors: Troelsen Solveig 
Published: March 2021

Når danske elever skriver tekster til afgangseksamen i skriftlig fremstilling, er formålet at skrive sig til censors og dermed uddannelsessystemets og samfundets anerkendelse. Situationen er presset, og forskning har vist at betingelserne er præget af flertydighed og kompliceres af dobbelte genreforventninger. I artiklen betragtes eksamensskrivning i et sociokulturelt perspektiv som en teksthandling i kontekst. Gennem såkaldt konstellationsanalyse af et udvalg af elevtekster undersøges eksamensskrivningen som svar på skriveordren og i forventning om censors bedømmelse, og elevernes tekstnormer og skriverselv ekspliciteres. Undersøgelsen finder en udpræget mangfoldighed og kompleksitet i tekstudvalget og identificerer fire forskellige elevtilgange til opgaven: strategisk kreativitet, umiddelbar narration, intuitiv iscenesættelse og kulturkompetent kommunikation. Sammenhængen mellem tekstmønstre og eksamenskarakter er relativt uklar. Dog ses en privilegering af de intuitive og umiddelbare tilgange, og personligt engagerende opgavetyper favoriseres karaktermæssigt. Multimodalt design og nøjagtig adressering af opgavens krav belønnes i begrænset omfang, mens verbaltekst i litterært inspireret stil anerkendes og delvist opvejer afvigelser fra eksplicitte krav. Fundene kalder på yderligere forskningsviden om og forskningsinformeret revision af den danske eksamenspraksis.
English abstract
Handling ambiguity under pressure: Student writers’ text norms and ‘writing selves’ at the final examination in written composition
When Danish students take their final exams in written composition, their goal is to earn recognition from the external examiner and by extension the educational system and society. The situation is charged, and research has shown that the conditions can be ambiguous and complicated by double genre expectations. The article regards exam writing in a socio-cultural perspective as an act of writing within a given context. Through so-called constellation analysis of a selection of student texts, exam writing is studied as both a response to the writing prompt and in anticipation of the external examiner’s assessment, and the students’ text norms and ‘writing selves’ are explicated. The study finds a marked diversity and complexity in the selection of texts and identifies four different student approaches to the task: strategic creativity, immediate narration, intuitive staging and culturally competent communication. Correspondence between text patterns and examination grades is relatively obscure. However, a preference for the intuitive and immediate approaches can be seen, and personally engaging texts are rewarded with higher grades. Multi-modal design and accurately addressing the requirements of the writing prompt are rewarded to a limited extent, while verbal text and literary-inspired writing styles are acknowledged and partially offset deviations from the explicit requirements. The findings call for further research and for research-informed revision of Danish examination practices.