The starting point for this study, using Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), was a pragmatic perspective on science and knowledge, since what was being investigated is the practical use of a specific method for teaching literacy skills. The Witting method being investigated is easy to identify on a theoretical level. While this study focuses on the practical use of the method, there is an overlap between theoretical issues and practical considerations. In Sweden there is a dearth of knowledge about what experienced and skilled teachers do when they succeed in teaching children to read and write (Myrberg, 2003; Andersson, 1986; Skolverket, 1996, 1998; Myrberg & Lange, 2006). A pragmatic approach to scientific endeavour highlights how real people act in real situations and where those activities are possible to observe (Liedman, 1998). Learning, from Dewey’s perspective (1916/1997), is a dialectic process based on observation, activity, experiences and conceptualizations these experiences generate. The practical process of teaching reading and writing may also be interpreted on the basis of Vygotskij’s theories about development and mediation where proximal zones of learning and social interaction plays a big part (Vygotskij, 1934/1999). Successful teaching strategies should involve a balance between working with letter-sound and comprehension (Naeslund, 1956; Barr, Kamil, Mosenthal & Pearson, 1991; Lerkkanen, 2003). Wasik and Slavin (1993) have pointed out that more research on the effects of teaching support is needed and how collaboration between pupils and teachers leads to successful reading and writing development. The aim of the study is to conceptualize and generate a theory about what teachers and their pupils do when working with the Witting Method. A wider goal is to try and apply the implications of the derived grounded theory to general and special education theory in helping to alleviate reading and writing difficulties and prevent pupils from failing? The study began with an open question about “what’s going on” and led on to the following questions: - in what way is the Witting method and its application, regardless of the context in which it is used, important for pupils who are at risk of failing or already have failed in their reading and writing acquisition? - what are pupils ’experiences of their teachers’ ways of working? - could pupils articulate a conscious awareness of their reading and writing development? - what aspects of the teachers training is an impediment for their own special education practice?

The choice of Grounded Theory (GT) methodology was based on the supposition that it would provide an effective approach to identify the kinds of problems that teachers faced in their teaching practice and how they tried to resolve them. Data-gathering was eclectic; observation, note-taking, video-recording, “open questionnaires”, “small chats” and regular interviews with all teachers and some pupils. Data analysis followed the precepts of GT- methodology (Glaser, 1978; 1998). The parameters of the present study are (i) four female teachers/special teachers, (ii) their 44 pupils, 16 girls and 28 boys (iii) in four different contexts, (iv) all using the Witting method. All subjects have been chosen through purposeful sampling, beginning with the first teacher who put the author in contact with the Witting method. The age of the pupils ranged from 7 to 20 years and all were chosen because of their connections with the various teachers.

Ensuring literacy through didactic arranging is the proposed Grounded Theory. It derives from how teachers, in different contexts, teach pupils literacy skills by using the Witting method. Their use of didactic arranging enables the prerequisites needed for them to handle the complexity of their assignment on both societal and individual levels. Reflection and observation is central for solving complex situations (Dewey, 1916/1997). Teachers’ didactical considerations as well as their ethical values are important for how theoretical knowledge unites with teaching practice, also in teaching of reading and writing (Langer, 2002; Darling-Hammond, 1997; Witting, 1985) ). The grounded theory of ensuring literacy through didactic arranging may be regarded as a model in three stages where the threads are woven together in a never-ending stream of multifactorial activities. The stages in the theory where teachers’ and pupils’ work is woven together are: assignment adaptation, situational adaptation and competence controlling.