A multi-year study of pre-service teachers’ literacy practices in the content areas: time epistemologies and indicators of stasis and growth
Abstract
This three-year study focuses on 42 pre-service teachers' perspectives on integrating literacy into their content area teaching. Preservice teachers described time as an influential factor shaping their teaching practices, and, we found, that perceptions of time influenced pre-service teachers' reported ability and willingness to plan for and enact the implementation of literacy strategies as part of content area lessons. While we noted a number of factors related to time, we were particularly drawn to three time-related factors that signified for pre-service teacher participants' active roles and agency in how they were enacted in the classroom. Identifying temporal concerns about curriculum, learner response to literacy practices, and use of classroom time to scaffold learning allowed us to specify aspects of participants' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development as well as facets of limited PCK growth. Using time as a theoretical lens to view pre-service teachers' accounts of literacy practices, we suggest, provides insights into their PCK, specifically indicators of stasis and growth, and understanding about pre-service teacher resistance or acceptance to the infusion of literacy into content area teaching.
Reference
Mitton-Kükner, J., & Murray Orr, A. (2018). A multi-year study of pre-service teachers’ literacy practices in the content areas: time epistemologies and indicators of stasis and growth. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 13(1), 19-35.
Journal
Pedagogies: An International Journal
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
yes
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
- "longitudinal": across varying classes over time
- Qualitiative
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
- Content Area Literacy
- multiple subjects credential
Research Location Context
- Content area literacy course
Preservice Participants
- Post bachs (university based program)
Preservice Sample Size
42
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
Data Analysis Tools
- Inductive analysis
- Open coding
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
Research Questions
How do pre-service teachers make instructional decisions concerning time and the relevant traditional, new, and multiliteracies for use in the teaching of content in their discipline? (p. 22).
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? No