Perceptions and Knowledge of Preservice and Inservice Teachers About Early Literacy Instruction

Abstract

A major conclusion from the last decade of research on children with poor reading performance is that early, systematic instruction in phonological awareness and letter-sound correspondences improves early reading and spelling skills and results in a reduction of the number of students who are reading below grade level. To teach reading to at-risk students and students with learning disabilities, teachers need to have positive perceptions regarding the role of systematic, explicit instruction, as well as knowledge of English language structure. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and knowledge of general educators at two professional levels toward early literacy instruction for students at risk for reading failure. Unfortunately, our findings are similar to those obtained by Moats in 1994: Many general education teachers, at both preservice and inservice levels, are not prepared adequately for this challenging task.

Reference

Mather, N., Bos, C., & Babur, N. (2001). Perceptions and knowledge of preservice and inservice teachers about early literacy instruction. Journal of learning disabilities, 34(5), 472-482.

Journal

Journal of Learning Disabilities

Analysis

Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?

yes

Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?

Research Approach

Survey

Geographic Setting

Southwestern United States

Institutional Context

University based

Certification Level

Elementary

Programatic Focus

Elementary

Research Location Context

Not stated

Preservice Participants

Undergraduates (university based program)

Preservice Sample Size

293

Other Participant Data

Inservice Teachers

Duration of Data Collection

Data Sources

Teacher Knowledge Assessment- Structure of Language (Mather, Bos & Babur, 2001)
Teacher Knowledge Assessment: Structure of Language (TKA: SL)

Data Analysis Tools

ANOVA
Descriptive statistics

Researcher Positionality

not stated

Research Questions

Would PT and inservice teachers believe that: (p. 473) Phonemic awareness play an important role in reading development and reading failure; Beginning readers need to be able to segment words into phonemes (speech sounds) and blend phonemes into words; and, The ability to recognize words accurately and easily is essential for rapid decoding?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes

Would these teachers be knowledgeable about language structure and be able to apply this knowledge to tasks such as counting the number of syllables and phonemes within words?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes