Pre-Service Teachers’ Growth In Understandings of Best Practice Literacy Instruction Through Paired Course and Field Experience
Abstract
Illiteracy is on the rise in the United States, and the potential negative impact on today’s struggling reader is devastating. Now more than ever, preparing pre-service teachers to be effective teachers of literacy is crucial. This study examined the growth in understandings of best practice literacy of eleven pre-service teachers through paired course and field work. Results reveal that through paired course and field work, growth of best practice literacy instruction is shown by pre-service teachers’ enhanced abilities to define, assign importance, and relate to implications for student learning as well as develop efficacy around their use. Results of this research have an impact on teacher preparation programs and highlight the importance of engaging pre-service teachers in literacy experiences that are connected to the course and field to better prepare them to meet the challenges of ensuring all students grow to be literate individuals.
Reference
Lipp, J., & Helfrich, S. R. (2016). Pre-Service Teachers' Growth In Understandings of Best Practice Literacy Instruction Through Paired Course and Field Experience. Reading Horizons, 55 (2). Retrieved from http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol55/iss2/4
Journal
Reading Horizons
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
no
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
Programatic Focus
Research Location Context
Preservice Participants
- Graduate and undergraduate
Preservice Sample Size
11
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- Likert style survey
- open ended questions
- Pre/Post survey
- reflections
Data Analysis Tools
- coding (emergent categories)
- Likert Scale
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
Research Questions
In what ways do pre-service teachers grow in their understandings and beliefs of best practice literacy instruction through unified course and field work?
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes