Understanding Resistance: Preservice Teachers’ Discourse Models of Struggling Readers and School Literacy Tasks
Abstract
Increased attention is being given to the attitudes exhibited by preservice teachers enrolled in secondary-level content area literacy courses, who frequently resist the idea of teaching reading to their future students. To develop a greater understanding of such perspectives, the author analyzed literacy narratives written by undergraduate students enrolled in five sections of secondary-level content area literacy courses. The findings suggest that preservice teachers' past literacy experiences must be addressed before they can acclimate to learning methods designed to support the needs of struggling readers in content area instruction.
Reference
Lesley, M. (2011). Understanding Resistance: Preservice Teachers’ Discourse Models of Struggling Readers and School Literacy Tasks. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 55(1), 25–34.
Journal
Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy
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
- Undergraduates (university based program)
Preservice Sample Size
114
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
Data Analysis Tools
- Discourse models (a priori)
- grounded theory
- Inductive analysis
Researcher Positionality
- inside (staying their own students)
Research Questions
"How do preservice teachers enrolled in a content area literacy course describe their reading and writing abilities and experiences for both in-school and out-of-school purposes in a written literacy narrative?" (p. 27)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
"What kinds of Discourse models about reading and writing do secondary-level preservice teachers give voice to in written literacy narratives?" (p. 27)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Unknown