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?

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

Research Approach

Qualitiative

Geographic Setting

Institutional Context

University based

Certification Level

Secondary

Programatic Focus

Research Location Context

University

Preservice Participants

Undergraduates (university based program)

Preservice Sample Size

114

Duration of Data Collection

Data Sources

literacy narratives

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