Preservice teachers' perceptions of preparation and practices for teaching reading/language arts: three case studies
Year: 2006
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This interpretive case study is an investigation of a sample of three preservice \nteachers’ perceptions of their preparation and practices in learning to teach \nreading/language arts. The portrayals describe the professional experiences that the \nparticipants reported as valuable sources of knowledge in informing their learning to \nteach in elementary schools. The portrayals also present the knowledge and sources that \nthe three preservice teachers reported drawing upon when asked to view video-clips of \nother teachers’ demonstrations of reading/language arts teaching; the preservice teachers’ \ndescriptions and interpretations were compared with those of experienced teachers who \nreported on the same video-clips in order to further contextualize the preservice teachers’ \nburgeoning understandings about reading/language arts teaching. \nInterview data were collected during the semester in which the preservice teacher \nparticipants were concurrently completing a course in language arts methods and their \nstudent-teacher practica. Data analysis was ongoing and inductive (Glaser & Strauss, \n1967), and recurring themes and patterns were used to build representations that most \nexemplified the preservice teachers’ experiences. \nThe findings in this study suggest that the preservice teachers draw from multiple \nsources of knowledge, which include: course readings, assignments, and discussions; \nfieldwork observations and teaching experiences; and professor and peer relationship \nexperiences that fostered collaboration and idea sharing. Additional findings suggest that \npreservice teachers have ready facility with a particular lexicon and notice, label, define, \nand analyze features of instruction in exact or similar ways to experts. The three \npreservice teachers also differed from experts in marked ways, including the emphasis \ngiven to some features of instruction over others, and the nature and depth of elaboration \nused to describe and analyze features. \nThe implications of this study and suggestions for future research relate to the \npotential for preservice teachers to draw from multiple sources in their teacher education \nprogram, the potential for more and varied fieldwork experiences to influence preservice \nteachers’ practices, and the potential for participating in communities of learners in order \nto impact practices and develop toward expertise, among other implications.
Author: Charles Fuhrken
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2254876762