‘Reading At Home’: Perceptions, Purpose And Practice. Does Teachers' Practice Of Facilitating And Encouraging ‘Reading At Home’ Reflect Their Beliefs

Author(s):

Joy Mower(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

01. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations

Format:

Paper

Session Information

01 SES 11 C, Teachers’ Beliefs and Innovation

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-04

17:15-18:45

Room:

B035 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Richard Harris

Contribution

A case study of one English school was undertaken to explore teachers’ beliefs about the purpose of children ‘reading at home'. These beliefs were compared with both the teachers description of practices in the school designed to facilitate and encourage ‘reading at home’ and in relation to international research reporting on the major factors in influencing reading literacy achievement. The data was collected through a thematic analysis of small group semi-structured conversations with questions provided by the researcher but led by the teachers themselves. Teachers expressed beliefs about the purposes of reading at home, parental involvement and how children access text both at school and in the environment beyond school. The teachers’ own perceptions of practice in school did not consistently reflect these beliefs.

Method

This research was conducted within a qualitative, interpretivist paradigm as a case study, by a participant researcher using thematic content analysis methods to investigate data gathered from small group conversations. The purpose of the study is to understand existing cultures with a view to improving practice. The rationale for the methodology was to match the style of investigation to the question being investigated both philosophically and pragmatically. The philosophical basis for the study is that knowledge and understanding are socially constructed and mediated by language. Interpersonal communication is used both as a research tool and the means by which the assumptions and conclusions of the study will be assimilated into the culture it seeks to understand. The purpose is to initiate effective school development by following a bottom up approach seeking to build on shared understandings of existing practice through professional conversations that reflexively review and reshape current strategies. The main research tool employed for this study was semi-structured or ‘directed’ group conversation which sought to replicate the professional conversations that teachers often have as part of the process of developing understanding and shaping practice. As a participant researcher, instrumental in the practices under observation, the researcher did not participate in the conversations that generated the data, in order to avoid unintended influence or manipulation of the interactions between the other participants, taking into account pre-existing professional relationships. Although questions were provided as a framework and an overall time limit, the absence of an interviewer or facillitator allowed participants greater freedom to co-self-regulate the time allowed and depth and breadth of their responses. The data collection was undertaken within a time and situation that fell within the participants’ professional duties but consent was obtained from all participants and the right to withdraw maintained. The data was subjected to thematic analysis using a constant comparative analysis. Themes were constructed from the data using an inductive process with reference to a literature review conducted prior to the data collection exercise which both informed the methodology and identified background characteristics reported as major factors in influencing reading literacy achievement internationally.

Expected Outcomes

The study demonstrated that, within the case study school, teachers’ beliefs are congruent with some elements of their practice, but this is not always the case. Participants hold beliefs valuing ‘reading at home’ to practise skills, which conflict with beliefs about of choice and enjoyment. Enjoyment was often defined as a counteraction to negative associations; teachers hold beliefs about reading being a chore at school, whilst ‘reading at home’ is viewed as an opportunity to develop a love of reading. Participants hold beliefs about choice as a factor in engaging children’s interest in reading and concerns that it is not sufficiently recognised or realised in practice. A divergence of opinion was demonstrated about the position of libraries in promoting reading habits in children which was rooted in participants’ varying conceptual understandings of library processes and as physical and cultural spaces. Participants hold beliefs that children will and should access a range of texts, including digital, and in as many different contexts as possible but practices giving access to reading were perceived as still firmly centred on text in book format and primarily in print form. Participants’ beliefs about reading as an important and enjoyable bonding activity for children and parents, is often strongly influenced by their own experiences both as children and parents, yet they lack confidence in how to support parents and children in reading and an underlying assumption was noted that home reading practices should reflect school reading practices despite diverse home literacy cultures.

References

Clark, C. and Hawkins, L. (2010) Young People’s Reading: The Importance of the home environment and family support. National Literacy Trust. Fives, H. and Buehl, M. (2008) What do teachers believe? Developing a framework for examining beliefs about teachers’ knowledge and ability, Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33 pp 134-176. Heath, S. (1982), ‘What no bedtime story means: Narrative skills at home and school,’ Language in society, 11 (1), pp 49-76. Cambridge University Press Journals Digital Archives Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2002) Reading for Change: Performance and Engagement across Countries: Results from PISA 2000. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2010) PISA 2009 Results: Learning to Learn: Student Engagement, Strategies and Practices (Volume III) Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2012), Let's Read Them a Story! The Parent Factor in Education. Pajares, F. (1992) ‘Teachers’ beliefs and education research: Cleaning up a messy construct,’ Review of Educational Research, 62 (3) pp 307-332. Paris, S. G. & McNaughton, S. (2010) Social and cultural influences on children’s motivation for reading. In D. Wyse, R. Andrews, & J. Hoffman (eds) Poulson, L., Avramidis, E., Fox, R., Medwell, J. and Wray, D. (2001) Theoretical beliefs of effective teachers of literacy in primary schools: an exploratory study of orientations to reading and writing. Research Papers in Education Vol 16 No 3, pp. 271-292 Taylor and Francis online Shah-Wundenberg, M., Wyse, D. and Chaplain, R. (2012) Parents helping their children learn to read: The effectiveness of paired reading and hearing reading in a developing country context Journal of Early Childhood Literacy. Sage Journals Sweet, A., Guthrie, J. and Ng, M. (1998) ‘Teacher perceptions and Student Reading Motivation,’ Journal of Educational Psychology, 90 (2), pp 210-223. Woolfolk-Hoy, A., Davis, H. and Pape, S.J. (2006) ‘Teacher knowledge and beliefs,’ in Alexander, P. and Winne, P. (eds) Handbook of Educational Psychology 2nd edition, pp 715-737. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Wray, D. & Medwell, J. (1994) ‘Student teachers and teaching reading’, Reading, 28 (3), pp, 43-45 8.13)Wray, D. & Medwell, J. (1994) ‘Student teachers and teaching reading’, Reading, 28 (3), pp, 43-45 8.13)

Author Information

Joy Mower (presenting / submitting)

Canterbury Christ Church University

Primary Education

Whitstable

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