Session Information
31 ONLINE 24 A, Preparing teachers for the challenges of language and literacy: Reflective, conceptual and didactical considerations
Paper Session
MeetingID: 868 3049 2361 Code: DRt3Aq
Contribution
In addition to teaching to read, future primary school teachers should promote reading for pleasure and encourage literary reading. This is especially difficult for fledging teachers because of their lack of experience when dealing with students, literary works and school libraries. Likewise, different studies have shown that teacher’s training, resources and conviction of to promote reading in Primary Education vary substantially and, in general terms, they have also shown that their reading experiences are limited (Munita, 2013). Initial training in the subject becomes very important in order to act with teaching professionalism (Granado & Puig, 2014; Leland, 2013). In the process of initial training of Primary School teachers, these functions are specifically addressed in the subjects of Language and Literature Didactics. Although this initial training has notable shortcomings (limited presence in the different curricula, excessively broad framework of action, unstable teaching staff, etc.), it is necessary to know the different didactic strategies used by university teaching staff in the context of reading training of future teachers (Álvarez, 2018). The reading approach used by lecturers and professors of Literature Didactics in initial teacher training can have an impact on the teaching practices of future teachers in the Primary Education classrooms.
This article presents a qualitative study in which 73 university professors have participated on the teaching strategies they follow when teaching subjects related to the teaching of reading and literature (DLL - Language and Literature Didactics) in the Primary Education Degree in the Spanish university. The analysis of the data has allowed identifying numerous teaching practices and organize them around three main categories: (1) didactic strategies directed to the development of academic abilities, (2) directed to know teaching abilities and (3) directed to the development of reading practices in the students.
It is possible to conclude that teachers employ a great diversity of methods and activities, which are complementary, with a strong innovative and practical component, which serve a dual purpose: to favour an affective approach of teaching students towards reading and literature and provide to this one of the theoretical-practical tools that help him to develop his work of reading mediation successfully.
Method
The overall objective of this work is to identify the various teaching practices put into practice by expert lecturers that teach DLL-related subjects in the BA in Primary Education in Spain. We presume that there will be multiple teaching experiences, that we will be able to identify different models of teaching-learning practices and that a wide range of relevant didactic approaches will be known on the whole. A questionnaire was designed for teachers who teach DLL in Spanish universities, made up of several open-ended questions related to the methodology used in the didactics of reading and literature classes. A pilot questionnaire was previously presented to a small number of renowned expert teachers in the area of knowledge. Once their suggestions were collected, slight modifications were included and the final questionnaire was drafted. In order to determine the target population, we had to analyse the teaching guides for each academic year of the studies of BA in Primary Education of all Spanish universities. The questionnaire was sent via a tailored email to all teachers teaching DLL-related subjects. The number of subjects in the participating sample exceeds 30% of the total number of teachers in the population. 73 responses were obtained from teachers belonging to 45 different universities, located in the 17 autonomous communities of Spain, with greater representation of those where there are more universities; from public and private institutions, from men and women, and from more and less experienced teachers. The teachers who participated in this study are distributed as set forth in table 1. After the information was collected, the data were organised and analysed, following the guidelines of content analysis, since all of them are of a qualitative nature, giving rise to a series of emerging categories, which structure the results heading. In order to ensure that our research was rigorous and met all the usual ethical standards (independence, confidentiality, anonymity, etc.) in this study.
Expected Outcomes
The diversity of teaching strategies used by teachers is noteworthy. The difficulty of structuring or categorising the multiple strategies used by DLL teachers is obvious. Although it is true that some have a more marked theoretical or practical nature, or imply more specific activities or projects of greater or lesser scope, most of them normally share several common features. In this case, we chose a type of categorisation that responds to three lines of work that are complementary. With regard to didactics of training for future teachers, it is necessary to master: a) strategies aimed at the development of academic skills, emphasising knowledge on research and works of a more theoretical nature, in aspects of teacher planning and in the use of technological and other type of resources; b) didactic strategies aimed at the development of teaching skills that enhance progress in terms of reading competence of future schoolchildren and, in parallel, the work of reading mediation and c) didactic strategies aimed at the development of reading practices and tasks of literary creation that promote reading experiences among future teachers personal that could later project on their lives and on the exercise of their profession. In many of their testimonies, teachers express concerns that students, in addition to acquire knowledge or techniques, analyse and evaluate their didactic potential and their personal beliefs and attitudes towards reading. A large pool of university teachers endeavours to respond to their training needs by proposing a broad range of innovative practices and practical tasks. Obviously, the aim is to respond to today’s approaches to reading and literary didactics, but also to make possible a friendlier vision of reading and a “reading and literary re-education” for many students, who need to detach themselves from a distorted vision of reading and literary education.
References
Álvarez, C. (2018). A qualitative study on book clubs and dialogue literary gatherings in Spain and Brazil. Public Library Quarterly, 38(1), 72-84. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01616846.2018.1530032 Granado, C. (2014). Teachers as readers: a study of the reading habits of future teachers. Cultura y Educación, 26(1), 44-70. https://doi.org/10.1080/11356405.2014.908666 Leland, K. M. (2013). The Impact of a Teacher Preparation Literacy Course on Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Teaching Young Children how to Read. SRATE Journal, 22(2), 65-70. Munita, F. (2014). Reading habits of pre-service teachers. Cultura y Educación, 26(3), 448-475. https://doi.org/10.1080/11356405.2014.96544
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