Research-Based Practices for Teaching Reading in Elementary Classrooms: An Exploration of the Instructional Practices of Former Elementary Education Students
Abstract
Abstract
This study explored the instructional reading practices of four elementary teachers, who obtained their Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and have been employed in public elementary schools for nearly three years. The individuals were the researcher’s former university students, and had previously experienced classroom literacy instruction in the use of research-based instructional practices within a constructivist framework for teaching reading in a university methods course and practicum.
Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, this study explored how these teachers’ knowledge about the use of research-based instructional practices, or best practices, for teaching reading to children influenced their classroom instruction, as well as what conditions contributed to or inhibited their use. Through interviews and classroom observations of the four teachers, data were analyzed to describe the factors and dynamics that influenced these teachers’ choices for reading instruction. In particular, this study explored whether or not these teachers were implementing the research-based practices for teaching reading that were a large part of their university training in their teacher preparation program, and what may have helped or hindered them from doing so. The classroom teachers described their beliefs regarding how reading should be taught, what influenced these beliefs, how they taught reading, the support or lack of support from their administrators, the pressure they felt from district and state-mandated assessments of their students, and their sense of self-confidence as teachers. This study includes recommendations for teacher education coursework in the area of reading instruction, and also discusses suggestions for further research.
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The recognition and discussion of effective reading instruction and the significance of using research-based practices for teaching reading and writing continue to emerge in scholarly circles as topics of great concern in the educational arena today. There have been many debates about teachers’ practices and the need to be certain that all children are learning. The question of how they teach reading as well as what they teach has created pressure for teachers as they strive for answers to help resolve their students’ reading difficulties (Allington, 2002). In addition, legislative efforts and policies that inevitably affects teachers’ practices by mandating that school districts find instructional practices to improve reading skills, remain at the forefront of educational debate among policy makers in the United States (U.S.) today. This has been, and continues to be, the focus of concern for policy makers, teacher educators, administrators, teachers, and parents. This is not a new concern or focus for the U.S; rather, it has been a topic of discussion since the beginning of formal education in this country.
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