From Preservice to Practice: Investigating the Effects of a Writing Methods Course on Teacher Practices

• In Event: Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Cultural Diversity and Interactional Processes in the Teaching of Writing

Abstract

Few studies have investigated connections between classroom practices and literacy methods courses. A triangulation mixed-methods design was used to investigate the writing instructional practices of eleven elementary teachers. All had graduated from the same teacher education program, but only six had taken a writing methods course in their teacher education program. Analyses of observational and interview data gather over the course of one school year, indicated significant differences in the quality of writing instruction between the two groups. Instructional activities and approaches, used in the classrooms of teachers who had taken the course, linked back to observational data of the methods course. Findings suggest implications for writing teacher educators and researchers, as well as for teacher education programs.

Authors

• Susan D. Martin, Boise State University

• Sherry Dismuke, Boise State University