The Discursive Construction of Knowledge in Literacy Coaching Interactions

• In Event: Coaching Approaches Across the Teacher Life Span

Abstract

The researchers used positioning theory and de Certeau's theoretical insights into cultural production in everyday life to examine how literacy coaches and teachers discursively negotiate issues of identity, power, and positioning during coaching interactions. They used microethnographic discourse analysis of a video recorded interaction in which a coach and four teachers discussed reading conferences. Findings demonstrate how the literacy coach and teachers shaped and were shaped by an institutional discourse of best practices as they tactically negotiated conflicting ideas about what it means to be a "good" teacher and what counts as knowledge.

Authors

• Carolyn Hunt, Illinois State University

• Lara J. Handsfield, Illinois State University