Race and Ability Talk in Early Childhood: Critical Inquiry Into Preservice Teachers' Shared Book Reading Practice

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 32
  In Roundtable Session: Teaching Across Difference: Ability, Language, and Race

Abstract

In this qualitative study, we investigated how four White, able-bodied pre-service teachers facilitated dialogue about ability and race with young children during shared-book reading, and the experiences that mediated pre-service teachers’ practice. Results demonstrated how pre-service teachers constructed themselves as experts by controlling the amount of child talk and ways children could contribute to talk. When ability and race were discussed, pre-service teachers conveyed the notion that ability and race are neutral identity markers. Given what they gleaned from their early educational experiences, experiences in university coursework, and fieldwork, pre-service teachers had few means by which to enter critical conversations about ability and race with young children. Implications for teacher education and future research are discussed.

Authors

• Margaret R. Beneke, University of Washington

• Gregory Cheatham, University of Kansas