Normalizing literary responses in the teacher education classroom

Abstract

In this essay, the authors present analyses of data emerging from a study of a classroom of pre‐service English language arts teachers' readings of a young adult novel that challenged normative sexuality stereotypes. They argue that when literary fictions are included within teacher education ‘methods’ courses, the possibility that literature might support generative learning is eroded by the normative structures of teacher education, particularly those pedagogical beliefs and practices that separate discourses of experience from discourses of knowledge. The authors offer a brief overview of studies of human consciousness, with particular attention to how literary experiences can contribute to its development. They suggest that the identities that co‐emerge with conscious awareness are structured by normalizing discourses instantiated within teacher education methods courses. The essay concludes with a discussion of how the conscious awareness of beginning English teachers might be more expansively developed within pre‐service teacher education.

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Gloria Filax's assistance with the collecting of data and, as well, for her assistance with helping to develop some of the conceptual analysis presented in this article. Her recent (in press) book provides additional information on the larger socio‐political context of the research reported in this article.