Examining the Nature of Expertise in Reading Instruction

Abstract

Teacher educators examined three aspects of expertise in reading instruction in 15 preservice, classroom, and intervention teachers at three distinctively different points in their professional development. In one sitting, participants responded to two video clips showing the same first-grade child reading familiar text in a Reading Recovery lesson to the same teacher at the beginning and again in the middle of the school year. Teachers responded to written prompts that invited them to use their current knowledge to interpret, infer, and recommend a tentative instructional course for the child. A qualitative content analysis was conducted to categorize responses and contrast perspectives among these groups. Preservice teachers' statements were tied to clearly observed behaviors and a limited view of the reading process. Classroom and intervention teachers understood behaviors as indicators of current processing strengths and changes that are likely as the child attempted to deal with more complex materials and literacy tasks. Differences that emerged provide insights into the nature of developing expertise through university course work and continued professional practice and professional development. Findings hold implications for assessment in teacher education and call for further research to elaborate the nature of advanced knowledge acquisition related to literacy instruction and the effectiveness of professional development for supporting that knowledge.

Keywords:

• teacher education
• assessment
• observations
• expertise
• reading instruction