Teachers’ academic training for literacy instruction

ABSTRACT

Literacy instruction is a powerful determinant of children’s academic and school outcomes. Teachers’ training for literacy instruction is therefore critical for children’s reading learning. The present study examined the contents of 130 courses related to literacy instruction from a representative national sample of primary teachers’ undergraduate programs (N = 81), to address the following issues: which courses, related to literacy instruction, are included in the curriculum of undergraduate training programs? Which is the weight of the courses in undergraduate programs? What are the contents of the courses? The results show that most critical features of literacy instruction are included in the course contents of most programs (e.g. phonics, theory of literature). Still, some other critical features are underrepresented (reading/writing comprehension skills) or apparently missing (assessment and intervention in reading/writing problems). Moreover, the time allocated to literacy instruction seems to be scarce. Still, wide differences across university programs and courses were found.

KEYWORDS:

• Literacy instruction
• specific content knowledge
• reading and writing
• undergraduate teachers’ training

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Throughout this article, the term literacy instruction will be used to refer to the instruction of reading and writing.

2. The ECTS show the weight of any course or group of courses in the framework of a reliable, standardized, and international system.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Célia Oliveira

Célia Oliveira holds a PhD on Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, at the University of Minho, with a thesis about the influence of attentional inhibitory processes on Working Memory Capacity. She also holds a Master Degree in Clinical Psychology with a thesis about Working Memory in school aged children with ADHD. As a school psychologist she focused on the developmental problems of handicapped children and on the learning problems of school-aged children. She currently teaches Psychology at the O’Porto Lusófona University.

João Lopes

João Lopes holds is a Ph.D. in Psychology, and he is a hired Professor in the School of Psychology of the University of Minho. His research interests focuses in the areas of learning disabilities, reading instruction, classroom behavior problems and classroom management. He wrote more than a dozen books on these subjects.

Louise Spear-Swerling

Louise Spear-Swerling, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita, Southern Connecticut State University, Department of Special Education and Reading. Her research interests include literacy acquisition, literacy difficulties, and teacher education. Currently she continues her consulting work for public school districts in Connecticut, as well as her research and writing. Her most recent research project focuses on the voluntary literacy habits and reading volume of teacher candidates.