Dispelling Deficit Framing: Investigating Preservice Teacher Beliefs About the Intersections between Literacy Instruction and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

ABSTRACT

Our study explored preservice teacher beliefs about enacting culturally relevant literacy instructions in their future classrooms. We surveyed PSTs from one teacher education programme across three cohorts, with one cohort completing both pre- and post-survey responses. Engaging in constant comparative analysis of PSTs’ beliefs about the intersection of student diversity and literacy instruction revealed perspectives along a continuum between equity and equality. These beliefs were further categorised into five profiles: (1) Colorblind; (2) Other Factors Matter; (3) Deficit-Framed Diversity; (4) Academic Success; and (5) Cultural Competence. Results also suggest a general shift of PST beliefs over the course of the teacher education programme towards more culturally competent stances, pointing to a primary implication that teacher preparation can support collective development towards cultural awareness.

KEYWORDS:

• Preservice teachers
• teacher beliefs
• culturally relevant teaching
• diversity
• equity

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Statement of Ethics

All research involving human participants was in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Research Board at XXXX: IRB: XXXX.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author [author initials] upon reasonable request.

Notes

1. Survey available upon request.

2. The low response rate is likely due to variations in instructor participation during the initial pre-survey administration, a process that has since been improved.

3. For reporting, we reference all quotes from either the pre- or post-survey and their anonymous participant ID. This ID was generated stacking all eligible survey respondents.

4. We change citing nomenclature here because we are referring to individual PSTs as opposed to individual response. Numbering is based on overall participant sample.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Notes on contributors

Michelle Kwok

Michelle Kwok is a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Culture at Texas A&M University. Her research interests reside in the intersections of disciplinary literacy instruction, teacher education, and socially just education.

Ambyr Rios

Ambyr Rios is an assistant professor of teacher education in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at Kansas State University. Her research interests include culturally multidimensional literacy instruction, disciplinary literacy, and preservice teacher preparation.

Andrew Kwok

Andrew Kwok is an assistant professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning, & Culture at Texas A&M University. His research focuses on supporting beginning teachers with a particular focus on classroom management, teacher preparation, and teacher induction