ABSTRACT
This study addresses how problem-posing seminars provided room for preservice teachers (PSTs) to navigate the disconnect between theory and practice, facilitating reflection on their experiences, and fostering self-efficacy as novice English teachers. Viewing student teaching as identity construction, the authors applied the lens of Lensmire’s “voice as project” to written reflections of problem-posing seminar participation, exploring perceptions of self-efficacy in teaching. Written reflections indexed themes present in the larger data set generated from problem-posing seminars: the transitional nature of the student teacher field experience, the emerging reliance on a dialogic pedagogy, and their burgeoning sense of agency in the classroom. The problem-posing framework can be an integral scaffold supporting English teachers’ efforts to enact a dialogic pedagogy or other student-centered frameworks for teaching, establishing spaces where the mosaic of different facets of experience is valued and enables teacher and student alike to define their voices and determine their own trajectories.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Jim Hill
Jim Hill is a doctoral candidate in Curriculum and Instruction (English Education) at Virginia Tech. His research examines reading interventions for adolescents and teacher preparation.
Erika Lynn Bass
Erika Lynn Bass is an Assistant Professor of English Education at University of Northern Iowa. Her research explores writing instruction, rural education, and dialogic pedagogy.
Trevor Thomas Stewart
Trevor Thomas Stewart is an Associate Professor and the Program Leader for English Education at Virginia Tech. His research explores language, culture, creativity, and dialogic pedagogy.