Abstracts Education

The construction and use of two preservice English teachers' personal content belief archives

by Wendy Kropid

Two preservice English teachers' theories of the content regarding English and its teaching were elicited through several interactive interview tasks. Belief exploration tasks (concept mapping, text and topic sorting sentence completions, lesson plans, and writing the personal theory of the content) encouraged the participants to express and share their personal theories about English teaching. Pedagogical interpretation tasks (analyses of their own teaching experiences, reflections on cases of other English teachers, responses to pictures of teachers, and hypothetical situations) encouraged the participants to contemplate and rationalize their own and others' teaching decisions. The completed written tasks, additional lesson plans, and interview transcripts of task discussions were compiled in each participant's personal content belief archive. Both participants' archives were analyzed to compare the content and the manner of their responses to each task. The participants related personal experiences, lesson ideas, comments about students, and beliefs about English and teaching. The participants hesitated or requested clarifications during some tasks but confidently completed others. Besides content and confidence, differences in rate of speech and tone indicated the very personal nature of these beliefs. Each participant also reviewed and analyzed her own archive at various points, supporting, clarifying, and exemplifying the conclusions reached by the researcher. Each participant's archive was further analyzed to identify trends in personal theories. A comparison between participants suggested both held personal theories about the role of the teacher, the specific English content and skills students should be taught, the usefulness of these skills, and the means each used to continue learning about English and its teaching. Ultimately, the participants referenced their theories of the content and their attempts to enact them as they discussed their student teaching. Implications included the increased reflection by the participants after completing the tasks and analyzing their archives, and the depth and variety of information about preservice teachers' practical knowledge gathered through the study tasks. Thus, the study added to what is currently known about preservice teachers' knowledge and their ability to articulate and reflect on their knowledge as they teach and learn.