An investigation of preservice teachers' skills at recognizing elements of effective reading comprehension instruction

Nation-wide standardized testing has revealed a reading comprehension deficit among students across the nation. Scores reveal that one third of America's children fail to read proficiently by fourth grade. In an attempt to address this problem, explicit reading comprehension strategy instruction has become a critical component of reading instruction in classrooms across the nation.;The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in preservice teachers' skills at recognizing elements of effective reading comprehension instruction immediately following a semester-long reading methods course and immediately following a semester of student teaching experience.;A researcher-developed survey instrument was used to collect data from a sample of 49 preservice teachers enrolled in a teacher preparation program at a small, Midwestern university. Participants watched a video of a 2nd grade reading comprehension lesson. They were asked to fill out the survey that included items that were weighted according to relevance in terms of explicit comprehension instruction. T-tests were performed to compare the scores for the reading methods group and the student teaching group. The analyses revealed a significant difference in the scores of the two groups on one of the seven survey items. Student teachers were better able to recall and record language used by the teacher to state the purpose of the lesson.;Three open-ended essay questions were also included in the survey. Responses for these items were analyzed in a qualitative manner. Responses were transcribed and coded. Themes were identified. Participants were asked to describe teaching and/or learning experience(s) that had the most positive impact on their abilities to implement literacy instruction in their future classrooms. Results revealed that a majority of the student teachers identified their actual field experiences as the most influential factor. Methods students overwhelmingly reported that classroom observations of instruction had the most impact on their abilities to implement literacy instruction in the future.