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This study examined how K-5 general and special educators (N = 102) would choose to allocate time in a 2-h language arts block if they could do so as they wished, and how these choices related to their knowledge base for reading instruction. Preferences for time allocation were assessed through an open grid on which participants listed descriptions of planned instructional activities and amount of time for each activity; teacher knowledge was assessed via a multiple-choice measure involving questions about assessment and instruction in the five components of reading. Results showed that many teachers planned little or no time for areas such as assessment, vocabulary, phonemic awareness, and spelling; also, relatively little time was devoted to basic writing skills and virtually none to writing processes such as planning or revision. There were few significant differences between general and special educators in time allocation on the grid, although there were more differences by grade level (e.g., grids for Grades K-1 vs. Grades 4-5). Teacher knowledge did predict teachers' time allocation plans, particularly for teachers with relatively high knowledge of phonemic awareness and phonics. Overall, however, many teachers chose to allocate time in ways inconsistent with scientific recommendations, in writing as well as in reading. The study highlights the importance of research-based, targeted teacher professional development in literacy, as well as the need for schools to provide comprehensive, research-based core reading and writing curricula to educators, with attention to fidelity of implementation.
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In this study, the relation between primary teachers' actual disciplinary knowledge and teachers' perceived disciplinary knowledge in three distinct areas of reading instruction (phonics, fluency/vocabulary/comprehension, and assessment/intervention), as well as the relation between teachers' experience and teachers' background with these variables is investigated. Participants include Portuguese primary teachers (n = 390) and American primary teachers (n = 390). Results show that the American teachers outperform the Portuguese teachers in almost every item in analysis. Canonical correlation and commonality analysis show that actual disciplinary knowledge and perceived disciplinary knowledge are relatively independent constructs. Regression analyses show that actual knowledge predicts a small but significant amount of the variance in perceived knowledge. Knowledge about phonics instruction is by far the best unique predictor of teachers' perceived knowledge. The hypothesis of miscalibration (the “unskilled-and-unaware effect”) between actual knowledge and perceived knowledge in the less knowledgeable teachers was also explored. However, results do not suggest such an effect in our participants. Results also show that there are significant differences between Portuguese and American teachers, mainly in the area of knowledge about assessment/intervention.
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Prosody is an important but not fully understood component of reading. In this longitudinal study with a sample of 98. Portuguese elementary school children, a multilevel growth model with four repeated measures over time showed steady progress in participants’ reading prosody from the middle of 2nd to the end of 3rd grade. However, children’s growth in this area varied across time points. Results also showed that individual differences in prosody’s scores at baseline affect the performance of most but not of all students. Simple linear regressions showed that the prosody dimension “phrasing/expression” significantly predicted reading comprehension at all time points. Partial correlation analysis showed that when reading rate was accounted for, the unique contribution of prosody to reading comprehension was marginal, except at the third measurement © UPV/EHU.