Preservice and Inservice Secondary Teachers' Orientations Toward Content Area Reading

Abstract

This study examined preservice and inservice secondary teachers' orientations toward content area reading and instruction. Instruments included two sets of belief statements and three sets of lesson plans; for comparison, each instrument incorporated three explanations of the reading process. Based on their selection of statements and plans, preservice teachers favored an interactive model of reading but a reader-based instructional approach, whereas in-service teachers held reader-based beliefs in both areas. In addition, both groups selected primarily reader-based vocabulary and comprehension lessons but varied in their choices of decoding lessons. Further, only teachers holding reader-based beliefs consistently chose corresponding vocabulary and comprehension plans.