Peter Effect in the Preparation of Reading Teachers

Abstract

The Peter Effect (Applegate & Applegate, 2004) claimed that one cannot be expected to give what one does not possess. We applied this notion to reading teacher preparation and hypothesized that teacher educators who do not possess an understanding of basic language constructs would not prepare teacher candidates with an understanding of these constructs considered essential for early reading success. Results from a survey of basic language constructs revealed similar patterns in performance between teacher educators and their respective teacher candidates, which served as initial validation of the Peter Effect in reading teacher preparation.The Peter Effect is based on the biblical story of the Apostle Peter, who when asked for money by a beggar replied that he could not give what he himself did not have (Acts 3:5). Applegate and Applegate (2004) applied the principle of the Peter Effect as an explanation to their findings from an investigation of teacher candidates' attitudes toward enjoyment of reading. Findings revealed that 54.3% of 195 teacher candidates were classified as unenthusiastic about reading and only Correspondence should be sent to R. Malatesha Joshi, Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843.

Actual Disciplinary Knowledge, Perceived Disciplinary Knowledge, Teaching Experience and Teacher’s Training for Reading Instruction: A Study with Primary Portuguese and American Teachers // Conhecimento disciplinar efectivo, conhecimento percebido...

“…The analysis also showed that there is much common variance shared by knowledge related variables (KPA, KFVC and KASSI) in the prediction of global perceived knowledge, and that there are suppression effects between variables. Although these results are similar to those found by others (e.g., Binks-Cantrell et al, 2012;Washburn et al, 2011), the large overlap between KPA, KFVC and KASSI, suggests that these variables represent one single factor. It seems therefore meaningless to explain the predictive value of any specific knowledge variables.…”

“…In one of the most important studies about elementary teachers' education schools in the USA, Walsh et al (2006) concluded that "most education schools are not teaching the science of reading" (p. 22), that "much of current reading instruction is incompatible with science" (p. 29), and that "teacher educators portray the science of reading instruction as an approach that is no more valid than others" (p. 30). If undergraduate teachers are not receiving appropriate instruction, one can hardly expect them to be able to calibrate their perceived knowledge with the needed disciplinary knowledge (Applegate & Applegate, 2004;Binks-Cantrell, Washburn, Joshi, & Hougen, 2012).…”

Teachers' knowledge about developmental dyslexia: Educational implications

“…La primera de ellas, la más abundante, ha mostrado consistentemente que los maestros, tanto estudiantes a punto de finalizar sus estudios como los maestros con experiencia profesional, tienen lagunas de conocimientos significativas acerca de los diferentes constructos lingüísticos (p.e. fonología, fonética, sintaxis y morfología) que están en la base de la enseñanza de la lectura en niños con y sin dificultades de aprendizaje (Binks-Cantrell, Joshi, Washburn y Hougen, 2012;Bos, Mather, Dickson, Podhajski y Chard, 2001;Chesman, McGuire, Shankweiler y Coyne, 2009;Joshi, Binks, Hougen, Dahlgren, Dean et al, 2009;Moats, 2009;Lopes, Spear-Swerling, Oliveira, Velasquez y Zibulsky, 2014;Moats y Foorman, 2003;Piasta, Connor McDonald, Fishman y Morrison, 2009;Spear-Swerling, 2007;Spear-Swerling, Brucker y Alfano, 2005;Washburn, Joshi y Binks-Cantrell, 2011a;Washburn, Joshi y Binks-Cantrell, 2011b). Obviamente, sin estos conocimientos los profesores no pueden proporcionar una instrucción a los niños que mejore sus habilidades lectoras, especialmente en los niños con dificultades de aprendizaje.…”

The Dyslexia Dilemma: A History of Ignorance, Complacency and Resistance in Colleges of Education

“…Failure to provide essential knowledge in science and exposure to its literature continues to promulgate ignorance with regard to educational knowledge, which is particularly the case with regard to reading, reading acquisition and reading failure. Binks-Cantrell et al, [82] refer to this lack of knowledge as the Peter Effect [83] in which individuals cannot teach what they do not know themselves. There is no specialization area that would lead to a doctorate in education that could forgo the Science of Reading content.…”