What Matters Most? A Survey of Accomplished Middle-Level Educators' Beliefs and Values about Literacy

Content Area Reading and Writing: Practices and Beliefs

“…All classroom and social studies teachers stated that all teachers are actually teachers of reading and writing, and have a responsibility to make students better readers and writers. Mallette et al (2005) found a similar result in their study. The authors found that of the 81 teachers, 76 were favorable toward the statement of "every teacher is a teacher of literacy."…”

“…Teachers do not know much about how to teach reading, but they were asked to teach reading to students who need it the most (Bintz, 1997). As Mallette, Henk, Waggoner, and DeLaney (2005) stated, "most of the 20 th century could be characterized by the resistance to teaching reading across the content areas" (p. 33). Resistance to incorporating reading instruction into content areas (Stewart & O'Brien, 1989), and secondary teachers' resistance to becoming teachers of reading (Conley, Kerner, & Reynolds, 2005) is well documented.…”

“…According to Moje (2008), a significant body of research over the last 20 years has showed that in-service teachers rarely enact content literacy strategies in their classrooms. Mallette et al (2005) also indicated that historically many teachers in the middle grades have believed that the responsibility for instruction in reading and other aspects of literacy is the responsibility of the language arts or English teachers.…”

Turkish Pre-Service Teachers` Perceived Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Knowledge about Using Expository Text as an Instructional Tool in Their Future Classroom Settings

“…According to Moje (2008), research over the past two decades documents that in-service teachers rarely employ content area literacy strategies in their classrooms. This deficiency, as Mallette et al (2005) note that it may be that teachers feel that responsibilities and skills relative to reading were responsibilities of language art teachers. Alternatively, teachers may regard these strategies as in effective and time-consuming (Moje, 2008).…”

The Literacy Beliefs and Practices of Middle Level English Language Arts Teachers

“…Research approaches that employ qualitative measures typically include think aloud protocols, retrospective interviews, stimulated recall, journal keeping, focused interviews, ethnographies, the use of metaphors, and policy capturing techniques (see Dooley & Assaf, 2009;Fang, 1996;Munby, 1986Munby, , 1987Munby & Russell, 1990;Nolen, 2001). Still other researchers have utilized a combination of measures, often integrating quantitative means with qualitative means using methods such as the repertory grid technique, Q-sort tasks, questionnaires coupled with interviews and observations, surveys, and other means that generally integrate a case study approach (see Dadds, 1999;Mallette, Henk, Waggoner, & DeLaney, 2005;Murphy, Delli, & Edwards, 2004;Rimm-Kaufman & Sawyer, 2004;Theriot & Tice, 2008).…”