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A pre-service reading teacher field experience.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

This study compared the efficacy beliefs of two groups of pre-service reading teachers in a state required undergraduate course in language and reading acquisition. Each group was exposed to course material through classroom discussions, interaction, and lecture. However, one class participated in the weekly tutoring of reading at a local elementary school. The Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale was given to both groups. Results showed no significant changes in pre-service teacher efficacy as a result of the field experience project.

Introduction

The current increase in elementary school student enrollment, emphasis on academic achievement, and demand for better reading education calls for an increase in the need for quality teachers in our schools. However, simultaneously attrition rates of teachers continue to grow. The National Center for Education Statistics (2001) reported that one in every five new teachers quits teaching after only three years. When this statistic is compounded with the rising number of teachers retiring and the higher numbers of student enrollment also reported, there is cause for worry. The paradox for teacher educators and educational researchers is how can programs increase the quality of new teachers while also ensuring these individuals remain in the profession. Increasing preservice teacher efficacy may be one way to do both simultaneously. Additionally, with today's increased emphasis on literacy and the national demand that all children read at grade level by third grade it is extremely important that we increase teacher efficacy with regard to the teaching of reading.

Some teacher preparation programs have begun to integrate tutoring and other field experiences as a way to allow pre-service teachers to gain hands-on experiences with students in real world situations. This experience is important, as pre-service teachers are students enrolled in education courses learning content appropriate for their future careers, but they have not yet taken on the role of a student teacher in a school setting. Thus, they usually do not have the opportunity to apply the material they learn in their undergraduate courses to a real world teaching situation. As teaching is an applied profession, it is valuable for future teachers to be given the experience of being in a classroom teaching a child and applying the content knowledge they...

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