Abstract of

“School” Reading and Multiple Texts: Examining the Metacognitive Development of Secondary-Level Preservice Teachers

Mellinee Lesley

Patricia Watson

Susan Elliot

This practitioner-research study investigated the reading behaviors of preservice teachers from diverse content disciplines as they engaged in reading multiple texts pertaining to a historical topic. Through participant-observer field notes, reader response journals, reflective essays, and participant debriefing, the authors examined the metacognitive awareness of students enrolled in a content area literacy course for preservice, secondary-level teachers.

Results indicated that prospective teachers relied predominantly on a limited number of metacognitive strategies and engaged in reading behavior ranging from skimming and incomplete reading practices to not reading at all. This trend of engaging in less proficient or “pseudo-reading” strategies points to similarities in the reading behaviors and identities of these preservice teachers and of struggling readers described in many pedagogical theories surrounding content area literacy instruction. This study offers an explanation for the resistance secondary preservice teachers often exhibit toward content area literacy methods.

Abstract from Lesley, M., Watson, P., & Elliot, S. (2007, October). “School” Reading and Multiple Texts: Examining the Metacognitive Development of Secondary-Level Preservice Teachers. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 51(2), 150–162. doi: 10.1598/JAAL.51.2.6