Abstract of

Literacy Professionals' Perspectives on Professional Development and Pedagogy: A United States Survey

Michelle Commeyras

Linda DeGroff

This study sought insights into literacy professionals' perspectives on current trends in literacy teaching and learning. The questionnaire was mailed to a random sample of K-12 teachers, reading specialists, administrators, library-media specialists, and teacher educators in the U.S. Results are based on 1,519 responses. The report discusses findings in terms of professional development (reading professional literature, teacher education, and teacher research) and pedagogy (book clubs, portfolio assessment, and motivation). Results indicate that literacy professionals (a) read practitioner journal articles, books, and professional newspapers more often than research journals or electronic sources; (b) believe that collaborative experiences between mentor teachers, student teachers, and teacher educators are important, but many of them have had little experience with such collaborations; (c) are familiar with teacher research, are interested in becoming teacher researchers, and find their practices influenced by teacher research; (d) agree that book clubs are a valuable form of pedagogy, but most have not had such experiences themselves and fewer still have had experiences with book clubs in which multicultural literature was read; (e) have knowledge, experience, and interest in portfolio assessment, but do not agree that portfolios should replace other forms of assessment; and (f) find intrinsic indicators of motivation to be more meaningful than extrinsic indicators. Issues for further research are discussed.

Abstract from Commeyras, M., & DeGroff, L. (1998). Literacy Professionals' Perspectives on Professional Development and Pedagogy: A United States Survey. Reading Research Quarterly, 33(4), 434–472. doi: 10.1598/RRQ.33.4.5