8. Teachers' Changing Conceptions of Writing Instruction

Teachers' Changing Conceptions of Writing Instruction
Sarah J. McCarthey. National Center for Research on Teacher Learning.1992

This study aims to identify teachers' conceptions of writing and writing instruction and link those conceptions to program influences. This study examined a particular staff development program (the Teachers College Writing Project) and its influence upon teachers' conceptions of writing over time. The research questions that guided the study were (1) How do teachers' conceptions of writing instruction change over time? In particular, how do teachers' conceptions of the teacher-student relationship, goals for writing, and pedagogy change? and (2) How does a particular staff development program influence teachers' conceptions of writing instruction? The method of data collection and analysis for this study were consistent with interpretive/qualitative traditions of research (Erickson, 1986). Three teachers were selected from a larger sample of 10 teachers who participated in the Teachers College Writing Project. The participants in the study were three elementary New York City teachers, two from one school and one from a second school, who participated in the Writing Project. These three teachers were selected because they had incorporated at least some of the strategies of the Writing Project into their teaching. For instance, they had been observed implementing the structure of the writing workshop that included daily writing time for (a) minilessons, (b) teacher-student writing conferences, and (c) share time. They also provide interesting comparisons in the ways in which they understood and developed the ideas of the Writing Project and in the kinds and degree of change in their conceptions of writing and writing instruction. A complete set of longitudinal interview data was also available on each of the three teachers.


Relevance: This study examines the teacher cognition in L1 affected by the teacher training program overtime. The literature review flashbacks the evolvement of writing instruction theory from the product, process and to the social interaction in the 80’s. Although it is sensed by language teachers and educators that teachers' views about writing may play a major role in how they implement writing programs within classrooms, little attention was paid to explore teachers' personal belief in classroom instructions. As teachers hold traditional views of writing as consisting of appropriate syntax, grammatical structures, approach, the learning-to-teach literature suggests that the focus of change ought to be on teachers' cognitions and thought processes rather than behaviors (Elbaz, 1983; Leinhardt, 1988; Richardson, 1990; Schon, 1982). As it was conducted within the L1 context and under a kind of situated treatment to the teachers’ development program, there have not yet provided enough information about broader influential factors that apply onto the actual classroom instruction. In addition, the teacher concepts of EFL instruction are distinctive to the first language instruction environment. As a matter of fact, there is no perfect identical setting of any EFL classroom even in the same institutions because the teachers hold personal pedagogical practices that set off the variances to each particular instruction. However, there were some implications that can be focused in the EFL areas. First, Staff development programs can make a difference in what teachers learn and how they conceptualize writing; and programs need to acknowledge the different starting points and differences in experiences of teachers.
The changes in conceptions of pedagogy and conceptions of writing are related but that these changes do not necessarily occur simultaneously. Not surprisingly, different teachers understand and use ideas, philosophies, and materials in different ways.