Concept Maps To Trace Conceptual Change in Pre Service English Teachers

Abstract

Teacher educators usually set the curriculum of the methods courses. However, it is now understood in general Education that preservice teachers come to the teacher education course with prior beliefs and values. Therefore, it is not clear what concepts/ideas the preservice teachers believe are useful as a result of taking the teacher education course. Hence, differences may exist between what teacher educators may think is important for their students to learn and what the students actually learn. How can teacher educators gauge what students have learned after taking a course? One method at the disposal of teacher educators to trace conceptual change in preservice teachers is the use of concept mapping. This paper examined the conceptual change(s) of twenty-four preservice teachers in Singapore as a result of taking a Reading Methods Module. Pre-module and post-module concept maps were elicited and participants were also asked to write short descriptions of changes they saw and to consider reasons for these changes in their thinking. Results show that the course had some impact on the trainees and that the concept map may be a useful research tool for gathering qualitative data to trace preservice English teachers' conceptual change.