Developing content teachers’ language awareness through practitioner-researcher inquiry into student writing

Abstract

This study describes an inquiry approach involving a practitioner-researcher partnership and examines its impact on teachers' capacities to conduct explicit instruction of disciplinary literacy. The partnership comprised iterative cycles of sessions that engaged content teachers in exploring their students’ language challenges using student writing as the stimulus of inquiry. Data from the inquiry sessions and lessons provided evidence of the impact of the inquiry on the teachers. The impact includes self-reported changes in their language sensitivity, beliefs and assessment practices as well as observable changes in their classroom instruction. The relationship between the impact and teacher language awareness are discussed.