Exploration of American General and Special Education Teacher Candidates’ Self-Efficacy to Teach Reading and Reading-Related Constructs

Abstract

This chapter examines general and special education teacher candidates’ perceptions about teaching reading and writing and how their perceptions change with coursework, fieldwork, and over the span of a teacher preparation program. Survey findings revealed that the majority of teacher candidates held “moderate” or “very good” perceptions about their ability to teach reading-related concepts. Teacher candidates also indicated that they have “some” or “quite a bit of influence” to teach reading in a variety of ways. When these authors examined certification levels, elementary teacher candidates report high levels of perceived ability to teach constructs related to beginning literacy and to teach struggling readers. Significant associations were observed for previous exposure to reading-related content on certain perception items and self-efficacy items (e.g., teaching struggling readers) but not on others (e.g., teaching comprehension). The authors share a tool to query the synergy among pedagogical content knowledge, perceived ability, and self-efficacy beliefs about teaching reading.