Reading Practices of Pre-Service Teachers in the United States

Abstract

The purpose of this mixed method study was to investigate the reading practices of pre-service teachers in the United States. A total of 395 (38 male and 357 female) pre-service teachers completed a self-reported survey. In addition, 45 (10 males and 35 females) of the 395 voluntarily agreed to participate in interviews and classroom observations. These 45 participants were enrolled in three reading classes in the college of education at a mid-size public university; the classes' professors allowed the researcher to conduct class observations over the course of the semester. Quantitative results indicated that 38.4% of the pre-service teachers spent 1–4 hours weekly in academic reading (AR) and 19.5% of the respondents spent 1–4 hours per week in extracurricular reading (ER). Results also revealed that 25.7% of the participants spent zero hours weekly in AR and 46.5% of the participants spent zero hours in ER. Qualitative findings indicated that participants' part-time jobs and social media use via smartphone reduced the amount of time that pre-service teachers dedicated to both academic and extracurricular reading.