The Nexus Between Direct Reading Instruction, Reading Theoretical Perspectives, and Pedagogical Practices of University of Swaziland Bachelor of Education Students

Abstract

The present study investigated the influence direct reading instruction had on university student teachers’ reading cognition and the influence their theoretical perspectives had on their pedagogical practices. The study was conducted on all the seven year 2 (2008) Bachelor of Education (primary) students at the University of Swaziland. Questionnaire items were used to determine the student teachers’ reading cognition before and after their study of a course ‘ Teaching Reading’ which the researcher taught. Document analysis in the form of detailed lesson plan analyses and lesson observations during the students’ teaching practice were the basis for the determination of the student teachers’ pedagogical practices. Follow-up interviews were conducted with the student teachers to establish the explanations for the consistencies and inconsistencies between the students’ theoretical perspectives and pedagogical practices. The study’s findings point to a causal relationship between direct instruction and reading theoretical orientation (on account of the shifts in reading orientation in the post-reading course questionnaire responses), which does not always hold for reading theoretical perspectives and pedagogical practices (where prevailing environmental factors often compel teachers to implement reading perspectives different from those they theoretically subscribe to most). The study recommends a paradigm shift from predominantly text-based reading conceptions to an infusion of other conceptions in classroom teaching, textbook writing and examination setting.