The teaching of writing at teacher education programs in Finland and Sweden: Integrating theory and practice

Kuvaus

In this paper, we explore student teachers’ integration of theory on writing and the teaching of writing and the teaching of writing in practice, asking how student teachers describe writing theory reflected in practice. Focusing on writing pedagogy in teacher education is crucial because writing is central to pupils’ education, employment, meaningful lives, and for citizenship in a global world. For teacher to be able to support pupils in their writing development, teacher education is a crucial instance to prepare student teacher for teaching writing. Nevertheless, research has highlighted challenges in integrating theory and practice in teacher education (Darling-Hammond, 2014). This also concerns theoretical understandings of writing and implementing such understandings in practice.

This paper builds on a research project conduced in collaboration between primary teacher education programs at two universities, in Finland and in Sweden. A model for Reflective Observation of School writing (Sturk, 2022) has been used with the aim to prepare student teachers for the teaching of writing across disciplines. The model builds on the theory of discourses of writing (Ivanič, 2004) and has been developed to apply a multimodal understanding of writing (Kress). The model was implemented in 2022–2023 and included lectures, seminars, and classroom observations in school practice. The data include student teachers’ examinations, observations protocols, and three university lecturers research notes. These data are analysed with qualitative content analysis. Preliminary results point towards possibilities and challenges in describing theory of writing reflected in practice concerning writing as text, cognition, and social practice. In the paper presentation, we present the results and discuss implications for teacher education and research on the teaching of writing.

Aikajakso	20 kesäk. 2024
Tapahtuman otsikko	The 14th international ARLE conference: Connections and disruptions. Unsettling L1 education: Intersections of place, identity and technology
Tapahtuman tyyppi	Konferenssi
Konferenssinumero	14
Sijainti	Melbourne, AustraliaNäytä kartalla
Tunnustuksen arvo	Kansainvälinen