Professional Knowledge of Teachers, Instructional Quality and Second Grade Student Progress in Reading and Writing
Final Report Abstract
In research and practice on the acquisition of writing, the question of the appropriate teaching method, which proves to be particularly effective for children learning to read and write, has been repeatedly addressed for decades. The “WibaLeS” project (professional knowledge of teachers, instructional quality and students’ learning progress in basic reading and writing lessons) aimed to investigate the extent to which it is not the teaching method but the quality of teaching and its subject-specific differentiation as well as the subject-specific professional knowledge of teachers that determine children’s learning progress in basic reading an writing lessons. This was done on the basis of previous research on the basic dimensions of teaching quality. Against this background, the basic dimensions of cognitive activation and constructive support were differentiated subject-specifically. In addition, a new standardized rating inventory was developed with which effective classroom management as a basic dimension of teaching-learning interaction in primary school lessons could be observed and measured by trained raters in a non-subject-specific manner. A comprehensive survey inventory (including lesson observations) was developed and used in the project for this purpose. Teachers’ professional knowledge was differentiated into content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and general pedagogical knowledge and assessed using a newly developed test to record teachers’ professional knowledge on basic reading and writing instruction. Students’ written language skills were assessed at the beginning of the 2nd school year using established tests over two measurement time points. Under the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic, a sample of 35 teachers and their school classes in the Cologne region was recruited so that statements could be made on the relationship between teacher knowledge, teaching quality and the learning progress of primary school children. Two overarching questions guided the project: 1) Can the increase in student performance in basic reading and writing lessons be better explained by characteristics of teaching quality (classroom management, subject-specifically differentiated support and cognitive activation) than by the teaching method? 2) Can characteristics of teaching quality be explained by the teachers’ professional knowledge and can an indirect influence of this knowledge on the increase in student performance be proven? The following findings were obtained from the project: As expected based on the current state of research, there were no or only weak correlations between the teaching method and the students’ learning progress. However, there was a significant effect of the teachers’ written language orientation, which is reflected in the teaching method, on the students’ learning progress in spelling, with the phonographical orientation being superior to the mixed form of phonographical and structural orientation. A comparison with correlations between the observed subject-specific teaching quality and the students’ progress in written language learning could not be carried out on the basis of the observation instrument developed to record subjectspecific teaching quality characteristics. Teaching quality can – at least in the case of the basic dimension of effective classroom management – be statistically explained by professional knowledge, in this case general pedagogical knowledge. However, due to the pandemic, the data collected was not sufficient to examine and, where appropriate, prove the indirect influence on students’ learning progress. Due to the domain- and target group-specific processing, the findings on intial literacy instruction are of particular relevance for the pertinent professional and educational research relating to the primary level.
Publications
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Notwendiges Professionswissen für den basalen Lese- und Schreibunterricht aus der Sicht von Experten der Lehrerausbildung. Lehrerbildung auf dem Prüfstand, 12 (1), 5-18
Bruckmann, C.; Glutsch, N.; Pohl, T.; Hanke, P. & König, J.
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Professionelles Wissen von Lehramtsstudierenden zum basalen Lesen-und Schreibenlernen – ein interdisziplinäres Projekt. Grundschulpädagogik zwischen Wissenschaft und Transfer, 52-58. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Hanke, Petra; König, Johannes; Jäger-Biela, Daniela; Pohl, Thorsten; Schabmann, Alfred; Becker-Mrotzek, Michael; Träuble, Birgit & Schmitt, Rebecca
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Teachers’ professional knowledge for teaching early literacy: conceptualization, measurement, and validation. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 34(4), 483-507.
König, Johannes; Hanke, Petra; Glutsch, Nina; Jäger-Biela, Daniela; Pohl, Thorsten; Becker-Mrotzek, Michael; Schabmann, Alfred & Waschewski, Tina
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Observing effective classroom management in early instruction in primary school: rating instrument construction and its link to teacher knowledge. Discover Education, 2(1).
König, Johannes; Glutsch, Nina; Weyers, Jonas; Casale, Gino; Hanke, Petra; Knips, Chantal; Pohl, Thorsten; Waschewski, Tina; Becker-Mrotzek, Michael; Schabmann, Alfred & Träuble, Birgit
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Zur Bedeutung der Vermittlungsmethode und der professionellen Kompetenz von Lehrkräften für den Lernfortschritt von Kindern im schriftsprachlichen Anfangsunterricht. Grundschulforschung meets Kindheitsforschung reloaded, 438-444. Verlag Julius Klinkhardt.
Mühle, Janine; Weyers, Jonas; Hanke, Petra; König, Johannes; Knips, Chantal & Pohl, Thorsten
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Zum Einfluss von Vermittlungsmethode, professionellem Wissen und Überzeugungen von Lehrkräften auf die Lese-und Rechtschreibleistung im schriftsprachlichen Anfangsunterricht. Unterrichtswissenschaft, 53(3), 337-368.
Mühle, Janine; Weyers, Jonas; König, Johannes; Hanke, Petra; Becker-Mrotzek, Michael; Glutsch, Nina; Knips, Chantal; Pohl, Thorsten; Schabmann, Alfred; Träuble, Birgit & Waschewski, Tina
