Teacher educators’ perspectives on literacy

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of literacy perspectives in teacher education by analysing how four primary teacher educators from different disciplines talk about their practice. In dialogic interviews, focal points included what types of activities regarding language and texts the participants mention using in their respective disciplines. The results reveal three main perspectives on literacy: general academic literacy, disciplinary literacy, and professional literacy. A visualization of the results in the form of a model renders visible the three main perspectives as well as overlapping combinations that relate to disciplinary literacy teaching. Thereby, this study contributes a metalanguage that can be used across disciplines by teacher educators to support pre-service teachers’ disciplinary socialisation drawing on the different literacy practices. The complexity of the literacy perspectives merits further research in order to explore different discourses within and between each perspective.