Teacher trainees’ knowledge, understanding and practice of early grade reading instruction in selected Ghanaian Colleges

Abstract

This study employs the mixed method approach to examine selected teacher trainees’ knowledge, understanding and practice of early grade reading. The purpose was to investigate the different kinds of knowledge that the trainees had about reading instruction, their understandings of why that knowledge is important to reading instruction and how they applied these to construct classroom practice during teaching practice. Trainees on teaching practice in 24 purposively sampled basic schools attached to four Colleges of Education (COEs) provided data for the study. Questionnaires were administered to 156 trainees, after which lesson observations and forensic interviews were conducted with 36 of them. The study found that the trainees demonstrated some knowledge about early grade reading and how it should be taught. Although there were a few positive variances in their practices, majority of them demonstrated over-emphasis on procedural knowledge and how to get the sequence right even when the approach did not yield results, without reflection and adaptation. The trainees
also seemed to underestimate the difficulties of teaching early grade reading. It is recommended that urgent attention be given to addressing these identified issues through the pre-service programme, while developing trainees’ and teachers’ ability to reflect and critically engage and analyse methods and procedures in the light of examples of real contexts.