The Study
This study was designed to address two challenges in American teacher education: 1) the disparity in background between teachers and the diverse pupils they serve, and 2) the difficulty of teaching about literacy and culture in meaningful ways. Researchers Susan Florio-Ruane, professor of teacher education, and Taffy E. Raphael, professor of teacher education and educational psychology, at MSU's College of Education and their graduate assistants (Glazier, Mc Vee, Shellhorn and Wallace), used ethnographic and sociolinguistic research methods to study the learning of ten experienced teachers in a graduate course, "Culture, Literacy and Autobiography," and the group's follow-up voluntary book club, The Literary Circle. Learning that occurred during class discussions of ethnic autobiographies and during conversations about personal cultural experiences was analyzed.

The Findings
Teachers gained a growing awareness of themselves as participants in culture, influencing their pedagogical thinking about curriculum and instruction in their classrooms. The sharing of personal narratives in response to the published autobiographies suggested how the speakers thought about themselves in relation to others; but since the narratives told by the white, middle class women in the study were typically very similar in length, structure and content, they seemed to preclude the telling of longer, more complex personal narratives and did not foster the exploration of differences in knowledge, perspective or values. The book club provided the teachers with sufficient time to negotiate a shared identity and become comfortable in discussing themes such as racism, social inequality and sexuality; it also enabled them to discover that although they appeared to be very similar and homogeneous, they did in fact come from a range of diverse -- and very interesting -- cultural settings. An important part of teacher learning in this project was the gradual awareness that literacy was more than learning skills and strategies.

What It Means to You
Because most teachers tend to be members of the so-called "mainstream" and are culturally isolated from a growing number of their students, it is difficult for them to support language and literacy development. In many schools, this lack is leading to "short changing" students. Since research results of this study suggest that peer-led literature discussion can enhance teacher learning about alternative ways of becoming literate and sensitize them to the different ways in which individuals from varying sociocultural backgrounds experience literacy, you may want to explore ways for your teachers to participate in collaborative reflection, discussion and writing activities to enhance their efforts in literature-based instruction for children.

For More Information
To learn more about helping teachers become more successful in improving youngsters' literacy development, consult Florio-Ruane, S. and Raphael, T.E. et al, "Reading Culture in Autobiography: The Education of Literacy Teachers," Michigan State University, 1998. 

<back to 1998 ed-research reports