Resumen de Pedagogical content beliefs about reading instruction and their relation to gains in student achievement

Lars Behrmann, Elmar Souvignier

• Teachers� pedagogical content beliefs about reading instruction are likely to predict progress in student achievement. Thus, in this study, 15 pre-service teachers gave reading promotion to low-performing sixth- and seventh-graders over a time period of 6 months. The pre-service teachers� pedagogical content beliefs were then related to their students� reading achievement gains. In contradiction to previous findings, the results demonstrate direct-transmissive beliefs to be positively related with student achievement. Finally, whether there is an influence of practical teaching experiences on the development of pre-service teachers� pedagogical content beliefs was examined. For that reason, the belief development during the 6-month period was compared between pre-service teachers with and without teaching experience. Results show teaching pre-service teachers� beliefs to have developed away from constructivistic positions and toward a direct-transmissive direction. The beliefs of student teachers without teaching experience, on the contrary, tended to slightly develop in diametrically opposed directions. Implications of the results are discussed.