Zheng, Huiling Diona; (2014) Evidence-based practices : reading comprehension instruction and teacher self-efficacy. Doctoral thesis , UCL Institute of Education.

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Abstract

Despite growing evidence informing educators for effective reading comprehension (RC) teaching, it is unclear how extensively this evidence base is implemented in practice and teacher self-efficacy can have a role to play. Recent estimates suggest about 15% of U.K. students are below expected levels of attainment by the end of KS2. While Educational Psychologists can support the implementation of evidence base in classrooms to raise literacy standards, there is a lack of U.K. studies that examined the extent that the evidence base in RC instruction is implemented in practice and how confident teachers feel about implementing them. The aims of this study were three-fold. Firstly, to explore the extent that U.K. teachers used evidence-based practices when teaching RC. Secondly, to investigate teacher confidence levels in using them. Lastly, to examine the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and the extent they used evidence-based RC instructional practices. A mixed methods non-experimental fixed research design was used. The questionnaire sent out to 379 KS2 teachers resulted in 29 responses (i.e. 7.7% response rate). A subset of nine teachers participated in the systematic classroom observation of their RC lessons and a further subset of three teachers participated as case studies in follow up interviews. The results indicated that some evidence-based practices were incorporated in KS2 RC instruction and teachers generally felt confident about their implementation. However, the range of evidence-based practices used was limited and it was not always practices with the strongest evidence base. A positive relationship between teacher self-efficacy and the extent that teachers incorporated evidence-based RC instructional practices was observed, although this relationship appeared complex. The findings from this exploratory study contributed towards the existing gap in research on implementation of evidence based teaching practice for RC instruction in U.K. schools. Implications for professional practice and recommendations for further research are considered.

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