Variation in pre-service EFL teachers' implicit theories of reading: a qualitative study.

Abstract

This study examined variation in pre-service EFL teachers’ implicit theories of reading and metatextual knowledge in connection with a transition from a previous curriculum to a new one in order to probe for variation in these theories, or reading models, according to contextual factors. The relevant changes in the curriculum were the elimination of the previous curriculum’s rigid sequences of electives in the program’s three areas of specialization (teaching, translation, and literature) and the disappearance of the restriction to take courses in only one area. We used Hernández’s (2008) implicit theories and applied his questionnaire to 60 students in two cohorts about to graduate from an ELT undergraduate program, 30 studying under the previous curriculum and 30 studying under the new curriculum. Ten participants in each cohort belonged to one of those areas. We analyzed the data using directed qualitative analysis and the constant comparative method. The data indicate that reading beliefs appear to vary with the different curricula. The three theories identified by Hernández (2008) were present in our sample, but we also found mixed models of reading, different forms of metatextual knowledge, and evidence for a new, constructive-rhetorical implicit theory of reading. Overall, most trainees under both curricula subscribe to the least advanced models, which suggests a need for further changes to the curricula and to reading instruction training.