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Social construction ofpreservice teachers’instructional strategies forreadingCatherine O'Callaghan aa Curriculum and Teaching , Fordham Universityand St. Joseph's College , New YorkPublished online: 20 Jan 2010.

To cite this article: Catherine O'Callaghan (2001) Social construction of preserviceteachers’ instructional strategies for reading, The Teacher Educator, 36:4, 265-281,DOI: 10.1080/08878730109555271

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SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF PRESERVICETEACHERS' INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

FOR READING

Catherine O'CallaghanCurriculum and Teaching

Fordham University and St. Joseph's College, New York

AbstractThis multiple case study investigated the social construction of four

female preservice teachers' instructional strategies for reading using sixvignettes of primary grade reading problems. Miles and Huberman's(1994) data reduction techniques were utilized.

Cross-case analysis indicated that all participants engaged in increasedlevels of reflective thinking and procedural reasoning. In addition, twoparticipants also engaged in reflective thinking while teaching (Schon,1983). A skills orientation to reading was the predominant approach toinstruction. Only one participant shifted her theoretical orientation fromphonics to skills-based instruction.

It was determined that all four participants' instructional strategies forreading were rooted in their own literacy histories. Finally, it washypothesized that engaging in narrative inquiry, coupled withinstructional problem solving, generated cognitive conflict amongparticipants. Increased cognitive conflict resulted in changes in preserviceteachers' reflection and procedural reasoning.

As we begin a new century, teacher education is rapidly losing itsmomentum to respond to the paradigm of inquiry-based teaching(Sarason, 1993). This new paradigm calls for a reconceptualization ofteaching as a cognitive, reflective activity in which educators generatetheir own knowledge through problem solving and reflection inaction (Cochran, DeReuter, & King, 1993; Schon, 1987; Shulman,1986). Typically, preservice students' reflections relate to how theywere taught.

In fact, literature shows that preservice teachers have internalizedimplicit theories about teaching "before" they began theirprofessional coursework (Holt-Reynolds, 1992; La Bosky, 1993;Zeichner &Tabachnick, 1981). Implicit theories regarding teachingand learning remain rooted in the preservice teachers pedagogicalknowledge base and may be elicited through narrative inquiry(Goodman, 1988; Johnson, 1988).

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Narrative inquiry provides the teacher educator with a windowinto the preservice teachers' life history (Bullough, 1992; Connelly &Clandinin, 1990). These life histories provide the conceptualframework preservice teachers have constructed along with thesociocultural context in which they are embedded (Provenzo,McCloskey, Kottkamp, & Cohn, 1989). The reflection anddiscussion that accompanies narrative inquiry including metaphorsalso empower the preservice teachers to analyze the life-forces thatshaped their pedagogical knowledge base (Bullough & Stokes, 1994).

Specifically, reflective inquiry with narratives and teachingmetaphors enables preservice teachers to examine their implicittheories regarding pedagogy. In fact, examination of implicit theoriesaids in the solving of instructional situations (Johnson, 1988;Zeichner & Tabachnick, 1981). Because inquiry-based teaching isfocused on teaching defined as non-linear and ill-structured, itdemands a prerequisite, creative problem-solving demonstration innarrative inquiry and the use of metaphors in the teaching of reading(Leinhardt & Greeno, 1986). Narrative inquiry and teachingmetaphors empower the preservice teacher to analyze the ways theirpersonal life histories have affected their reading instructionalstrategies and their problem solving (Elbaz, 1981; Hollingsworth,1989; Knowles & Holt-Reynolds, 1991).

Preservice teachers' early experiences with literacy shaped theirimplicit theories regarding reading instruction (Clay, 1992). Harste,Woodward, and Burke (1984) stated that the only way to changeteacher behavior is to change beliefs. Power (1991) ascertained thatpreservice teachers who experienced a skills-based theoreticalorientation as students may also espouse this approach in theirinstruction. Prior research determined that reflective inquiryfacilitated the analysis of preservice teachers' prior beliefs regardingreading instruction (Hynd & Guzzetti, 1993).

In summary, reflective inquiry enables preservice teachers togenerate their own pedagogical knowledge base and to undertake ajourney into the self (Kagan, 1992). This reflection upon actionempowers preservice teachers to widen their repertoire ofinstructional strategies and thus affects their choices of novelsolutions for field problems in teaching reading.

PurposeThe purpose of this investigation was to determine the following:

(a) How does narrative inquiry elicit the implicit literacy theories and

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teaching metaphors of preservice teachers? and (b) What is the effectof narrative inquiry upon preservice teachers' instructional strategiesfor reading?

Method

ParticipantsFour seniors in a teacher education program at a small liberal arts

college agreed to participate in this study. The participants wererandomly selected from the accessible population of 27 studentteachers, which consisted of only females. Their selection wasdesigned to reflect diversity in ethnicity, academic index, and age.Each preservice teacher is described below with a short biography aswell as her unique characteristics. Pseudonyms have been used toprotect the participants' privacy.

Carmen. Carmen was a 49-year-old immigrant from Guyanawith a GPA of 3.5. She enrolled in college after raising two boys andone girl who played a major role in their mother's education. Due toher culture, Carmen was deprived of an education and was illiterateuntil her mid-20s when she began to teach herself to read bystudying her children's reading workbooks. Her own experiences withilliteracy have motivated Carmen to pursue her bachelor's degree andbecome a teacher.

Rosa. Rosa was a 22-year-old Hispanic American with a GPA of2.8. She transferred to the college after obtaining an associate's degreein early childhood education at a nearby community college. Raisedby her mother, who worked as a nurse, Rosa experienced a warm,nurturing early childhood. Rosa decided to become a teacher afterworking part time in a nursery program.

Debbie. Debbie was a 22-year-old Jewish American with a GPAof 3.4 who also transferred to the college after obtaining an associate'sdegree in early childhood education. She became motivated to teachafter experiencing the death of an 8-year-old girl she tutored. Herclose relationship with this girl fostered Debbie's love of teaching andprompted her to continue her education.

Linda. The final participant, Linda was a 21-year-old ItalianAmerican with a GPA of 3.8. She graduated with departmentalhonors and was immediately employed by her local school district.Linda has loved teaching all of her life and was constantly tutoringher peers throughout childhood. Another important influence forLinda was her third-grade teacher whose dedication and caring haveremained strong memories.

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Sources of DataThe materials and procedures used in this study were the

following:1. Theoretical Orientation to Reading Profile (TORP; DeFord,

1979) to assess the theoretical orientation of teachers in regard toreading.

2. Vignettes of Primary Grade Reading Problems written by theresearcher and based upon the case study method (Hughes &Wedman, 1991) to ascertain the problem solving capabilities ofpreservice teachers.

3. Think-aloud protocols to record the preservice teachers' cognitivestrategies as they read the reading problem vignettes.

4. Literacy narratives written by the participants to determine theimpact of prior schooling or early childhood experiences upon theimplicit beliefs of preservice teachers and as a reflective tool tochange those beliefs.

5. Interviews were conducted to follow up comments and queriesregarding the participants' narratives or teaching metaphors and toengage in dialogue.

6. Teaching metaphors determined the participants'conceptualization of teaching or image of instructional practice.

7. Observation of preservice teachers using Classroom Analysis ofTeachers' Theoretical Orientation to Reading Instrument (Moss,1980; Richards & Levitov, 1985) for assessing the theoreticalorientations that underlie preservice teachers' instructionalstrategies in regard to reading.

ProceduresThis case study was conducted in three phases during the Spring

1997 semester of the student teaching practicum, which consisted of15 weeks. Phase One of the study occurred during week 1 of thesemester before participants were assigned to primary gradeclassrooms. Participants were given the following instruments: TORP,Vignettes of Primary Grade Reading Problems, think-aloudprotocols, literacy narratives of their early childhood experiences, andteaching metaphor. Initial data collection was followed by interviewsduring weeks 2 and 3 of the semester ranging in length from 30minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes. The discussions concentrated on dataanalysis and reflections on the participants' narratives and teachingmetaphors.

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During Phase Two, which occurred at mid-semester week 7, theparticipants completed their teaching metaphor and literacy narrativeof their schooling history. Participants were also observed teaching aprimary grade reading lesson using the Classroom Analysis ofTeacher s Theoretical Orientation to Reading (Moss, 1980). Theobservation was conducted in Phase Two and videotaped by theresearcher. The lesson was codified at minute intervals by selecting aspecific category on the Moss instrument. In addition, eachparticipant engaged in two follow-up interviews, ranging in lengthfrom 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes, to discuss data analysis as well astheir teaching metaphor and literacy narratives.

Finally, Phase Three occurred during week 15 of the semester.The participants completed the TORP, Vignettes of Primary GradeReading Problems, think-aloud protocols, teaching metaphors, andliteracy narratives of their student teaching practicum. Eachparticipant engaged in one follow-up interview, 1 hour 30 minutes inlength, to reflect upon the data analysis for Phase Three as well as tosummarize the study. Each participant averaged 3 hours 30 minutesof interview time for the entire study.

Data AnalysisMiles and Huberman's (1994) data reduction techniques were

used to analyze the descriptive data. The data reduction methodconsisted of the following: (a) categorizing and pattern matching, (b)data display through matrices, and (c) conclusion drawing andverifying. Resulting themes were analyzed for patterns and trends.Initial codes were used for preliminary analysis of the narratives,interviews, and metaphors. The initial codes were (a) criticalincidents in early childhood/school and (b) metaphors andinstructional approaches (phonics, skills, whole language). A criticalincident was defined as an important or altering event that affectedthe participants' literacy history. As new categories, such as rolemodels, emerged from the data, they were added.

The think-aloud protocols were codified using Roskos andWalker's (1994) categorization of the sources of preservice teachers'pedagogical knowledge. They were the following: (a) receivedknowing—non-referenced rationales, (b) subjective knowing—assumptions about the learner or generic actions, and (c) proceduralknowing—facts about the learner in the vignette used to form asolution.

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Miles and Huberman's (1994) cross validation method was usedto validate the data analysis. The researcher divided the data in halfand the findings of the first data sample were applied to the secondhalf of data for confirmation. Three coders also participated in thecoding for an interrater reliability of 96.12% using Miles andHubermans interrater formula.

Results and DiscussionData analysis determined several patterns that were unique to

each participant and closely linked to their literacy narrative.Therefore, patterns present in individual cases will be discussed first,followed by cross-case analysis.

CarmenThe themes that emerged from Carmen's data analysis were

literacy conflict, gender role behavior, teacher as child advocate,phonetic orientation, and reflective cognition.

The first theme, literacy conflict, emerged immediately in PhaseOne in Carmen's narrative depicting her earliest attempts to becomeliterate and how these were blocked by her parents.

In my culture, it's a parent's decision if girls should go to school and myparents didn't think so . . . girls stayed home and learned to cook andwash and do things. We used to live downstairs and the boys upstairs, andmy brothers went to school. So sometimes I would take their books andtry to read. First we didn't have light, we used a gas lantern and I wouldread and then she'd (Mom) slap my hand and say stop that and wash thedishes.

This theme of literacy conflict surfaced again in Phases Two andThree concerning Ken, a third-grade boy in her student teachingplacement. Ken had been illiterate, and Carmen tutored him daily byusing the same strategies she had used to learn to read. Carmenconstructed a phonetic chart for Ken that utilized pictures andmatching phonetic sounds. This was the same strategy she had usedto learn how to read by studying her children's phonics workbooks.

They (her children) would come home from Catholic schools, we wouldstart with the vowel and then they'd show them the cup and it's c-u-p. Itshows you the word and tells you what vowel goes in there and spells theword. I would write it on the yellow pad and then when I saw this picture,I would know this is cup, c-u-p.

The third-grade teacher stopped the tutoring due to a dispute withKen's mother regarding a referral to special education. Having battledilliteracy since childhood, Carmen decided at the end of the study to

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devote her teaching career to helping other students that the systemhas labeled as incapable of reading.

The second theme, gender roles, was first identified during PhaseOne when Carmen discussed the impact of her gender upon hereducational career. The Guyanese culture of her childhood hadoutlined the female role as primarily a caregiver and housekeeper andas powerless. As a child, Carmen learned that decisions were made forher, and she gradually fought for her own independence. This senseof powerlessness occurred again in Phases Two and Three whenCarmen described her literacy conflict with Ken's teacher. Onceagain, Carmen was faced with a situation in which she had no voice.

Teacher as child advocate is closely related to the precedingpatterns. Throughout each phase, Carmen expressed her belief thatthe teacher's primary role was child advocate. In describing her statedmetaphor, teacher as guiding hand, she opined that the educatormust support the child and consistently praise their efforts. "Youneed to let them know that whatever they're goal is, howeverunimportant it is to you, you have to make them feel it's importantand encourage them." The roots of this implicit belief can be tracedto her parents' negation of her literacy efforts and their lack ofrecognition for her academic achievements.

The fourth theme, phonetic orientation to reading, permeatednearly every data instrument tool; Carmen's TORP, think-aloudprotocols, and narratives during each phase. For example, during herdata analysis interview, Carmen described the following instructionalstrategy she had utilized in her Kindergarten placement. "I made achart with a large 'A,' small 'a,' and next to that I put an apple. Thenbat, Bb, and drew a picture for every letter." The roots of thisconceptualization can be found in Carmen's first literacy narrative,where she outlined her struggles to learn to read by using herchildren's phonics workbooks.

Finally, the theme of increased reflective cognition emerged fromthe data. Initially, Carmen did not generate any reflective thinkingstatements. By the completion of the study, Carmen had articulatedseven statements about her performance in the field. Similarly,Carmen's procedural reasoning doubled for her Phase Three think-aloud protocols, possibly caused by the increase in reflective activity.

RosaRosa's literacy narrative described the nurturing literacy

environment of her childhood and the important roles of severalcritical women in her literacy history. When Rosa was a young child,

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her mother would read Bible stories nightly from a children's editionand engage in spirited discussions. "Mom read to me all the time anda lot of the things they discuss in the Bible are very complex, but shediscussed them with me and was very open." Besides her mother,Rosa named three women as critical to her literacy development. Hersecond-grade teacher opened Rosa's eyes to the possibilities for girlsby using children's literature in a novel way. Rosa's teacher wouldchange the gender of characters in stories and urge the children tochange their conceptualizations of gender roles.

When I think back to her, I really see her as a feminist because she reallywas . . . I remember with certain stories I knew it was about a boy, and shemade it female. I enjoyed that because she made me feel special.

Another role model was Rosa's ninth-grade teacher who modeled therole of a Hispanic woman and demonstrated that becoming a teacherwas an attainable goal. "She was the first Hispanic teacher I had everseen. She opened my eyes that this was something I could do."

Rosa's literacy narrative illustrated the importance of role modelsand discussions that permeated nearly every data source. Three majorthemes emerged from Rosa's data collection. They were: changes inbeliefs, eclectic strategies, and role modeling. The first pattern,changes in beliefs, occurred with the TORP score and the teachingmetaphor. Rosa's TORP score of 65 indicated a phonics orientationto reading instruction. During Phase Three, her TORP scoreincreased to 81 signifying a skills orientation to reading.

Similarly, Rosa's primary teaching metaphor for Phase One wascaretaker/mother, which shifted to role model by Phase Three. Rosawas the only participant to change both her theoretical orientation toreading score and her teaching metaphor. Interestingly, Rosa was alsothe second highest reflective thinker with 15 statements. Her literacynarrative was the only one to comment on the value of questioningin the classroom, a core belief that can be traced to her earliest Biblesessions with her mother. Rosa's proclivity for questioning andreflective thinking might be the cause for her belief changes.

Eclectic strategies, the second theme, were present in Rosa'sthink-aloud protocols, observed lesson, and literacy narrativestrategies. Rosa's think-aloud protocols were predominately wholelanguage whereas in her observed lesson, she mixed in an emphasison skills. In addition, the strategies elicited during her literacynarrative interviews were evenly divided between a whole languageemphasis and phonics. Therefore, her instructional strategies in allthree data instruments were eclectic blends of the three orientationsto reading.

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The final theme, role modeling, was evident in her think-aloudprotocols, teaching metaphor, and literacy narrative interviews.Repeatedly Rosa commented upon the importance of the teacher asrole model in her metaphor and literacy narrative interview. Inaddition, Rosa utilized this core belief in her think-aloud protocolsusing the strategy of buddy readers as literacy models. Therefore,Rosa's instructional strategies reflected her core belief that studentsneed role models.

DebbieDebbie's literacy narrative described her enriching early years,

struggling academic career, and determination to reach her goals. Inaddition, Debbie described how critical persons who supported herlearning affected her literacy history. "Well there's always someonewho helped me throughout the whole process, from when I was alittle girl with my Mom, someone in high school who was a positiverole model for me, and now student teaching." Despite her nurturingliteracy environment at home, literacy in school consisted of phonicsdrills and basal reading series. As described by Debbie during PhaseOne, "I don't remember having any groups, but I remember doing alot of phonics. I remember teaching us the letters like 'Aa' is forapple. Then saying it over and then we had to write it." AlthoughDebbie voiced her dislike of programmed reading series, she had novoice in her student teaching placement and was mandated to teachthe Open Court series.

Debbie's schooling history also described her struggles to achieveacademic success. Labeling a reading resource teacher as a criticalperson for Phase Two, Debbie described this incident in her narrativewhen her self-esteem had been damaged by a fifth-grade teacher, andthe turning point came when her reading resource teacher re-builther fragile confidence. "I didn't have any confidence. She always saidyou're very intelligent, don't ever give up."

Three main themes emerged from Debbie's data collection:passivity, eclectic strategies, and nurturing. Early in Debbie's narrativeof her early childhood years, she voiced her dislike of theprogrammed reading program she experienced as a student. Inaddition, during Phase Three she reiterated her attitude towardsworkbooks and phonics drills. However, Debbie's student teachingplacement mandated the use of the Open Court series, which isteacher directed and theoretically oriented towards phonicsinstruction. Debbie's passivity towards this repetition of programmedreading is mainly due to her powerlessness to change it. Similarly, she

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was unable to voice her opinion about the basal reading series of herchildhood. However, Debbie during Phase Three interviews,embraced the series and remarked that she would incorporate itslessons into her instruction even without the commercial readingprogram. This passivity was interpreted as possibly due to Debbie'slack of reflective thinking about her beliefs.

The second pattern, eclectic strategies, sharply contrasts with heracceptance of programmed reading. Debbie's strategies for her think-aloud protocols were a mixture of whole language and phoneticinstruction. Similarly, her observed lesson and think-aloud protocolsfor Phase Three, shifted components and integrated skills instructionwith whole language strategies. This eclectic orientation contrastswith her passive acceptance of the Open Court series and might becaused by her lack of self-confidence. According to Debbie, her lackof self-confidence still affects her behavior and does not encouragerisk taking.

The final theme, nurturing, permeated every data source: think-aloud protocols, teaching metaphors, and narrative. Rooted in herearliest childhood memories, Debbie conceptualized her nurturinghome environment and desire to recreate it in the classroom.

The nurturing, the caring, setting limits and when to do something andhow far to go with it. The comfortable environment when you're at homeand can express yourself. Not to feel I'm at school, but that school is funand important.

Debbie's teaching metaphor, teacher as parent, illustrated her corebelief that teachers play a vital role in supporting and facilitatinggrowth.

LindaLinda's literacy narrative described her rich literacy experiences at

home and successful academic career. Linda characterized her earliestmemories of school as centered on student involvement with literacywhere her kindergarten teacher presented literacy as an enjoyable,creative activity. "We would be involved in some way, whether we'dget up and dance or like we'd read the story with her."

In addition to her pleasurable school literacy activities, Linda alsoexperienced a nurturing literacy environment at home. During PhaseOne, Linda recalled how reading was not just a nightly bedtimeroutine but a pleasurable activity. "I didn't always just read before Iwent to bed. Sometimes we would read instead of watching TV ordoing something. It was like recreation."

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Three themes emerged from Linda's data analysis. They wereearly conceptualization, skills orientation to reading, and reflectivethinking. Early conceptualization, the first pattern, incorporated hercore beliefs and instructional strategies. Linda's earliest experiences athome were reading for recreation, which formulated her concept thatreading was fun. Consequently, teachers who shared her beliefbecame critical persons in her narrative, namely Linda's first- andthird-grade teachers and her cooperating teacher. This coreconceptualization of reading was translated into her instructionalstrategies which emphasized choice and group activities. This wasevidenced by her observed lesson, think-aloud protocols, andinstructional strategies.

The second theme, skills orientation to reading, permeatedLinda's data. Her TORP score remained firmly focused on skills. Inaddition, Linda's observed lesson was also codified as skills. However,this skills orientation was primarily relegated to the objectives of herlessons. Linda's strategies or implementation utilized several wholelanguage oriented activities as evidenced by her observed lesson.Therefore, a dichotomy emerged from the data indicating a skillsfocused instruction mixed with whole language implementation.

Reflective thinking, the final theme, was present in all threephases of the study. During each phase, Linda reflected on the dataanalysis and also on her reflections in action while teaching.Interestingly, although Linda engaged in the highest amount ofreflective thinking, only her teaching metaphor changed during thestudy. The amount of reflective thinking did not impact hertheoretical orientation to reading.

Cross-Case AnalysisFive themes were present in the data of all four participants: early

conceptualization of the teacher's role, the importance of nurturing,skills orientation to reading, eclectic instructional strategies, andincreases in reflective/procedural thinking.

Early ConceptualizationAll four participants' conceptualization of the teacher's role were

rooted in their earliest experiences both at home and at school,particularly from their critical persons. For example, Carmenvisualized the teacher as a guiding hand, facilitating learning byallowing the students to correct their own errors. Thisconceptualization paralleled Carmen's narrative of how her familyscaffolded her literacy learning by forcing her to self-correct her

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errors. Similarly, Rosa's teaching metaphor was divided into threesections, each one corresponding to a critical person in her narrative.Debbie also reflected that her concept of the teacher as parent wasdue to the nurturing environment that all three critical personsespoused. Lastly, Linda also used her earliest experiences at home toconceptualize reading as a pleasurable activity and the importance ofchoices in instruction.

The Importance of NurturingThe importance of nurturing, the second theme, was voiced by

three participants in Phase One when they chose their mothers ascritical persons. The three participants (Rosa, Debbie and Linda)articulated the need to replicate the nurturing environment of theirearly childhood years.

Skills OrientationThe third theme, skills orientation to reading, also occurred

among three participants. Interestingly, all four participants blendedtheir primary orientation to reading with a secondary component tocreate eclectic instructional strategies. Only one participant, Rosachanged her theoretical orientation to reading. Carmen, the onlyparticipant who did not attend elementary school, chose a phonicsorientation.

Reflective ThinkingIncreases in reflective thinking, occurred across all four

participants. Rosa and Linda engaged in the highest amount ofreflective thinking. Interestingly, they were also the only participantsto change their teaching metaphors. In addition, Rosa also shifted hertheoretical orientation to reading from phonics to skills learning. Incontrast, Debbie engaged in the lowest level of reflective thinking andwas the only participant to keep her teaching metaphor intact.

Procedural ReasoningIncreases in procedural reasoning were present in all four

participants. Each participant shifted from predominatelyreceived/subjective rationalizations to procedural reasoning for think-aloud protocols. Therefore, by Phase Three, the participants wereusing the facts about the child to solve the instructional problemrather than fit the solution to the child.

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Summary of FindingsAnalysis of the data determined that two out of four participants

changed their metaphor for teaching during the study. In addition,all four participants engaged in increased levels of reflective thinkingand procedural reasoning.

The four preservice teachers' instructional strategies for readingwere eclectic mixtures of their primary theoretical orientationsblended with a secondary component. In contrast, three out of fourparticipants retained their orientation whereas only Rosa shifted fromphonics to skills. Finally, it was determined that all four participants'conceptualizations of the teacher's role were rooted in their criticalpersons and early experiences with reading both at home and inschool. These conceptualizations of reading models remained moreresistant to change than the participants' visualizations of theteacher's role.

Two limitations of this study should be noted. First, theparticipants were selected to represent cultural and academicdiversity. Therefore, the generalizability of the findings is limited tourban teacher education programs with a similar population.Secondly, the data was only collected for one semester. A year-longexploration of narrative inquiry might have explored differentfindings.

ConclusionsThe findings from this investigation confirm data from previous

studies (Clay, 1992; Stansell, 1994) that preservice teachers'instructional strategies for reading are rooted in their earlyhome/school influences. This study also affirmed that preserviceteachers' metaphors for teaching are conceptualizations of their basicbeliefs (Bullough & Stokes, 1994).

Secondly, data analysis determined that participants' criticalpersons for development of literacy were integral to theirconceptualization of the teacher's role. This conclusion extended theresearch of Bullough (1992) who discussed the impact ofparticipants' literacy histories upon their conceptualizations ofteaching.

Additionally, this investigation also concluded that participants'orientation to reading reflected their earliest experiences of readinginstruction in school. This confirmed the findings of previousresearch by DeFord (1979, 1985) and Clay (1992).

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However, the increases in procedural reasoning for Vignettes ofPrimary Grade Reading Problems contrasted with the findings ofPinnegar (1989) and Borko and Livingston (1989), which found thatpreservice teachers used superficial cues for problem solving. Unlikeprevious research, this investigation used narrative inquiry duringthree phases of the semester. The findings of this study suggest thatthe use of narrative inquiry increases the use of procedural reasoningto solve instructional problems. A possible explanation for theseincreases might be that engaging in reflective thinking for threephases facilitated higher levels of reasoning among preserviceteachers.

Increases in reflective thinking were ascertained across all fourparticipants. This finding contrasted with previous research (Stansell,1994) that did not discern any effect of narrative inquiry uponpreservice teachers' reflective thinking. However this study extendedthe research in the field by coupling narrative inquiry withinstructional problem solving. The findings suggest that the twocomponents required increased engagement in reflection andfacilitated higher levels of cognition. A possible explanation for thisfinding was that the participants engaged in discussions concerningthe data analysis of their narratives and teaching metaphors. As thestudy progressed, the participants became more comfortable with theprocess of inquiry. Engaging in this inquiry process resulted inincreased reflective thinking for each participant. The findings of thestudy suggest that participation in narrative inquiry coupled withinstructional problem solving facilitates reflective cognition andtherefore increases higher levels of reasoning.

In discussing the findings of this study, an argument could bemade that student teaching fieldwork might have accounted for theincreases in procedural reasoning and reflective thinking. However,teacher educators have questioned the impact of fieldwork onpreservice teachers' beliefs or instructional strategies (Joyce, 1988;Kagan, 1992). Similarly, in this current study, participants used thefacts in each vignette to formulate solutions and sporadically utilizedfieldwork experiences. Reflective thinking across participants alsoappears to be an outcome of the inquiry process. However, twoparticipants, Rosa and Linda, did utilize their student teachingfieldwork to engage in reflection in action.

Another possible argument for the increases in reflective thinkingand procedural reasoning in Phase Three is that all four participantshad finished their child study curriculum and fieldwork. It can be

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argued that this accumulation of theoretical knowledge and fieldworkexperiences helped to facilitate increases in higher levels of cognition.However previous research (Zeichner &Tabachnick, 1981)determined that preservice teachers rarely applied their theoreticalknowledge to their fieldwork. The current study, contrasted withprevious research, determined that participants used a majority ofprocedural rationalizations suggesting that engaging in narrativeinquiry affected participants' instructional problem solving.

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