Preservice English Teachers’ Evolving Conceptions of 21st-Century Writing

Authors

Amber Jensen, Brigham Young UniversityFollow

Abstract

This study used stimulated-recall interviews throughout four secondary English preservice teachers’ (PSTs) semester-long student teaching internships to examine how critical teaching moments shaped their evolving conceptions of 21st-century writing. The article first describes the participants’ collective definitions of features and experiences of 21st-century writing in the ELA classroom, focusing specifically on how they understood digital and multimodal composition. It then examines two case studies that demonstrate how PSTs’ teaching experiences destabilized, challenged, and contradicted their emerging definitions. Findings suggest that English educators may engage PSTs in conceptualizing nuanced and flexible 21st-century writing pedagogies as they construct field experiences as reflective spaces for learning-through-practice. Interventions to support the next generation of secondary ELA teachers will help them imagine and enact writing instruction in the 21st century.

Recommended Citation

Jensen, Amber (2020) "Preservice English Teachers’ Evolving Conceptions of 21st-Century Writing," Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education: Vol. 9: Iss. 2, Article 5.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/wte/vol9/iss2/5