Primary teachers' linguistic knowledge and perceptions of early literacy instruction

Abstract

This study examined 120 Victorian preservice and inservice teachers' ability to implement evidence-based, early literacy instruction by examining whether teachers possessed positive perceptions of explicit instruction in sound-letter relationships, and a proficient knowledge of language structure. Teachers' confidence in teaching students of known risk for learning difficulties was also investigated. Findings indicated that while teachers report positive perceptions of explicit phonics-based instruction, they generally did not nominate this approach as their predominant early literacy instruction method. School sector also influenced early literacy instruction practices and linguistic knowledge: independent school teachers reported higher linguistic knowledge scores than their Catholic counterparts and were more likely than Catholic or state school teachers to report using phonics-based instruction to teach reading. Inservice and pre-service teachers did not demonstrate adequate knowledge of metalinguistics. Also, the majority of teachers did not report high levels of confidence in their ability to teach reading to diverse student populations.

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