Disciplinary Literacy in Social Studies: Changes in Teacher Candidates' Beliefs and Attitudes

The field of education has recognized the importance of disciplinary literacy in middle and high school classroom instruction.In order to prepare teacher candidates to teach discipline specific literacy skills, teacher preparation programs must address their preconceived beliefs and attitudes regarding literacy instruction.This multiple case study examined changes in four teacher candidates' understandings, beliefs, and attitudes about teaching social studies through a disciplinary literacy approach over the course of their three semester secondary social studies cohort experience.Findings show that for teacher preparation programs to change teacher candidate's beliefs and attitudes, the following must be considered: (a) prior knowledge; (b) modeled historical thinking activities; (c) explicit disciplinary literacy instruction; (d) practice in the field; and (e) student-teacher relationships.These findings could have implications for teacher preparation programs, or professional development for middle or high school teachers, with the intent to improve teachers' understandings, beliefs, and attitudes regarding disciplinary literacy.Further research is needed to study the lasting impacts of such teacher preparation programs on graduates' classroom instruction.