Written Communication Jan 2014

Elementary Teachers Negotiating Discourses in Writing Instruction

Sarah J. McCarthey University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ; Rebecca Woodard University of Illinois Chicago ; Grace Kang University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Abstract

Using Ivanic’s (2004) framework, the study of 20 elementary teachers examines the relationships among teachers’ beliefs about writing, their instructional practices, and contextual factors. While the district-adopted curriculum reflected specific discourses, teachers’ beliefs and practices reflected a combination of discourses. The nature of the professional development tended to reinforce particular discourses, but occasionally offered an alternative. The three cases revealed how teachers negotiated the tensions among various discourses. Beth exemplified a skills discourse, but demonstrated beliefs about writing as communication; however, she did not articulate tensions between the discourses and followed the district, skillsinfused curriculum. Amber borrowed from skills, traits, process, and genre discourses without resolving potential contradictions, resulting in instructional practices that had little coherence. Jackson, who brought in his own writing as a hip-hop artist, illustrated the social practices discourse as well as creativity and genre discourses to create an enhanced version of a district-adopted curriculum. Implications for practice include raising teacher’s awareness of the contradictory discourses that surround them.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2014-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088313510888
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
genre theory discourse analysis writing pedagogy teacher development professional writing
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (6)

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    Writing Instruction for Adult L2-Learners: A Case Study From Three Swedish Classrooms
    Written Communication
  2. McCarthey et al. (2025)
    Supporting and Co-Constructing Texts with Peers: Children's Collaborative Writi…
    Writing and Pedagogy
  3. Sturk (2023)
    The Teaching of Writing Across the Curriculum in School Years 4-6 in Sweden
    Written Communication
  4. Clarkson (2023)
    A shared understanding of good writing?
    Writing and Pedagogy
  5. Machado et al. (2020)
    “I Want to Be Pè Adedayo”: Young Children Enacting Resistance in/ through Trans…
    Research in the Teaching of English
Show all 6 →
  1. Sturk et al. (2019)
    Discourses in Teachers’ Talk about Writing
    Written Communication

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CrossRef global citation count: 43 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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