Date

7-2019

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education in Curriculum & Instruction (EdD)

Chair

Karla N. Swafford

Keywords

Literacy Instruction, Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Self-efficacy Theory, Social Studies, Science, High School

Disciplines

Education | Language and Literacy Education

Abstract

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore high school teachers’ self-efficacy regarding the incorporation of literacy instruction in high school science and social studies classes in a rural, public school district. In this qualitative research study, self-efficacy was generally defined as the teachers’ belief in how well they succeed at the task of including literacy instruction into their content area lessons. Albert Bandura’s (1997) self-efficacy theory and Shulman's (1986) pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) theory guided this study as it explored the teachers’ beliefs in their teaching abilities. Literacy instruction was defined as explicit instruction in word study, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and motivation techniques. The study used a self-efficacy questionnaire to explore the teachers’ beliefs about their ability to include literacy strategies in their content area subjects. The study also included in-depth personal interviews with teachers and a review of participants’ lesson reflection journals. Because the study was based on a phenomenological design, the information was analyzed for significant statements that are then turned into themes. From the themes, an essence of the phenomenon was described.

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