Exploring the Peter Effect in the Teacher Educators’ Knowledge Base in Reading Instruction

Abstract

Research shows that children’s brains are not automatically wired for reading; they need systematic assistance to become successful readers. Children who start off with poor literacy skills can remain poor readers. Thus, reading teachers have to be equipped to teach these skills. This study primarily determined whether the teacher educators possess the knowledge and ability in reading instruction and if their knowledge and ability are carried over to their teacher candidates. The study used descriptive design. In gathering the data, a questionnaire adopted from Binks (2008) was utilized. Descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used in analyzing the data. The findings revealed that the teacher educators perceived that their knowledge and ability in reading instruction is moderate while that of the teacher candidates is very good. The results on the knowledge and ability in reading instruction showed that both groups of respondents fared poorly. Hence, the study concludes that the gaps in the knowledge and ability of the teacher educators were carried over to their teacher candidates. It is therefore recommended that a thorough review of the teacher preparation curriculum should be in order. Keywords - Education (Reading), reading instruction, language constructs teacher educators, teacher candidates, knowledge, ability, descriptive design, Philippines