Learning to Teach Reading: A Theory-Practice Approach to Psychology Teaching in University Teacher Education

Abstract

The report portrays a theory-practice psychology course on reading education in a German teacher education programme. Having completed a theoretical course phase that is largely based on knowledge from cognitive and educational psychology, pre-service student-teachers applied their acquired knowledge by working with a fifth-grader in five individual reading lessons. During the sessions, students were supported by a mentor and received individual video feedback as well as peer feedback. The students also kept a learning journal to document and reflect on their practical experiences. The results from a small-scale evaluation study suggest that the course format bears a high potential for meaningful learning experiences regarding both general teaching practice and reading instruction.