Actual Disciplinary Knowledge, Perceived Disciplinary Knowledge, Teaching Experience and Teacher's Training for Reading Instruction: A Study with Primary Portuguese and American Teachers // Conhecimento disciplinar efectivo, conhecimento percebido...

Abstract

In this study, the relation between primary teachers' actual disciplinary knowledge and teachers' perceived disciplinary knowledge in three distinct areas of reading instruction (phonics, fluency/vocabulary/comprehension, and assessment/intervention) is investigated. Participants include Portuguese primary teachers (n = 390) and American primary teachers (n = 390). Canonical correlation and commonality analysis show that actual disciplinary knowledge and perceived disciplinary knowledge are relatively independent constructs. Still, actual knowledge predicts a small but significant amount of the variance in perceived knowledge. Knowledge about phonics instruction is by far the best unique predictor of teachers' perceived knowledge. The hypothesis of miscalibration (the "unskilled-and-unaware effect") between actual knowledge and perceived knowledge in the less knowledgeable teachers was also explored. However, results do not suggest such an effect in our participants. Results also show that there are significant differences between Portuguese and American teachers, mainly in the area of knowledge about assessment/intervention.