Teaching practices, beliefs, and teacher’s reading practices in a school that’s successful at promoting reading

Abstract

Research on topics such as reader profile or teacher’s beliefs system and its impact on teaching practices has progressively acquired relevance in the field of the teaching of language and literature. In this context, this article presents a qualitative study that looks into existing relationships between teachers’ reading trajectories, their beliefs about literature and literary education, and their practices within this sphere. This was a case study about three teachers who worked at a school where the promotion of reading practices was fundamental to the pedagogy of the institution. Data collection methods included narrative inquiry (stories and interviews), and field notes from class observation. Our findings reinforce dimensions like the relationship between a reader’s profile and her beliefs about literary education, or the importance that teacher’s beliefs have in teaching practices. They also show nuances that depict the complexity of these relationships, as well as highlight the relevance of institutional components in reading mediator’s practices.