Teachers' beliefs on best practices in literacy instruction

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teachers' belief types and best practices in literacy instruction. Teachers' beliefs and practices have a profound impact on the implementation of literacy instruction (DeFord, 1979; Haste & Burke, 1977; Nespor, 1987) and student reading outcomes (Richardson, Andres, Tidwell, & Lloyd, 1991). Online self-administered surveys were used to collect data from teachers. The sample included a total of 136 elementary teachers in this quantitative study. The researcher used simple random sampling to select elementary schools for this study. In addition, snowball sampling was used to target a larger population.

Two types of instruments were used in this study. The instruments included a Literacy Orientation Survey (LOS) and two Instructional Practices Checklists. A total of three statistical tests: ANOVA, MANOVA, and Multiple Regression were conducted to find correlations. Results indicated there was a relationship between teachers' belief types and their literacy instruction. This study can be used to evaluate teachers' belief types and the implementation of literacy instruction.