The academic writing of teacher candidates

Connecting speaking and writing

Abstract

This paper presents a small-scale study that examines the relationship between spoken and written discourse among master's level teacher candidates at an urban American university. It analyzes the writing of teacher candidates before and after the introduction of a student-centered, group interaction methodology, the Nominal Group Technique. Some of the specific areas assessed are the relationship between what students said in their groups and what they wrote in essays, interaction dynamics among teacher candidates in groups, observer perceptions of group behaviors, and teacher candidates' perceptions of writing performance before and after the intervention. The study also assesses teacher candidates' essays (N = 9) and compares them to the essays of a control group (N = 8). A significant increase in scores is noted from pretest to posttest after the treatment. Reaction to the class experience was largely positive. Pedagogic implications arising from findings are considered together with some tentative pointers toward future research.