Study on the training of future teachers in reading comprehension and written expression strategies

Abstract

For the construction of knowledge in the university environment, reading comprehension and written expression are essential competences, and also constitute the necessary base to carry out activities such as processing information. As many students of universities of Education will be teachers, we wonder if these students will really acquire adequate skills in reading comprehension and written expression to successfully carry out their professional work. This study is presented in two research designs. The first one takes into account the formative moment as a variable; it analyzes the competences in written comprehension and expression of the students accessing the Bachelor's Degree in Primary Education, and also of those who, after its completion, have accessed to the University Degree in Psychopedagogy. Thus, we consider the group of students of the Bachelor's Degree in Primary Education as the Pre-test measure; the formative process before becoming students of the University Degree in Psychopedagogy as the treatment or test; and these actual students as the Post-test measure. The second one considers the growing influence of ICTs on learning environments, so it analyzes whether there are remarkable differences according to the stimulus variable presented-printed texts and hypertexts-when applying the abovementioned skills to summarize as an academic task. Despite of the fact that the students of the University Degree in Psychopedagogy have received three years of academic training as future Primary Education teachers, the results showed the same lack of reading comprehension and written expression skills as those at the beginning step of the Bachelor's Degree in Primary Education.