Critical discourse analysis of elementary school teachers’ writership identities

Abstract

This study aimed to identify elementary school teachers’ perceptions of their writing experiences and examine the factors forming their writership identities by analyzing their perceptions. This study is a phenomenological study conducted with six elementary school teachers. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview form. The data were analyzed based on Gee’s (2010) theory of discourse. The results showed that the teachers described writing as an essential skill used for transferring emotions and thoughts. They stated that language skills were interrelated and that there was a need to have a certain set of skills to be able to write. The development of technology had reduced the need for classical writing, and social prejudices had reduced the teachers’ willingness to write. The teachers consider themselves neither very successful nor very unsuccessful writers but a medium level in general. They were happy when writing, even though they did not like expressing their feelings. They thought that writing successfully had a profound effect on academic achievement and that the largest share in educating individuals to be good writers was in teachers' hands.