Identifying Preservice Teachers’ Belief Profiles and their Performance in a Web-based Training for Writing Instruction

Abstract

This research aims to fill the need to provide writing education to preservice teachers by using web-based instruction. The novel contribution of this work lies in the consideration of beliefs as a methodological prerequisite when measuring the effects of a web-based program. For this purpose, latent profile analysis was conducted to explore unique profiles of preservice teachers’ beliefs about writing before the web-based instruction. Participants were classified into three profiles: eclectic profile (n = 129), socio-cultural profile (n = 85), and person-environment profile (n = 105). Linear mixed-effects models were employed to assess if belief profiles experienced changes in beliefs and knowledge after the training. Results showed that belief profiles differed from each other in the degree of attribution of the different beliefs but remarkably all of them experienced significant differences in content knowledge acquisition. Finally, educational implications for preservice teachers’ education are highlighted.