Literacy coaching is a sustained form of professional development (PD) for inservice teachers geared towards improving teachers' instructional practices, and by extension, outcomes in student learning. Many researchers have described the standards of expected behavior of coaches, which researchers refer to as coaching roles. In this study, relevant coaching behaviors include solving problems with teachers related to student learning, and using assessment data to monitor student progress and to make instructional decisions. Coaches in my study received training in the Student Focused Coaching (SFC) model and worked to support two similarly effective reading intervention programs, Responsive Reading Intervention and Proactive Beginning Reading. While many researchers have investigated the roles of coaches, few published research studies have investigated how coaches perform those roles discursively (i.e., produced through speaking or writing). Using the theoretical framework of positioning theory, I explored this phenomenon by analyzing discrete elements of discourse known as positions. Whereas roles are static, positions are dynamic, which means that they can alter the course of a conversation by interacting with other discursive elements, namely speech acts and storylines. Further, I investigated how coaches perform their roles discursively in an online environment, where by design asynchronous written communication was almost exclusively the only means of communication between teachers and coaches. Thus, discourse in the form of communicating with teachers was itself an important component of the coaches' professional tasks, in addition to other tasks such as analyzing student assessment data, training teachers to do the same, and developing instructional interventions based on these data. Previous researchers have used a case study design to investigate positioning between a single coach and multiple teachers. This study used a multiple case study design to explore the positioning between coaches (n=3) and teachers (n=14) over a three year period in the online communication interface of a specially designed software called the Virtual Coach (VC). In total, there were 18 coach-teacher dyads. Two of the dyads lacked problem-solving episodes that met the criteria for inclusion in the analysis, so the analysis was limited to 16 dyads. In order to understand how coaches perform the complex tasks of their profession using discourse, I analyzed the transcripts of the interactions using open and a priori coding. The coding process included both open coding and a priori codes based on the theoretical framework of positioning theory. Discursive problem solving between coaches and teachers in the VC involved a combination of positioning, speech acts, and storylines. Coaches used discursive resources to elicit descriptions from teachers through questioning, and occasionally using unique "eyes and ears" positioning statements, where coaches positioned teachers with the responsibility to describe their instruction and students' response to instruction. Such teacher descriptions helped coaches get a picture of teachers and students in lieu of observation. These descriptions also complemented snapshots of student performance and growth captured by assessment data. High-frequency speech acts such as questioning, explaining, and describing also contributed to the different coach and teacher typologies. The three coaches displayed different discursive patterns that contributed to their unique case profiles: enthusiastic, expert and responsive. The enthusiastic coach, Ruth, had higher instances of speech acts such as using positive language and being excited; the teachers with whom she worked also used these speech acts more frequently than other teachers did. The expert coach, Olivia, used the explaining speech act more frequently than other coaches did, and she performed the role of reading expert often by explaining conceptual relationships between student reading skills. The responsive coach, Joanna, showed fewer amounts of the characteristics of the other coaches, but clearly responded to teacher requests and encouraged teachers to participate in the VC. Using performative and accountive positioning, coaches and teachers took turns asking things of one another and reciprocally fulfilling those requests. I discuss implications for practice including training for coaches to build awareness of how they position themselves and teachers during communication. Possibilities exist for future research on positioning between coaches and teachers given recent advances in videoconferencing and remote classroom observation technology. Thus, virtual or computer-mediated coaching will remain a setting for interactions between coaches and teachers, but new technology enables researchers to study either synchronous or asynchronous discourse, and to possible compare these modes of discourse with respect to teacher and/or student outcomes. / A Thesis submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. / Fall Semester, 2013. / September 11, 2013. / Case study, Discourse analysis, Literacy coaching, Positioning theory, Problem solving, Technology-mediated communication / Includes bibliographical references. / Alysia Roehrig, Professor Directing Thesis; Jeannine Turner, Committee Member; Vanessa Dennen, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_185156 |
| Contributors | Rawls, Erik S. (authoraut), Roehrig, Alysia (professor directing thesis), Turner, Jeannine (committee member), Dennen, Vanessa (committee member), Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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