Approximating Literacy Practices in Tutorials: What is Learned and What Matters for Teacher Preparation

In this study, we examined the learning of preservice teachers associated with the features of a literacy tutorial experience. Our qualitative study focused on the close inspection of the experiences of 7 focus cases out of the 19 preservice teachers enrolled in our program across a one-semester tutorial experience. Through our research we identified three preservice teacher learning themes and seven features of the tutorial experience that afforded opportunities for preservice teachers to build these understandings. Overall, our findings support the importance of this tutorial experience to the development of teachers who can adapt their practices to students and contexts. Our findings also resonate with what others have suggested as the importance of authentic contexts to try out practices of literacy teaching within preservice teacher preparation programs.