Teacher Cognition: Four Case Studies of Teachers in Low-SES Schools

Thesis (Ph.D.), Education, Washington State UniversityThis qualitative study examined the cognition and practices of four teachers teaching in low -SES schools. The four case studies were comprised of three elementary teachers and one middle school teachers in the state of Columbia*. The study explored how the teachers' schooling, professional coursework, classroom practices, and contextual factors affected their teaching practices. The conceptual framework for the study came from Borg's (2003) representation of teacher cognition for language teachers.Data were triangulated and collected from interviews, documents, and classroom observations. The four teachers were interviewed three times each. The documents collected were professional correspondence, pertinent papers, homework, or other artifacts that demonstrated the teachers' cognition.The findings of the study showed the teachers' cognition was primarily influenced by schooling, classroom practices, and contextual factors, but not professional coursework. The findings also suggest that the teachers in the study found relationships with students and a student reflexive curriculum to be paramount in their classroom practice in a low-SES school. In addition, three of the teachers all regarded the contextual factor of equity in their schools to be of importance in their cognition of teaching.*pseudonymsDepartment of Educational Psychology, Washington State Universit