Abstract
Although there is consensus regarding the importance of writing for learning across school subjects, classrooms instruction does not usually foster the development of complex writing skills. This research addressed teachers’ beliefs, given its relevance in informing educational decision-making. Specifically, a comparative study was undertaken to explore Chilean in service and pre-service teachers’s beliefs about writing, following the epistemic tradition. To achieve this, a Spanish instrument, centered on reproductive and epistemic beliefs, was adapted and validated through the administration of an online questionnaire to a sample of 232 participants. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed, confirming the structure of two independent scales. Descriptive and mean comparison analyses between practicing and pre-service teachers, as well as between primary and secondary education teachers, revealed higher scores on the epistemic scale than on the reproductive scale for all groups. However, for the planning and textualization dimension, results leaned towards reproductive beliefs. Concerning reproductive beliefs, practicing teachers scored higher than pre-service teachers. Regarding epistemic beliefs, primary education teachers and practicing teachers scored higher than secondary education teachers and pre-service teachers. These results partially align with previous national studies on teachers’ beliefs about writing. The findings suggest some implications for teacher education in writing.
Keywords
Teachers’ beliefs; Epistemic writing; Reproductive writing; Validation; Comparative study