Developing a Story of Theory and Practice: Multigenre Writing in English Teacher Education

This article presents a study exploring preservice teachers' experiences with multigenre writing in a secondary English methods course. In multigenre writing (Romano, 2000), students write about their research in a variety of genres as an alternative to the traditional research paper, presenting exposition in narrative forms. Preservice teachers in this study were assigned to write multigenre reflections that connected theory and practice from course readings. Their writing was supported through classroom workshops and discussion. Data collection included samples of preservice teachers' writing, transcripts of focus group interviews, and notes taken from class discussions about multigenre writing. Analysis of these data indicate that the participants in this study worked through their initial anxiety related to the unique expectations of multigenre writing; their written products demonstrate their willingness to push the boundaries of their own and instructor expectations and to craft increasingly sophisticated connections between theory and practice related to teaching English/language arts. Suggestions for incorporation of multigenre writing in teacher education courses are provided. (Contains 2 figures.)