Abstract

To deliver high quality English Language Arts Instruction, teachers must possess specific content knowledge in order to develop a well-rounded instructional program. The aim of the present study was two-fold; first, to investigate correlations between pre-service teachers’ print exposure, their knowledge of print exposure, and how they plan for instruction (N = 35); second, to deepen knowledge of print exposure through a two-week intervention and determine if successfully deepening knowledge affects a change in planning for instruction. The first experiment revealed correlations between participants’ print exposure, their knowledge of print exposure and related concepts, and how much time they allocate for student reading. The second experiment employed an experimental design with participants randomly assigned into an experimental group (n = 17) or a control group (n = 18). The investigation showed that knowledge of print exposure can be significantly increased through a two-week intervention, and that this knowledge had a significant effect on how much time participants allocated for student reading when planning for instruction.