CATEGORIES 2.docx

Through prompts regarding early literacy memories, this study examined whether or not in-service teachers in graduate literacy courses had differential attitudes toward fiction versus non-fiction literature. Because teachers’ beliefs directly affect instructional practice, a bias toward one genre could affect young students’ exposure to nonfiction. Critical Discourse Analysis (Gee, 2014) was used to analyze discussion board responses. Results indicated that participants did possess differential attitudes toward the two genres. They recalled enjoying early experiences with fiction such as going to the library or bedtime stories. Most felt that nonfiction was for school tasks like writing reports. However, these attitudes were culturally situated either in the home or in school, indicating complex involvement of other sociocultural factors.<br>