Pre-service English teachers’ strengths and challenges when reading and writing

Resumen

Reading scientific or literary works and developing academic writing in
English can bring up challenges for students no matter their language proficiency.
This article is the result of a research study carried out with a qualitative approach
at the B.A. in English at Universidad del Tolima. It aims at illustrating the strengths,
challenges, conceptions and expectations of a group of pre-service teachers and at
fostering the use of strategies that can help them re-shape their conceptions in a reading
and composition class. Different approaches were used in order to help learners reach
their goals, including the use of portfolios and metacognitive strategies. At the end,
it  was  evident  that  most  students’  perceptions  about  reading  and  writing  changed
significantly.  Students  acknowledged  that  this  process  helped  them  change  their
attitudes and perceptions, value their background knowledge, gain new knowledge,
and trust their abilities to become better readers and writers.