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An Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Pupil Responding and Teacher Reacting on Pupil Achievement
Abstract
Three 40 minute science lessons, which had been carefully planned to minimize extraneous teacher behavior, were taken by the writer with Form II (Grade 7) classes. During the lessons pupil responding and teacher reacting variables were experimentally manipulated. A posttest of achievement was administered following the lessons and predicted posttest scores were calculated from the regression of a number of pretest measures (e.g., verbal ability, prior knowledge, attitudes) on this posttest. Residual achievement scores, calculated by subtracting predicted from obtained posttest scores, were used in analyses of variance to determine treatment effects. Results indicated that pupil participation, in the form of overt pupil responses to teacher questions, was a weak variable having little effect on pupil achievement. However, regular positive teacher reactions to pupil responses facilitated pupil achievement significantly more than minimal teacher reactions.
... Church's experiments developed our understanding of the interactive effects on student learning of using different types of questions and feedback (Nuthall & Church, 1972). Hughes's (1973) experiments uncovered the effects of different ways of managing student participation. In my view, these studies remain some of the most detailed and well-designed experimental studies of teaching that have ever been carried out. ...
... They learn how and when the teacher will notice them and how to give the appearance of active involvement. They get upset and anxious if the teacher is keeping more than a passing eye on them, as the teacher will get upset if the students do not respond in culturally expected ways (Hughes, 1973). ...
In this article, I argue that classroom teaching is structured by ritualized routines supported by widely held myths about learning and ability that are acquired through our common experiences as students. These ritualized routines and supporting myths are sustained not only by everyone's common experience of schooling, but by teacher education practices, the ways we evaluate teachers' classroom performance, and many common types of educational research. My own research on teaching over the last 45 years has produced a number of apparently contradictory and puzzling findings that have progressively led me to understand the nature and power of these routines and myths. While ritualized routines are necessary to allow a teacher to manage the experiences of 20-30 students simultaneously, they also explain why individual student experience and learning remain largely invisible to teachers. The problem is to find ways to stand outside the ritualized routines and myths to identify how they control what we perceive, believe, and do about reforming teaching and learning.
... Las estrategias educativas (21)(22)(23)(24)(25) se orientaron a la promoción del aprendizaje autónomo y la reflexión crítica, orientadas al desarrollo de habilidades de pensamiento, la relación de conceptos, y la toma de decisiones ante hechos concretos expuestos mediante análisis de casos. Para su desarrollo, las actividades educativas incluyeron técnicas didácticas tales como lectura crítica, exposición con preguntas y respuestas, discusión grupal dirigida, análisis crítico de casos, talleres y elaboración de ensayos. ...
Medical error is prevalent in the contemporary practice of medicine. Prevention and solution of the majority of medical errors can be focused upon from the early stages of physician formation by improving knowledge and abilities with regard to human communication. Despite its importance, information systematized with empirical bases on the teaching of human communication in Mexico is non-existent.
Our purpose was to highlight the experience of an exploratory nature on the educative intervention on human communication in medicine in medical residents of different medical specialties.
A study of educational intervention was presented 216 medical residents of the National Institutes of Health in Mexico City on the topic of human communication in medical practice. Chi square distribution was employed to find associations among variables.
Eighty percent of students presented deficiencies in knowledge and thinking abilities for clinical communication. As a result of the educational intervention, 70 percent of medical resident students reached acceptable significant learning on the topic. There were no appreciable differences between the men and women in response patterns. Data indicated necessity of incorporating this topic pre-and postgraduate studies, to achieve improvement of quality of medical care and prevention of conflicts in medicine.
... The positive effects of teacher praise have been known for a long time (Gilchrist, 1916;Hall, Lund, & Jackson, 1968;Hughes, 1973;Madsen, Becker, & Thomas, 1968;McAllister, Stachowiak, Baer, & Conderman, 1969;Zimmerman & Zimmerman, 1962). Recent research has shown the positive effects of contingent praise on the behavior of infants (e.g., Poulson & Kymissis, 1988); preschoolers (e.g., Connell, Randall, Wilson, Lutz, & Lamb, 1993;Fox, Shores, Lindeman, & Strain, 1986); elementary school students (e.g., Martens, Lochner, & Kelly, 1992;McGee, Krantz, Mason, & Me-Clannahan, 1983;Mudre & McCormick, 1989;van der Mars, 1989); adolescents (e.g., Martella, Marchand-Martella, Young, & MacFarlane, 1995;Staub, 1990;Wolery, Cybriwski, Gast, & Boyle-Cast, 1991); and adults (e.g., Haseltine & Mittenburger, 1990). ...
Four middle school students with learning disabilities were taught to recruit teacher attention while they worked on assignments in two inclusive general education classrooms. The students were taught to show their work to the teacher two to three times per session and make statements such as: "How am I doing?" Training was conducted in the special education classroom and consisted of modeling, role-playing, corrective feedback, and praise. A multiple baseline across students design showed that recruitment training increased (a) the rate of recruiting by the students, (b) the rate of teacher praise received by the students, (c) the rate of instructional feedback received by the students, and (d) the accuracy with which students completed their workbook assignments.
... Interactive feedback. Observational research carried out by Hawkins and Taylor (1972), Bellack et al. (1966), Wright and Nuthall (1970) and Hughes (1973) have found that a range of different types of teacher feedback to pupils' responses and contributions are positively associated with pupil attainment, such as taking time to probe incomplete, incorrect or no responses, and providing adequate wait time during which pupils can consider how they might respond to teachers' questions. Such feedback strategies encourage pupils to extend their responses; they also support pupils' thinking at levels they would otherwise be incapable of achieving. ...
Incl. abstract, bib. Twelve years ago Blatchford and Mortimore's authoritative review of class size research appeared in this journal. They concluded that a major problem with class size research was the lack of detailed studies of complex classroom processes that might mediate class size effects on pupils' learning. This article reviews two UK class size reviews and quantitative, qualitative and mixed method class size research. Evidence from research, and insights from 30 years of classroom-based inquiry, form the basis for the development of theoretical models of relationships between class size, classroom processes and pupils' learning. Recent research evidence from secondary school classrooms calls into question simple one-way relationships between class size and pupils' learning. Politicians are challenged to face up to the complexities involved and to be open to more flexible approaches to reforming the organisation of teaching and learning in schools that go beyond expensive programmes of crude across-the-board class size reductions. Further class size research is recommended that incorporates sophisticated qualitative methods in order to adequately understand and represent the kinds of teacher and pupil expertise involved in promoting and maximising opportunities for high quality learning in different large and small class contexts in primary and secondary schools
... These experimental studies signalled also the importance of context. Whether or not a student participated overtly in class discussion mattered for younger learners but was unrelated to achievement for older learners for whom covert participation was sufficient (Hughes, 1973). Particular teacher behaviours appeared to matter less than the curriculum content taught. ...
This article is a tribute to Graham Nuthall's contribution to classroom research from his early experimental studies through to his recent work on theory integration. It also explains the potential of the methodology, findings and theory building in our collaborative work to make a substantial positive difference for diverse students. The article explains the significance of, and need for, research linking learning to teaching processes (a scientific realist approach to putting ‘process’, socio-cultural context and theory building into a new process–product paradigm). Findings of student outcomes contrary to educational goals (for example, teaching designed to enhance appreciation of cultural differences triggering racist abuse) signal the importance of research that explains the impact of teaching on learner outcomes. The article also foreshadows the implications of the work that Graham and I did for teaching, teacher education, research and educational policy. The article concludes with Graham's view that the most important contribution his work would make, would be to initial teacher education.
... To obtain a response from the teacher the student must make a submission. We know that student achievement is greatly enhanced when teachers respond positively (Hughes, 1973). Consequently, it is quite possible that the quality and level of direct teacher response to students is greater in the online situation described than in most classroom situations. ...
Course designers adopted a language-learners approach to the online teaching of New Zealand secondary school students in the subject of astronomy. This was possible because the curriculum for astronomy that was in 2004 established as a part of New Zealand's national curriculum was specifically designed to engage underachieving students in science and technology. A criterion-referenced assessment regime was established and an Internet platform was built specifically to facilitate this form of assessment. This platform contrasts with the norm-referenced assessment programmes that are most frequently used with online instruction. In this situation – where the essential task is to reward students for learning basic vocabulary and to motivate them to further study – the theory of psychologist William James assisted the teachers to develop their online pedagogy. The article concludes with a comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of using the Internet to deliver science courses to secondary school students.
... Among the earliest (and still most important) published research in the behavioral literature were studies showing that contingent teacher praise and attention produced reliable and significant improvements in children's behavior in the elementary classroom (Madsen, Becker, & Thomas, 1968), in the secondary classroom (McAllister, Stachowiak, Baer, 8k Conderman, 1969), and in special education classrooms (Zimmerman 8k Zimmerman, 1962). Other studies showed that contingent teacher attention and praise increased students' study behavior (Hall, Lund, 8k Jackson, 1968) and improved their academic achievement (Hughes, 1973). ...
But it was different in Mr. Patterson's room. Jessica would only be on the third or fourth problem when first Clifton, then Gloria, and then two or three other students would call out, “Finished!” or, “I'm all done, Mr. Patterson.” That's when Jessica would usually stop working; she still had so many more problems left.
“Jessica's always quiet and well behaved. She doesn't cause any trouble.” Fourth-grade teacher Mr. Patterson was talking with Ms. Marino, the special educator who works with Jessica. “She just never finishes her seatwork.”
Ms. Marino was disappointed. For several weeks now she and Jessica had been working in the resource room on just that problem. Each day Ms. Marino would give Jessica several opportunities to see how many worksheet problems she could complete in 1 minute. Jessica would try to beat her score each time, and she and Ms. Marino marked each day's best total on a colorful chart. It was fun, and Jessica was learning to be a good worker in the resource room. She'd start her seatwork assignments immediately and keep working until she completed all the problems or items. Ms. Marino made a point of stopping at Jessica's desk from time to time to tell Jessica what a good worker she was.
... The criterion tests would be limited to the material covered in the curriculum units or in the actual lessons. Some recent studies (Hughes, 1973) have taken great care to develop valid criterion tests and in two major projects* in Brisbane pre and post-tests are based on the material covered in class. ...
... Ahora sabemos que no existe tal entelequia. Interesantes aportaciones de esa atapa son los trabajos de Carroll (1963), Rosenshine (1971), Hughes (1973) o Good y Grouws (1979). ...
Research on effective teaching is perhaps the line of analysis that has most improved the quality of education. The objectives of this article are to identify the factors that make teaching effective and to determine the impact of each factor, as well as to elaborate an Ibero-American model of effective teaching. Multilevel analysis with four levels is used, with four product variables: two in cognitive development (achievement in language and achievement in mathematics) and two in social-affectivity (self-concept and satisfaction at school), considering the student's previous achievement. An analysis is made of information regarding 5,722 students in nine Ibero-American countries. The existence of ten factors of effective teaching is proven.
... Some address dialogue in a fashion that does not map onto the present criteria for theoretical productiveness (e.g. Firestone & Brody, 1975;Hughes, 1973;Luckner & Pianta, 2011), but the majority are consistent. Whatever the case though, the modal approach according to Howe and Abedin is to analyze sampled dialogue qualitatively for compliance with models of effective practice, whose appropriateness is presumed rather than tested. ...
It is now widely believed that classroom dialogue matters as regards student
outcomes, with optimal patterns often regarded as requiring some or all of
open questions, elaboration of previous contributions, reasoned discussion of
competing viewpoints, linkage and coordination across contributions, metacognitive engagement with dialogue, and high student participation. To date,
however, the relevance of such features has been most convincingly examined
in relation to small-group interaction among students; little is known about
their applicability to teacher–student dialogue. This article reports a large-scale
study that permits some rebalancing. The study revolved around 2 lessons
(covering 2 of mathematics, literacy, and science) that were video recorded in
each of 72 demographically diverse classrooms (students’ ages 10–11 years).
Key measures of teacher–student dialogue were related to 6 indices of student
outcome, which jointly covered curriculum mastery, reasoning, and educationally
relevant attitudes. Prior attainment and attitudes were considered in
analyses, as were other factors (e.g., student demographics and further aspects
of classroom practice) that might confound interpretation of dialogue–outcome
relations. So long as students participated extensively, elaboration and querying
of previous contributions were found to be positively associated with
curriculum mastery, and elaboration was also positively associated with
attitudes.
Reviews research that indicates that students achieve more when their teachers emphasize academic objectives in establishing expectations and allocating time, use effective management strategies to ensure that academic learning time is maximized, pace students through the curriculum briskly but in small steps that allow high rates of success, and adapt curriculum materials based on their knowledge of students' characteristics. Qualitative research also indicates that teachers differ in how they perform such instructional behaviors as giving information, asking questions, and providing feedback. Context-specific effects are noted with respect to grade level, socioeconomic status (SES), ability and affect, and teacher intentions. It is concluded that any attempt to improve student achievement must be based on the development of effective teaching behavior. (66 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Reviews studies gathering data about what happens inside science classrooms, studies providing information about the nature of interaction in science lessons, studies which have examined factors influencing the nature of interaction, and studies which have looked at the impact of different patterns of interaction on science outcomes. (Author/SL)
Several authors have indicated that the pygmalion effect (Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968) may best be accounted for in terms of differential teacher attention to pupils whom they perceive as more and less able. Researchers have reported such disparate interaction patterns in primary and secondary classrooms in a number of countries. This paper reports separate non-participant observational studies of six community school classes and five provincial high school classes, showing that the teachers directed a disproportionately large number of questions (the principal teacher-pupil interaction initiator) to those pupils judged most able. In the high school study, teacher praise and disapproval were observed to be similarly unevenly distributed to the more able pupils’ advantage. These results are discussed as possible exemplars of the self-fulfilling prophecy in our schools.
The British sovereign bases on Cyprus, granted with the 1960 treaty establishing the Republic of Cyprus, played a key role in maintaining the fragile military structure of the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO). Although Britain and the United States urged the alliance to play a more active role, CENTO degenerated into an organization with no assigned forces with the exception of RAF bombers carrying nuclear weapons, stationed on Cyprus. Thus, Britain's contribution in political and military terms became vital for CENTO's deterrence capability. The Shah of Iran, one of the key regional leaders, was interested in the RAF bombers on Cyprus; the FCO and the MoD were always cautious over how force restructuring would be presented to the Iranians. Eventually, the need for cutting defence spending for non-NATO purposes made Whitehall decide in 1975 to withdraw the bombers permanently based in Cyprus. Britain could not be the only power paying for this ‘alliance of the unwilling’, as CENTO could be called with the benefit of hindsight. In 1976, Whitehall started scaling down financial support of military exercises; by 1983 they had planned to spend nil on the alliance. The British disengagement policy proved the correct one since this alliance had only a few years of life left. After the fall of the Shah, CENTO collapsed in 1979.
A revised version of a paper delivered at the British Educational Research Association seminar on Systematic Observational Research in Classrooms at Ware, 29‐30 November 1975.
A procedure is described for determining trait-treatment interactions when the effects of potentially confounding variables have been controlled in the original design through the analysis of covariance or the calculation of residual gain scores. The procedure determines the homogeneity of group regressions, the regions of covariable values for which group regressions are significantly different, and the percent of error that may be expected from this procedure when subjects are differentially assigned to treatments. Implications for recasting research designs based on the post hoc analysis of trait-treatment interactions are discussed.
Studied the effects of 4 combinations of teachers' expectations and control on pupil performance in a well-controlled laboratory simulation of the classroom. Two male and 2 female teachers (aged 20–26.5 yrs) presented each of the 4 combinations (high expectations with high control, high expectations with low control, low expectations with high control, and low expectations with low control) to randomly selected samples of 3rd graders (
N = 160). The experimental teaching task was a series of spelling and sentence construction exercises. Data analyses indicated significant effects of teacher expectation and teacher control on the performance of pupils. Teachers' high expectations combined with high control motivated significantly greater performance in Ss, especially boys, who were more influenced by the high control factor than were girls. (French abstract) (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Recognizing that empirical research into classroom dialogue has been conducted
for about 40 years, a review is reported of 225 studies published between 1972
and 2011. The studies were identified through systematic search of electronic
databases and scrutiny of publication reference lists. They focus on classroom
dialogue in primary and secondary classrooms, covering the full age range of
compulsory schooling. The methods of data collection and analysis used in the
studies are described and discussed, with changes and continuities over time
highlighted. Study results are then summarized and integrated to present a
succinct picture of what is currently known and where future research might
profitably be directed. One key message is that much more is known about
how classroom dialogue is organized than about whether certain modes of
organization are more beneficial than others. Moreover, epistemological and
methodological change may be required if the situation is to be remedied.
The reaction of the target language speaker to the L2 learner's errors may play an important role in developing awareness of norms of correctness. Corrective feedback functions in different ways to guide the learner towards preferred performance. Based on the corrective portions of classroom interaction in French immersion classes, a model for this kind of discourse has been developed. Different types and features of correcting acts combine into a structural model that can describe actual corrective interactions for a given error or set of errors.
Use of the model in description helps isolate ambiguities; it highlights special features of corrective interaction that are likely to be more effective in eliciting correct performance. The example of various types of “repetitions”, or “response modeling”, is taken to show which types appear to lead to more successful correction.
The model may be of use to both teachers and students in learning to identify corrective techniques and to be sensitive to the function of various kinds of feedback.
While communication is central to effective classroom instruction, surprisingly little attention by communication scholars has been paid to classroom talk. This chapter surveys the classroom interaction literature in the hope that communication scholars will more often emphasize the characteristics, effects, and correlates of talk in instruction. Initially, a series of arguments are presented for studying classroom communication. This is followed by a summary of the main currents of research on classroom interaction focusing on experimental, systematic-observational, and descriptive-ethnomethodological approaches. Finally, a series of research issues are raised identifying some methodological and conceptual decisions that face the scholar interested in probing classroom communication.
Research on teaching primarily adopts the process-product paradigm. Within this paradigm, researchers often speculate about cognitive operations that students engage in during instruction as a means to explain how teacher behaviors (processes) correlate with or cause student achievement (products). This paper argues that the methodology of process-product research is (1) ill-suited to generating theories of teaching effectiveness that use students' cognition to explain process-product relations and (2) invalid for testing such explanations. The cognitive mediational paradigm, which explicitly interposes students' cognition between teaching processes and student products, is proposed as a remedy to these problems. Methodology consistent with the cognitive mediational paradigm is described.
In an investigation focused upon student ethnicity and classroom interaction in nine inner-suburban Year 6 classes in Sydney, comparisons were made between 43 Anglo students and 43 non-Anglo students matched on general ability within sex groups. The four sex x ethnicity groups were compared on anxiety, interactions with teachers during lessons on the same social studies topic for all classes, and on performance on tests developed to measure knowledge and critical thinking achievement related to the content of the lessons. While significant main effects of ethnicity and sex upon anxiety were found between the total samples of Anglo and non-Anglo students, only that for sex was found in the matched samples. The most distinctive students in terms of teacher-student interaction were the non-Anglo females who generally were involved in less than 50 per cent of the number of interactions expected on the basis of their numbers in the classes. There were no significant main effects of ethnicity or sex upon either knowledge or critical thinking achievement. When comparisons were made between these lessons and students and those involved in an earlier study employing a larger and socio-economically more representative sample of classes, differences were found which suggested that the lessons taught in the inner city schools were more effective.
This article provides an overview of the research findings concerning effective teaching. The term 'effective teaching' is used in this article in a much broader sense than simply teacher behaviour, or what teachers are seen to do in the classroom. Instead, this article considers the managerial and organisational aspects of effective teaching, as well as the pedagogical processes. The article divides the research findings broadly into three categories: 'teaching effects'; 'models of teaching' and 'artistry'. While it is accepted that these are rather crude distinctions, it provides a means of summarising the vast literature on the subject. This review does not claim to be comprehensive, or definitive but is intended as a guide to the most important and influential research findings on effective teaching.
The beginning of Herbert Simon’s Karl Taylor Compton Lecture on “The Psychology of Thinking” (see Simon, 1981) provides a highly generative metaphor. Simon described an ant making its way across a wind and wave molded beach. A drawing of the ant’s path is jagged, irregular, hard to describe (see Figure 1); each turn in the path and the length of each of the path’s segments is seemingly unpredictable. From a more distant view, however, the path has an overall direction. It appears to have a structure, to be governed, to seek a goal. Perhaps the ant is returning to its nest.
When students communicate in the ESL classroom, the messages teachers send back are critical: these messages inform students about their language performance. Feedback in second language instruction, however, has received scant attention and is usually thought of as reinforcing rather than informational. Cybernetics, a theory of communication that is concerned with the clear and unambiguous transmission of messages, stresses the informational importance of feedback, suggesting the interdependent and reciprocal nature of the sender and receiver of these messages (in this case the language teacher and learner). The cybernetic model assumes the existence of a dynamic system in which feedback that provides specific and relevant information can affect and alter behavior. The model thus provides us a framework with which to view both the communicators and the communications in the ESL classroom; it implies the kind of feedback that the learner can both assimilate and act upon.
This study investigated students’ nonverbal reaction toward differences in their tutor's nonverbal behavior. Forty-eight Australian undergraduates of both sexes served as Ss and their nonverbal behaviors were investigated in a 2 (S's sex) × 2 (Confederate-Tutor's sex) × 2 (Warm/Cold nonverbal condition) factorial design. They were asked to memorize a poem for one minute and were required to recite it back to the confederate-tutor within a three-minute time limit. This interaction was video-taped without the S's knowledge. The videotape was then scored for nonverbal behaviors that might indicate liking and approval. The results indicated that Ss interacting with a “warm” tutor had more direct eye gaze, and showed more head-nods and smiles than Ss in the “cold” condition. Alternatively, Ss in the cold condition showed more backward lean, frowned more, and shook their heads more than Ss in the warm condition. Tutor's sex also influenced the S's nonverbal behavior, interacting with S's sex and the nonverbal condition.
Sommaire L'objet de cette étude est de déterminer l'importance relative de différents types de feedback employés par les professeurs et les contingences de réponses dans lesquelles ils pourraient être efficients. Les résultats obtenus montrent que ces feedback dépendent à la fois de la nature des réponses données et du niveau des questions posées. Les réactions les plus courantes à une réponse correcte sont l'approbation élogieuse, neutre ou collective; tandis qu'à une réponse incorrecte, ce sont les désapprobations neutre, catégorique ou collective. Une réponse correcte à une question d'un niveau inférieur donne lieu à un feedback neutre ou modéré, tandis qu'en cas de réponse incorrecte le feedback est négatif. Cependant, une réponse correcte à une question d'un niveau élevé reçoit un feedback positif, et une réponse incorrecte un feedback modéré. Il y a donc une relation entre le niveau de la question, la nature de la réponse et le type de feedback.
This article is concerned with understanding how the recall required of students during typical science and social study units might shape the development of their memory. The recall required of students of a visiting speaker's talk in an integrated science and social studies unit on Antarctica is analyzed and related to the context of activities in which it was embedded. It was found that the students' recall exhibited genre-like patterning that could be related to the ways the teacher structured and guided the students' involvement in recall activities and to the interactions between the students themselves. However, the genre analysis failed to account for the continuities and discontinuities in what students recalled in successive classroom activities. An alternative schema-based model of the way students processed their experiences in working memory and created new knowledge in long-term memory was used to explain how students recalled the visiting speaker's talk. In the final section, it is argued that the processes by which students acquire and remember new knowledge are the product of internalizing the genre-like structures they use and experience during classroom recall activities. The implications of this analysis for revising and expanding our views of what students learn from classroom experiences are identified.
The original purpose of this chapter was to provide an account of student thinking in the classroom. There was a time, some years ago, when the content of such a chapter would have been self-evident. It would have included research on the development of problem solving skills and on the ways in which teachers could encourage students to use higher-order cognitive skills by asking appropriate questions and setting appropriate problems. My own early studies of ‘classroom interaction’ were concerned with the logical demands made by teachers’ questions and the effects these had on students. The results were published under the title of Thinking in the Classroom (Nuthall & Lawrence, 1965). The categories and concepts that were used to set clear boundaries around different types of classroom behaviour were largely borrowed from research in the psychological laboratory (e.g., Bruner, Goodnow, & Austin, A Study of Thinking, 1956; Skinner, Verbal Behaviour, 1957) or from logic and analytic philosophy (e.g., Hirst & Peters, The Logic of Education, 1970; Smith & Ennis, Language and Concepts in Education, 1961).
This paper examines recent research evidence relating to the possible influence exerted by teachers’ classroom behaviour on the attitudes, aspirations and achievements of their pupils. Evidence drawn from small‐scale observational studies, large‐scale surveys and laboratory experiments is discussed in detail, and some implications for teacher training are noted.I would like to acknowledge my debt to R. K. Merton, whose paper The Matthew Effect in Science provides a most entertaining insight into the subtle and devious ways in which the scientific community determines which of its members shall be rewarded and which denied
Three science lessons, which had been planned in detail, were memorized by one of the authors and taken with Form II pupils. A second group of pupils worked through a programmed text which covered exactly the same material presented in the lessons. An achievement test and an attitude scale were administered following instruction. Residual achievement scores were used in an analysis of variance to determine treatment effects. Results indicated that the lesson pupils had higher achievement and more positive attitudes to the instruction and spent less time learning than did the programme pupils. Results also suggested that factual material learned from a programmed text may be more resistant to fade than the same material learned during oral lessons, but the forgetting of principles and their application occurs at a constant rate under both forms of instruction.
In this article, I argue that classroom teaching is structured by ritualized routines supported by widely held myths about learning and ability that are acquired through our common experiences as students. These ritualized routines and supporting myths are sustained not only by everyone's common experience of schooling, but by teacher education practices, the ways we evaluate teachers’ classroom performance, and many common types of educational research. My own research on teaching over the last 45 years has produced a number of apparently contradictory and puzzling findings that have progressively led me to understand the nature and power of these routines and myths. While ritualized routines are necessary to allow a teacher to manage the experiences of 20–30 students simultaneously, they also explain why individual student experience and learning remain largely invisible to teachers. The problem is to find ways to stand outside the ritualized routines and myths to identify how they control what we perceive, believe, and do about reforming teaching and learning.
Sixteen classroom observational studies were conducted to determine natural rates of teacher verbal approval and disapproval in the classroom. Rates of teacher verbal approval and disapproval were measured by the Teacher Approval and Disapproval Observation Record (TAD) over Grades 1 through 12. Teacher verbal approval rates dropped over grade, with a marked drop after second grade. In every grade after second, the rate of teacher verbal disapproval exceeded the rate of teacher verbal approval. These rates are interpreted in terms of reinforcement theory.
In this study, the effects of variations in the frequency of teacher-student verbal interaction on the achievements of students differing in ability, anxiety, and extroversion were examined. At the beginning of the school year a pretest, an ability measure, and the High School Personality Questionnaire were administered to the 139 pupils in four Grade 8 science classrooms from two schools. In each classroom, five lessons were then videotaped and counts were made of the number of direct, task-relevant interactions with the teachers in which each pupil was involved. Multivariate analysis of covariance revealed significant main effects for ability but not for interaction rates. In univariate analyses, high interaction rates were found to be associated with higher residual attitude toward science.
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