Abstract
This study investigates the patterns of student–teacher interaction in five elementary public schools in Lebanon along four dimensions of classroom environment: teachers’ expectations, teachers’ feedback, use of the students’ ideas, and students’ attitude toward school using Grounded Theorizing and Symbolic Interactionist approaches. Thirty-three teachers were interviewed about their expectations and feedback to students, and their use of the students’ ideas in class. They were also observed in classes during instruction and feedback delivery; 196 students filled questionnaires about the way they perceive their teachers’ expectations, feedback, and use of their ideas in class, and about their attitude toward their schools. Results indicated interpatterns of interaction common to all of the public schools chosen in this study. They revealed positive students’ attitude toward their schools, and a positive perception of their teachers’ expectations and feedback. In addition, results not only pointed to negative teacher expectations accorded to students but also revealed mismatched accounts of positive types of feedback delivery, this feedback regarded negative from the observer’s perspective. Classroom observations revealed a big discrepancy between what has been reported by the teachers and the students and what has been practiced; it also revealed more points of convergence between the teachers’ accounts and the students’ accounts than between both perspectives and the observer’s. Recommendations for improving the classroom environment in the elementary public schools in Lebanon are made.
Highlights
In spite of the various reform and development plans that were undergone to improve the educational sector in Lebanon, many challenges continue to haunt the public school sector more than the private sector
Such challenges include the use of unupdated curricula, the shortage of qualified teachers, the lopsided distribution of schools and teachers across these schools, the relatively high dropout rates, and the shortage of inspectors (Lebanese Association of Educational Studies (LAES), 2006) which have implications on students’ learning during the gestation period of their development, that is, the elementary level
This study investigated whether the classroom environment as perceived by Grade 6 elementary public school students had any relationship with their attitude toward their schools
Summary
Public schools constituted 45.9% of the total school population in Lebanon in the academic year 2010-2011, accommodating, 29.5% of the total student population in Lebanon. In spite of the various reform and development plans that were undergone to improve the educational sector in Lebanon, many challenges continue to haunt the public school sector more than the private sector Such challenges include the use of unupdated curricula, the shortage of qualified teachers, the lopsided distribution of schools and teachers across these schools, the relatively high dropout rates, and the shortage of inspectors (Lebanese Association of Educational Studies (LAES), 2006) which have implications on students’ learning during the gestation period of their development, that is, the elementary level. This study, looks into previously unexplored areas of investigation in primary public schools involving students and those who teach them
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