Understanding Student Behavior in One Fifth-Grade Classroom as Contextually Defined

Abstract

This multimethod qualitative research explored the relations of emotion, cognition, and inner speech to each other and to context. 2 questionnaires (Achenbach's Teacher's Report Form and the Contextual Teacher Questionnaire) were used to determine interpersonal style group membership for 24 students in 1 fifth-grade classroom. 3 groups were defined by the teacher's questionnaire ratings of students' characteristic social behavior in 2 contexts-that is, with peers and teacher. Group 1 students behaved positively in both contexts, group 2 mixed, group 3 negatively. Students were interviewed about 6 vignettes describing aggressive, withdrawn, and adaptive situations; vignettes depicted structured or unstructured situations. Students were observed during reading group and recess. In addition to quantitative analyses, I used qualitative analysis to examine important patterns of quantitative results within and across groups. Results suggested the necessity of understanding students' adaptive behavior in context, the role of context in determining cognitive and emotional responses, and the synthesizing, integrating function of inner speech. An example of one way to coordinate quantitative and qualitative analyses is provided.