Wait‐time, classroom discourse, and the influence of sociocultural factors in science teaching

Abstract

AbstractWait‐time, a variable related to questioning in a teaching‐learning situation, has been found to have implications for the inquiry mode of science teaching especially in Western classroom environments. Aside from the fact that the literature is very sparse in this area about what obtains in developing countries, nothing appears to be available with regard to how wait‐time interacts with the sociocultural factors within non‐Western science classrooms. In a non‐Western country such as Nigeria where most science programs in schools are inquiry‐oriented, do teachers take notice of, and effectively use, wait‐time in the teaching‐learning process? Are science teachers able to effectively use the mediating role of sociocultural factors in science teaching in a traditional environment which expects children to be seen only and not heard? The main purpose of this study was to investigate the wait‐time of Nigerian integrated science teachers in relation to the amount of students' participation in inquiry. This study also investigated the relationship between wait‐time and sociocultural attitudinal factors prevalent in traditional societies. The instruments used for data collection were the Hough's Observational Schedule and a modified version of the Socio‐Cultural Environment Scale (SCES); a stop‐watch was used to measure the wait‐time of audio‐recorded integrated science lessons of 37 integrated science teachers from selected junior secondary schools in Kaduna State, Nigeria. The results showed that the average wait‐time TT and wait‐time ST of the integrated science teachers was 3.0 seconds and 0.7 seconds, respectively. The study reported the amount of student participation in the student‐teacher classroom discourse to be very low. Wait‐time was also shown to have a strong relationship with sociocultural factors of authoritarianism, goal structure, societal expectation, and traditional worldview. The pedagogical and curricular implications of the results have been highlighted. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.