Teacher-student Interaction Patterns Research Articles

Can interaction content analysis research contribute to distance learning?

In this paper we propose that Interaction Analysis studies, which focus on the process‐product relationship between types of teacher–student interactions and learning outcomes, present only part of the learning picture. Clearly, not all teacher–student interaction patterns are equally effective for students at different ages and stages of development. We describe how Interaction Content Analysis was used within the framework of a distance‐learning (DL) project in order to clarify the complex roles and relationships between individual learners’ needs and expectations, types of interactions and learning outcomes. In our project, two differentiated teaching roles emerged—the role of the university‐based lecturer who transmitted subject content and the role of the local site‐based teacher who supported students in their classrooms. We describe how those roles supplemented each other in order to improve learning in a DL environment. We show how content analysis of teacher–student interactions used by universit...

An Integrated Analysis of Verbal and Nonverbal Interaction in Conventional and Distance Learning Environments

As increasing numbers of educational institutions implement distance learning (DL) programs, educators need to know how teaching and learning processes change when teachers and learners are no longer in the same place at the same time. Understanding the theoretical and practical implications of these changes can help teachers to compensate learners for the limitations that often characterize a DL environment. In this article, we describe how we used content analysis to identify how university lecturers' verbal and nonverbal dialogue patterns changed when they taught in both conventional and DL environments. Data, indicating significant cross-context changes in teacher-student interaction patterns, validate Moore's (1972, 1993) transactional distance theory. This theory predicts that the increased psychological and communicative space, which needs to be crossed in a DL environment, has a potentially negative effect on teaching and learning. Empirical evidence of changes in specific categories of interaction also expands the conceptualization of the dialogue variable in Moore's theory. The focus of this article on verbal dialogue and nonverbal interactions was intended to clarify possible causes and effects of increased transactional distance in a DL environment. Our integrated analysis of verbal and nonverbal interactions was intended to identify types of compensatory strategies adopted by teachers in an attempt to reduce transactional distance. Teachers could use these results to manage the dialogue variable more effectively in both DL and conventional learning environments.

Teaching Practices in Classrooms for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Discrepancies between Recommendations and Observations

An important issue in the study of classrooms for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) concerns understanding teacher behavior and the teacher-student interaction patterns as coactive forces in the development and maintenance of problem behavior. Recent descriptive work in the area of teacher-student interactions suggests that teachers are employing less than optimal teaching practices. This article highlights a number of recommended best teaching practices, selectively reviews the research literature on teacher interactions in classrooms for students with E/BD, provides a possible interpretative framework for the apparent discrepancies, and makes recommendations for future research in this area.

Teacher-Student Interaction during Oral Reading and Rereading

In this article I report six case studies of interactions between less proficient readers and their teachers during oral reading and rereading. The questions were: Does children's reading accuracy determine teacher-student interaction patterns? Are there additional factors that explain differential interaction patterns? I determined whether the focus of teacher-student interactions shifted from decoding to meaning as accuracy rates improved with successive readings. Results indicated that a clear shift to a meaning focus occurred for one of five cases for which there were data. In the remaining cases, teacher-student interaction did not shift from decoding to meaning as accuracy improved. In one case, accuracy remained below a threshold level for achieving a meaning focus. For the others, the decoding focus decreased as accuracy improved but the shift from decoding did not lead to a focus on meaning. Children's control of meaning and teachers' focus on fluency goals, were influenced by the teachers' pursuit of alternative instructional goals. Accuracy was a critical factor in achieving meaning-focused teacher-student interactions in these case studies; however, the nature of text material and teachers' instructional goals also influenced the nature of teacher-student interactions.

Teacher-Student Interaction Patterns In Bilingual and Mainstream Classrooms

Abstract Interactional styles refer to the preferred manner in which knowledge is learned and shared. Cultural differences can cause “discontinuities” among children from minority cultures who experience educational setbacks when the interactional patterns they bring from home differ from or conflict with those necessary to succeed in school. Knowing and capitalizing on the students’ preferred interactional styles can improve instruction for these students. The study was undertaken to describe and characterize the interactional patterns of newly-arrived Filipino students in the 8th grade in order to identify strategies which could be used to develop culturally-compatible teaching techniques for Ilokano-speaking Filipino students. Data used came from six videotapes bilingual and English-only lessons in social studies, observation notes and interviews with the participating teachers and students. Examination of the data showed that there are discernible patterns of teacher-student interaction in the bilingu...

Teacher-student interactions and sex-related differences in learning mathematics

This study examined the teacher-student interaction patterns that were related to the low-level (LL) and high-level (HL) mathematics achievement of girls and boys. In December and in May, students in 36 fourth-grade mathematics classes completed a mathematics test containing LL and HL items from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. During January through April, observers coded the teacher-student interactions for six randomly selected students of each sex in each class. Many teacher-student interaction patterns that were related significantly to girls' mathematics achievement were unrelated to boys' mathematics achievement or were related significantly in the opposite direction. Further, teacher-student interaction patterns that predicted girls' and boys' LL achievement were not the same as those that predicted their HL achievement.

Teacher-Student Interaction Patterns In Mainstreamed Classrooms

In two studies regular classroom teachers were observed as they interacted with (1) nonhandicapped high achievers, (2) nonhandicapped low achievers, and (3) mildly handicapped students. In the first study 12 third-grade mainstreamed classrooms in two Utah cities were observed for eight one-day sessions. Twenty-one mainstreamed classrooms (12 third-grade and 9 fourth-grade) in South Dakota and Iowa were observed for four one-day sessions in the second study. The results indicated that the groups were significantly different on 8 of the 16 dependent measures in the Utah study and 7 of 16 dependent measures in the South Dakota/Iowa study. Five of the differences found were the same for both studies. The overall conclusion of the two studies is that, although there is substantial evidence that teacher-student interaction varies among the student groups observed, there is no strong evidence that general preferential treatment (i.e., treatment likely to result in better educational gains or a more effective learning environment) is consistently provided to any single group of students.

Socialization of Achievement Attitudes and Beliefs: Classroom Influences

PARSONS, JACQUELYNNE ECCLES; KACZALA, CAROLINE M.; and MEECE, JUDITH L. Socialization of Achievement Attitudes and Beliefs: Classroom Influences. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1982, 53, 322-339. The relation between classroom experiences and individual differences in expectations for future success in mathematics courses, self-concept of math abilities and perceptions of the difficulty of math were investigated in an observational study of 17 math classrooms for grades 5-9. 2 questions were addressed: (1) Does the sex of the student or the teacher's expectation for the student influence the nature of student-teacher interactions? (2) Do variations in teacherstudent interaction patterns affect student attitudes? Although few sex differences emerged, girls received less criticism than boys, especially low-teacher-expectancy boys, and high-teacher-expectancy females received less praise than other groups. No support was found for sex differences in teacher discriminant use of praise and criticism. Some support was found for more general sex differences and teacher expectation differences in teacher behavior. Multiple-regression analyses, with the students' past grades used as a control variable, showed that teacher behaviors influence children's attitudes but the effects differ for males and females; for example, self-concept of ability for boys, but not for girls, was predicted by relatively high levels of both teacher criticism and praise. In general, past grades and student-teacher interaction variables accounted for a larger percentage of the variation in boys' attitudes than in girls'. In the second set of analyses 2 types of classrooms were compared: classrooms in which boys and girls had equally high future expectations and classrooms in which boys have higher future expectations. Boys and girls were treated differently in these 2 classroom types. The data suggest that boys and girls have equivalent expectations when the relative distribution of praise and criticism within a class across highand low-teacher-expectancy groups is similar for both sexes.

Teacher-Student Interaction Patterns in Classrooms with Mainstreamed Mildly Handicapped Students

Teacher-student interaction patterns in 12 third-grade mainstreamed classrooms were observed with four groups of students: (1) nonhandicapped high achievers, (2) nonhandicapped low achievers, (3) learning disabled, and (4) behaviorally handicapped. Teacher-student interaction was defined using 16 dependent measures derived from the Brophy-Good Teacher-Child Dyadic Interaction System. Multivariate and Univariate Analysis of Variance procedures demonstrated that statistically the groups were significantly different on 8 of the 16 dependent measures. Although the behaviorally handicapped students were treated differently by their regular classroom teachers more frequently than students in the other three groups, no group was given consistent preferential treatment. Most student initiations were nonacademic, and almost one-half of teachers’ feedback and initiations were nonacademic. Furthermore, teachers used more disapproving than positive feedback. The results indicate a need for teachers in mainstreamed classrooms to devote more time to academic tasks and to use better classroom management techniques.

Teacher-Student Interaction Patterns in Classrooms with Mainstreamed Mildly Handicapped Students

Teacher-Student Interaction Patterns in Classrooms with Mainstreamed Mildly Handicapped Students

The Effects of Cooperative and Individualized Instruction on Student Attitudes and Achievement

Summary The way in which learning goals are structured determines the student-student and teacher-student interaction patterns in the classroom, which in turn greatly affect the outcomes resulting from instruction. The effects of two methods of structuring learning goals—cooperatively and individualistically—were compared on a series of attitudinal and performance variables. An advanced math class for 5th and 6th grade white students (N = 30 boys and girls) in a suburban, upper-middle-class school was divided randomly into cooperative and individualized conditions (controlling for math ability) for studying math one hour a day for 50 days. The results indicate that cooperative learning promoted more positive attitudes towards heterogeneity among peers; higher self-esteem; more positive attitudes toward the teacher, fellow cooperators, and conflict; more internal locus of control; and higher daily achievement.

Which Pupils Do Teachers Call on?

Which Pupils Do Teachers Call on?