Teachers Didactical Variability: Determination Of Teaching Profils
Conference:
ECER 2013
Format:
Paper

Session Information

27 SES 06 B, Teacher Training and Professional Development

Paper Session

Time:
2013-09-11
15:30-17:00
Room:
A-206
Chair:
Anke Wegner

Contribution

Teaching effectiveness research and students learning are studied from the second half of the twentieth century (Brophy & Good, 1986). But, as noted, for the United States, by the Carnegie Task Force on Teaching as a Profession (1986) or the research of Goodlad (1990, 1993), there is a certain dearth about research on effective teaching practice in classroom, mainly in the francophone world (Lenoir, 2005).  Based on the latest researches in this domain in french-speaking countries (for examples: Bru, 2002 or Altet, & Vinatier, 2008) our research was designed to analyse the behaviour of teachers in teaching-learning situation and to establish didactical profiles. These are defined by what the teacher is doing in the classroom. To do this, we have developed a specific methodology that attempts to update the existence of variability between teachers (inter-variability) and variability within an individual teacher (intra-variability). Eight didactical variables were set [(1)organization of the contents ; (2) activities on the contents ; (3) dynamics of the pedagogical activity; (4) types of instructions; (5) fields of communication; (6) location of the teacher; (7) temporal organization; (8) teaching materials]. Each variable can take a particular state at any moment of the learning-teaching situation. This state is coded as a particular modality of the variable. These modalities are considered as organizer of teaching practice as defined by Bru, Pastier and Vinatier (2007) and regulate teacher and student actions in teaching situations. In addition, the experiment allowed to update the inter-variability and intra-variability in the teaching-learning situations previously determined according to the taxonomic level of the objectives. So, the observable behaviours of teachers are encoded (Altmann, 1974; Coutu, Provost & Bowen, 2005) through a set of didactic variables allowing to "explain and understand the organization of practices and processes involved in their operation" (Bru, 2002, p.71). Through the description of teaching practices ‘variability, we have describe teacher observable behaviours and we have studied the interactions and links between these behaviours. Therefore, our research is meant to be a methodological analysis instrument encouraging “the construction of predictive models” (Lenoir, 2005, p.6) of teaching practices. Didactic profiles are determined and displayed in graphical format: each teaching session is sampled in decile groups of time which allows an analysis of frequencies and occurrences of the didactic changes in teaching-learning processes (Lehner, 1996).

Method

Analyses are based on the literature linked to the particular complexity of the teaching behaviours ‘variability (Bru, 1992; Clanet, 2005). We used theories about teaching-learning situations, teacher effects, relationship between teacher and student (Wayne & Youngs, 2003) and taxonomies of educational objectives (D’Hainaut, 1977). Three teachers received four subjects of lesson whose pedagogical objective was determined in advance. Two objectives had a high taxonomic level and two others a low taxonomic level. Each teacher gave four lessons which were filmed and observed. An analytical grid of teachers’ behaviours was created and adapted for use with the software The Observer XT. This grid has eight didactic variables, each one displaying several modalities (29 exclusive modalities – 8 variables). For the data encoding, first, we focused on the occurrence of variables modalities and in a second step, we coded the periods during which these modalities appear. When a modality appeared in the behavior of the teacher, we both coded an occurrence and time during which it is manifested. This method was used to establish didactic profiles and allowed to identify patterns in teachers’ practices. At any moment, we were able to describe teacher behaviour by the state of each modality.

Expected Outcomes

The research show wide inter-variability (between several teachers) and intra-variability (in one teacher). The variability concerns mainly the length of speaking time periods teachers (the duration of speaking time among teachers are more stable than the length of speaking time observed for a same teacher in several activities), the number and duration of manifestations of didactic variables and the number and duration of events of the different variables modalities. Thus, there are different inter- and intra-variability teachers’ profiles from one activity to another, although some "constants" seem to appear at the time of implementation of certain variables. It also appears that intra-variability is stronger than inter-variability. Furthermore, the taxonomic level of activities influences both intra and inter-variability. Research shows that the variation in teachers’ behaviour is more related with the subject to be taught that with characteristics of the teachers themselves. The reflection generated by the research questions directly teacher training and opened the way for several questions like what teachers are doing, what about the influence of teaching methods, what are the adaptation strategies of teachers, what about the complex nature of the teaching subject and the status of the subject to be taught and the teacher …?

References

Altet, M. & Vinatier, I. (2008). Analyser et comprendre la pratique enseignante. Rennes : Presses Universitaires de Rennes. Altmann, J. (1974). Observational study of behavior : Sampling methods. Behavior, 49, 227-265. Brophy, J. & Good, T. L. (1986). Teacher Behavior and Student Achievement. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Third Handbook of Research on Teaching (pp. 328-375). New-York: Macmillan. Bru, M. (1992). Les variations didactiques dans l’organisation des conditions d’apprentissage. Toulouse : Editions Universitaires du Sud. Bru, M., Pastré, P., & Vinatier, I. (2007). Les organisateurs de l'activité enseignante. Perspectives croisées (Editorial). Recherche et formation, 56, 5-14. Coutu, S., Provost, M. & Bowen, F. (2005). L’observation systématique des comportements. In S. Bouchard & C. Cyr (Eds.), Recherche psychosociale : pour harmoniser recherche et pratique (321-359). Sainte-Foy : Presse de l’Université du Québec. Evertson, C. M. & Green, J. L. (1986). Observation as Inquiry and Method. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Third Handbook of Research on Teaching (pp. 162-213). New-York: Macmillan. Gage, N. L. (1967). Paradigms for Research on Teaching. In N. L. Gage (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 94-141). Chicago: Rand McNally & Company. Goodlad, J.I. (1990). Teachers for our nation’s schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Klassen, R. M., Tze, V. M. C., Betts, S. M. & Gordon, K. A. (2010). Teacher Efficacy Research 1998-2009: Signs of Progress or Unfulfilled Promise? Educational Psychology Review, published online (24 August 2010). Lehner, Ph. N. (1996). Handbook of Ethological Methods (2nd edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seidel, T. & Shavelson, R. J. (2007). Teaching Effectiveness Research in the Past Decade: The Role of Theory and Research Design in Disentangling Meta-Analysis Results. Review of Educational Research, 77 (4), 454-499. Wayne, A. J. & Youngs, P. (2003). Teacher Characteristics and Student Achievement Gains: A Review. Review of Educational Research, 73 (1), 89-122.

Author Information

Damien Canzittu (submitting)
UMONS, Belgium
Sabine Soetewey (presenting)
UMONS, Belgium
UMONS, Belgium
UMONS, Belgium
UMONS, Belgium

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