Understanding the Congruence Between Teacher Intention and Student Learning Outcome

<p>Research into what takes place between the instructional intent of a teaching act and students’ experience of the same act is central to better understanding teaching and learning. In this case study, individual teacher and student interviews, qualitative observation and textual analysis were used to compare teacher intention with student learning outcome, to judge congruence between the two. The study, in a large urban primary school, focused on two classrooms of students from 9-­‐13 years old. Congruence between teacher intention and student learning outcome, was examined over five consecutive lessons that aimed to achieve a particular outcome. It was found that teachers’ and students’ explanatory context was influential. In particular, the alignment between conceptions of learning informing teacher intention and task was significant. Where the conceptions aligned, there was greater congruence. Where there was a disjuncture, congruence was compromised. In addition teacher knowledge of curriculum content, the pervasiveness of task perception and the impact of outcome space was material. The study highlights an opportunity for further research into the congruence between teacher intention and student learning outcome where deep conceptions of learning inform instructional intent and into the impact of teacher belief systems on the conceptions of learning held.</p>

Understanding the Congruence Between Teacher Intention and Student Learning Outcome

<p>Research into what takes place between the instructional intent of a teaching act and students’ experience of the same act is central to better understanding teaching and learning. In this case study, individual teacher and student interviews, qualitative observation and textual analysis were used to compare teacher intention with student learning outcome, to judge congruence between the two. The study, in a large urban primary school, focused on two classrooms of students from 9-­‐13 years old. Congruence between teacher intention and student learning outcome, was examined over five consecutive lessons that aimed to achieve a particular outcome. It was found that teachers’ and students’ explanatory context was influential. In particular, the alignment between conceptions of learning informing teacher intention and task was significant. Where the conceptions aligned, there was greater congruence. Where there was a disjuncture, congruence was compromised. In addition teacher knowledge of curriculum content, the pervasiveness of task perception and the impact of outcome space was material. The study highlights an opportunity for further research into the congruence between teacher intention and student learning outcome where deep conceptions of learning inform instructional intent and into the impact of teacher belief systems on the conceptions of learning held.</p>

Teacher Beliefs and Epistemologies

Teacher beliefs are implicit and explicit suppositions held by educators which have relevance for their professional and instructional practices, interactions with students, and learning processes. They may include beliefs about students, self, learning, knowledge, and knowing. Beliefs about knowledge and knowing—teacher epistemologies—are a specific and important type of teacher belief. Teacher beliefs and epistemologies merit investigation given their influence on teaching practices and student learning, yet the form, nature, development, and propensity to change with respect to these constructs are open to question. Further, their expression in teachers’ practice is complex, not least because both the construct and content of “belief” and “epistemology” are equivocal, elaborate, and closely connected to other constructs. Much of the teacher beliefs and epistemology research has emerged from the field of educational psychology. This chapter describes five central issues related to teachers’ beliefs and epistemologies during recent decades. Similar core issues were identified in the Oxford Research Encyclopedias in Education article “Reviews of Teachers’ Beliefs.” Within each of five sections, which represent the core issues in the field, we first explore teacher beliefs in general followed by teacher epistemologies specifically. In the first section, we provide general overviews of teacher beliefs and epistemologies to introduce the reader to key texts in both fields. The second section is a review of conceptualizations of teacher beliefs and epistemologies, in which we highlight the ways in which beliefs and epistemologies are characterized. The third section explores relationships between teachers’ beliefs/epistemologies and teaching and learning practices. Measuring teachers’ beliefs and epistemologies is the focus of the fourth section, which explicates different ways in which beliefs and epistemologies have been studied. Finally, in the fifth section, we examine research and theorization about the ways in which teachers’ beliefs and epistemologies might undergo change.

Teacher Self-Concept and its Association with Willingness to Include Children with Special Needs in Regular Classes: Teacher Empathy as a Mediator

More appealing is the inclusive education practice that recognizes diversity among children than practices that lead to inequality in education. However, there have been implementation challenges including the rejection of children with special needs (CWSNs) in regular classes by teachers. Given this, the study attempted to build an empirical model to explain associations between teacher self-belief system and socio-emotional factors and their willingness to include CWSNs in their classes. The sample size consisted of 316 teachers. Using path analysis, findings showed, among others, that the conceptual model fit the data satisfactorily, and that teacher self-concept had direct effects on teachers’ willingness to include CWSNs in their regular classes. Teacher cognitive self-concept was a better predictor and its impact was significantly mediated by teacher empathy. It was concluded that willingness for inclusion could be influenced by teacher belief system and socio-emotional characteristics. Received: 27 October 2020 / Accepted: 17 December 2020 / Published: 5 March 2021

The Development and Validation of a Teacher Belief Survey for the Constructivist Classroom

The research reported in this article was part of a larger study which took place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The large-scale education reform, being carried out at the time of the study, required paradigm shifts in practice; from a traditional to a constructivist approach. The education reform posed on-going challenges and posed questions regarding the future impact for teachers, particularly with respect to their beliefs with respect to classroom practice. This article describes the development and validation of a survey to assess teachers’ beliefs in this new context. The survey assesses teachers’ beliefs about their role in the classroom and philosophy of teaching and learning and their classroom practice. The translation validity of the survey was supported by examining the content and face validity. Further, analysis of the data collected 182 Arab teachers was used to provide support for the reliability and validity of the newly developed Teacher Belief Survey in terms of factor structure, internal consistency reliability, discriminant and concurrent validity. This instrument has the potential to be useful for ascertaining teachers’ professional development needs and for understanding the beliefs of student teachers. In regions of cross-cultural diversity the findings may assist in creating understanding and sensitivity of the cultural differences between people, their knowledge, perspectives and practices.

College EFL teachers’ beliefs in making requests

This study examined college EFL teachers’ beliefs in their making requests in the classrooms. In this study, the methods for data-collection included a questionnaire, classroom observation, and an in-depth interview. A pre-observation questionnaire was administrated for collecting the information on teacher belief in the use of request types, and why and when teachers made these requests. Five EFL teachers and one of their respective English classes at university in Taiwan were invited to participate in the present study. Over a 4-week period, a total of 40 sessions of teaching, 50 minutes each, were observed, video-taped, and audio-taped. Afterwards, an interview was conducted. The data collected were transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Findings showed that all teachers reported their uses of both direct and indirect requests. Also, all teachers made their requests for some specific reasons and at some specific point of time. It is suggested that teachers be aware of their uses of requests. Teachers’ awareness of their uses of different types of requests may help promote teacher-student interaction.