Record Details
Cognitive meaning of teacher-child verbal interaction in a fourth grade classroom
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Cognitive meaning of teacher-child verbal interaction in a fourth grade classroom |
| Names |
Melendy, Ward Tinker
(creator) Hall, Jack V. (advisor) |
| Date Issued | 1967-07-19 (iso8601) |
| Note | Graduation date: 1968 |
| Abstract | Purposes of the Study: 1. To design an instrument for classification of teacher-child verbal interaction formulating classroom cognitive patterns of communication. 2. To use the designed instrument in a classroom outside the pilot program to formulate an apparent teacher-child cognitive pattern of communication. Securing and Treating the Data: Information basic to the development of the Cognitive Scale Record was secured through a small scale pilot program. Variables to be investigated were defined; a research paradigm was refined; and a final form of the classification instrument was designed. Classroom use of the Cognitive Scale Record outside the pilot program was based upon a tape recording of a sample of teacher-child acts of conversation. Tapescript, Matrix, and Frequency Distribution forms of this verbal interaction provided bases for analyses relevant to a classroom cognitive pattern of communication. Findings: In the Pilot Program. 1. The following characteristics of cognitive patterns of classroom communication were determined. a) Pattern I Communication will have teacher-child acts of conversation most frequently in the lower cogitative range, frequently in the incogitant range, and less frequently in the upper cogitative and cogent ranges. Its objectives emphasize remembering or recall of information. b) Pattern II Communication will have teacher-child acts of conversation most frequently in the lower cogitative range, frequently in the upper cogitative range, and less frequently in the incogitant and cogent ranges. Its objectives emphasize understanding of the literal message contained in a communication. c) Pattern III Communication will have teacher-child acts of conversation most frequently in the entire cogitative range, frequently in the cogent range, and less frequently in the incogitant range. Its objectives emphasize organizing and reorganizing thought that is being communicated to achieve a particular purpose, e.g., problem solving. 2. A consensual behavioral description was developed for each item, e.g., act of conversation, in the instrument. 3. One scale would not adequately discriminate the peculiarities in cognitive power in the range of primary through senior high school classrooms. 4. Efficacy required narrowing the range of classrooms for study to grades three through six. 5. Effects of the systematization of observation through the Cognitive Scale Record were increased by tape recording and tape scripting teacher-child verbal interaction. Cognitive Scale Record Use Outside Pilot Program. 1. Matrix analysis revealed the following: a) The acts of conversation were most frequently in the lower cogitative range (T-60 and C-45), frequently for the teacher in the upper cogitative range (T-39 and C-17), less frequently in the incogitant range (omitting teacher utterances opening class and turn calling) (T-21 and C-26) and cogent range (T-3 and C-0), thus characterizing Pattern II Communication. b) For teacher acts of conversation, one-third were cogitative questions, about one-fourth were interpretive, about one-fourth were cogitative remarks and inferences, and about one-sixth distributed between command, verbalization, and hypothesizing. c) For child acts of conversation about one-fourth were verbalizations, half were cogitative replies and remarks, and about one-fifth in the upper cogitative range and interpretive primarily. d) About three-fourths of all teacher-child acts of conversation were in the cogitative portion of the matrix, and of these one-half were lower cogitative and one-fourth upper cogitative. 2. The instrument seemed to be a reliable means for the teacher to develop and comprehend a classroom cognitive pattern of communication. Recommendations 1. Educators and researchers should increasingly utilize systematic observation, including electronic recording with accurate verbatim transcript, of teacher-child conversation to provide data and concepts: a. Helping a teacher to discover talk dictates teacher-child educational effectiveness; to free and open the content and nature of classroom communication. b. Creating conditions for self-in-service education and phenomenological treatment by a teacher. 2. Research of any facet of the crucial and elusive problem of teacher-child educational effectiveness should continue. |
| Genre | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Topic | Teacher-student relationships |
| Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/1957/47077 |
