Teacher–student interpersonal relationships in Indonesia: profiles and importance to student motivation

This study was designed to investigate the distribution of interpersonal profiles based on students' and teachers' perceptions and to examine the associations between students' perceptions of teacher interpersonal behaviour and learning motivation in Indonesia. Participants were 1900 secondary school students (grades 7 to 9) across 66 (Mathematics and EFL) classes from 11 public schools in Indonesia. The results show that a variety of interpersonal profiles could be distinguished, that teachers perceive themselves more favourably than their students do, and that students' perceptions of teacher interpersonal behaviour and their learning motivation are associated. Influence and Proximity were found to be important determinants of student motivation; both dimensions are related to a more autonomous motivation, while Influence is also associated with a more controlled motivation. Contrary to the existing knowledge base, this study reveals that the relationship between teacher interpersonal behaviour and student motivation is more strongly connected to Influence than to Proximity.     

Teacher–student relationship quality and math achievement: The mediating role of teacher self-efficacy

The relation between social dyadic variables such as teacher–student relationship quality (TSRQ) and student achievement have been well-documented within prior work; however, less research has focused on how TSRQ associates with achievement. We used longitudinal structural equation modeling to investigate the extent that teacher self-efficacy mediated the relationship between TSRQ and math achievement for 881 children in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study. Teacher–student closeness had moderate to large positive effects on teacher self-efficacy, whereas teacher–student conflict had small to moderate negative effects on teacher self-efficacy, which then had small positive effects on math achievement. Closeness only had indirect effects on math achievement via teacher self-efficacy, whereas conflict had direct and indirect effects on math achievement. The results were consistent across grades, lending strength to the findings. This study provides researchers and practitioners evidence of an area that can be developed to potentially enhance student success in math.     

Teacher–student interpersonal relationships in Indonesian lower secondary education: Teacher and student perceptions

This study investigated firstly the reliability and validity of an Indonesian version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI). Second, perceptions of Indonesian secondary school teachers?? interpersonal behaviour as perceived by students and teachers were studied with the QTI. Third, differences between students?? and teachers?? perceptions regarding interpersonal teacher behaviour were compared. The QTI itself is based on the Model of Interpersonal Behaviour which maps teacher behaviour in terms of Influence (Dominance?CSubmission) and Proximity (Cooperation?COpposition). In this study, an Indonesian version of the QTI was constructed and distributed to 2,380 students of 69 teachers from 85 classes (grade 7?C9) from 12 public lower secondary schools in Indonesia. The results showed high reliability and validity for the instrument. Students?? and teachers?? average ratings on Influence were similar, while teacher??s ratings of Proximity were higher than those of students.     

Reading the graphics: what is the relationship between graphical reading processes and student comprehension?

Research on comprehension of written text and reading processes suggests a greater use of reading processes is associated with higher scores on comprehension measures of those same texts. Although researchers have suggested that the graphics in text convey important meaning, little research exists on the relationship between children’s processes prompted by the graphics in informational text and their overall comprehension of the same texts. In this study, 30 second-graders read 2 informational texts, were prompted to share their thinking whenever they looked at a graphic, retold each text in their own words, and answered 8 comprehension questions about each text. Correlations between students’ scores on the post-reading comprehension measures and the reading processes prompted by the graphics suggested that: (1) the number of times any process was prompted by the graphics was significantly correlated with scores on the retelling measure for one book, but not for the retelling measure of the other book or for the comprehension question measure for either book; (2) there were no significant correlations between the number of different processes prompted by the graphics and students’ scores on any comprehension measure; (3) a number of individual processes were positively correlated with retelling and/or comprehension question scores.     

How are parental expectations related to students’ beliefs and their perceived achievement?

Educational Studies in Mathematics - We are developing an approach to teaching important proportionality-based concepts to first grade students in a way that supports students’...     

Teachers’ interpersonal relationships and instructional expertise: How are they related?

This study explores new directions to study and combine measurements of instructional expertise and teachers’ interpersonal relationships with students. The sample comprises 34 in-service teachers. The My Teacher questionnaire (MTQ) was used to operationalize teachers’ instructional expertise. The Questionnaire of Teacher Interaction (QTI) was used to describe teachers’ interpersonal relationships with students. Hypotheses were tested using circular mixed-effects models. Results indicate that teachers’ interpersonal relationships differ at successive levels of instructional expertise. Results further indicated that increases in instructional expertise are associated with a sharp decrease in the within-class variance in interpersonal relationships. Specifically, the higher teachers’ instructional expertise, the more teachers' interpersonal relationships are described as “directing” and “helpful” by all students in the class.     

Teacher and student responses to interdisciplinary aspects of sustainability education: what do we really know?

That the value of interdisciplinarity in sustainability education is largely taken for granted reflects widely held views about the inherent complexity and uncertainty of sustainability issues and the need for holistic responses to them. Although there is an extensive literature on interdisciplinarity, there has been relatively little investigation of the ways in which teachers and learners deal with and respond to this central aspect of sustainability education. This paper presents data from two case studies of masters course in sustainability education, one in an English university and one in a Chinese university, and examines some of the contextual factors that support or limit their attempts to go beyond the bounded ways of thinking associated with more traditional academic disciplines. While some learners respond enthusiastically to interdisciplinarity, others experience forms of ‘cognitive dissonance’. Interdisciplinarity requires individual teachers to operate as members of teams and to find ways of promoting dialogue between different perspectives, discourses and methods of approaching problems. The key to interdisciplinarity is an open attitude, a willingness to learn and an ability to engage with different ways of thinking about issues we face in common.     

The number of autonomy-supportive relationships: Are more relationships better for motivation,perceived competence,and achievement?

Does the perception of many close relationships as autonomy-supportive make students more motivated and competent? The goal of this study was to use latent class analysis (LCA) to compare the educational correlates of having one vs. several autonomy-supportive relationships. Participants were 1406 high school students (47% boys, 52% girls). LCA revealed three groups: Group 1 (17%) included students who perceived low autonomy support by their mother, father, and teacher; Group 2 (7%) included students who perceived low autonomy support by their father, but moderate autonomy support by their mother and teacher; and Group 3 (76%) included students who perceived all sources as moderately autonomy-supportive. Results of multiple comparisons suggest that more is not necessarily better: Students in Group 2, who perceived low autonomy support by fathers, reported equivalent autonomous (intrinsic and identified) and controlled (external and introjected) regulations and perceived competence to those of students in Group 3, who perceived all sources as moderately autonomy-supportive. One difference was that Group 3 showed better academic achievement than Group 2. Results are discussed in light of research on close relationships and self-determination theory (SDT).     

Teacher effects on student achievement in first grade: which aspects matter most?

The present study investigates the effects of teachers (background qualifications, attitudes and beliefs, and instructional practices) on student achievement in mathematics, reading, and spelling in 1st grade. Its theoretical framework and methodology are based on recent work by Palardy and Rumberger (2008). Data from the SiBO Project, a longitudinal study in Flemish primary education, were analyzed for the present study using 2-level regression analysis. The results showed that teacher background had the largest effect on mathematics achievement, whereas instructional practices had the largest effects on both reading and spelling achievement. Moreover, the size of teacher effects depended upon the specific learning domain: Larger teacher effects were found for mathematics than for spelling and reading. Overall, the results suggest that teachers had a modest to strong effect on student achievement in first grade.     

Opening up the black box: Teacher competence,instructional quality,and students’ learning progress

Existing research indicates inconsistent or at best weak predictive effects of teacher knowledge on student achievement. Data from Germany were used to examine the relation between teachers' content and pedagogical content knowledge, their perception, interpretation, and decision-making skills, the instructional quality implemented in class, and students' learning progression in mathematics. Rather than direct effects of teacher knowledge on students, we hypothesized an effect chain with multiple mediation processes while controlling for school type and student background. Multi-level modeling with 3496 students from 154 classrooms revealed a mediating role of teachers' skills and their instructional quality for the relation between teacher knowledge and students' learning progress. Effect sizes were medium to strong, and the model explained a large amount of variance. No direct effects of teachers’ knowledge on student progress were found. We discuss our findings with respect to the teacher-competence-as-a-continuum model and with respect to future research.     

Observer ratings of instructional quality: Do they fulfill what they promise?

Despite considerable interest in the topic of instructional quality in research as well as practice, little is known about the quality of its assessment. Using generalizability analysis as well as content analysis, the present study investigates how reliably and validly instructional quality is measured by observer ratings. Twelve trained raters judged 57 videotaped lesson sequences with regard to aspects of domain-independent instructional quality. Additionally, 3 of these sequences were judged by 390 untrained raters (i.e., student teachers and teachers). Depending on scale level and dimension, 16–44% of the variance in ratings could be attributed to instructional quality, whereas rater bias accounted for 12–40% of the variance. Although the trained raters referred more often to aspects considered essential for instructional quality, this was not reflected in the reliability of their ratings. The results indicate that observer ratings should be treated in a more differentiated manner in the future.     

Emotional correspondence between preschoolers and teachers: what are the effects on child–teacher relationships?

ABSTRACT

The effects of the emotion regulation skills of the children attending preschool education on their interactions with their teachers are emphasised in recent studies. Therefore, in this study, we examined the effects of emotion regulation skills on the quality of the relationship between the teacher and the child. In total, 39 preschool teachers and 119 preschool children (55 girls and 64) boys from 5 public preschools participated in the study. Teachers were asked to fill Student-Teacher Relationship Scale-Short Form regarding three children in their classrooms and Emotion Regulation Questionnaire for themselves. We conducted four observations by using MPAC-R/S in order to assess child’s abilities to express and regulate emotions. The results showed that children’s emotional states were effective on teacher’s relationship perception, and that teacher’s emotion regulation skills were also effective on his/her relationship perception. In addition, the cognitive reappraisal strategy used by the teacher in emotion regulation has also been found to have an impact on the negative emotional state of children.     

Competence beliefs and perceived ability evaluations: How do they contribute to intrinsic motivation and achievement?

To study the role of students' competence beliefs and their perceived teachers' ability evaluations for intrinsic motivation and achievement in math, 459 second graders from 27 German classrooms were examined. Students provided self-reports on their intrinsic motivation, competence beliefs and perceived teachers' ability evaluations in math. Teachers gave insight in students' math grades. Relations were analyzed by three different models: a direct, an indirect and an interaction effect model. Concerning intrinsic motivation, results provided support for both an indirect effect and an interaction effect model, but not for a direct effect model. With regard to math achievement, only the indirect model appeared to be appropriate. The finding that perceived teachers' ability evaluations had an (indirect) effect on students' intrinsic motivation and achievement in math hints at the role of significant others in the development of children's academic functioning and might guide potential interventions.     

What is the influence of cultural capital on student reading achievement in Confucian as compared to non-Confucian heritage societies?

Abstract

The present study compared the contribution of familial cultural capital to the reading achievement of 116,508 15-year-old students who participated in PISA 2012 in six Confucian heritage cultures (CHCs) and nine non-CHCs with comparable educational and economic development. The different states of cultural capital examined comprised institutionalised (maternal, paternal education) and objectified (educational, cultural resources) indicators. Results showed that: (1) cultural capital levels were lower in CHCs (vis-à-vis non-CHCs); (2) cultural capital was generally positively related to student achievement in CHCs and non-CHCs; (3) the relationships between all cultural capital indicators, except educational resources, and achievement were weaker in CHCs than non-CHCs; and (4) objectified (vis-à-vis institutionalised) cultural capital was more strongly associated with achievement in CHCs. These results suggest that the stronger sociocultural emphasis on education in CHCs may have moderated cultural capital effects on student achievement and enabled more students to succeed academically.     

Attitudes to reading: what can stories tell us?

Children’s attitudes to reading clearly influence their success in it and, while teachers have known this for some while, they have lacked easy ways of establishing what these attitudes are. Here Pauline Davis suggests one approach to this through story-telling.     

What should reading instructional research be the research of?

There have been recent arguments for expanding research on some basic beginning reading skills (i.e, phonemic awareness, word recognition) to the exclusion of other literacy competencies. Moreover, there have also been arguments that certain methodologies should be favored in reading research to the exclusion of others. The case is made in this article that these conceptualizations of reading research are too narrow. Rather, the case made here is that a number of issues in literacy development deserve support, issues that can be addressed well with diverse methodologies.     

Early reading success and its relationship to reading achievement and reading volume: replication of ‘10 years later’

Cunningham and Stanovich reported a longitudinal investigation over 10 years that examined the unique influence of exposure to print in explaining individual differences on various measures of reading achievement and declarative (general) knowledge. The present study replicated their investigation with a larger number of participants and additional measures of literacy and language skills. Fifty-four 1st graders were administered reading, spelling, vocabulary, IQ, and listening comprehension measures and then followed to the end of 10th grade. At the end of 10th grade, they were administered an IQ test and measures of reading comprehension, language ability, general knowledge, and exposure to print. Results showed that 1st grade reading skills were a strong predictor of 10th grade outcomes. Second and third-grade reading skills were predictive of individual differences in print exposure even after 10th grade reading comprehension and language ability had been partialed. Individual differences in print exposure also predicted differences in the growth of reading ability, word decoding, spelling, vocabulary, and listening comprehension throughout the elementary grades. Findings confirm the powerful, long-term benefits of providing children with a fast start in reading and support the reciprocal nature of strong reading skills and engagement in reading and reading-related activities.