The effect of teacher approval on students social and academic behaviour

Abstract

Since the 1970s, researchers have been demonstrating the power of teacher approval on the behavior of both individual students and whole classes. Interest in this area of inquiry has continued presumably because it has been felt that teacher approval was, is and will continue to be a significant aspect of good teaching. The thesis includes four separate but related studies. In the first and second studies we investigated teacher and pupils verbal interactions, respectively, ten years later after the last study in the United Kingdom (Harrop & Swinson, 2000), and for the very first time in Italy. A large-scale observational study across both the two countries used a partial interval time sampling observational schedule to record the frequency and type of verbal behaviour of teachers and whether students were on-task or off-task. The relationship between teacher and pupil behaviour was also explored. Furthermore, differences between the two countries were investigated. Compared with the United Kingdom, higher rates of both teacher disapproval and pupils off-task behaviour were found in Italian classrooms across the school grades. As a result, in the third study, a group of Italian primary school teachers took part in a training programme specifically designed to encourage them to change aspects of the verbal feedback they gave to their pupils. The teachers and pupils were observed both prior to and after the teachers had received some training aimed at increasing both the quality and quantity of their feedback. Thus, the effects that changes in teacher feedback had on pupil behaviour were examined. The last study, was aimed to address gaps in current knowledge about the effect of different kind of teacher approval - other than vocal approval – on students’ performance. An exploratory study, and an experimental study, were conducted with undergraduate Psychology students in order to investigate the effect of written approval on their academic performance.