Discusses techniques for the observation, coding, and analysis of classroom behaviors. Identifies three major approaches as belonging respectively to (1) the behaviorist, (2) social-emotional, and (3) cognitive activity categories. The science teacher is encouraged to look at his own teaching behaviors as data for empirical study. (LC)

Twelve fifth- and sixth-grade field-dependent and field-independent teachers were observed for 96 hours in regular elementary classrooms. Statistically significant differences were obtained from 8 out of 10 instructional behaviors observed between field-dependent and field-independent teachers. (Author/SJL)

Ninety-five children in 28 nursery school classrooms were used to investigate the relationships between teacher facilitative or directive verbal behavior in nursery school classrooms and seven aspects of child language change (receptive vocabulary, vocabulary of use, mean length of response, complexity of sentences, inquiry statements, dramatic…

This critique of James Gallagher's Topic Classification System (TCS), a tool of categorizing teacher-pupil classroom interaction, suggests revision of the system asking for more complete analysis of the data obtained with it, but recommends its use in future investigations especially in view of its organization and the "unique elements"…

The potentiality of macroanalysis of interactive dialogue was studied for ten suburban school teachers and their very high and very low ability student groups. Macroanalysis is the computerized analysis of interaction data into units of three or more tallies with the number of unit occurrences determinable. The sample groups had a mean IQ…

This study investigated the range of communicative intentions (CIs) used by 3 hearing teachers and 11 preschool children with hearing losses in a lesson context. The study found that teachers used all the following CI categories: conversational devices, descriptions, performatives, requests, responses, statements, and uninterpretables. Only 7…

DESIGNED FOR THE USE OF OBSERVERS, TEACHERS, AND RESEARCHERS IN DESCRIBING CLASSROOM BEHAVIOR, THIS MODEL WAS SET UP IN 3 DIMENSIONS--CONTENT-SKILLS, CONCEPT LEVEL (DATA, CONCEPT, GENERALIZATION), AND STYLE (FOCUSING ON DESCRIPTION, EXPANSION, EXPLANATION, EVALUATION-EXPLANATION, AND EVALUATION). SUBDIVIDING CLASSROOM DISCUSSIONS IS ACCOMPLISHED…

This study used a classroom interaction system to code three 20-minute episodes in each of 40 elementary classrooms. The procedure was followed in October and again in May. An analysis was made to investigate the relationships between aspects of teacher praise and student participation in classroom discussions. Findings indicated that (a) praise…

Changes in the teacher's authority structure as well as changes in the content of student talk during peer response sessions occur over the course of a school year in a first-grade classroom. In the beginning of the year, the teacher, a beginner in the Teachers College Writing Project, dominated the talk during share sessions, while the students'…

Verbal interactions of 46 special education teachers in specific language and learning disability (SLD) classrooms, educable mentally retarded (EMR) classrooms, and trainable mentally retarded (TMR) classrooms were described and compared. The teachers varied, by classroom type, in their use of direct or indirect teaching styles, but the former…

The project studied a critical aspect of school performance, how children know how to display interactional competence during classroom lessons. Using videotapes of classroom lessons and interviews with participants, the study analyzed the language used by teachers and students as well as their physical behaviors to infer the knowledge needed for…

This paper presents findings from an inquiry conducted in Australian secondary schools at the Form I level that examined the contributions of selected teaching behaviors to the achievement, attitudes, and attentiveness of students. The investigation was restricted to children in the schools of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). This…

This report reviews 3 demonstration studies in which the Topic Classification System of classroom interaction analysis (a system of analyzing teacher objectives and student performance) was applied to 3 samples of classroom behaviors to determine the range and limitations of the system. In the introduction the system is discussed with reference to…

This study investigated the relationship between teacher behavior and pupil reflective dialogue in the classroom assuming that social problems provide a natural springboard for inquiry through classroom discussion. It was hypothesized that different teacher strategies promote different types of class interaction. Discussion styles were to be…