Data from four studies utilizing Flander's classroom verbal interaction analysis were reexamined to determine the stability and sensitivity of ten derived parameters that can be used to distinguish between lessons that have different amounts of indirect teacher behaviors. Teaching patterns were extracted and compared with these derived indices. No…

The use of Kruskal's nonmetric multidimensional scaling model for analysis of classroom interaction data is discussed. Four distance models are proposed which lead to multidimensional representation of single sequences, sets of sequences, and behavior categories using symmetric and conditional proximity options of the model. Results of application…

Describes a method with data analyzed from two lessons on the quantitative assessment of content structure in classroom dialogue. Kinetic structure analysis was used and the fundamental coefficient of structure was calculated for each lesson. The method should provide new directions for looking at verbal interaction in classrooms. (PS)

New trends in language teaching have resulted in a move towards research in the language classroom. A brief overview of classroom research reveals three distinct but inter-related research paradigms: classroom-centered research, classroom process research, and qualitative research, respectively.

This study refutes the Elashoff and Snow (1970) critique of "Pygmalion in the Classroom," a study by Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) on the effect of favorable teacher expectance on pupil achievement. Among the theses considered erroneous are: (1) That there is a wide variation in apparent results when different methods of data analysis…

The following articles on ethnography and education are presented: (1) "A Retrospective Discussion of the State of the Art in Ethnography in Education," by P. Gilmore and D. M. Smith; (2) "Ethnography in Education: Defining the Essentials," by S. B. Heath; (3) "The Structure of Classroom Events and Their Consequences for Student Performance," by…

Researchers perceived that teachers became more aware of their teaching behaviors, more aroused about being able to alter behaviors, and more conscientious about planning for the kinds of behaviors they wish to exhibit in a given situation as a result of the availability of a computer program (Analysis of Teaching Behavior). (MM)

The evolution of educational evaluation has been significantly influenced by the assumptions and procedures of educational research which, in turn, aspires to make educational practice scientific. The concept of education connoisseurship and education criticism is posited upon a different set of techniques. Connoisseurship is an appreciative art…

The Stanford Research International (SRI) classroom observation system provides a description of the classroom environment with emphasis on interactions between teachers and students and among students. Included in the SRI observation system is the Five Minute Observation (FMO), which records classroom interactions into "frames"…

Naturalistic ethnographic research methods useful for the study of the dynamics of effective college teaching are discussed based on the findings of an ethnographic study. Naturalistic research methods were used in the study to understand better the task and social dimensions of a college classroom. Lessons were studied in the classroom as they…

A conceptual model of learning environments and the procedures necessary for its investigation are proposed. It is argued that a research agenda involving longitudinal, comparative case-study designs and using field-method techniques is the only method capable of generating a solid base of information on the relationship between structural…

This paper reviews selected findings from two traditions of educational research--process-product research and sociolinguistic research. The first research method generally focuses on the teacher and identifies teacher behaviors (processes) that correlate with student outcome measures (products). Sociolinguistic research focuses on communicative…

Focuses on strategies of second-language learners who communicate among themselves. Pairs of students were left alone in a room with a sound recorder and instructions to describe a specific object. The communication strategy they selected to describe an object with no common referent was to paraphrase the object's function. (11 references) (CK)

In this paper a broad perspective on the phenomenon of teaching and learning is presented. The complex dynamics of interaction between teacher, student, and educational researcher are explored. Conventional research in education is characterized as relying heavily on methods adopted from other types of research in such fields as agriculture and…

The project here reported was conceived as a two-year effort involving analysis, interpretation, and dissemination. Its first year was funded to permit comprehensive, in-depth, comparative study of selected public school Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs in six metropolitan areas. The purpose was to utilize field research methods to construct a…