This study investigates whether college students can accurately distinguish between lessons taught in clear and unclear manners and what the effect of a low clarity lesson is on achievement at the knowledge (recall) level. Concluded that students can distinguish between high and low clarity lessons and that there is no causal relationship between…

College students taught a lesson on number theory in a "clear" manner learned more than those taught in an "unclear" or imprecise manner by the same teacher. (Ed.)

Phrases of uncertainty used by social studies teachers in high school history courses negatively influenced achievement for students of all ability levels. A link was found to exist between frequency of teacher uncertainty phrases and student perception of the teacher as a knowledgeable authority on the topics covered. (Author/RM)

Two low-inference teacher clarity variables, vagueness terms and mazes, are discussed in terms of their effect on student achievement and on student perception of lesson effectiveness. Results indicate that high frequencies of teacher vagueness terms inhibit student achievement and cause students to perceive the lesson as ineffective. (Authors/JN)

A high degree of classroom activity relevant to the lesson content positively influenced achievement in high school algebra lessons. (Editor)

Reported are results of a study designed to determine the experimental effect of three low-inference teacher clarity variables on student achievement in science. College students (N=41) were randomly assigned to one of two groups defined by the teacher's clarity in the lesson, i.e., high clarity versus low clarity. After a lesson in basic genetics…

Research in two low-inference teacher clarity variables, vagueness terms and mazes, and their relation to effectiveness in teaching college students is reviewed. Vagueness terms and mazes appear to be generalizable to most classrooms and to be important factors that affect student performance. (MLW)

A study examined the effect of teacher transitions and lesson content on lesson effectiveness as perceived by high school English students. A lesson was presented involving parallel sentence structure, and students were tested on comprehension of the material. Results indicate that teacher transitions significantly affected achievement but…

A study was conducted to determine if teachers' use of transitions and additional unexplained content influenced student achievement and perception of lesson effectiveness. One hundred eleventh grade English students were randomly assigned to one of four groups defined by possible combinations of two teacher transition conditions (transitions or…

College students were randomly assigned to eight groups defined by the possible combinations of teacher-vagueness conditions, teacher-mazes conditions, and additional-unexplained-content conditions. The groups whose lessons contained no teacher mazes performed better on the test than the groups whose lessons contained teacher mazes. (Author/MK)

High school students were presented with identical social studies lessons. The only differences were variations in teacher uncertainty, teacher "bluffing," lesson discontinuity, and lecture notes. Each group was tested on lesson comprehension and completed a lesson evaluation. Results were discussed in terms of low inference behaviors related to…

The purpose of this study was to examine the combined effects of student participation and of realistic levels of vagueness terms on student achievement and attitudes. Ninety-six sixth graders from a middle school in Georgia were randomly assigned to one of eight groups defined by possible combinations of two teacher uncertainty conditions, two…

Thirty-four preservice teachers listened to children's tape-recorded responses to selected questions. The children were rehearsed to present either relevant and logical (high quality) responses or irrelevant and illogical (low quality) responses. The children also were rehearsed to verbalize either responses that contained selected nonstandard…

Teacher clarity and its effects on student achievement were investigated in a study of high school social studies students. Groups were defined by possible combinations of two teacher uncertainty conditions, two teacher "bluffing" conditions, and two lecture note conditions. Results are discussed. (Author/DF)

Analyzes a study which examined the effects of teacher vagueness on comprehension of high school biology students (N=48) regarding the vascular system of angiosperms. Includes the finding that teacher vagueness terms significantly affect student achievement and student perception of lesson effectiveness. (CS)