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RE.4CT (Review of Educational Research & Advances for Classroom Teachers) is a prtblication of the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, and aims to keep studerit arid experienced teachers, senior school personnel, principals and educational administrators abreast of recent advances in research in education. It effectivcly presents reviews of two or more research studies related to a particular area of interest, and discusses significant implications for school and classroom practice. I n the interest of communicating with a wide readership of practitioners in education. technical details of research and subject jargon are reduced to a minimum consistent with the integ- rity of the data. Further details of original research reports and studies are cited under Sources in each review.

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

E,recutive Edrtor Linda Gan

Serzior Editor Lachlan Crawford

Associate Editors Phyllis Chew

Christine Chin Robert Lumsden

Steven Tan

Q Nanyang Technological University 169 Bukil Tim~h Road Singapow 259750

REACT is published twice a year, in June and December. The Editorial Committee \r.elcotnes contributions for future issues. Articles must be received by February I for the June issue and August I for the December issue. Please send articles to: The Executive Editor. REACT. National lnstitute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, 469. Bukit Timah Road, Singapore 259756.

The views exprc~rcd by the contributors to REACTdl, not necrssarily rrtlect thosc of the Editorial Conimittee or the National Institute of Education.

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young children's social and cognitive pwth. I k : : : ! ~ ! : i r r l ? at a r d k,

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Executive Editor

CONTENTS

1 Issues In Character Education: A Conservative O r Liberal View?

8 Enhancing Self-Esteem: Affective 1 Education In Practice ' \

I 7 , 15 "Happiness Is ............ b Children's Social And Emotional

Adjustment To Primary One In Singapore

\ 25 , The Importance Of Encouragement I \'

32 \ The Effect Of Direct Instruction ) On Self-concept

I-,

37 Do You Panic About Maths?

44 Learning To Listen

54 "I'm Talking To Myself': Children's Use Of Private Speech For Self-Regulation

63 Articles From Previous Issues, 1997

Ho Boon Tiong

I(zn Snlifl? & F.'~lincz D 'Rozario

Lirru'cr Gnn

Levan Liin

Dennis Rose

Foong Pzri Yee

Cl~r.i.~tine C.M. Goh

Carolyn Tan-Niam 1

61 Articles From Previous Issues, 1998

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

I

I Foong Pui Yee is lecturing in the Division of Mathematics, School of Science

Linda Gan, Carolyn Tan-Niam & Dennis Rose are all lechlrers in the

Division of Specialised Education, School of Education

Christine C.M. Goh is lecturing in the Division of English Language and

Applied Linguistics, School of Arts

Ho Boon Tiong is a lecturer in the Division of Physics, School of Science

Levan Lim is a former lecturer in the Di\ ision of Specialised Education,

School of Education

Ian Smith & Vilma D'Rozario are both lecturing in the Division of

Psychological Studies, School of Education

Note: All contributors are academic staff members of the National Institute of Education unlrsh orherwisc slaled.

ISSUES IN CHARACTER EDUCATION: A CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL VIEW?

Review by Ho Boon Tiong

From the ear ly ivritinps of Greek philosophers such as Platu and Aristotle. the ~ ~ r d ~ l i n r r i c ~ r i - has the incalling of "to iii(ii-K' or "to r t ~ ~ r o i , ~ " . If the larger purposc of education is to mtiuld students' character. then we need toccinsider a number of highly controversial and contentious issues.

Should we teach values i n schools? I f so, ahich values should we teach'? What is the ul t imate goal of any character education program in schools? How are students rli lcarn values? At what level are behavioral problems solved'!

More fondanlentally, wc would have to examine our assulnpt ions about the underlying theory of human nature and of morality. In this article. I present some empirical studies on i.haracrer education programs in American and Japanese schools. highlight an interesting debate between Alfie Kohn and other scholars on "How Not to Teach Values" (Kohn, 1997) and draw implications for teachers in classroo~n practice.

REVIEW OF RESEARCH

Berreth and Bermall (1997) found that schools which had clearly stated core moral values, had caring adults who exemplified these values both at work and i n their interactions with students and had provided opportunities for students to engage in community service, fostered the virtues of

empathy and sell-d~scipline. This was true for hath preschools and hifh schools. In another study, Elkind and Sweet (1997) reported that thd classical Socrat ic technique lcd s tudents to recogni le contradictions hetween vnlucs the! avowed and the choices they had, and could makc. In Japan, Lewis & Tsuchida i 1998) noted that an important aspect of the ele~nentary educati~i~i was character (educatin~~) besides the othcr 2 C's; namely. conncctici~~ ( to school) and (curriculum) content. The Japanese tcachers bel ieved that "~.[rluc.s.. s h o ~ r l ~ l nor jirst h r turiglrr iii thr i pr r iod .~ dd~sigii(lted ?.c,cir/~. ,foi. I I I O I Y ~ ~

r d~~cnr io i~ , hi(! should h r d~t17ho1lir(/ iii ei:ri? cictir.if\. of tlie .school do?" ( ib i~ l . p.33). Interestingly too. the authors observed that teachers generally avoided using rewards or punishments so ;Is not to cause divisions anlong students but instead treated them more like members of a bigger family.

THE BIG DERATE

Against this backdrop, Kohn (1997, p.129) however maintains that "...c.horncfer- crl~rcork~i~ ilo\rodajs is. f o r rhe t ~ z o ~ t l~orr, a c.oll~~.tioti OV ~.rhorturioi~.s (iizd txtriii.~ic i i l r i~ i ce~nr~~f s r1e.rigilrd to !?lokc ~~hi ld , r i i work horrlrr- rind do il.hut the!, 're told". He believes that strategies such as scheduling a value for a month or offerin: students rewards when they are "caught" heing good are ineffective. because extrinsic moti\,ation actually tends to erode intrinsic motivation. Therefore, students are unlikely to h;i\,t. lasting commitment any of these ualues and they will soon learn that the point of

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I REACT. DECEhlRER 1999

being good is only to get rewards. To him. such approaches are tantamount to indoctrination. He argues thar a better way would be to engage students in deep. critical reflection about thebe issues.

While agreeins that Kohn's critique would stimulate a healthy debate hecause it would force character educators to look more closel) at uhat they are doing. Lickona (1998) and cevsral others (Benninga & W\nne, 1998; Etzioni. 1998; Glanzer, 1998) fuel that Kohn's analysis is not complex enough. They maintain that Kohn has failed to address the following questions that would influence one's understanding of morality.

Should we teach values in schuuls?

Many scholars feel thar schools and their teachings are already imbued with values (Doyle. 1997: Kohn. 1997; Bsnninga & Wynne. I : E i n i 1998: Glanzer, 1998). "llhrrher o i rrnr we deliberalrl\. CICIOII~ (I c , l ~ f l r ~ i c l ~ ~ r 111- I~ I I I I -C~I e~Ir,ic~rrioi~ ~ N - O ~ Y ~ I T I . we (11-e (rhrnj,.s feiicl~irzg 1v11rrc.s. EI.CIII /1ef1/11(> II,/I(I ii~.si,st rI1c11 111e1. (rre o l ~ i ~ o . \ e ~ l 10 vnl~ies in schools ~r.s~rirll~ rncJ(Iil l/l<i/ //I?: (I!.? 0/Ip(l.~~d /(I I ' ~ / L I ~ . s O//lt'r //lflil r1rrii.01t.n" (Kohn. 1997. p.432). Benninsa &r YrWynne (1998) go further to suggeht that. rnorc precisely. we are always teaching i r r They define virtues as good or meritorious moral qualities that underlie desirable chal-acter traits or habils. They also believe that these traits - and. to some degree. virtues - arc not inncite and must be acquired through learning and practice in homes. sehoolc. neighb~,rhoods and other agencies. This vicw is chared by Lickona ( I 998) who proposes that a d is~ine t i \~e character education program needs to

provide students with repeated opportunities to practise good behavior until

it becomes a habit- i n other words. a virtue. However. he cautions that. in stressing right conduct. we should also not neglect the cognitive underpinnings of moral behavior because characrer education without moral judgement ~vould become mere conformity training. He seer this as one of Kohn's ~najorconcemt and adds that Kohn's worry about narrow, unreflecti\~e social training could serve as a useful warning. Therefore. the issue is not whether we should or should not teach values in schools bur rvllich values. or who.se. should \ye teach'!

Which values should we teach?

Etzioni (1998. p.447) suggests we can stal-t with thc "111!.rin11 of raliirs we 011 .shorew

which would include, tor example, fairness, honest). not stealins. committing rape or murder. not being disrespectful and lying wantonly. Glanzer (1998) suges t s that character educalion programs should attempt to instill these ci,rnmonly asreed upon virlues among children at the primary level. Fl~wc\~er. Kohn (1998) arguss that i t is not always clear that everyone shares thcsc values. He questions the supel-fic~:~l consensus people have about basic valuri. For eramplc. in theory. we endorse the idea of cooperation. but in p~actice we zrt up groups to compete against one another in our quesr for triumph (Kohn. lYY7)! HOW then can we rcspond when hasic values seem to he in conflict'! At ths secondary school level. G l a n ~ e r (1998) suggests that i t would be useful and necessary for studunls to disci~ss i~nportant undsrlying quehtions such as:

. Why should we develop virtues? In what ways should we demonstrate these virtues? Hou \r,ill character address the reality of n~oral failure?

1 ~ ~~ ~~

REACT DECEMBER 1999

What will motivate or empower us to attain these virtues'!

Benninga & Wynne (1998) and Kohn (1997) advocate that children should reflect on these complex issues. Students need to understand that virtues exist to serve certain ends. Therefore, the various \,irtues and their ends should be openly discussed and agreed upon by the school community. This leads to the next question: So, what is the ultimate goal?

What is the ultimate goal of a character education program?

Should the ultimate goal be acculturating students to conventional norms of good behavior in order to achieve social stability? Kohn (1997, p.432) regards this as a profoundly conservative agenda. Instead, we should cultivate autonomy "so that childrerl come t o e.rperience themselves as 'originals' rather than )awns'. With srrch nn agen~la, it wo~rld be crucial to give strldents the chunc.e to porticipnte in rnaking decisions about their learning and nhorrt how they want their classroo~n to he" . He points out that character education would look very different if this were the goal. However, Benninga & Wynne (1998) argue that children are not adults - their minds are different from those of adults. Therefore, allowing students too much freedom to cultivate autonomy and to make decisions about their learning can he detrimental. Instead, children need age-appropriate but significanr responsibilities. Since children lean1 to make good decisions by making decisions, schools ought to involve them as active participants. This brings us to another important aspect of character education - the way values are taught and learnt.

How can we teach values?

In most character education programs where teaching values are likened to pouring values into students who are passive receptacles. the approach becomes highly debatable. According to Kohn (1998), social and moral development. like intellectual development, should be a process by which the learner is active in hisher construction of meaning. Although Glanzer (1998) shares much of Kohn's concern about such methods. he takes issue with Kohn when the latter not only criticizes the methods used in character education but also the very importance of developing habits of character. Kohn (1997) does not consider the process of inculcating habits as an educational issue. because habits are unreflective actions. Glanzer (1 998) however believes that children must learn good habits. Like willing athletes or musicians who have chosen to subject themselves to gruelling training in order to develop their capacities and form certain habits, Glanzer (1998) argues that educators can also encourage children to think critically about their habits and to develop an internal commitment to good ones. The approach need not be mindless conformity nor does it lessen the need to form virtuous habits. On the contrary. such reflective training can help students make good choices and develop good character.

At what level are behavioral problems solved?

That student behavioral problems exist in schools is evident enough but how educators solve them is even more revealing. Benninga & Wynne (1998) give some statistics of record-breaking rates of distress afflicting young Americans. Kohn

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REACT. DECEMBER 1999

(1998) opines that larger social forces affect crime and anti-social actions. Therefore. trying to ':fi.r t i le kir1.s" (which Kohn equates with teaching children virtuous habits) overlooks the system(s) in which those individual, learn o r l ive. For examplc. he suggests that people often lie because they feel that the en\.ironment is not safe enough for thein to tell the truth. Glanzer (1998) however, argues that children must learn to tell the truth even in situations thar are not safe. Orherwise, any attempt at systen~ic change will fail because the individual within the system lacks character to bring about these chunges. We cannot afford to under-emphasize a child's personal character developn~ent. At the hecirt of this discu~sion lies the fundamental quesriun.. .

What are our own assumptions about human nature?

Kohn (1997, p.431) observes that the character education movenlent seems to be driven by a "stunnirigly dark v i e w " of children and of people in general. While agreeing with Benninga 6 Wynne (1998) thut there is too much violence in society. he does not think that this tells us anything about our inborn nature. He quotes writers such as Kilpatrick (1992) and Wynne (1989) lo argue that the doctrine of original

sin lurks behind many character education programs. Kilpatrick (1992) makes strong assertions that most behavioral problems are the result of children's sheer w~illfulness. Wynne (1989) admits that his own work was grounded in a pessimistic view of human nature. To Kohn, these writings describe religious dogma and not scientific fact. Glanzer (1998) challenges Kohn's assumption that one can make a clear distinction between relizious dogma and scientific fact when i t concerns views of human nature . In f a c t , he ~ t r o n g l y advocates rhat we should wrestle with deeper questions relating to differing world views and discuss and explore a variety of answers offered, even if they arc religious answers

CONCLUSION

In this review, I have discussed several highly controversial and contentious issues in character educat.ion. They represent two opposing views - conservative or liberal. As character educators. we nerd to study them very care fu l ly and dec ide fo r ourcelves which arfuments resonate well with our bedrock beliefs about children, learning and values. Remember the old adage: when wealth is lost, nothin2 is lost; wlien health i \ lost, something is lost; wlien character is lost, all is lost.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

The following acrostic VALUES seek to offer some suggestions for teachers to note when conducting character education sessions in class.

v alues must be both caught and taught. Most will say that values are caught more than taught. Doyle (1997. p.441), however, stresses that values can, and must be taught. It is a moral imperative. We can start with those values that we can all agree upon. Of course, we will have to contend with the question of general application and we cannot anticipate every contingency. Therefore, it is both desirable and useful to know how to think critically. Lickona (1998) believes that teachers can teach students that a given behavior is wrong and simultaneously teach them why it is wrong. We can do this through example, study and practice.

A P P ~ Y ? apply, apply. Practice makes perfect.' According to Benninga & Wynne (1998), virtues are acquired through learning and practice in homes, schools and other agencies. So, provide students with opportunities to carry out age-appropriate and significant responsibilities (Benninga & Wynne, 1998; Berreth & Berman. 1997). Practice also means real experiences for the students. Above all, practice produces habit.

L iaise with the parents. In shaping the character of the young, the school and the home must work in tandem. Therefore, since we do not wish for the home to undo what is done in the school: it is wise for schools to work jointly with the parents as partners. Often, this can help teachers understand their students better. Talk with the parents about their children's performance in schools. At the same time, listen to parents describe students' behavior at home. Such dialogue enhances mutual understanding and provides a common platform for immediate intervention when the child misbehaves.

u nity in diversity. In a multi-racial and multi-religious society like ours, schools cannot

be sectarian. At the same time, according to Doyle (1997). schools cannot ignore religion either. While parents may expect character

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REACT DECEMBER 1999 Am

education programs to do justice to their particular worldview, public schools really cannot inculcate values that are uniquely representative of any one particular worldview. The approach is for schools and parents to remain open to discussion, tolerant of the multiplicity of views and accepting of the person. For any character education program, the goal is ro mould people of good character. This goal is achievable if we recognise that people matter, take them seriously, show them respect and strive for unity in diversity.

E xemplify through our own examples. The environnzent plays a part. But the environment does not only refer to the surrounding physical elements. It also includes people surrounding the students, the good or bad exanzples they provide and the e.rpecrations they establish (Benninga & Wynne, 1998. p.441). According to Doyle (1997; p.442), "...it is the high expecrarioizs the best reachers have,for C I S tl~at induce U S to give our best". We are very likely to remember our best teachers as those who have left an enduring impression on us because of their strong belief in their calling and the importance of the subject they teach, whether it is physics or art. Now, as teachers, we need to do likewise for our students.

S chools have an important role to play. Schools are part of our total environment. Etzioni (1998, p.446) believes that everything that happens in school - the total culture and the social environment, shapes students' experiences that either help build good character or undermine it. Whether these experiences take place in the classroom or out in the field or elsewhere is immaterial. The point is that although character education can be built around a curriculum, it must be made real by what students see in the behaviors of those who communicate the message. Therefore, teachers as well as all others involved in the schooling process have critically important roles to play.


SOURCES:

Benninga, J . S.. & Wynne. E. A. (1998). Kohn, A. (1997). How not to teach values: Keeping in character: Atime-tested solution. A critical look at Character Education. Phi Phi Delra Kupl~on, 79 (61.439-44. 448. I>rjlra Kuppun, 78 (6), 428-439.

Berreth, D.. &Berman. S. (1997).The moral Kohn. A. (1998). Adventures in ethics t

dimensions of schools. Ed~cur iorru l versus behavior control: A reply to lily Lccrdershill, 54 (8). 24-27. critics. Phi Delru Ku/~l,un. 79 (6), 455-460.

Doyle. D. P. (1997) . Education and Lewis. C.. & Tsuchida. 1. (1998). The character: A conservative view. Phi Delra Basics in Japan: The three C's. Ed~lcarionul Kuppurz. 78 (61, 440-443. Leadership, 5.i (6). 32-37.

Elkind. D. H., & Sweet F. 11997). The Lickona, T. (1998). A more complex Socratic approach to Character Education, analysis is needed. Phi Delru Kul,l,urr. Edr~curional Leadenc~hil?, 54 (8), 56-59, 7Yi61.449-454.

Etzioni, A. ( 19981. HOW not to discuss Wynne, E. (1989). Transmitting traditional character education. Phi Delru KUI?I ILI~ , 79 \.slues in contemporary schools. In Nucci. (61 446-448. L. P. (Ed. ) , Morrrl dev,elopn~er!r and

cl~arucrer educurion: 4 rlialogrlr (p. 25). Glanzer. P. I>. ( 1998). The character to seek Berkeley. CA: McCutchan. justice: Showing fairness to diverse visions of Character Education. Phi D~zlru KCI~J / JL~I ! . 79(6J, 434-436,438.448.

Kilpatrick, W. (1 992). Wh). Johrlrr? u r n 'r re11 ri,qht Jtom wrorig. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 96, 249.

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REACT DECEMBER 1999 n

ENHANCING PUPIL SELF-ESTEEM: AFFECTIVE EDUCATION IN PRACTICE

Review by Ian Smith 8; Vilma D'Rozario

INTRODUCTION

Most teachers would agree that enhancinz a pupil 's self-esteem is an important educational goal. Psychologists belie\:eits importance stems from lwo sources: i t is both an intrinsic goal, us well as an extrinsic or instrumental educational goal Lt is important for teachers to enhance their pupils' self-esteem intrinsically because self-esteem is central to children's emerging identity as persons. I t becomes the core of their personality. and apositive self-concept is essential for their mental health. Before children enter school, they are valued by their families for who they are, members of that farrlily. After they begin school. they must establish their value in the teacher's eyes for what they are, pupils capable of reaching their potential and achieving in class. Helping each child achieve his or her potential - both affective and cognitive i s one of the teacher's main professional aims. Enhancing pupils' self-esteem is also an instrumental educational goal because it hda been found (e.g., Wylie, 1979: Marsh & Shavelson, 1985) that pupils who possess high self-esteem generally persist in their school\rork after temporary setbacks or failures. Low self-esteem pupils. on the other hand, typically give up easily and often become "learned helpless".

In this article. we shall review the literature trn the teacher's role in enhancing pupils' self-esteem. and then draw several important implicat ions for specif ic strategies that are de~igned ro encouraee pupils to re-eualuate their strengths and weaknesses and to help them reach their

persor~al goals. Self-esteem will be defined a s an individual 's percept ions and evaluations of his personal qualities and abilities. No distinction 1s made between self-esteem and self-concept. which will be used interchangeably. Whi le some authorities in this field refer to self-esteem as the individual's evaluations of his personal qualities and abilities, with self- concept denoting his descriptions of these qualities and abilities, in practice the two features are inextricably linked. If a 16 year old boy. for example. says he is 180 centirnetres tall, he is not just telling you his height, he may also be implying that he is pleased he is tall for his age.

REVIEW OF RESEARCH

One of the continuing issues in the self- esteem field is whether self-esteem is a single dimension of the personality or whether it is multidimensional. Carl Rogers (1977) believed that the self is an integrated whole. He maintained that the whole self is more than the sum of its parts. Any atternpt to divide and isolate a pupil's self-esteem into n~ultiple dimensions, such as mathematical se l f -concep~, mother tongue language self-concept and physical abilities self-concept, is futile because they are integrated inro the person's sense of who he or she is. Research. however. has shown that general self-concept is a poor predictcrr of educational achievement. Hansford and Hattie 11982), for example, found a correlation of only 0.21 between general self-concept and educational achievement in a meta-analysis of over a hundred studies. This means that general

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REACT DECEMBER 1999

self-concept is better than no predictor at all. but predicts only 4% of the individual differences in educational achievement. If general self-concept is so important to the way people adapt to their environment. then one would expect it to be a much better predictor of educational achievement than the level that has been obtained in many studies.

The more common view of authorities in this field is that the self-concept is a multidimensional construct (Marsh & Shavelson, 1985). Just as a diamond has many facets when it is cut, reflecting light when it is rotated, so too do complex human beings reflect many facets of themselves in many different situations. Each of us develops a profile of perceived strengths and weaknesses in our attempt to adapt to an increasingly complex world. We come to value some of these facets or dimensions more than others. An athlete. for example. values his running or jumping ability and is not upset if his ability to speak on public occasions is not outstanding. If public speaking becomes important to his life opportunities, then he can always pick up this skill by undertaking a public speaking course. More recent attempts to measure self-esteem have concentrated on measuring multiple dimensions of self- esteem in order to achieve a more complete profile of an individual's perceptions of his personal qualities and abilities (Harter, 1990; Lui, 1999). This profile enables teachers and counsellors to examine the

by our successes (i.e.. Self-esteem = Goals1 Successes), James (1890) inferred that individuals who wish to raise their self- esteem can either lower their goals or raise their level of success. Counsel lors constantly advise clients to set realistic goals in order for their goals to have a reasonable chance to be achieved. Pupils with low self-esteem often set for themselves goals which are either too high or too low. If their goals are too high, they rationalise that their chances of success are low. So if they fail to reach them, they blame the task's difficulty level. If their goals are too low, then they are more likely to succeed, but the level of challenge is low. High self-esteem pupils set realistic goals for themselves. involving learning tasks which have an intermediate level of difficulty. They relish the challenge to achieve success in their studies.

The other way of increasing pupils' level of self-esteem is to increase their success rate. The problem for many pupils is that no matter how hard they t~y, they$st cannot please the teacher because the 'bar' of expectancy is set at the same height for all pupils. If teachers, however, set easier tasks for some pupils in order to encourage them to try harder, then an increase in their success rate will lead these pupils to re- evaluate their self-esteem in that subject. They consequently begin to believe that their earlier judgement of being a failure at, say, mathematics. is not true. By believing that they are more competent in

pupil'sperceivedstrengthsand weaknesses that subject than they had previously in orderto concentrate on those dimensions thoiyht, these pupils will put in more effort - ~ ~

they need to enhance. to confirm their higher level of self-esteem and to maintain their success rate.

William James recognised as long ago as 1890 that there are two ways that a person Counsellors generally recommend either a may increase his self-esteem. By definins direct or an indirect method of enhancing self-esteem as our personal goals divided pupil self-esteem. The direct approach


involves encouraging pupils to believe in themselves, to make greater efforts to achieve their goals. The counsellor may spend time with each pupil, exploring his goals so that the pupil has a clearer picture of what his goals are in school. or even in life. The direct approach to enhancing pupils' self-esteem concentrates on helping pupils clarify their personal ~ o a l s in order to realise where they are headed and hou they can achieve their goals. Carl Rogers (1977). for example, advocated this approach. He believed that the counsellor's role is that of facilitator. Only the person himself can reach the decision of what are reasonable educational or life goals. The counsellor cannot tell the client what he should do. only help him clarify what he aspires to. When the client is committed to his personal goals he will make the effort to strive towards reaching them. Pupils generally do not respond positively to goals that are imposed on them. Rather, they respond enthusiastically when they "o\vn" their goals and realise how they may achieve them.

considerably lower than his mathematics ability. Teachers can change this conclusion by giving him more structured mother tongue homework and monitoring his performance more closely, in order to correct mistakes before they become entrenched in his memory. This indirect approach has heen applied in computer- assisted instruction in many subjects (Smith, 1973). as well as in industry for more than thirty years. The level of difficulty of the task is engineered to ensuring a 70% success ratr. If the pupil falls below this rate, then the lebel of task difficulty is lowered, whereas a higher success rate leads to the presentation of more difficult problem- solving tasks. Computers are ideal tools for this technique because they can be programmed to maintain a certain success rate. Sooner or later the pupil begins to realise that he is capable of being successful, even in his mother tongue. Counsellors who advocate the indirect approach to enhancing pupil self-esteem support the idiom. "success breeds success".

The indirect c~pnroach to enhancing ~ u o i l m . . - . . self-esteem is favtoured by some counsellors who prefer a cognitive behavioural technique (e.g.. Glasser. 1969; 1986). This technique is based on the assumption that pupil attitudes are determined by their behaviour, rather than vice versa. For instance, a pupil adjusts his level of self- esteem on the basis of the relative success and failure he receives in a particular subject. If he is constantly rewarded by the teacher for getting all his mathematics homework correct. sooner or later he infers COUNSELLING PUPILS TO that he is good at mathematics. If he has ENHANCE SELF-ESTEEM trouble with his mother tongue homework, taking longer to complete it and getting an In Singapore. counselling pupils to enhance average score, then he concludrs that his their self-esteemmay occuron anne-to-one mother- tongue language ability is basis or- in group guidance settings. Pupils

with serious self-esteem problems may require individual counselling in order to gain insight into their problen~s. Some pupils become learned helpless in the sense that they believe they are failures and there is nothing they can do to overcome this problem. They may require a skilled counsellor to unpack what they mean by fdilure and to show them that failure is a relative ternm. Then the counsellor may adopt either the direct or the indirect approach to enhancing their self-esteem. Or he may adopt an eclectic method by using hoth direct and indirecr approaches to con\ ince a pupil that he is not a failure and that there are specific strategies for him to overcome his learning problems.

A second counselling method is group guidance. This method involves a single teacheror counsellor working with s group of up to 10 pupils at a time. This method may be more cost-effective for certain types of pupil learning difficulties and self-esteem problems. It' the problems are not serious. in the sense that the pupils express some positive attitudes, or express no symptoms of serious eniotional problems. then the teacher need not refer the pupils t o a professional counsellor. Instead. the reacher may act as a group facilitator by dividing the class into small groups and addressing common problems, such as how to improve their study skills, how to be more reflective in their problem-solving. or how to manage time and stress more effectively. All these issues may lead to a discussion of how to enhance self-esteem, which may bring up some specific strategies designed to achieve that purpose (e.g.. Canfield R; Siccone. 1993). Group guidance may occur in the context of regular classroo~n lessons or in civics and moral education classes, affective and career education classes, or in some other setting, such as a school camp.

CONCLUSION

Enhanc ing pupi ls ' se l f -es teem is an important educational goal. Its importance has long been recognised by teachers. for it is central to thepupils' mental health and spurs them to try harder to achieve their eoals. Counselling pupils to reappraise their strenzths and weaknesses may take a direct approach or an indirect approach: the direct approach focuses on the pupils' self- esteem directly by praising the pupils and making them realise that they can achieve their goals by setting realistic goals and striving to reach them. Indirect approaches to enhanc ing self-esteem genera l ly concentrate on ensuring that pupils achieve success by adapting the difficulty level of the task to the ability level of the pupils. By engineering the learning task so that pupils experience success on a regular basis. the teacher encourages pupils to reflect on past self-evaluations which were based on failure. Cont~nual success forces them to think about their past reinforcement history and challenges their belief that this suhject is not one of their strengths. As we mature. w e become resilient t o these failures and can withstand criticism from significant others. Nevertheless, teachers realise that they need to encourage and support pupils in their attempts to increase their self-esteem which, in turn. builds the confidence pupils need to take risks in an uncertain world.

Counselling pupils to enhance their self- esteem may he on an individual basis or in a group guidance format . Individual counselling may be necessary for serious emot iona l and adjusrnlent problems. common t o pupils who have become learned helpless as a result of years of criticism or failure. But many problen~s involving pupil self esteem may he treated

- -- - - REACT DECEMBER 1999

hy group guidance in a pastoral care and career guidance lesson, or during subject teaching hy a teacher who recognises the importance of enhancing self-esteem to pupils' achievement and happiness in the classroom.

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHERS

1. A teacher who enhances a pupil's selflesteern is helping to improve his mental health, as well as his ability to persist at school tasks in the face of temporary setbacks or even fail~tre. Enhancing a pupil's self-esteem is an irrlportant intrinsic aim because a realistic level of self-esteem is imponarlt for a person's sense of well- being, as well as being an important instrumental aim because pupils with high self-esteem generally resist the terrlptation to give up when they receive negative feedback about their schoolwork. Woolfolk (1 998) suggests that to encourage self-esteem among pupils, teachers must show they value all pupils. One way of doing this is to highlight the value of individual d i f ferences . Another way i s to create a psychologically safe classroom environment where to make a mistake is seen as a learning opportunity, and where there is an absence of harsh criticism. To ensure a positive self-esteem.among students, teachers too need to model a positive disposition. modeling appropriate methods of self-criticism, perseverance: and self-reward, if they would like their pupils to do likewise for themselves.

2. Self-esteem is a multidimensional personal ronsfrrrrf, so that any intervention by a teacher or counseNor shorrld focrrs on the main problem perceived by the pupil, rather rhar~ attempting to irnprove general self-esteem. Working with specific problems which are interfering with the pupil's achievement of his personal goals is more effective than attempting to change general self-esteem. Research evidence suggests that general self-esteem is a very poor predictor of educational achievement. so any gains in this unfocussed personal characteristic \rill have little benefit for the pupil. On the other hand, specific gains in. say. mathematical self-concept are likely to improve the pupil's perfomlance in this school subject. Therefore, teachers need to work on building their pupils' confidence in their subject area. Teachers can do this by ensuring that every pupil. no matter how weak in their subject area,

-- - - - - -

REACT DECEMBER 1999

experiences success. For pupils weak in the subject area, a good idea would be to return to the basics, and then slowly move on to more challenging learning tasks, ensuring that small successes are experienced all along the way.

3. Self-esteem may be enhanced directly by counselling the pupil that he is capable of higher achieveinent if he puts more effort into his studies and by providing specific strategies to solve problems and to facilitate higher achievement. Pupils are often inspired by teachers who are enthusias~ic and encourage them to try harder, because they wish to confirm the teacher's faith in them. A teacher or counsellor (nay help pupils clarify their goals and suggest specific strategies to attain them.

4. Self-esteem may be enhanced iizdirectly by ensuring that the pupil experiences success frequently. When the teacher individualises the questions, tasks or problems for the pupils, they perform better, reassess their perceived competence in a given subject and raise their level of self-esteem in that subject to match their new level of achievement.

5. Counselling ma.v take either an individual or a group format, depertdiirg lrporl the seriousness of the pupils' problems and the counselliizg resources available to the school. Individual counselling may be necessary for serious problems which are long-standing and have led to a feeling of "learned helplessness". Group guidance is more appropriate for less serious problems which are shared by several members of the same class. It is also more cost-efficient than individual counselling because more pupils may be helped to resolve their prohlems by the one teacher or counsellor over a shorter time period.

For any counselling to be helpful, teachers need to listen actively to their pupils. Listening actively includes not just listening to what is being said, but also listening to what is not being said-that is, listening to the feelings the pupils may be having about their predicament at ihat point in time. Help pupils tell their story, and give them time to do this. Avoid interrupting pupils by simply telling the pupils what they should or should not do in their situation. Help pupils identify what they want to see happen and

-- - -~


together. try to explore some alternative ways of meeting simple, do-able short-term goals. It is always helpful to check back with the pupils to find out how their plans have transpired. This gives the teacher a chance to check on the mental health of the pupil as well as to jointly re-assess the situation to see if any further action needs to be taken.

SOURCES

Canfield, J. & Siccone, F. (1993). 101 W q s to Develop Student Sel f -Esteem and Respon.sihili~. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Glasser, W. (1969). Schools without F(ri111re. New York: Harper & Row.

Glasser, W. (1986). Corztrol Theory in the Classr-oorn. New York: Harper & Row.

Hansford, B.C. and Hattie, J.A. (1982). The relationship between self and achievement1 performance measures. R e v i e ~ l of Educational Resenrch, 52, 123- 142.

Harter, S. (1990). Issues in the assessment of the self-concept of children and adolescents. In A. LaGreca (ed.) Throrrgh the Eyes of u Clzild. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

James, W. (1890). The Principles of P.sycholog~:!: Vol. 1. New York: Holt.

Lui, H. W. E. (1999). What Singapore adolescents think of themqelve~. In A. S. C. Chanx, S. Gopinathan & W. K. Ho (eds.). Growing rrp in Srngapore. Singapore: Prent~ce Hall.

Marsh H. W. & ShavelsonR. J. (1985). Self- concept: Its multifaceted, hierarchical structure. Edrrcotionul P.sychologist, 20,

107-125. Rogers; C. R. (1977). Learning to be free. In H. F. Clarizio, R. C. Craig & W. A. Mehrens (eds.) Contemnporap 1.ssrre.s in Educational P.sychology, 3'"dn. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Smith, I. D. (1973). Impact of computer- assisted instruction on student attitudes. Jorrrnal of Edrlcational Psychology, 74, 366-372.

Wylie, R. C. (1979). The Self-corzcrpt. Vol. 2. Lincoln: Univeisity of Nebraska Press.

Woolfolk, A. (1998). Educatior~nl Psychology. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

-

i - -


3 Happiness is ....... . Children's Social and Emotional Adjustment to Primary

One in Singapore

Review by Linda Gan

INTRODUCTION

Over the past few decades numerous studies have enhanced our understanding of the acadernic. social and emotional adjustments children have to make during the critical period of tranaition from pre- to primary school. It is acknowledged by all involved that this transition has the potential to be traumatic and troubled or effective and enjoyable. depending on how well children adapt to their new learning environment and cope with the demands and expectations of their teacher? and parents. Cross-cultural studies ha\:e further enlightened us on the different priorities given to academic and socio-emotional development at preschool to help young children cope with the more formal settings encountered at primary school . In eva lua t ing preschool

programmes in the United States and China: Zhang & Siegel(1991) for example found that social maturity was emphasized in the States, while the Chinese gave greater priority to academic adjustment. Likewise, in the highly competitive education system in Singapore, an increasing number of preschool centres are consciously shifting their focus to preparing children for the academic demands of primary school.

In the wake of such research a three year study investigating how preschool children cope with the academic . social and emotional demands of transition from kindergarten to the formal and competitive learning environment of primary one was initiated a t the Nat ional lns t i tu te o f Education in Singapore in 1997. This paper reports on the findings related to young

- - - -- -

15 REACT. DECEMBER 1999

I children's social and emotional adjustment to primary school , and considers the implications for teachers and schools in general.

REVIEW OF RESEARCH

During the past thirty years research has conf i rmed the crucial importance of enhancing children's social and emotional developmenr. Hartup 11 992) maintains that if children do not achieve minimal social competence around the time they start formal schooling at six they are at risk throughout life. Such social competence includes such characteristics as self- confidence, curiosity. humour, warmth, spontaneity, reliability, sense of right and wrong. morally responsible behaviour, self- discipl ine, f r iendliness , cooperat ion, problem-sol\,ing ability. adaptability and helpfulness (Black & Puckett 1996). Theorists are still divided on a concrete definition of social competence, pafiicularly in terms of' measuring it (Raver and Zigler. 1991). Curalnick (p. 4. 1990) proposes that social competence be considered as "tlze uhilin ofyoung children to sr~cccs.~fi~lly and r~pprol~rintely s ~ l e c t urzd corl-y o11t their i~iterpersonol qoals" and suggests that social competence be framed within social tasks and situations (like making friends, and more specifically gaining access to a peer group) in order for researchers to systematically study how appropriately and effect ively chi ldren resolve social interaction problems and achieve their goals.

The ability to successfully interact and get along with other children is a vital de~elopniental task in early childhood, and according to AlcClellan and Katz ( 1993) the single. most appropriate predictor of later

adult adaptat ion. Chi ldren who are unpopular with their peers, and who are socially handicapped in forming close relationships \~,ith other children run the risk of suffering from poor mental health, as azell as being impeded in their learning at school and later in their adult working lives. For this reason Katz and McClellan 11991) maintain that relationships should he included alongside the other "3 R's" of education in every child's life!

The ability to empathise and take on the perspective of others is seen as an important prerequisite to building effective social relationships with others. Research in the past twenty years indicates that young chi ldren 's role-taking abi l i t ies a re considerably more sophisticated than was previously thought (Guralnick and Paul- Brown; 1984, Denham 1986) and that role- taking ability follows a true developmental sequence (Selman 1981 1. Selman's stages provide useful indicators regarding the character is t ics of young chi ldren 's developing friendships. He suggests that children:

from 4-6years old are at the egocentric or zero stage of role-laking. They :ire unable to distinguish their perspecrives from those of others. They regwd rheir friends simply as those who live nearby or who are playmates:

- between the ages of 6-8 are at the socio- informational stage one of role-taking. They come to realise that others will hold different perspectives but are still unable to reflect on theirs ' and others ' perspectives s in~ul taneous ly . They recognise that rheir playmates will have different emotions and intentions, and friendship means 'doing nice things for each other';

from approximately 8 years of age, are at the self-reeflective stage two of role- taking. They are developing the ability to reflect on their hehaviour from another perspecr~ve and recognise that friendship involves reciprocity, sharing and mutual respect.

NIE STUDY

Method and Sample

A funded research project investigating the cognitive, social and emotional adjustments young children make in transition from kindergarten to primary one. was initiated

in 1997 at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. 56 children from the total sample population, were interviewed ahout how they felt about theirkinderganen and primary school, during November. 1997 and again. six months later in May. 1998. The sample was reduced at primary level to 50 as six children were unavailable forthe follow up interview. The Faces Scale adapted from Anderson ( 1988 (see below) was used with the children involved to ascertain how happy they were with school in general, their teachers and friends. and at primary one ahout subject matter too. Each child was individually interviewed (hy the same interviewer) and were prompted to give reasons to substantiate their rankings.

p~ - ~~ pp-~ -

: These were the rlue.stiorrsposed to Kirrderg~.arr~r~ children aborct their scliorrl.~, teacher,r and,fi.ienrl.s:

Point to the,foce that tells I I I ~ 170~: y011,feel a b o ~ ~ t ~ 0 1 1 1 . .s~.l~~i~l/te~tcher~(s)/I;.iends.~ Why does it/ they mukc youfeel this woyY WI7y ure they PILW fi-iends? What do yoc~ rlo wi lh rhtvn nvlrich rnokes yon h r ~ p p y l

2 3 4 5

.----.

I n uddifilnz to these rluestions, childr-czrr nt PI-f~rlur?. One ir.e,re also asked: Hoi i , mnny new,friends have you rrrodt, ut this school? H%ur slcbject/lesron rnakes yocc,fe~l mo3t happy? WI?y? What suhject/lesso~r makes yo11 rnosr 11nho11/1y? W h f l Are yoc~ happy y17rr come to rhis 11r imun school? Why? Do you ~vanr to go buck to your kintlergarrc~i or stay here? U'hy:'

--

Very happy A little bit

happy

Not

happylnot

sad

A little bit

sad

Very sad

Findings

A frequency count was made of children's ratings on the Faces Scale. in addition to a qualitative analysis of their responses.

1. Attitude to School

90% of the children said they were very happy in both learning environments, with only 10% of them at kindergarten and 6% at primary one saying they were not completely batisfied. In analysing the reasons for being happy at school there is a pronounced shift from children liking scho(~l at kindergarten, because " i t > where we 1et1n1 rrrdplay", to a greater awareness of the importance of interacting with and making more friends at primary school. For example. " I r~rake n lotofrzewfrierzds"; "I Irlrve so r~r~rrr?. friends now to p l n ~ with "; "rr~y rrebt. fiit~rlr1.s (Ion ' t f i ~ h t nie ".

Aesthetically pleasing environmental factors and improved facilities (especially the canteen!) also seem to play aprominent role in influencing children's reasons about liking their new primary schools: "it 's big/ rzeir arl(l clean "; " i t i vet? beautiful"; " it S got gordens/tree.s/,f7oit~er.s and a l ~ o ~ f d " , " ... arzdfishturzks in the r-lussroon~": " i t got teacher's room and a toi l f t , f i?r- girls ": " I l ike the l i h r a n arzd I r-or1 brry ti.orn the bookstore and cnriteerl": ",scl~ool .srll., hot urzd iced Mi lo" : " it 's got u ,fiizld a~lirrc, I p l r ~ nt recess". The reasons given by thr two children who had reservations aboul their new primary school. werr also related to the general environment: " t l ~ i ~ sr-hoolk u bit too rzoiry " said one boy and another: "sorne childrerz thro+v,fijod or1 the f loor" .

Fourteen responses reflected academic considerations influencing children in likingidisliking school; " i t got spelling";

" In?. sclrool rrlrch me a lot offurz thirzgs "; " I likc tlrt. work here ": "I can learrz new tlfirlgs". Teachers were mentioned by only a for. children as being the reason for being happy at school. and only a few children said they were happy being at the same school as their siblings. Two children mentioned increased responsibility being the main motivating factor for enjoying their new primary schools, with one noting the drawbacks involved: "I'III a morzitor but I get nrzhappy sotrzetirrzes becarise the class is drflicrrlt to hurzdlu"!

2. Attitude to Teachers

If ratings are combined for 'vrry happy and a little bit happy' a greater percentage of the children said they were happier with their kindergarten teachers (94V) than with their primary one teachers (78%"r) and 2% revealed they were very unhappy with their primary teachers. The majority reason given by children.at both prr-and primary levels for liking their class teachers was because they he lped thein ' learn ' . Examples given at kindergarten included mainly positivecomments like: "tl~eytnake me do ivork r o 1'11 he clever it1 pritrzary ofle" and "she gives i r s n lor of work to give our hroin nrorr erzergy to thirzk", with the exception cif a few negative comments like: "stfe rrever give nle learn things so do11 't l ike". At primary one children tended to emphasis? the variety of subjects teachers taught them: "she leach nle v e n marly r t f i r l~.~! II lor of suhject.r" and "she p l ~ ~ PE rr.it11 r1re rr~rd bring me to the rnusic roor~l andsi~rg mrrgs, urzddo rzurnher roo".

Liking teachers hecause they were 'kind' or 'good' was the next most popular reason overall (with kind generally being equated to being good!) For example: "she's u good teacher ... she's k ind" . At kindergarten

REACT. DECEhIBER 1999 ~.

.r

children tended to define teacher's 'concrete' acts of kindness as [hey personally affected them. for example: "she put medicirre or: rriy mo.sqtritr~ hire" und "she warn rrre ofbrr~l r1zirrg.s ", whereas at primary level . they became more concerned with verbal Eupport from their teachers and the bonuses afforded them in terms of time, which affected the whole class. For example: ".rhe talk to its nicely. She explain to rrs when we don't knob\."; "she? nice becolrse if you're wrong she'll tell us and shr l~ r lp s LLS";" she takes care of LIS ~ ~ . h e r z ~ ' ~ , e r we are sick"; "becu~lse she 1et.s LIS go re(.e.~.s ve13. curly"; "ifwe want to gu to rllr toiler Ire lets trs".

The reasons given at primary one for being unhappy focused mainly on the nature of pupil-reacher interaction, and the flucruating moods of teachers:"sonzetime she angry . . she not hul~py" Some children also seemconcerned about teachers talking "noisily" to them, or scolding or even beating them. For example: "she teachcs rrie and reads storjbooks to me and plnys gumes with me, b ~ l t scolds US"; "~ometi~rie .~ she's very angry and I 'm scared. She toke the rnler a n d beat rny friends s o I 'm .sc.ured". Only one child mentioned liking her teacher because she was hunlorous: "she tells stories and a l l v u j ~ mtrkes us lulrgh". (Further examples of teachers' communicative styles, given in support of likingldisliking Chinese will he discussed later).

3. Attitude to Friends

Children responded with equal enthusiasm about being happy with rheir friends both at kindergarten and primary school, with a rating of 96%. 2% of the children said they were not s o happy with their peer relationships at primary school and 2%

revealed they were unhappy. The reasons given by children as to why their friends made them happy fell into three broad I categories: sharing activities, rnaterial gain, and traits and physical appearance.

children did not appear to be any more

I When interviewed at primary one. the

discerning about why they hefriended certain children. 'Sharing ~lcri\.irier' was the majority reason they gave for heing happy I with their friends at borh kindergarten and primary school. 'Play' was rhe most popular

eating together - (rhe latter seeming to

i activity, folloued by learning. talking and I

assume more in~portance at primary school). For example: "they play with rne and we read together in cluss/eut together"; "we pla! catching a t rece.rs and the! draw wit11 me": "ei,et? day he bring me to the field andplay rhr' monkey bur"; "we readstories tufetlrrr ".

In terms of rnaterial benefit, sharing or buying tangihle items and offering moral support featured quite prominently in children's reasons for liking their friends. For example: "whm 1,fbrgot to bring my pencil they lend me "; "I don 'r lznve buok she let me have"; "the! uI~~.rr\..~ give me sticker and h~1y tlzingsfbr me": "sllr:s m! ~~urtrzer undshe he111.s me and ~.nir.s,fiwrrir~ ": "they help nze with whtlt I don t brubr. ... rha. all teach me "; "he holds nzy lrr~rld c1,rr:r day". Awareness of the reciprocal nature of friendship also crept into a f eu of the children's reasons. For example: "I share my thirzgs with them and they give r h i n ~ s lo me" and "the). bring hiscuit.~ and sweets for rize lo en1 and we share".

Physical appearance and personality traits were mentioned by only a minority of children at pre- or primary level. Friends were described variously as 'ha~td.sor~te', 'beautifitl'. 'kirrd'. 'clever'. 'rllrier' and

REACT DECEMBER 1999 L

;fi,nny'. For example: "they're goo(/ in their \tlrdres "; "they [lo rhings very quierly " and "they're special lo me, because they rn~rke me laLrgh". The child who was not completely happy in his relationships with his new peers attributed this to his efforts to 'be a monitor': ".someti~nes the)' moke ,ire ~rngry becnusc rhey do11 f like me to br. bossy andf i r me to collect the books". The girl who admitted she was very unhappy confessed she had made no new friends and that others "won 't frir.rri/ tne ".

4. Attitude to Subject Learning at Primary One

The children were also asked what subject 'made them most happy' at primary one. and to comment on the subject they least liked. 3 1 '7c of the children voted Maths and English respectively as their favourite subject, folloa.ed by Phybical Education (16?i), then Chinese (14%) and Music and Art (8%). Ability and achievement ;rppeared to be the main reasons given for liking or disliking subjects, especi;rlly hlaths and English. For example: "It? .so rusx,for rue rn ;lo maths"; " I can count"; "I do re? nil-e ": " I don't like ~Muths because I call 't c/o a 1171 ofproblern sums; "Errglish rs easy for me ro do "; "I like E ~ ~ g l i s l ~ becarrse I 'm good in rny tesrs": "Errglish is ) .en hard to rrra ro do". One achievement-oriented boy even mentioned art in relation to his grades. remarking "I(iun 't like orr bccalise 1 don't get Afi)i-Arr".

Where P.E. was concerned. exercise featured as the most popular reason for favouring this subject: "becrrrrse call do c.rercise nridpluy grlnes ": plus ths healthy benefits of keeping active: "FIE. riioke.~ irie st!-orr,q ": and the added variety of "Ieanrin:: ,~ynrrrn.srics" and "learning Jporrs". Half of rhe children who opted fix Chinese as

their favourite subject, cited their teacher as being the most influential reason for them liking or disliking the subject. with positive comments narrowly outweighing the negative ones. For example: " Chirzese teacher never scold me"; " I like Chinese best becau.sc. o11r teacher mokr us filnrzy cmrl rellglrost srorir.~ "; "I like Chi~zesr. but the rerrcher is ,fierce": " I don't like Clrin~se becuirsr the teacher is ver? bud.. . he sco1cl.s people "; "....the Chinese teocho- talk and talk and talk o11d Ire 011 o lirrle bir time to du our rvork". One exception to this was one girl who said she liked Chinese "because can sta). in same roorn. No need to walk ei'eryrvhere!"

DISCUSSION

The findings of this local study suggest that all the children with the exception of a frw. have positively adjusted to the social and emotional demands of primary one . Generally impressed by their new and larger surroundings. the children seem to have risen to the challenge of 'acting morr grown up'. However, the disciplinary actions by some of the primary school teachers obviously worried some children, who expressed concern at the verbal and occasional physical abuse which they witnessed in the classroom.

Friends come to not only assume a more important role in the child's life. but can also become a pivotal factor- in influencing the child's attitude to school. For the majority of children interviewed for the local study. 'having ' f r iends was of paramount importance in contributing to their happiness at pre-and primary school, and helping th rm make a successful transition from the morr play-oriented environment of the pre;chool to the more

- - -- REACT DECEMBER 1999

formal armosphere of the primary school. The reasons given by the children for choosing their friends at both kindergarten and primary school tended to be the same. The nature of all the children's friendships fall into Selman's "socio-informational stage one" of role-taking (1981). Children who shared acribities, who were ' g i v e r s ' , ' h r l l ~ ~ ~ r s ' or were 'kind' and 'nice' were considered friends. None of the children used the term 'best tiiend', which suggests aduhiou< stability in these friendships which other research has shown shifts to suit the demands of specific situations and contexts (Rholes and Ruble 1984).

When asked if they would like to return to their kindergartens only two boys said they would. with one of the boys noting that "all the sl~orrting in the school irp.sft hirrl ". Some of the children were obviously insulted by the suggestion of going back to their kindergartens as they considered themselves "toojirn\t.fl 1r0" .... "Imust s t i l l / ~ ~ . f i v e ?.PUIIS old $1 go huck ro k i l l d ~ ~ f i u ~ t e ~ l ' ' said one and another "kindevor-tr~l is too yo~rr~yJor l t l@' ' .

CONCLUSION

In inforn~al follow-up interviews with some of rhe primary teachers i t emerzed that very few were sensiti\e to the problems some of their children were facing in making friends at school. The reacher of the little girl who sadly said that she was unhappy at primary school because "rlo one wolrld friend Arr" for esnmple, saw no reason to worry about this, and explained that the girl seemed academically well-adjusted and as far as she was concerned " that ~t,rrs n'hat bvus irnporto~zt ...... ". Hopefully this negative comment does not exemplify the attitude held by rhe majority of teachers. that the social skills involved in '~naking friends' require 'no teaching' and are not Important enough to warrant intervention on their part.

It is acknowledged by those interested in this field that further studies researching friendship patterns in young children are needed, so that teachers can take the necessary steps to stimulattl good social relations in children during their formatixe years. Such action might make all the difference to helping young children make a happy adjustment to not just the learning situation at primary ~chool , but to the 'rhythm' of its social life too.


The findings of this local study suggest that a more proactive approach at both 'macro' and 'micro' levels of school is needed in order to promote interpersonal and social harmony at primary one, and to afford young children continuity across the different social environments of the pre- and primary school. This would involve sustained communication and collaboration amongst teachers. at both kindergarten and primary levels, pupils and their immediate and older peers. teachers and parents. The following are suggestions for further consideration:

-- - - -


1. Kindergarterrs arzdpri~nary school teachers need to make a concerted effort to familiarise children with their new socialsettingprior to entry to prirnary one. A specially appointed Primary Transition Coordinator could effectively organise and conduct induction visits and programmes for both kindergarten staff, children and their parents in order to achieve this, and also be responsible for establishing an intensive information drive for parents about the school in general, with particular focus on social integration. Such cooperation between parents and the school would advance both groups' goals of ensuring children's educational success.

2. Experienced teachers need to be deployed to deal with the 'new' recruits in prirnary one At the classroom level ir is universally recognised that the teacher plays a central role in creating a conducive environment in which children can develop a sense of emotional security, and personal, social and moral well-being. Recent research conducted by Van de Oord and Rispens (1999) reveals that higher levels of social adjustment are to be found in classes taught by more experienced teachers, who are sensitive to, and can accommodate young children's needs, in addition ro organising learning in their classrooms; which facilitates peer interaction:

3. Grealerpeer interaction should be erzcouraged in class to facilitate the developmerat of childrerz 's social and collaborative skills. Through the use of cooperative learning techniques, and simulated role- play situations children can be guided in developing strategies for making friends. The existing prepor~derance of paper and pencil activities in primary classrooms generated by formal curriculum materials. severely limits children's opportunities to verbally and physically interact with one another, and curtails the amount of time teachers have at their disposal for helping children establish positive peer relationships.

4. More tirrze rzeeds to be created for children to play and talk in a more relaxed settirrg away from the confines of teachers and the classroom. Children need time to make new acquaintances. Recess time, particularly during primary one, could he extended to f~cilitate children's tasks to develop the strategies they will need to 'make friends', or alternatively a special weekly slot could he allocated for children's 'contact time' at primary school!

5. Mature/senior primary pupils could be recrrrited to help primary orre/ new children 'bridge'friendships with their peers Simulated sessions in school could be organised for these senior pupils to help them perform the role of 'friendship brokers. or mentors'. In addition they could also be gainfully employed to help initiate their youngercharges into the rules and routines of the school.


REFERENCES

Anderson, R. (1988). The quality of life of stroke patients and their carers. In R. Andersen & Bury. M. (Eds). Living with c/~,or~ic il1r1e.r~: The erperirrtce qfpatierirs and rhrir,furrrilies. USA:Uuwin Hyman.

Black, J .K., & Puckett, M.B.. ( 1996). TIICT ).blrng Chilll. Der'elopnierit From Prehirrh Tl1ru~rg11 Age Ei ,~ht . 2"" edit. Prentice Hall. New Jersey.

Denham. S.A. 11986). Social cognition. pro5ocial behaviour and emotion in preschoolers: contextual validation. Child Develo/~rrtent, 57, 194-20 1.

Guralnick, h1.J. (1990). Social competence and early intervention. Journal i f Early lnteri,rntion. Vol 14, No. I . 3-11.

Guralnick. M.J. & Paul-Brown. D. (1984). Communicat ive adjustments during behaviour-request episode> among children at differelit development:~l levels. Child Dei~eloprrzent, 55, 91 1-9 19.

Hartup. W.W. (1992). Having Friends. Makir?!: friend.^ ar~d Keeping Friends. R~~lat iortship,~ [is Edvcatioriul Conte.rt.s. Lrrbana. 1L: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Educ:~tion. ED 345 854.

K a e , L.G.. & Mclellan. D.E. (1991). The Trucherk Role irz rl~e Social Drveloprnrr~t c!f hur ig Childrerz. Urbana.. IL.: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. ED 331 642.

McClellan, D.E., R Katz, L.G. (1993). Young Children's Soc~a l Development: A Checklist. Urbana IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early C h ~ l d h o o d Educat~on. ED 356 100.

Raver. C.C., & Zigler. E.F. (1991). Three steps forward, two step> back: Head Start and the measurement of social competence. Young Children, 46 (4). 3-8.

Rholes, W. g: Ruble. D.N. (1984). Children's understanding of dispositional characteristics of others . Child Dcr~elol~ment, 55, 550-560.

Selman. R.L. (1981 ). The child as a friendship philosopher: A case study in the growth of interpersonal understanding. In: S.R. Asher & J.M. Gottman (Eds), The Der.elopn~er~r qf Cirildwn ', Friend.ships. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Van der Oord, E.J.C.G., & Rispens J . (1999). Differences between school classes in preschooler's psychosocial adjustment: Evidence for the importance of children's interpersonal rel:~tions. Jour-flu1 of Child Psycholog?. cind Psyclliorry, 10, No. 3. pp 417-130.

Zhang, X. N Sigel, I.E. (1994). Two kinderpr ten programs and children's perceptions of school. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting and exhibit of the American Educational Research Association. 75Ih. New Orleans, LA, April 4-8, 1994).

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REACT. DECEMBER 1999 i

THE IMPORTANCE OF ENCOURAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

Review by Levan Lim

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong launched the Singapore 21 Committee in August I997 to clarify what Singaporeans desire for the future of their nation. The ideas and discussions of this committee were recently published in a book entitled Singapore -71: Together, We Make the Difj%rence (Government of Singapore. 1999). Five new ideals were added to the existing ideals of meritocracy, racial harmony, strong leadership and a clean government. They are:

every Singaporean matters: strong families: opportunities for all: feeling passionately about Singapore: and active citizenship.

Embodied in the ideal that every Singaporean matlers is that every Sinzaporean is unique and has a contribution to make to the nation. Thus the latitude for defining success needs lo he broadened to encompass the diverse ways people can contribute to and feel valued by society. The indices of academic and econo~nic success can no longer be the sole benchmarks to this new vision of a Sinzaporran and the Sinzapore homeland.

To meet the challenge of valuing and celebrating the diverse ways Singaporeans can contrihute to society. education needs to take on the role of encouragiii individual Singaporeans to strive to be their best. The purpose of this article is to describe the importance and role of encouragement in

education. and to present implications for practice

ENCOURAGEMENT: ITS IMPORTANCE AND ROLE

For each citizen to be a valu?d ctontributor to Singapore. each person's unique gifts, abilities and talents need to be recognised and carefully nurtured so that he or she can be encouraged to find or create his or her place in society and take pride in it. The tusk of creating opportunities for each Singaporean to contribute in common and unique ways will require pioneering efforts into novel ventures where opportunities for yet unexplored ideas need to be supported and corresponding abilities encouraged. To find one's place i n scxiety may require the creation of new roles in order to facilitate the best that Singaporeans of diverse backgrounds cdn be. An insightful remark made in Sirlgopore 21 (p.21) is that "...son~etimes, paradoxically, this can be tougher than being what society thinks we should be." The challenge is to encourase Sinzaporeans to find their niche in society based on their abilities and talents and create new possibilities for themselves and others.

Education plays an enoniious part in this process of nurturing the individual. encouraging his or her unique path within society, and providing opportunities for diverse abilities and potentials. Education can help the individual Singaporean to be attuned to his "inner compass". to he that uniquely precious citizen who can contribute in his own way to society. The challenge for education in achieving the

~p - -


Singapore 2 1 vision is not an easy task. The decades o f surviving, curllpeting and rxcelling as an economically viahle nation ha1.e enabled the natlon to prosper. but they have also engendcrcd some undesirable social effects (Government of Singapore. 1990). These urldesirable social effects include:

s subscr~hing to narrow derinitions of success and imposing these definitions on others;

not recognising artd encouraging diverse talents and abilities hecause of conventional norms and definitions of success:

the fear of failureand risk aversion. and

expending cncrgy and time conforming to society rather than utilising time for creative and constructive purposes.

These social effects are antithetical to the Singapore 2 I \ision for they discourage creativity. initiative, the honouring of diversity. and breed a culture of fear and anxiely. Creating opporrunities for all Singaporeans so that every person will feel valued because of unique and diverse strengths and contributiclns require that these undesirable social e f fec t s be rninimised, especially in the young since they will h e ones who can realise the Singapore 2 I vision in the next millenniun~.

ENCOURAGEMENT: PHILOSOPHY AND DEFINITION

Recent changes to the fundarnental educational philosophy in Singapore are aligned will1 ihe Singapore 21 vision. The desired outconies of education proclaim the holistic view that education should "n~rl-tur<~

the whole child" and "develop eurh c.hil~ls lcniqlre ralrnrc orid ahilitiea to tlre .fi!ll" (Ministry of Education. 1998. p. 1). How can educators unlock and prunlntc each child's potential and abiliries?

A powerrul tool educators can use for nurturing and promoting the unique talents and abilities nf the young is to encorrra,qe thcrn to believc in themselves to he the best that they can be. To encourage is to instill courage. Courage frees one to live fully as an active participant of life and is the antidote to fear and anxiety. Courage is the fundamental zlemrnt in the conccpt of encouragement. S u e r n e y ( 1 98 1 , p.50) declares that courage i s "tho/ qrrality (~ f i tp l~rouchir~f i l ( fe which rrrises nnr.:r consciousrre,ss to the Deo~rp rill around trs, to the intrinsic ~'nlrre in o new e.rperience, o r to the snrisjiictinn in rnukirrg ( I new discovey, or in the masrev ofu new skill. "

Encouragement j s often linked with, hut is different, from praise. We often hear praise being used by teachers and parents for providing feedback and rewarding appropriate hehaviours. such as "Good job'" and "t1~rtt:r ,y~eat!" Praise is 11suaI1y g i ~ e n af ter an act of accomplishing somerhing that meets the standards or expectations set hy a person other than the child, such as a parent or teacher. Praise more or less e\,aluates (he extenr to which a task or an accomplishment is achieved, and is delivered usually as a product of the achie~eiaent. Cncouragcment. on the other hand, focuses o n the process of accomplishing a skill o r a task. To ancourage i s literally to instill or give courage to someone to begin, continue or coinplere learning a new skill or task through recopnising the efforts and feeling3 of that person in relation to the skill or task. An encouragirlg word to a student can be

I - ~- - - - - - - - -

REACT DECEMRER 1999

"Looks like you are trying really hard to sohe this math problem". Encouragement is specific to the task and assists individuals to appreciate their own feelings. behaviours and achievements (Hitz & Driscoll. 1988). Encouragement has been described as a better motivator than praise for individuals striving for significance within a group (Dinkmeyer & Dinkmeyer, 1984). The advantage of encouragement over praise is that it can still be delivered even if individuals fail to complete certain tasks (Pitsounis Rr Dixon, 1988).

REVIEW OF RESEARCH

A nurrlber of research studies have shown encouragement to be linked with positive outcomes and perceptions across a number of skills for both children and adults. These studies are primarily from the West. The perceived effects of encouragement from parents on their children's performance in academic and emotional aspects have been examined. Agrawal and Pande ( 1997) had 500 secondary students complete a parental encouragement scale, and found that high- achieving students received more parental encouragement than both average and low achieving students.

Studies have also examined the impact of encouragement on sports performance. In a study by Chai and Wang (1984), 46 adolescents were separated irlto two groups who ran a 400 metre race. One group was given encouraging words during the race - while the other group was criticised. Both groups of adolebcents were told that their performance during the race would be judged on speed and technique. In addition, records of each participant 's past performances on 400 metre races were compared with the present race. The results indicated that the group receiving

encouragment performed better than its past performance while the group that received criticism did not perform as well. Another study investigating the effectiveness of verbal encouragement on endurance performance examined two groups of women i n a leg-holding task. Verbal encouragement was found to increase performance for one group by a large margin compared with the other group that did not receive verbal encouragement.

The effects of praise versus encouragement on children's perception of teachers have been examined by Kelly and Daniels (1997). In their study, these researchers showed n videotape of teachers giving either verbal praise o r verbal encouragement to 89 female and 92 male students agedfrom 9- 16. After watching the tape. the participants rated the teachers on a semantic differential scale. The students perceived the encouraging teacher as more potent than the praise teacher. Rogers (1976) states that besides using positive reinforcement such as praise, teachers can be more effective by using encouragement for students.

Encouragement on the part of teachers. as perceived by students. has also been studied. Adolescents' opinions on how their school learning atmosphere can be affected by encouragement or discouragement were collected by Superstein (1094). In this study, 380 students of lower secondary school age were interviewed regarding what discouraged or encouraged them at school. The results showed that positive teacher attitudes and competence were among the most encouraging factors and conversely that poor teacher attitudes and competence were the most discouraging. Another study revealed that Ion achieving students may be affected by inadequate

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27 REACT DECEMBER 1999

encouragement. Witty and DeBaryshe (1994) found that some teachers gave less encouragement to low achieving students, while less negative behaviours were shown to high achieving students. These studies illustrate that teachers can learn to be more encouraging through improving their competence and attitudes towards all students.

I Apart from students, other members of

! society have also benefited from the use of encouragement. For example, 23 chronically i l l adolescents were interviewed through an open-ended, in-depth interview ~ by Woodgate (1998) as to how health care professionals can best care for them. Eight themes emerged among which were: treat me like a person; try to understand; give me some encouragement; don't force me; and give me options. In another study investigating the nature and support of 58 young mothers aged from 15-21 in achieving their life aspirations, Camarena, Minor. Melmer and Ferrie (1998) noted through semi-structured interviews that

! access to resources and firm encouragement to pursue their aspirations were supporting features in those who were most resilient.

CONCLUSION

The Singapore 21 vision puts into clear perspective the importance of building a society that values and nurtures the diverse abilities and talents of individual Singaporeans so that they can contribute in common and unique ways. As stated so aptly in Singapore 21 (p. 19): "People nho fit fhernselves into wrore socially acceptable roles are like square pegs in round I?oles ..... tl?e result: a potentiallyfirst-rate a.stronorner becowres a second -ra te banker!" Education can and must play a significant part in redefining the narrow benchmarks of success, creat ing opportunities for diverse experiences of success and instilling courage on the part of Singaporeans to participate as active citizens in order to create new possibilities for themselves. Individual Singaporeans, especially the young, need encouragement to achieve these ideals. One does not need to look far to encourage. Encouragement can begin within the daily interactions and routines that all of us encounter within schools. homes and society.


i IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE I A. Evaluate whether you are a teacher who practises encouraging or

discouraging responses, using the table below.

Encouraging -

Ineffecu\.e listening Effective Iisrening Focuses on nesatives Focuses on posit~ves

I Competing. comparing Cooperar~ve Threatening Acceptin; Uses sarcasm. embarrassment Uses Ilumour, hope Disinterested in feelings Interested in feelings Bases worth on performance Bases worth on just being

--

(Adapted from Dinkmeyer & Lo.;oncy, 1996)

B. Use the following specific ways to encourage students: I I . Commerlt or1 one is doing more so thari wit11 how one is doing.

Avoid comparirlg. Example: That's a beautiful shade of colour you have used for your

painting. What did you do to get such a colour? Versus: 1 bet no one in this class has as beautiful a colour for your

painting as jours(comparing).

2. Focus on the present more so than on the past or future. Example: You all are really pulling together and spending a lot of time

in preparing for your project work. Versus: If only you all would work cooperatively and this hard all the

time!

3. Remark on the deed rather than the doer. Use "I" statements to refer to how you feel. Example: 1 really do appreciate your help! Versus: You are a good boy for helping me whenever 1 ask.

O r 1% hew ~.orrecting:

-- -


Example: I feel annoyed whenever you interrupt me while I am speaking to someone else.

Versus: You are barging into my conversations - you are so irritating!

4. Emphasise the effort rather than the outcome. Example: Looks like you are working very hard to get these maths

problems done. Versus: How come you haven't finished these math problems yet?

Everyone else in the class has completed them.

5. Encourage intrinsic motivation (i.e., satisfaction, enjoyment, challenge) instead of extrinsic. Example: You really do seem to enjoy writing stories of places you

have been to. Versus: Quickly finish writing your school holiday stories for me.

6. Stress what is being learnt inore than what is not being learnt. Example: You have learnt about how to tie several knots the past few

weeks. In the next few weeks, we shall look at how to put up a tent.

Versus: You want to be a scout? How can you when you don't know so many things yet?

7. Describe what is being done correctly inore than what is not being done correctly. Example: You have 12 out of 20 questions correct. With a little bit more

effort, I know you will be able to get more correct. Versus: Wah! 8 wrong out of 20!

(Adapted from Sweeney. 198 1)


SOURCES

Agrawal, K. L., & Pande, S. K. (1997). Influence of parental encouragement on educational achievement of students. Ind ian Journal q f Psychonzetr j & Educotiorr. 28. 59-61

Camarena. P. M., Minor, K.. Melmer. T., & Ferrie. C. ( 1908). The nature and support of adolescent mothers' life aspiration. Family Relations: Interdi.sciplirzar3. Journal ,,fApplied Family Studies, 17, 129- 137.

Chai , W., & Wang, W. (1984). An experiment on the effect of moods in sports for juniors. Acra Psyrlrolc~gicrrl Sinica, 16, 44 1-446.

Dinkmeyer. D. (1996). The ski l ls q f encoura,Terirent: Bringing out tlrr herr irr yorlr-selfond others. Delray Beach. FL: St. Lucie Press.

Dinkmeyer, D., & Dinkmeyer. D. (1984). School counselors as consultants in primary prevention. Pers,~rrr~el & Guidonce Jo~rrnal. 62. 464-466.

Hitz, R., & Driscoll, A. (1988). Praise or encouragement? New insights into praise: Implications for early childhood teachers. Young Clrildrerr. 4.i. 6- 13.

Kelly. F. D.. & Daniels, .I. G. (1997). The effects of praise versus encouragement on children's perceptions of teachers. I t~r f i~ ir l~ra lPs~cholog~: Jl~rrrnal ofAd1er;an Theor?: Researrh, & Pror.fic.e, 53, 33 1-34 1.

Pitsounis, N. D., & Dixon, P. N. (1988). Encouragement versus praise: Improving productivity of the mentally retarded. Individual P.n.chology: Journal ofAdlerian TIleoq, Research, & Pracfic?. 44.507-5 12.

Rogers, G . W. (1976). Use positive reinforcement - but also encourage! Wester17 Crrrolina Unii.rrsiry Journal o f Edzrcrltion, 8, 25-28.

Singrrpore 21: Together, tve rnrrke tlre difference. (1009). The Government of Singapore: Singapore 21 Committee c/o Prime Minister's Office (Public Service Division).

Superstein, D. (1994). Adolescents ' attitudes toward their schooling: The influence of encouragement and discouragement. Individual Psychology: Journal of Adlerian Them.;. Research, & Practice. 50. 183- 19 1

Sweeney, T. .I. (1981 ). Adierrtm counseling: Proven concepts N I I ~ .srr(rtegies. Muncie, Indiana: Accelerated Development Inc.

T l ~ r De5irt.d O ~ t t c o m e s qf Edrrcorion. (1998). Ministry of Education, Singapore.

Witty, J . P., & Barybhe. B . D. (1994). Student and teacher perceptions of teachers' communication of performance expectations in the classroom. Journol of Clussroorn In.str~lction, 29, 1-8.

Woodgate. R. L. (1998). Health professionals cc~ring for chronically i l l adolescents: Adolescents' perspectives. Jourizal af the Socien of Pediatric Nurc.es, 3, 57-68.

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REACT DECEMBER 1999 i

THE EFFECT OF DIRECT INSTRUCTION ON SELF-CONCEPT

Review by Dennis Rose

INTRODUCTION

Teachers and parents generally agree that there is a relationship between children's self-concept and their achievement at school . T h e precise nature of that relationship remains unclear. From one perspective, it is possible to argue that children with low self-concepts have difficulty learning. especially when they have low self-concepts about their academic ability. It follows that raising children's self-concepts should improve their learning. The opposite view is that high self-concepts are caused by high achievements. According to this view. raising children's achievement should result in their attaining higher self-concepts.

REVIEW OF RESEARCH

Surprisingly little research has been conducted on the relationship between achievement and self-concept . O n e exception is Marsh (1992) who found that achievement is likely to cause an increase in self-concept and not the other way round. Scheirer and Kraut ( I 979) reached the same conclusion. The general conclusion from both studies is that attempts to improve academic achievement by raising self- concept alone are misguided. Scheirer and Kraut's conclusions were derived from the results of a major compensatory education programme, Prqjecr Follow Tlzrough, that began in the USA in the 1960s.

Pt.qject Follubv Tl~rough examined the effects of 22 different educational models.

These models included parent education programmes, programmes designed to Improve self-concept, programmes based on theorists such as Piaget. and Direct Instruction. Data from over 10,000 children taught through one of the models and from thousands of other chi ldren in the comparison control groups was analyzed to identify which models were the most effective. Bock, Stebbins, and Proper (1977) concluded that most models compared badly with their comparison schools in which children received routine education.

The Direct Instruction model was superior to all other models o n all measures. Children taught using this model easily outperformed their controls in basic skills, cognitive skills and affective functioning. The remainder of this paper briefly descrihes Direct Instruction. presents some of the research showing Direct Instruction's effectiveness in raising achievement and self-concept, and suggests some implications for teachers.

What is Direct Instruction?

Direct Instruction combines careful design of mater~als with direct teaching methods. Direct Instruction materials provide:

explicit teaching of facts: rules and strategies; selection and sequencing of examples to illustrate concepts; and prompts for children to gradually apply strategies silently and independently.

Direct Instruction teachers use briskpacing.

immediate error correction. small group Research since Prc?jccl F ~ ~ l l ~ ~ r i ~ T h m ~ r y l ~ instruction. and choral responding (Kinder continues to demonstrate the power of & Carnine. l991j. Direct Instruction. A frequently cited

example is Wesley Elernentary School in

RESEARCH ON DIRECT Houston. Texas. which introduced Direct

INSTRKICTION Instruction in 1975 and moved from being one of the lowest achieving schools to

Bereiter and Kurland's (1981) analysis of Project Folloir. Throrrglr found that Direct Instruction produced it~itistically significaiit gains over controls in 6 5 % of the comparisons. The next best model, Behavior Analysis, produced statistically significant gains over controls in 23% of the comparisons. No other model showed any statistically significanl gains over controls on any of these tests. In other words, only two models, Direct lnsrruction and Behavior Analysis. produced significant gains in basic skills and in cognitive skills. DirectInstruction was one of four models rhat produced statistically significant positive outcomes on affective measures 5uch as self-esteem. All other models. including all three affective skills models, produced statistically significant negative outcomes on affective measures. Children in these programmes fared poorly on affective measures compared to children in comparison schools.

Some children who had participated in the Direct Instruction model in Pmject Follo~r. T/~rr,lr,ylr were followed up in several sites. Children taught in the Direct lnstruction model were academically superior to their controls at 9"' grade (Meyer, 1984; Gersten. Keatiny, & Becker. 1988). A greater number ofthem graduated from hizh schocrl (Darch, Gersten. &Taylor. 1987) and were accepted for and remained in college education (Meyer. Gersten. & Gutkin, 1983). The effects of early Direct Instruction were sustained.

regularly surpassing average st~i trwide scores in regular academic tests (Rimes. 1997). Another example is Morningside Academy (Johnson & Layn?. 19921 where average annual gains range from 1.6 to 3.9 grades. Morningside has also provided programmes to adult groups such as young. at-risk African-American males and Asian- American women. Students in these programmes typically progress one grade for every 15 to 35 hours of instruction.

White's (1988) meta-analysis of Direct Instruction in special education found that over half of the measures significantly favoured the Direct lnstruction groups while no measure in any of the studies favoured the compaison group. Adams and Engelmann's (1996) review of 34 studies of the effects of Direct Instruction found rhat 32 studies had a positive effect on child achievement. These studies examined Direct Instruction in language. reading. mathematics, spelling, health and science programmes.

Direct lnstruction has recently received endorsement from several educational organizations. The National Education Association, the .American Association of School Adminsitrators. the American Federation of Teachers. The National Association o f Elementary School Principals. and the National Association of Secondary School Principals collaborated in research to evaluate 24 instructional models according t o whether they measurably improved achievement. Only


three models were rated as having strong evidence that they produced positive effects on child achievement (Olsen, 1949). One of these models. Direct Instruction was being used in 150 schools. Eight of the models had no research backing at all, despite being used in over 660 schools and over 1.000 schools were using programmes that had only weak evidence of their effectiveness.

Research continues to demonstrate that Direct Instruction has a positive effecr on self-concept. Adams and Engelmann (1996) reported on four studies that used affective measures, such as measures of self-concept. They all found that Direct Instruction had positive effects on self- concept. McCormick and Fitzgernld (1997) reported that children were overwhelmingly positive about the programme and rated themselves as competent spellers after panicipating in a Direct Instruction programme, Spelling Mnster j . Teachers also made

overwheln~ingly positive comments about the programme and their children's positive response to it. Fisher. Kitz and Tarver (1996) reported that children receiving a Direct Instruction videodisc geometry programme performed better than children instructed using a basal programme and rated the Direct Instruction programme more highly than did the children receiving the basal programme.

CONCLUSION

The research is unequivocal : Direct Instruction is associated with superior academic performance. Children whose achievement levels increase as a consequence of a Direct I n s t r u c t i ~ n programme, are also likely to have improved self-concepts and cognitive skills. Despite a widespread belief that Direct Instruction may impede the development of cognitive skills and affective functioning, the opposite is the case.


The main implication for teachers is that the best way to make children feel good about themselves in school is to increase their achievement. Direct Instruction is a proven method of doing this.

Teachers can get started with Direct Instruction in two main ways. The easiest way is to purchase Direct Instruction programmes that provide teaching materials, teacher scripts and child workbooks. Commonly used programmes of this type are Reuding M u s t e n , R ~ U . F ~ I I ~ I I ~ 1111(i HVritil~g. and Spelling Mas ten . all published by SRA.

The second way that teachers can use Direct Instruction is to adapt their own curriculum and teaching methods. First, teachers must orsanize what they teach s o that children learn basic skills and kno\rledge hefore heing required t o perform more complex tasks. This improves their chances of success

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REACT. DECEhlBER 1999 34

and, therefore, their motivation to learn. Secondly. teachers should provide for a great deal of involvement: children rarely learn much when sitting passively. A simple guide follows.

I. Teach content in a sequence that ensures success Teach basic material before combining more complex knowledge forms.

2. Make brief presentations of content and have children respond to q~~est ions during the presentation. For example: " A triangle has three sides. How inany sides does a triangle Izuve? "

3. Use examples and non-examnples to illustrate facts and concepts. For example: "This is a triangle. This is not a triangle. Is this a triangle?"

4. Ensure that positive examples vary on irrelevant attributes For example, different colours. sizes, textures.

5. Provide "thinking time" before sigrzaling that everyone sho~ild answer or calling on a single pupil to answer.

6. If children make errors, correct them immnediately and guide them to respond correctly.

7. Maintain a fast pace. Do not allow time for wandering attention. 8. Follow presentations with guidedpractice on what has been presented.

During this time, quickly check for mastery. 9. Set independentpractice for children who have rnasteredthe knowledge

or skills. Reteach children who have not achieved mastery and then provide more guided practice.

More detailed instructions and examples of how to design and teach a Direct Instruction programme may be found in Carnine, Silbert, and Kameenui (1990). Kameenui and Simmons (l990), and Stein; Silbert, and Camine (1997).

SOURCES

Adams, G., & Engelmann, S. (1996). Bereiter. C., & Kurland, M. (1981). A Research on Direct Instr~rction: 20 jeurs construciive look a t Follow Through beyond DlSTAR. Seatile, WA: results. Interchange. 12 (Winter). Educational Achievement Sysiems. Reprinted in Effective School Pructices, 15

( 1 ) . 17-32, 1996.

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Bock. G., Stebbins. L., & Proper. E. (1977). Ed~rcntiorr (1,s e.~perirnentution: A p l u n ~ ~ e d ~(rriatiun riiod<~l 1\~~7ltrrire /\.'-;I & B ) Effects of Follob~, Thrr1r1~11 rrrode1.r. Washington, DC: Abr Associates.

I Carnine. D.. Silbert. J.. & Kameenui. E. J .

I ( 1990). Uire1.t in.rmrcriorr wollirrr (2"" ed.). New York: Merrill.

1 Darch. C.. Gersten. R.. &Taylor. R. (1987).

I Ev;~luation of Willia~nsburg County Direct Instruction program: Factors leading to s u c c e s in rural elementary programs. Reseotrh iri Rurnl Edlicntiorz, 4, 11 1-1 18.

Fisher. T. A,. Kitz, W. R.. & Tarver. S. G. (1996). Effecrs of videodisc instruction on eeometry achievement in a mainstreamed Native American hizh school class. Effective School Proctice~. 15 (4). 39-49.

Gersten. R., Kearing. T.. & Becker, W. ( 1988). The continued impact of the Direct Instruction model: Longitudinal studies of Follow-Through students. Edrrcrltiorz nrld Treotiiient of Children, 1 1 (4), 318-327.

Johnson, K. R.. & Layng. T. V. J. ( 1 992). Breaking the structuralist barrier: Literacy 1 and numeracy with fluency. A ~ r r n i ~ ~ a ~ i Ps?chologist, 47. 1475-1490.

Kameenui. E. J.. B: Simmons, D. C. (1990). Designing instructional strategies: The prevention of academic learning problems.

I Columbus. OH: Ivlerrill.

Kinder. D.. & Carnine. D. ( 1 99 1). Direct Instruction: What i t is and what i t is becoming. Jolrrrinl o,f Behnviorn l Educntion, I, 193-213.

Marsh, H. (1992). Age and sex effscts in multiple dimensions of self-concept:

Prsadolescence to early adulthood. JULI~I?O/ of Edlrctiriorro/ Psychulogy, X I , 417-430.

McCormick. J & Fitzserald, M. (1997). School-wide applic;~t ion of Direct Instruction: Spelling Mastery at Yeshiva. &ffectivr School Pru~tices , I6 ( 3 ) . 3947.

Meyer, L. A. ( 1 984). Long-term academic effects of the Direct Instruction Project Follow Through. Elerrret~rur? School .lrj11ura/. 84. 380-394.

Meyer, L. A,, Gersten. R., & Gutkin. T. B. ( 1983). Direct Instruction: AProject Follow Through success story in an inner-city school. Elementnq School Jo~rr-rrul, 84. 241-252.

Olsen, L. (1999). Settin8 standard$, matching needs. E111rl-nriorr l%,ek. 18 (23). I . 14-15,

Rimes. W. B. (19971. Mabel B. Wesley Elementary. In J. Crandl~ll, J. Jacobson, & H. Sloane (Eds.). IVh~rr \corks in edlrcation (2'" ed., pp. 7-12) . Concord. MA: Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.

Scheirer. M., & Kraut. R. (1979) . Improving educational achievement via self-concept change. Review ~fEd~rcuriunul Re~eorch, 49, 13 1-150.

Stein. M.. Silbert. J., & Carnine, D. (1997). Designing c:/,r~.~.ri~,e rnnthernatics instr~rcrion: A dir-c>cr irl.rtr~rction approach (3'" ed.). Upper Saddle River. NI: Prentice- Hall.

White. W. A. T. X 8 A meta-analysis of the effects of direct instruction in special cducation. Edlrcution nr~rl Treatment of Childrer?, 11, 364-374.


"DO YOU PANIC ABOUT MATHS?"

Review by Foong Pui Yee

INTRODUCTION

" D o you pui?ic ubo~t r ~ltuths.'"' was a question Laurie Buxton (1984) asked in his book of the $:me title. He studied ten anicui:~te and intelligent adults who had left school with unple:~sant memories of their mathematic> Ie:~rning. Most of them felt "panic" when they were each given a mathematical problem to solve. It hrought back the image of aclassroom situation that was not far from the feelings depicted in the cartoon above. It is acommon notion that of all the subjectc taught at school. mathematics provokes the

strongest emotions of dislike, anxiety and low self-concept in those students who do not seem to achieve some level of success in it. Why does mathematics have such an effect on people? Why should mathematics appear so difficult to many people?

School mathematics is characterised by abstract content that does not resemble other school subjects. This feature becomes especial ly evident when comparing mathematics with subjects such as history and geography. To master the latter subjects one kind of activity often predominates, namely storing or memorising information.

REACT. DECEMBER 1999 A

On the other hand, the learning of school tnathematics is marked by a variety of kinds of activity such as early number concept formation through modeling with concrete objects. mastery of computational and measurement skills. mental calculation, spatial thinking and problem-solving. All of these are necessary for mastering the material under study. One of the major goals of mathematics education in school is to enable students to use the mathematical content and the skills learnt, to apply them to the solution of practical problems.

In a traditional classroom, mathematics learning is often a highly procedural activity. Teachers usually transmit patterns of activity to students by presenting mathematical problems whose solutions involve these patterns. This could be due to a feature unique to mathematics that is the logical organisation of its contents. It involves a hierarchical structure where learning has to proceed as such. To reach any particular branch. it is necessary to go a Ion2 way along the whole mathematical tree. For instance it is impossible to learn differentiat ion without mastering transformation of algebraic expressions, transformations without mastering the arithmetic of fractions, and fractions without knowledge of the multiplication table, and so on. Cumulative failure can be experienced by a child who does not get it right at step one as he moves on in school mathematics. Also, unlike other subjects where answers to questions can be open- ended. in mathematics it often demands 'right' or 'wrong' answers. For those who know and pro\,ide the correct answer in the mathematics classroom, it may be a pleasant experience. But for those who do not know the answers most of the time, mathe~natics learning can be a source of

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discomfort that leads to negative attitudes towards it.

REVIEW OF RESEARCH

Many researchers have investigated the relationship between the affective donlain in mathematics education and achievement in mathematics. In these research studies, attitudes, beliefs, and emotions have generally been used to describe a wide range of affective responses to mathematics (McLeod, 1992). The use of these terms varies according to the stability of the affective responses that they represent. Attitudes, which sometimes include beliefs. are generally stable. An attitude is the tendency to respond favorably or unfavorably to a given situation or object. A student may like geometry and not like fractions, or he may prefer discovery learning to direct teaching. Beliefs are shaped by school experience over a relatively long period of time. For example a student may believe that mathematics problems have one and only one right answer or a belief about oneself being nnable to solve any word problem. On the other hand, emot io i~s involve litt le cognitive appraisal and may appear or disappear rather quickly depending on the situation at hand. For instance panic or anxiety may be aroused if the student encounters a problem and has no idea where to begin and this may give rise to joy when he eventually solves the problem.

Schoenfeld (1989) also believes that an individual 's performance on a mathematical task is very much influenced by a host of affective factors. at times to the point of dominating the individual's thinking and actions. Mcleod (1989) pointed out that research on the cognitive processes in mathematical problem solving

aiour am% symu so!~~?uaq~elu .qi!S aql st? 'palonpuo3 aq plnoqs xas Lq sasL~rur? alnindas leql palsa33ns Laq~ -pao.loju!ai pup padrqs Ll[clnilno aq un3 s3!lr?ruaqleur pmMol sapni!iic icql ainMn aiaM ioqs!~ pun r?~ 'arnle.Ia![ jo .na!.\ai i!aql ul 'sluapnls y3e18 ro ur!srsni!j iq ueql siuapnls ut:!sv IOJ ra5uo~is Lllunq!uS!s s! d!qsuo!lr?[ai iuarua~a!qne-apnl!iie aqi ieql pamoqs osln sllnsai s!sLlnun-nlau aqL .sa!icruaqlcur u! 1u?ura~a!q3n i!aql Lq pal32jjr ssa[ aq io ssa[13al~r? ol pual leql sapni~iir: alqrls ro pax14 aiour p[oq Leu Laql .po!lad a3alloo .sorun[ pue Lmpuosas raddn a41 q3na1 siuapnls aql am!l aql Lq 'la,\a,%oH walqo~d aql ssa.lppn 01 slaq3r?ai ioj alqeaoilou L11n13adsa atuonaq sapnl!llr? an!in%au uaqM aru~l aql s! s!ql a~aqaq Laq.~ ~ss~~rmaqir?rn spir~ol sapni!iie r!aql Su~dnqs u!o'aq sluapnls uaqM SI s1q1 sc '[C~III~XI ia~a~oq S~JI?MUO L~epuo>as 12~0l~ll .iicl~~!id iaddn uroi~ Eu!looq3s jo pollad aql icq] isaa'3ns Laq~ 'Llas~mid sa'u!laaj qaql ssaidxa 01 alqnun an siuapnls asnnoaq alqcisun aq ol pual so!lnruaqlnm prnMol sapn~!ilr: aql .Licm!rd ramol in inql 13~~ aqql 01 s!qi p~inq!iiic ioqs!~ pun em -slaAal hr?puo>2s ir: iurn!j!uS!s sem inq sapnr8 Llnrnl~d a41 1~2uorls IOU SFM d!qsuo!]e1ar 241 lcqi stm Zu!pu!j lueo1j!u8!s v .iapua4 pue punoi3y3tq 31uqia .ape18 :aJaM salqc!~r?~ lueo!j!u8!s aaJqL .sa[qc!JcA jo iaqrunu r? uo luapuadap st:.* luaura~a!r[sr! pue apnl~nr? uaamlaq d~qsuo!lt:lai aql .ia.\a.uoH 'a'uo.~ls IOU se,% luarua.\a!q>r: uo apni!)lc JO 13ajja aq) icql punoj Laql sa!pnis .iir?ur!rd €11 jo sSu!pu!j a41 alel3aiu! ol s!sLlnun-r?laru r? pamnpuon (~66 1) .~oqs!~ pue PN so!~r?ulaq~eru UI luauraha!qon pup sa!lcuraqlcul pic%ol sapnl!ilr? uaawaq d!qsuo!ic[ar aqijo apn)!u8eru aql ssassr? o~

i)a!xuv sJ!lemaq$eIy pue sapn$!$$v

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xaad qaql ~IIM sd!qsuo!icla.~ 11!!sos poo3 paLoCua pue sno!xu~?-JS~J ssq a1a.n ,iaq~ .asuapljuoo pur? ruaaisa-jlas JOJ saio3s iaq%!q pnq L11ensn ua.\a!qoe 4x14 icqi punoj (~86~) mcpLns 's~!ieuaqirnu u! siahlo?. uralqo~d pooZ jo so!ls!.1ai3r?mq;, aqljo Lpnls r: u1 -auo a,\11r?3au r: s! I! asn3 srql u! pun s311eruaq1r:n1 plemol apnl~lin uc pado[a,\ap seq luapnis slqj, ..'~ua[qord sqinm Lun aqos iouuns I.. lo ,.sqir!bq ay!l lou op I,, aq Leu ainlnj 241 u! uo!inni!s .~rl!ur!s r? u! asuodsai s.luapn]s 1eq1 'uo!ir?nl!s (r!,tlcruaqlr?ur ua~!Z r? u! alnI!l?j painada~ paaua!iadxa snq lu2pnls aql uaq,% puv .asp 111~ LIO!~UIS~.I~ seqq~sasuodsai ~r?uo~~oura ur? .a4ry>olq aqi arrloxaAo 01

a1qvun s! luapnls 241 JI .SUOI~OIII~ a.\!ir?Sau pun a~!l!sod qloq 3>~2!~2dxa [I!,%\ sluapnls :ssanord o'u!u~r?a~ aqI JO ~ind a[qel!.\au! ur? air? saa'nyoolq pur? suo!ldnrralu! 'sl[!ys 8u~.~[os~ua1qo~d Su!~alsr?m u~ .suo!lenl!s [a,\ou UI L[sno!a!pn[ uraql Llddc 01 sr? [[a,%\ sc sd!qsuo!in[a~ pue sida~uo3 ~en!lnuraq~nru puclsrapiln 01 idrualln Laql uaq,% as~~n siu2pnls roj sora[qoid 'aj!l lnoqa'norqi paau aldoad in41 \'lil!qc ue s! 11 asnnoaq lunuodu~! ha\ s! sll~ys 8u!nlos uralqo~d ~e"]eu~aqlnu JU u0!1!s!nb3e aqL ila!xur? pun suo!lorua se qons sio13vj a,\!i~uZo>-uou JO iaa[Sau I? u! a'u!llnsai paiuasa~dai-ia.\ci ua?q snq

predictable from their attitudes than boys' marks. The attitudes-achievement correlation was generally higher for the girls.

In another study on mathematics anxiety. Foong (1987) found that highly mathematics anxious secondary female s tudents were associated with low mathematics achievement. Labels such as 'math anxiety' or 'mathphobia' attempted to determine if there is xtuctlly a set of emotions that can be broadly conceptualised as anxiety towards mathematics. Math anxiety or mathphobia was defined as the experience of mental disorganization, panic. and fear that prevents a person from learning ~na the~ i i a r i c s (Buxton. 1984). She concluded that some students are anxious about mathematics, which they find diff icul t and threatening. They may perceive their inability to handle mathematics problems with feelings of self- doubt. fear of f~ i lure ~ n d loss of regcrrds hy others.

In a further study on behavioral traits in mathematical problem solving, Foong. (1992) identified from factor analysis, c~ffective responses that tended to distract rather than enhance successful problem solving. For many of the unsuccessful solvers. the initial perception of the problem as difficult aroused acertain level of anxiety and confusion. even before they set to work on the task. Subsequently when their attempts at solutions did not produce the results, they became frustrated and showed a lack of self- conf~dence. They \vould either continue in a rambling titanner or they would give up, thus avoiding further frustration. Buxton (1984) identifies three emotional states underlying mathcmutics anxiery:

i. irritntior? can arise from ideas that do not fit one's perception or common sense. Due to the ahstract nature of mathematical idens, many students find the111 difficult to accept unless they can be related to real situations. e.:. the product gf rive rregnti~,r rz~~rrzbrrs is positive;

ii. belvilder-rzzenr arises from failure to comprehend and make connections. A cominon reaction is: "Wl1o1 is i t rill about7";

iii. frustrotior~ can arise with repealed failure in problem solving when no strategy can be derived to rackle rhe problem.

Beliefs about mathematics and attributions

Leder (1993) and Kloosterman (1991) are of the view that beliefs shape attitudes and emotions and that they greatly affect the disposition of s tudents towards ~nathematics. Over the years. considerable attention has been directed towards research on students' beliefs about mathematics as a subject. about self in the learning of mathematics. about mathematics teaching and about the social context of classroom instruction. Schoenfeld (1989) has pointed out that ctudenrs' beliefs about mathematics may weaken their ability to solve non- routine prohlerns. I f students believe that mathematiccil prcrhlerns should always be solved in five niinures crr less, they may be unwillinz to persist. Stodolsky (1985) describes how beliefs about mathematics influence how students and teachers perform in elementary school mathematics classrooms. as compared to social studies classrooms in mathematics classrooms

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ualqo~d aq~ jo 8u!lelniuloj-a~ io Zu~peal -21 ~o au!l jo ~unoure ou lcql Xu~~aqaq 'ie.~e iq81i pnb ol spuai aq 'a,\[os ol Lsea aq ol fiu!oZ lou s! uralqo~d e icql saas luapnls sno!xun s3!1euaqieru r uaq.a .ti~aalsa-j~as .no1 pur uo!leA!lour jo ysnl 'a3ualaduo3u! jo sZuqaaj sapn13uF ssaussald[aq pau.iea-I ... ssaussa1dlaq pauleal,, pallno lno!Avqaq jo nialled n do[a,\ap L~[enina.\a Leur .iaql ',il![!qe jo ym[ col aJnl!ej .l!aql alnq1~11~ s~uapnls uaqm Llarnunl~o~un '8u!puelsiapun u! unql sapeiZ pooZ u! palsaialu! aq ol .Clay![ aloul aiam .il!l!qe ol

ssaxns palnq!nle oq~ s)uapmS 'ssar8ord 8ulqrur pur sa8uallrq~ Zutlaaw 'yio.~ picq q8noiql Zu!puels~apuu puc 8u!uleal uo s!seqdua i!aql Zn!llud 'uo~lelua!lo iialseiu r i!q!qxa 01 ilay!l aloul alam IJ~JJ~ ol ssamns palnqfine oqm sluapuis Lieiu2iuala ~eqi punoj (~861) raq~~y pua: sawy .ysn~ 2111 jo L11n3!jj!p aql pun Ll!l!qr~o qx.1 aq~ (11 saleiuaj alym 110jja~o y3rlol s?!~nuaq~e~u u! ainllej .l!aql alnq~rl~e ol pual salnm 'pueq iaqlo aql uo 'lrojja ol ssamns qaql alnq!lar oi A[ay![ arour arn sa[curaj seaiaqm L~![!qc 01 s3!miilaqleur u! ssassns i!aql alnqpae oi salnuraj unql .ilay![ aiour ale sapn 'y3nl~o Ll[n31g!p yse) qnn? [OIIUO~ i!aql puoLaq pur sa!qaswaqi ap!slno si013ej 01 sauroolno alnq!illa: Laql 'lorluo3jo sn?o[ @walza, loj sealaqm uojja io sap![!qe u.+m ~!aq~o~ sawonno alnqune Laq] uaqm ,lo~luo3 jo snm[ leulalu!. ue aAeq ol p!es ale slenp!A!puI ~iapua8 put sainlln3 iuarajj!p jo sluapnls s~!~nuraqicii~ 8uoue suo!inq!i)lr lesne3 uo sa!pnl? luaoai jo iaqunu e.alr aiaql 's~!]t:~uaqmiu ~noqr sja!l>q uo qq3inasal ol uo!lnlaJ ul

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pea1 uno 'p1ro.n [eal aql q]!.~ op ol 8u1qlou io alil!l snq [ooqss u~ pauleal sn!leuIaqlt:iu 1nqlja11aq aru :u(pn[3u1 's3!ieura~ru1 inoqr aAeq slilapnls suay pal!ur![ aql ']S~JIUO~ u1 .Zu!qu!ql lapro-laqd~q jo luaurdola~ap aql ql!m a1q!ieduro3 sqsel uo yro~ ol pur sl~~ys qnieasal qaql dolahap 01 'sdnoid u! ylo~ 01 .ilay![ aiour ale sluapnls 'sa~pnm lepos u! seaiaqm .siualqold allo? ol lqZnrl ale )nq1 salni 8u!L[ddn Lli3ai!p pue ae[niuioj 8u!s!iomam sueaur sJ!lniuaqleur Zu~op lrqi aAa!Iaq nl pica1 Laq~ ',yio;Mleas. u! auolr Xu!qlo~ am!ljo 11:>p leal2 e puads sluapnls

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE CLASSROOM

Renga and Dalla (1993) offer the following suggestions for teachers of mathematics to combat negative attitudes, beliefs and math anxiety in students:

Show an erljvyrnent for mafhernatics yourself. Make mathematics fun through the use of concrete models and discovery lessons. Demystify mathematics by creating appropriate classroom environments where students perceive mathematics as sense-making activity and are able to see connections across topics and in real-life context.

Give students opportunio to cornrnut~icate rnathematics through journal writing. Writing about how they feel about a lesson, what they have understood and ho\v they solve a problem will provide teachers with a deeper understanding of their students' thoughts and feelings in and out of the classroom. Provide positive feedback that focuses on what students do right and treat mistakes as a normal part of learning

Model problem solvitlg strategies rather than model-answers or techniques. Let students present suggestions. try their ideas and let them see why they do or do not Lvork. Allo~v students to participate interactively through cooperative srnall group discussion and problem solving. Teach students to be mathematicians at their own level rather than teaching them ro just learn to perform routine operations.


SOURCES

Ames. C.. & Archer, J. (1987). Muthers' beliefs about the role of ability and effort in school learning. .lourrlal of Eiirrcnrionrrl Ps\.chology. 79. 409-4 14.

Buxton, L. (1084). Do vo11 panic abiirrr moths? London: Heinemann.

Foong. P.Y. 11987). Anxiety and mathematics performance in female secondary school students in Singapore.

Foong. P.Y. (1992). Behavioural tmlts in mathernatical problem solving. C~rri-icullrm Research nrzd procrice: Cairldron o r Crircible? Procrediizgs Sir111 o r~n~r r i l Conference of Ed~rcoriorrril Re,srorch 4ssociririo11. Sin,qdpore. 1 7 5 184.

Kloosterman, P. (1 991 ) . Beliefs and achievement in seventh grade mathematics. Focrrs on Leorrling Prob1err1.s in Mii!hrmaric.s, I3 (-7). 3-1 5.

Lee, S.. Ishikawa, V.. 6 Stevenon, H.W. (1987). Beliefs and achievenients in mathematics and reading: A cross-national study of Chinesc's. Japanese and American children and their mothers. Advorlces i r ~ Mori\,ufion arrd Achirveinerrr: Drhancing Morir~atiorr. 5. 149- 179.

Leder, G.C. (1093). Reconciling affective and cognitive aspects of mathematics Icarning: Reality or ;I pious hope'? In 1.Hirabayashi. N. Nohda, K. Shigemarhu & F.L.. Lin (Eds) . Proceedings of the Seventeenth PblE Conference (46-65).

Ma, X.. & Kishor. N. (1007). Assessing the relationship between attitude t r~ward mathematics end achievement in marhernatics: A meta-analysis. .Ii~rrrrza/ for Research in Marhrmorics Erlrrcirrinii, 28 ( 1 ). 26-47.

McLeod. D.B. (1089). The role of affect in mathernatical problem solving. In D.B.McLeod & V.M.Adams(Eds). 4fecr and nzurhem(rrica1 problem so/i,ing: 4 n r n /wr.specrivr (20.36). New York: Springer- Verlag.

McLeod, D.B. (1992). Research on affect in ~ n a t h e ~ n a t i c s educat ion: A reconceptualisation. In D.A.Grou\v~ (Ed.). Har~dbook of wsrurc l~ on nlothenzorics rrochirzg oizd leoriring (575- 596). New York: Macrnillan

Renga. S. & Dalla. L. (1993). Affect: A critical Component of mathematical learning in early childhood, In R.J. Jensen (Ed.) Re.reorch Ideas For Tht, Cl~r.s.sroom: E'zrl~ Childlrood Mnrhrmarir-s (22.42). New York: Macmillan.

Schoenfeld. A.H. (1089). Explorations of students' mathematical beliefs and behavior. . l o v r i ~ r l fo r Re.rea~'ch iri Mothc~rrzirrics Eihrcarion, 20. 338.355.

Stodolsky, S.S. (1085). Telling math: Origins uf rnath aversion and anxiety. Eriucariorial Pssclrologi.sr. 20, 125- I 33.

Su>da111. M.N.(1084). Rcsearch Report: Attitudes toward mathematics. Arirhrnetic Teocher; 32(3), 12.

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R M C T DECEMBER 1999

Ali

LEARNING TO LISTEN

Review by Christine C. M. Goh

ISTRODUCTION

Listening is the most frequently used con~munication skill. Studies have shown that we spend at least 40% of o u r communication time engaged in listening, and the resr of the time speaking, reading and writing (Uhlvin and Coakely, 1996). Listening has long been a means of learning in tertiary edu

c

at ion where lectures . seminars and tutorials are still the most common modes for the delivery of content and the exchange of ideas. It is jusr as important for pupils in schools. Consider the amount of time pupils spend listening to their teachers each day, and you can appreciate the need to help pupils develop good listening skills and habits in English. More importantly, as co-operative leaming makes advances in classrooms, listening to one another becomes another important way of learning for pupils in both primary and secondary schools.

Nobody will deny that l is tening and speaking should play a key role in an individual's learning process. However. when it comes to teaching, speaking appears to take precedznce over listening in the classroom. Pupils are always encouraged to 'speak up' in class, parricularly during group work , in order to demonstrate undersranding and contribute ideas. They are seldom taught or encouraged to listen actively and pi~rposefully. Active listening is askill which can help pupils learn through working cohesively in a group. hy finding out uha t others know and helping one another de\elop and reshape ideas. More

specifically. effective lislening skills can hslp teachsrs achievs sorns of the MOE's desired ou tcomes o f educa t ion for Singapore pupils. namely, think for and exprzss themselves: work in tcams and value every cont r ibu t ion : think independently and creatively; seek. proL.ess and apply knowlzdge.

Good listening skills are not only crucial to formal and informal learning. they are also the cornerstones for building good interpersonal relationships at work and in social situations. How many times have we heard ourselves or others bemoaning the fact that students or colleagues 'just don't listen'? Increasingly, however. people have begun to realise that listening is a special skill that has to h i developed and that not everyone who speaks language fluently is necessarily ;I good listener. Good listening skills are a valued quality. This is nckno~vledged by a nurnher of well-known service-related es tab l i shments that advert ise good l ~ s t e n i n g ski l ls as a dislinc~ive feature of their employees. The number of personal development books and commercial courses that teach effective l is tening is fu r ther ev idence of t he . realisation that listenins is a vital but much neglected communication skill.

In spite of the growing recognition of listening as a key communication skill, it is the skill that receives the least instruction time in Singapore schools. In terms of research. it is also the least studied of all the four language learning skills. This phenomenon is not particular to Singapore.

REACT -DECEhlBER 1999

For a long time, teachers everywhere used to think that listening was a skill one developed naturally. It was assumed that everybody who could speak a language would naturally know how to listen. Foreign and second language teachers also believed that language learners' listening would automatically improve with greater exposure to the target language.

Pupils cannot learn to listen in a vacuum. One of the ways by which good listening skills and habits can be developed is through the use o f well-planned and meaningful communicative oral skill tasks in language classes. The aim of this article is to provide a brief review of theoretical discussions and research in the field of listening that can inform its teachinf. The first part gives an overview of the developments in the field of language teaching that have led to a change in the status of listening. This is followed by theoretical views and research findings that show listening ability as the product of complex mental processes, which are in turn influenced by both internal and external factors. Some similarities of first language ( L l ) and second language (L2) listening comprehension are also compared. The article ends with some practical in~plications for the language classroom. Although the works selected focus mainly on listening to English. the same pedagogical principles can be applied to the teaching of Tamil. Malay and Chinese.

REVIEW OF RESEARCH

Developments in the field of language teaching

It is only in the the last two decades that listening has featured prominently in the field of language learning and research.

There are two reasons for this. Firstly. listeninf was increasingly accepted as a key to language acquisition. There was growing evidence in second language acquisition studies which supported the claim that listening comprehension coupled with delayed oral production or a silent period could facilitate lanfuage acquisition (e.g. Postovsky, 1974). Many theories of second lanfuage acquisition had also begun to formally recognise the important role of comprehension, particularly listening comprehension. in language acquisition and learning. Two such examples were Krashen's (1 985) input hypothesis and the information processing model (McLaughlin, Rossman and McLeod, 1983). These acquisition theories highlighted the importance of listening in learning another language. especially during the early stages of the process.

The second reason was the direct result of developments in Europe in the seventies. In order to ensure that Europeans can communicate effectively with one another. the Council of Europe set out to improve the teaching of foreign languages. The Council proposed separate needs analyses for each of the four language skills (listening. speaking, reading and writing) and established a model of the communicative needs of the archetypal adult foreign language learner. It also recommended separate skill syllabuses. The phenomenal success and influence of the communicative approach engendered intense discussions about illnovative methods for teaching language for effective communication. Guidelines on selecting materials, designing tasks and developing lessons to help learners practise the four language skills in authentic or simulated communication were offered (Johnson and Morrow. 1981). An important outcome of

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REACT. DECEMBER 1999 L

all this was that listening was finally recognised as an imponant communication skill that merited special treatment in the languaee classroom. These developn~ents in Europe were to have immense influence on language curriculums and teaching methodology in many parts of the world, including Singapore.

Theoretical views on listening

Listening is a complex ability. It involve> more than understanding what words mean. Communication scholars Wolvin and Coakely (1996) identified five types of purposeful listening.

Discri~ninntive - listening to distinguish auditory a n d o r visual stimuli. It is baaic to all listening purposes.

Comnpreherzsivr - listening to understand the message. It fonris the foundation for listening therapeutically. critically and appreciatively.

Therapeutic - listening to provide someone with the opportunity to talk through a problem.

Critical - listening to evaluate the message.

Appr-ecirrrivr - l istening to obtain enjoyment through the works and experiences of others.

Language teaching has traditionally been concerned with listening to discriminate sounds and to comprehend. The focus has been on recognising phonemic differences. listening for details and listening for gist.

Between the 1940s and 1960s, the dominant \iew of listening comprehension was the

"bottom-up" approach, which assumed that comprehension was built up step-by-step from phonetic sounds and syntax. This was also called the "text-driven" view of comprehension. In the seventies, however, attention shifted to a "top-down" approach. which postulated that listeners interacted with the text and the context and brought with them prior knowledge to arrive at a reasonable interpretation of the meaning. This approach was also described as being "knowledge-driven". This remarkable shift in focus can be attributed to the influence of the work of cognitive psychologists who investigated the way different types of knowledge were represented in our memory and how these were retrieved to assist our understanding of new situations or unfamiliar texts. Central to this concept of knowledge representation is the role of "schemata" (Bartlett, 1932. Rumelhart. 19801, which are defined as coherent collections of knowledge concerning a type of event, situation. or object in top-down processes.

In the field of applied linguistics, there was an attempt by Widdowson (1978) to distinguish between 'hearing ' and 'listening' abilities 'Hearing' referred to an individual's ahility to recognise words. parse sentences and arrive at an understanding of the message. 'Listening', on the other hand, was the ability to relate what was understood to what had been said. More importantly, it included the ability to recognise the communicative function of an utterance in a specified content. I t consisted of hearing the words and decoding the literal meaning of a message, accompanied by an interpretation of its intent. In brief, listening required both bottom-np and top-down processing.

This view of libtening a?. an active meaning-


construction process was also expressed by Anderson and Lynch (1988, p.6): "the listrnrr hcrs u crrdcinl part to play in the process, by activating carious types of krro+cledge, and h:. ayplyirr,q kvlrnt lie (.ric.) kriokr,s to ~ i h a t ht, (,sil..l hearr arzd trliri ,~ to ~~rlderstarrrl ivhrrt tht, slleuker means ". These two descript ions of listening encapsulate the \+idel!. accepted constructive view of listening in current language teaching. This \ i e u was instrumental in creating the familiar three- phase listening lesson (pre-listening, while-listening post-listening). This lesson structure. particularly the pre-listening phase, contr ibuted much to the development of purposeful listening in the classroom.

One of the most comprehensive descriptions of listening in language learnins to date was offered by Rost (1990. pps 33 8: 6 2 )

" L i r r ~ l i ~ r s r ~ ~ n d i ~ ~ , ~ spoke11 l a ~ ~ g ~ r a g e is P S S P I I ~ ~ U / ( L rrn irrfer-er~tialprocess based on ( 1 per.zeprion of cues rather tharz LI

striri~l~~fi~r'rvardard n~atchi~rg qfsoirr~d to rrreur~irrg. Tile listerler must find rele~~anl liriks i~enl-een ~vhat is heard (andseen) and r h i ~ . ~ e usllects of context that rnipht mori1,irrt2 tlrr2 spenker to make a articular lrlterfrnce at lr particular time. ... It is im/~ortunr ro eri~phasize the principle of meaning as acril,e knok~,ledse constri~ctiorl, rather than o pns.sive reception of' ir!fi~rn?ation. Mearrirr,~ in dircocrrse is created by the listei7cr- 11-ithin /~e,:rorzrtl kr?o,r.ledge rlornrriri. Mt,rrriirr,~ is <.r-euted only by arr active listt,rrirr!: ir7 >i.l7ich the lingni.stic ,fi)rnz trigpcr-s irrrt,rpr-r~trrtim 1t.ithirr the listerrer:~ hrrc.kgrnrrri~l rrrrd in relation to the 1istener.k prrr-po.rr. rirther- tliirrz coriveyirzg iffforn~irliori ".

Rost highlighted inferencing as the key cognitive process during listening. He made a distinction between 'low-level' inferences and 'high-level' inferences. Low-level inferences draw upon an indi\,iducil's knowledge of the sounds and intonation features of the target language to perceive the words that a speaker is saying. These are 'speech decoding skills'. High-level inferences. on the other hand. dra\r on an individual's prior knowledge or schernata to interpret the meaning of the words heard.

According to cognitive psychologist J. R. Anderson ( 1985), comprehension processes do not happen in a linear manner. He postulates three phases of comprehension which overlap and are recursive - perception, parsing and utilisation. In the case of competent ubers of a language. the perception and parsing phases will be almost if not fully automatised. This means that they are able to instantly recognise the sounds they hear as distinct words and at the same time build a basic mental model of the meaning of these utterances. This allo\vs the listeners more time and cognitive capacity to process the input on a higher knowledge- driven level, which requires them to draw inferences and use the information that has heen processed.

Factors affecting learner listening

A recent sur\.ey on learner listening research found that there were no fewer than 80 studies that examined external and internal f a~ . to r s which enhanced or depressed listening comprehension (Rubin, 19'14). These can be summarised into five categorie: text type, task, interlocutor. process and listener. Although these factors were ircllated by researchers, it has been

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RE-ACT. DECEMBER 1999

shown that many language learners were actually themselves quite aware of the influence some of these factors had on their comprehension (Goh. 1997).

Research that examined listening processes has been successful at deducing the dynamic mental activities involved in second language listening comprehension through an examination of listening strategies. Many of these studies were carried out only as recently as the last ten years (see for example. O'Malley. Chamot & Kupper 1989; Bacon, 1992; Vogely. 1995: Young, 1997; Goh, 1998a). Earlier studies specifically examined the role of top-down and bottom-up procrsaes in learner listening (Conrad. 1985, Wolf, 1987). Therc is also now a small body of research that examines the effects of training learners to apply straregies for listening comprehension (see for example. Thompson & Rubin. 1993 cited in Chamot 1995. and Chamot, Rohbins & El-Dinar!. 1993). The results for strategy training have so far been mainly inconclusive.

Listener characteristics, particularly gender and proficiency. have been another popular topic of research. As a factor of comprehenaion, listener characteristics have been closely linked to the study of the types of cognitive processing ohserved during listening. Young'a (1997) study showed that female learners demonstrated n greater tendency to use mctacog~litive stratesies such as selective attention and monitoring for managing their listening. They alho used more social-affective strategies to get help when comprehension was not forthcoming. Bacon (1992) also found that female learnzrs tended to use more metacognilive strategies compared with their male counterparts, who resorted to cognitive ~trategies more frequently.

High proficiency learners in almost all studies used a wider range of strategies and showed evidence of hoth top-down and bottonl-up processing (see for example, O'Malley et. al 1989, Goh. 1998b) . Conrad'.; study (1985) reported that low ability learners engaged more frequently in bottom-up processing and faded to use semantic clues to process information top- down, but other studies have shown that low-ability listeners made good use of their prior knowledge in top-down processing whenever possible (Wolf, 1987, Goh, 1Y98b).

A comparison of first and second language listening comprehension

O'Malley. Chomot and Kiipper (1989) investigated whether there was a correspondence between the listening processes of L l and L2 language listeners. Anderson's (1985) three-phase model of Ll comprehension was chohen as a baseline for comparing second language listening. They reported that the mental processes of the ESL atudents in their study paralleled the three phases of Anderson's model - perception, parsing, and utilisation. The study identified a number of strategies that were used during these comprehension phases. During the perceptual processing phase, students reported using selective attention, that is, ignoring irrelevant distractors and maintaining attention during the task. They also monitored themselves by checking their at tent iveness and comprehension, Parsing ~trategies included grouping, or listening for larger chunks. such as paying attention to intonation. Inferencing and elaboration were also identifled. The students used information in the text and their own knowledge to infer meaning or to complete missing ideas. They also reported elaborat ing their

1 REACT DECEMBER 1999 1

interpretations by drawing on prior knowledge.

The findings of O'Malley et al. ( 1 989) supported similaritieh between L1 and L2 comprehension processes. Other L2 researchers have argued the same, but they have also stressed that there would be some differences in the way these processes were applied and c~lso in the types of difficulties that language learners experienced (Fierch Xr Kasper. 1986). Goh's (1998b) study on strategic processing also showed many similarities between L I and L 2 comprehension. First of all, like L1 users. the language learners studied made use of linguistic and communicative input, stored knowledge and contextual information for their comprehension. As with L1 comprehension. gaps rezularly occurred. There was evidence from the language learners' processing tactics to indicate that inferencing was a key strategy for bridging such gaps. The primary reason for these gaps was, nevertheless, predictably different from that responsible for gaps occurring in L I con~prehension which were normally due to inattentiveness, biases, or a lack of prior knowledge. Gaps in learners' comprehension were mainly due to ~mperfect knowledge of the target language and fixation on problematic parts, both of which directly affected perception and parsing of linguistic input.

CONCLUSION

Successful listening requires both low-level and high-level processing skills. It is the ability to engage in high-level processing that enables the use of more sophisticated listeniug skills such as critical. therapeutic and appreciative listening. Pupils who are not proficient in English will undoubtedly face many challenges. They will need help in improving their low-level listening skills

so that they can engage in high-level, top- down processing. In this way. they will be able to expand their listening skills to 31

beyond mere comprehension of facts and enjoy the benefits of good listening ability outlined in this article. At the same time. pupils who are already proficient in English should be challenged further to de\,elop eood listening skills and habits.

Listening is undoubtedly a life skill. Some experts call it a critical enabling skill. Good listening skills will not only help pupils function effectively in their studies and future employment, but also enhance their ability to develop good interpersonal relationships in and out of school. The current proliferation of electronic media has further strengthened the role of listening i n English as an essential part of communicat ion. In addition, with globalisation and regionalisation on the increase. there is an even more pressing need tor Singaporeans to become highly proficient listeners of English. It is therefore truly surprising that so little time has been devoted to the teaching and testing of effecti\e listening in our schools.

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REACT DECEMBER 1999 1

IMPLICATIONS FOR TEACHING

Some implications for improving the teaching of listening comprehension are outlined below:

I. Set aside time for teaching listening. Because of the backwash effect of public exams, where reading and writing are given a heavy weighting, teachers have mainly concentrated on the teaching of reading comprehension and composition writing. The result is that listening is often very low in the list of teaching priorities, particularly with secondary school pupils who do not have to sit for a listening comprehension exam at "0" level. We need to redress this imbalance. English departments can make i t a policy to have at least one lesson a week, or every two weeks, that is dedicated to the teaching of listening skills.

2. Raise pupils' metacognitive awareness about listening. Motivate them to consider the importance of listening and the ways in which they can help themselves become better listeners. Use focus group discussions, reflective journals and pre- and post-listening tasks (see Goh, 1997 for further details).

3. Teach a variety of skills for comprehension. Our text books for English show a strong tendency to focus solely on the ability to listen for details. Although this is an important listening skill, i t is only one of many essential skills. As a matter of fact, a great deal of our everyday l is tening involves forming reasonable interpretations, not remembering parts of the input verbatim. There is therefore a need for teachers to use listening tasks for forming general interpretations based on prior knowledge and contextual clues. There is also a need for more open-ended questions which encourage drawing inferences.

4. Help pupils develop effective listening strategies. Give pupils opportunities to apply cognitive strategies such as inferencing and prediction. Short, incomplete dialogues or passages could be used for this purpose. Pupils should also learn to infer the meaning of a message in spite of the presence of some unfamiliar words.

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I obviously stated. Pupils can also be tested for their ability to evaluate the I ideas that they hear. All these are important aspects of listening that can have an impact on an individual's learning and interpersonal skills.

8. Help pupils develop the patierzce to lisierz. As we have seen, active listeninp is a complex skill that demands time and effort. Being part of the MTV and high-speed computing generation.

( many 01. our pupils may not have learned the patience to listen, particularly 1 in class. Nevertheless. we can motivate pupils by raisins their awareness about the importance of good listening skills, as well as encouraging them to use relevant strategies for managing their listening. In addition. we need to use stimulating and challenging listening activities in class which give them a good reason to want to listen and at the same time provide opportunities for the development of the types of purposeful listening mentioned in this article.

These are meant to be general suggestions. Pupils in Singapore come from diverse backgrounds in terms of home languages. so some bvill no doubt be more competent users of the English Language than others. Teachers will

1 need to consider their pupils' language proficiency and background when I selecting and designing l i~teninp materials. The age of the pupils, their Interests and level of cognithe development, the types and the length of listening texts as \re11 as the demands of listening tasks should all be taken into consideration.

SOURCES Cambridge: Cambridge Univerh~ty Press

Anderson, I . R. (1085). Cogniri1.e Pr~clzologyirtrdifsli~q~lic~~tiotis.. New Ytirk: Chnrnot. A. U. (1995). Leaniing straregies Freeman. and l~stening comprehension. In. D.

Mendelsohn and I. Rubin (edr.). '4 Guide j i ~ r Anderson. A & T. Lynch i 1988). Lisrr~rrq. rl7e Tea(.hi~ig oj'Sec.ond Lang~rage Listening. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CA: Domin~e Presh.

Bacon, S. hl. (1992). The relationsh~p Charnot.A. U.,I. Robbins, &P.B. El-Dinar). between gender. comp~.ehension, pn~cesring ( 199.1). Learning strategies i n Japanese stlategizs. and cognitive and alfective foreign language iristruction: final report. response in foreign language listening. Eric Clearirighouse on languages and Aforier-ri Lan,o~r<~,ye ./ollr-tral 761 2: 41-56. L~nguist~cs.

Bartlett. F C. ( 1932). Retiirmhenir,q:A .Trrrdy Conrad. 1,. (1985). Semantic versus synlactic in Ev/wr-iri~ri~tnl (rnri Sci(:i(ll Psycholr~gj.. cues in listening comprehension. Srrrdies 01

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"I'm talking to myself ': Children's use of

private speech for self-regulation

Review hy Carolyn Tan-Niam

INTRODUCTION

Research in the last decade has witnessed a dramatic increase in the influence of Vygorsky on our understanding of cognitive development. particularly ui his views on the social origins of higher psychological functions. A crucial aspect of Vygutsky's theory is that the same language that nlediates social interact ion between humans is used to mediate cognit ive activity within individuals. Language as a tool of thought, commonly referred to as private speech, thus constitutes a significant l ink be tween social and c o ~ n i t i v e

phenomena. This paper reviews major findinss of private speech research and their implications for teaching.

The significance of private speech in cognition and development was f i r ~ t raised by Piaget (1926) and Vygotsky (1962). Piaget ( 1 9 2 6 ) employed the term "egocentric speech" in his writings to refer to children's overt self-vcrbalisations emitted in social situations without any preoccupation about being understood or about trying to adapt the discourse for

others. According to Piaget, egocentric speech is a symptom of the child's cognitive immaturity and it serves no communicative or developmental function. For Piaget. egocentric spcech included children's enpigements in repetitions. monologues and "cc>llective monologues". and were a consequence of the child's inability to make a distinction between the perspective of the self and the other. In the course of development, be argued that egocentric speech would eventually disappear and be replaced by social speech as the child takes cognizance of the role of others.

Vygotsky agreed with Piaget that pri\.ate speech refers to speech spoken aloud by children that is addressed to the self or to no one in particular. Contra P i a ~ e t . Vygotsky conceived of private speech as an essential transitional stage where the language that mediated.interaction between individuals began to mediate cognitive activity within the individual . This conceptualisation of private speech is very much a producl of Vygotsky's theorising about the shared nature of mental functioning and the process of semiotic inediation through \,erhal signs. This is sun~marised in his general genetic law of cultural development that states that "on?. f~~rlc.tion irz the child> c~rlt~rrol dc,~'elc)pnzerrt op/~eurs twice, or orz two planes. First it oppeor,~ on the social plane, and tl~er? or^

the p,s~c/iologicol plarle. First it o1)peor.s Det~veen people as an inter-p.~?.chologi(~aI coteyorx, and then ~ ~ i t h i r i the child 0.7 an iirtra-p.s~chologicol cotegory . . . ~ c ~ c i u l relurions a~notrg people ye~ieticall~ irtrderlic allhiyherfi~r~ctions urld their 1~/4fi11fl.7hi/7.7" (1981, p.163).

From Vygotsky's point of view, private speech is one such phenomenon that reflects the process whereby inter-psychological

functions are reconstructed on the intra- psychological plane. As such. i t has a pivotal role to play in develop~nent i . e the role of cognitive self-guidance. Specifically. speech-far-other is internalised and takes on an intra-personiil function in addition toits interpersonal use, andenahles the child to use linguistic means to regulate the activity for the self. This speech originates from social speech and functions predominantly to aid the child in guiding. planning and regulating his own activity.

REVIEM OF RESEARCH

The hulk of private speech research has been framed in Vygotskian terms and involves a number of predictions about the nature and course of private speech. It must be noted that the main difficulty in the comparison of results from various studies is that of different operational definitions of categories of private speech by different researchers. Many of these investigations are reviewed in two major collections of private speech research by Ziviil (1979) and Diar & Berk (1992). A selective revieu of these studies is presented below.

Private speech and developmental trends

Studies looking at age-related changes in the incidence of private speech and the crccurrence of the viirious sub-categories of private speech have supported Vygotsky's view that there is n curvilinear trend of private speech emerging during the preschool years i.e, a ~ radua l appearance of private speech in the earl!. years. peaking at ages 516 and then decreasing in middle childhood (Berk. 1086: Berk C% Gar\rin. 1984; Kohlherg st al.. 1968: Ruhin. 1979). In relation to de\elopmentaI changes in the categories of private spsech. Kohlherg st

al.( 1968) postulated categories of private speech that fitted into a five-level de\,elopmental hierarchy and suggested that the order of the levels in the hierarchy was invariant. Kohlberg et al. (1968) presented three lines of evidence in support of their hypothesised developmental progression:

la) changer in the percentages of different categories of private speech;

ib) a simplex patrern of intercorrelations among speech categories, (Kohlberg et. al.. 1968) :

Ic) changes in the relevant frequencies of categories within different age groups.

However. areview of private speech studies ( D i a ~ . 1992) to date provides only limited evidence of developmental trends among the categories in children's use of private speech (Berk. 1986; Berk & Garvin, 1984; Fuson. 1979; Ruhin. 1979). More recently, some investigators have critiqued Kohlberg et al.'s findings on methodological issues. Others have provided contrary evidence from work with adult subjects which show that private speech retains its self- re~ulatory functiori throughout the life-span (Fry, 1992: John-Steiner. 1992) and therefore. challenged Vygotsky's claim that the private-to-inner speech internalization prtress is conrplete in the middle childhood years.

Private speech and task ditliculty

A number of studies (Behrend et al.. 1989: Brrk . 1Y86: Berk & Garvin, 1984: Kohlberg et al. , 1968), using task comparisons and experimental manipulation of task difficulty, have yielded findings that suggest a clear

relationship between the rncidence of self- regulating private speech and task difficulty. Berk 8: Garvin (1984) reported that engagement in academic seatwork as opposed to non-academic activities led to increase levels of private speech. The general contention here is that children use more \elf-regulatory speech as a result of the need to solve difficult problems i.e. the higher the level of difficulty. the increased incidence of private speech. Others (Fuson, 1979; Diaz, 1992) have counter-argued that children may use more private speech in these contexts not lo regulate theirproblem- solving, but because of stress and tension induced by task or conrextual factors. In fact man) studies have shown the high \,xiability of the incidence of private speech uith evidence nf large standard deviations (Azmitia. 1992; Berk & Garvin. 1984; Rubin & Dyck. 1980) and hove suggested that this variability is a result of the effects of the "context" on the incidence of pri\.ate speech. "Context" refers broadly to factors relating to:

- the social settrng (presence or absence of tludience);

- qualily of audience (adult versus peer);

nature of the task (cognitive activity versus free play);

- context of the activity (experimental versu5 naturalistic)

Findings have indicated that the incidence of private speech is dependent on the presence crf a responsive audience (Berk & Garvin, 1984: Goudena, 19871. and the nature of the task i.e. demanding cognitive activity versus free play (Berk. 1986: Rubin. 1979).

Unitary versus n~ultifunctional role

Vygotsky's emphasis on private speech as representing a functionally unitary phenomenon is a reqult of his opposition to Piaget 's "no function" claim. Some researchers have challenged Vygotsky's claim by contending that Vygotsky has underestimated the range of possible functions served by private speech. These investigators have suggested that private speech may have a multifunctional role to play in development. In particular. Flavell (1966, cited in Berk, 1992) found that solitary children engaged in private speech which served imaginary functions as well as a self-regulatory function. Later studies also showed that private speech provided practice for social discourse for unsociable children (Rubin & Dyck. 1980; Olszewski, 1987). In line with these findings. some researchers have argued that private speech allows emotional expression (Fuson, 1979) and makes children more aware of their own actions and existence (Rubin. 1979).

Private speech and the self-other distinction

For Mead i 1934). the key to the social development of the self is in the way we relate to the "other". According to Mead ( 1934). the young child can only understand his own actions from the perspectives of others within the context of experience in which he and the others are involved. Mead tugzests that hefore the child can be aware of himself as cln interlocutor. there is a tnlnsiticinc~l stage where in the presence of another (the other-listener). the child is able to recognise himself as the addressee of his own utterance (i.e. I-listener). In this process, the I-speaker is able to distance itself and form a perspective of I-listener, while at the same time attempting to

differentiate between the I-listener and other-listener. For example. at this stage, the child both asks and answers his own questions concerning the ongoing activity. Kohlberg et al. (1968. p.701) describe this as "the child can only see himself (or establish the meaning of his activity) from the perspective of another. and he can at first only take this perspective on himelf by describing his activity to the other and so "calling out" in himself the implicit response of mother". This "calling out" to the self is significant in the conceptualisa~ion of the I-listener. Based on this view. researchers such as Kohlberg et al. ( 1968). Rubin (1979jand Ramirez (1992) suggest that the mental dialogue between I-speaker and [-listener be manifested as pri\.ate speech. This view of development of the self through the perspectives of others requires the child to adopt different roles in social contexts. and therefore makes an implicit claim ahout children's understanding of distinct mental perspectives on the same situation.

The work of Morin & collea_eues (Morin & Everett. 1990: 1991) adopt a Meadian perspective to explore the hypothesis that private speech constitutes an important part of the process by which individuals come to learn self-knowledge. In other words, private speech is a cognitive tool for self- observat ion. However, a test of this hypothesis with preschool children was unsuccessful (Morin &Everett. 1991) due to the difficulty of making young children aware of the self. A similar argument was put forward by Tomasello et al. (1993) in the the001 of cultural learning. Tomasello and colleagues proposed that the child's ability to learn by taking on the perspectives of others is determined by their de\.eloping conceptions of persons as mental agents. which are in turn ccmsrructed through social

- - - -


interact~un. The authors suggested that the child can engage in internal dialogues of self-regulat~ne speech only after they are able to understand other persons as mental agenrs with different thoughts and heliefs. This is so because both self-regula~ine speech and understanding of other minds presuppose two distinct mental perspectives on the same situation. In a social situation. the child will compare the o ther ' s perspective with his own, inrernalise it and subsequently apply this undertanding in s e l f - r e g u l a t i n behaviour or speech . Although the authors did not present any data. the implicit claim that the effective use of private speech may depend upon chi ldren 's m e n t a l i z i n abi l i t ies is a plausible one.

EXAMPLES OF PRIVATE AND SOCIAL SPEECH CATEGORIES

In most studies of children's private speech, the verbal data obtained from children's interactions are ~egmented into utterances

Social speech coding categories

Social speech ~ ~p

that are the basic unit of analysis. An utterance is usually def~ned as a unit of speech that contains no temporal or semantic discontinuities. A pause of rnore than 3 seconds constitutes a temporal discontinuity, and a topic shift (whether or not preceded by a pause of 3 seconds) constitutes a semantic discontinuity. A topic shift refers to a change of subject in the speech data. Utterances are subsequently classified as social o r private speech accnrding to criteria usually adapted from Diaz & Berk (1992) and Berk & Garvin (1984). Social speech is defined as that which is claarly and objectively intended for the partner and is characterised by the markers described below. The markers are provided to specifically guide the coders with a defined set of criteria. This hill reduce the subjectivity involved in solely imputing communicative intent to the speaker. The various social speech codes with examples ci ted from some play interactions are shown below. In each case, the utrerance coded is indicated with hold- type. All other speech are categorixd ;& private.

Examples --

Making eye contact I

If child sustained eye contact with play Hannae (makes eye contact with Jerilyn) ~ partner during or within three seconds of ' "Want to I his utterance, the utterance was coded as social. Glances of less than one second were not counted as sustained e y e contact.

Behavioural The uttermce is coded as social if, within Seth - "I need tlre comb." three seconds of the utterance, the child's (Reaches lo partner for the comb) behaviour involved the other child through physical contact, or approach, or exrension of arms or any behaviour that

~ ~- ~ ~ ~p~ ~ ~ - p - -


attracts the orher child's saze: or other child's hehaviour invol\t.s p e a k i n g child. In this category. there is clearly shared artenrion.

~~ ~p

Content The utterance is coded 3s social if the Joanna - " l ' ln bathir~g him. " utterance has the sar11e topic as the other Bernatte - "Use the soap." child's preceding utterance (i.e. three seconds before present utterance): the utterance was a question directed at other child where an answer is expected (i.e. rising intonation): utterance contains a name or vocative.

Temporal The utterance is coded as social if i t Rachel - "Let :rprt d ~ l l ? hrtu /he wuter: " occurred less than three seconds after any (Makes eye contact uith Cheryl and puts social utterance i.e. it follows naturally doll into bath-tub) after child's previous cornment. Cheryl - " Let her soak."

~ ~ ~-

Following the classification of speech utterances into social and private speech, the private utterances are further categorised into nine mutually e'iclusive and exhaustive categories of private speech (Berk & Garvin, 1984).

Private speech coding categories

Social speech Esaniples ~- ~ - - ~~~ ~~ ~~~ ~

E,~~~c . t , i~ t r . ic i~ori~~i~rrriica/ior~ Bianca (puts hat on doll) - "Sarzta Clarls : This is speech attempting to cornrnunicate likes hats."

with the other but failing because it was not adapted to the perspective of the other

- ~ ~- ~ ~~

.Aflt,~.r t,.\-l~ression Jerilyn (after changing doll's clothes) This is expression of errlotions not "Fizishedatlast." directed at any particular listener or expre\sions that have no external stimulus but are atterrlpts by the child to crnotionally integrate a illought.

Word pluy and repetitioii This involves repetition of words or Jennifer(scruhbing the doll) - "R~rh, i?lh.

sounds for their own sake. rub, rxrb, rub."

~p - -

REACT DECEMBER 1999

-- - -- -- - -- r &,ttasy !,lo?. Role-playing or sound effects Joyce (feels her own forehead) - "How verbalisations for objects. are you feeling now, Joyce?" ,- -- -- .-

Rer17~1rk.s addressc~d to rron-hrrn7nr1 objects Describins one's own activity and self- guidance. Reinarks by the child about his own activity and addressed to no one in particular.

Carrie (looking at the comb) - "You narcghtj comb."

Si Yan (picks up the powder prop) - "I'm going toptrt some powder." Si Yan (dressing the doll) - "Dressing up is difficult - must put this hand irz first." - -. ~ ~p

Self-aris\~.?red questioils 1 Joanna (looking for a prop) - "Where did 1 Utterances in which the child verbalised Iput that?Ah, over here." aquestion and then immediately supplied the answer.

1- - ~ - - 1- -

I 1 Reodirig aloud Alex (reading a name label in the play 1 Readins print materials aloud. surrounding) - "Sam."

.... -~ -

Ina~rdihle muttering Remarks uttered with lip movements and I cannot be understood by observer 4~ - -- - -~ .- ~~ 1 - - 1

CONCLUSION

Over the past two decades, research in private speech has concurred with Vygotsky's observations i.e. that private speech is important as it provides a foundation for children to think about their own behavioor. The many examples of private speech which we "hear" in children's activities are therefore concrete evidence of children's use of language and highlight the central role of language in children's mental life.

- - . , . - ~-

REACT DECEMRER 1999

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

I . Provide children with a variety of activities, both individual and collaborative. When working alone on problem-solving activities. children must be allowed to "talk" to themselves as they employ speech as a tool for self- regulation. In such instances, the child's private speech becomes an effective bridge between the social and psychological worIds of the child. Children rely on private speech to focus attention, pace their motor activity, mark important endings and transitions, modulate their affective states, as well as self-praise and self-motiute in the face of weakening persistence during boring tasks. Close observations of children's talk in such situations can guide the teacher towards better understanding of child's strategies and motivations.

2. Develop teaching colttexts where teachers verbalise their problem- solving strategies so that pupils can model the process. As adults, teachers have already internalised the processes and strategies required in learning a routine or solving a task. Pupils may require help or modelling with this process. In a sense, teachers are guiding the use of private speech in such contexts.

3. In the preschool context, teachers need to be encouraged to provide fantasy play opportunities. Private speech research shows that pretend play generates a large amount of private speech, a process which young children need to come to terms with new aspects in the learning environment.

4. Teachers need to be aware of the different types of discourse they rrse in the classroom. Many teachers alternate between interactive speech (directed activities), social monologue (lecture): and dialogue (discussion). An analysis of these three types of social discourse (as opposed to private speech) may help

1 teachers determine how to use these types of speech more effectively.

-- -


SOURCES

Azmitia, M. (1992). Expertise, private speech, and the development of self- regulation. In Diaz. R.M. & Berk, L.E. (Eds.) . Private speech: From social interaction to self-resulation. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Hillsdale, New Jersey.

Behrend. D.A.. Rossngren, K.S. & Perlmutter, M. (19921. Social origins of private speech in pretend play. In Diaz, R.M. & Berk, L.E. (Eds.). PI-ivate speech: Ft.oril social inreracriorr to self-reg~rlation. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Berk. L.E. (1992). Children's private speech: An overview of theory and the status of research. In Diaz, R.M. & Berk. L.E. (Eds.). Private speech: Frorn social interoctioi~ to self-regulation. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Berk, L.E. & Garvin, R.A. (1984). Development of private speech among low- income Appalachian children. Developmental Psycholog);-20,2,27 1-286.

Diaz, R.M. (1992). Methodological concerns in the study of private speech. In Diaz, R.M. & Berk. L.E. (Eds.). Private speeclz: Frorn .sociul interaction to self- regitlation. Hillsdale. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Diaz, R.M. & Berk, L.E. (Eds.). (19921. Private spcech: Frr?zrl social irrrtxr~rrrio,l ro self-regirlotir?~~. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Furrow. D. ( 1992). Developmental trends in the differentiation of social and private speech. In Diaz, R.M. & Berk, L.E. (Eds.). Private .spee~.11; Frorn .social-interaction to

sey-regulation. Hillsdale. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Fuson, K.C. (1979). The development of self-regulating aspects of speech: A review. In Zivin, G. (Ed.). The Developrnt~r~r gfStz!f- Regulation through Pril'nte Sper~lr (pp. 135.21 7). USA:Wiley.

Goudena, P.P. (1992). The problem of abbreviation and Internalization of private speech. In Diaz, R.M. & Berk, L.E. ~Eds.). Private speeclz: Frorn sociul interaction to self-regulation. Hillsdale, New Jersey.

Ramirez, J.D. (1992). The functional differentiation of social and private speech: A dialogic approach. In Diaz. R.M. & Berk, L.E. (Eds.). Private speech: From-social inter-oction to ~elfiwgiilarir~rr. Hillsdale. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Rubln. K.H. 11979). The impact of the natural setting on private speech. In Zivin, G . (Ed. ) . The Der,elopment of Sel f- Rt~gularron rhrough Privare .Speecll (pp. 265-294). USA:Wiley.

Ruhin, K.H. & Dyck, L. (1980). Preschoolers' private speech in a play setting. Merrill-Palmer Qr~arterly, 26, 3, 219-229.

Tomasello, M., Kruger. A.C. & Ratner, H.H. (1993). Cultural Learning. Belzu~iorul and Brair~ Sciences, 16, 495-552.

Wertsch. J.V. (1980). The significance of dialogue in Vygotsky's account of social, egocentric and inner speech. Conternporar? E f / ~ c o t i ~ r l u / P\c/zo/og?; 5. 150- 162.

REACT DECEMBER 1999

ARTICLES FROM PREVIOUS ISSUES

ISSUE No. 1

Intuitive Thinking and Probability Chun \%hi Soen

Promoting Higher Cognitive Learning In Science Through a Problem-Solving Approach Chris~ine Chirr

Enhancing Critical Thinking Through the Use of Tern1 Papers Dinnu Norr~airhhoy

Norrnal Technical Studentc' Perceptions of Their Classroorn Environrnents Go11 Swee Chiew

The Internet and English Language Teaching Curoline Ho Mri Lin

The Reader Response Approach to the Teaching of Literature Ch~la Seoh Hong

Left-handedness A Cause for Concern? Lindrr Gun

Understanding Students ' Musical Preferences Timoflry Teo

practice and Reciprocal Styles of Teaching in Primary School Physical Education Jeffrey Tan & Steven Turr

School-based HIV and Aids Prevention: Chalk and Talk is Not Enough Jvssicu Ball

ISSUE No. 2 --

Thinking About Critical and Creative Thinking Christine Hon

Teacher Dispositions And Classroom Environments Which Support The Teaching of Creative 4 n d Critical 'Thinking Skills A ~ O U Sw.ee Nguh

Increasing Pupil Participation Through The Creative Use of English Language Course ~ m k s Sue Nuir

Fostering blusical Creativity In Children ~ ~ [ ~ i ~ NKuik-fin Clzong

Enhancing Creativity In Science Through Investigative Tasks ~nlu,.jit singh ~ / ~ ; l l ~ ~

Creative r each ing In Design 8: Technology Peter Str,rlse[

The Role of Assessment In Developing Creativity Rosalirrd k: Mon

ARTICLES FROM PREVIOUS ISSUES

ISSUE - No. 1 1

Early Intenention Programmes ForYoung Children With Disabilitics Qlrah Ma). Ling

Person-Centrcd Planning For Pupils-At- Risk Levuri Linl

How Adolescents Cope With Thcir Con- cerns: A Review And Study Of Singapore Students l/rbro D'Rozario d Michael Goh

Adapting Gifted Education ForAdvanced Learners In Mainstream Classrooms Ch~ia Tee Teo

understanding How Children Think: A Theory Of Mind Perspective Carolyn S L. Tan-.Viont

Critical Reading Skills: Soii~e Notes For Teachers Korirsiah Abdtillolr

Teaching Children Scientific Thinking Skills Ltrcille Lee Kuni N'ah

Cooperative Learning: Essential Coinpo- nents Lachlari Cr-a~c.lbrd Chun Tee Teo

Safety Aspects In PE and ECA Alari Ch 'tlg T H & Hany Trrrt E. K.

ISSUE No. 2

The .4dvmtages And Disadvantages Of Coeducational And Single-Sex Schooling Iurl S~nith

Using Student Self-Assessment In Math- ematics Paul Shutlrr- LC Lachla~l Cranford

Learning To Write Across Languages And Culti~res K w h Poh Foong

Approaches To Diglossia In The Classroom: The Middle Way David Deterdi~ig

Learniny Abacus: What Cognitive Processes Do Pupils Use? Foong P~ t i R7i.c

Issues In Software SeIection Chrlth Yin Mee & Clieung Wing S ~ t m

Rethinking Trim And Fit (TAF) Programme Strategies.. . Weighing The Scientific Evidence Michael Chill

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I . REACT is a publication ot the National Institute of Education. Nanyang Technological Univelsity. It aims to keep student and experier~ced teachels. senior cchool personn<l, principals and educational administlators abreast o t recent advances in research in education.

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Annctt. hl. (1983). Hand pleferencr and skill in 115 children of Two Left-handed Parents. Br i r rh Journal of Ps?r/ialog?, 74(1), 17-32 Clalk. M.M. (1974). Teaclli~ig L<.fr~iia,ided Childrrr~. London: Hodder and Stoughton.

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