Pedagogy

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Pedagogy Practice

• Group 18d Improving the Climate for Learning
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• Language for Learning

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1. CONTEXT OF ENQUIRY

• The group were assigned Unit 18
• Improving the Climate for Learning. Within
• the DfES document were four sub-areas
• Classroom routines
• Beginnings and endings
• The physical environment
• Language for learning

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• After discussion in the first meeting, the group
  made the decision to pursue enquiry into
  Language for learning.
• The group began its first cycle of research by
  carrying out paired observations of colleagues,
  to assess the effect of the teachers language
  upon the learning and achievement of the
  students. It was concluded that there was an
  obvious correlation.

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• At the second meeting, observation data was
  discussed and the focus for our enquiry took a
  more defined focus.
• As part of the second cycle of research, the
  group focused their enquiry upon the effect of a
  teachers use of please and thank you, and
  the effect these words had upon students
  learning and achievement within the classroom.

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2. FINDINGS OF FIRST CYCLE

• CLASSROOM
• OBSERVATIONS

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• The Groups Conclusions
• Students are sensitive to the language, and
  therefore, the atmosphere of the classroom
• Positive body language creates a secure and
  positive climate for learning
• The teacher-student relationship influences the
  level of commitment students show to a subject

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• The Groups Conclusions
• Addressing students by name, even in a small
  group is an important part of leading learning in
  the classroom
• Modelling by the teacher made students realise
  for themselves the skills and strategies to
  emulate
• The helpfulness of the teacher promotes a
  positive attitude from students

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• The Groups Conclusions
• Regular praise encourages students to participate
• Eye contact and active attention paid by the
  teacher when students were speaking, made them
  feel contributions were valid

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3. FINDINGS OF SECOND CYCLE

• PLEASE/THANK YOU
• EXPERIMENT

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• Each group member carried out the experiment with
  a single class in two different lessons.
• In one lesson, the teacher used an abundance of
  please and thank you, but no such utterances
  in a second lesson.
• A short questionnaire was given to the students
  at the end of both lessons, which asked about how
  the language of the teacher had affected the
  atmosphere of the lesson, and how much learning
  the students felt had occurred that day compared
  to a regular lesson.

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• After the Please/Thank you experiment -comments
  from the group
• In the second part of the experiment I had not
  only stopped using please and thank you, but
  also subconsciously started to be more serious
  and stopped smiling
• There was a notable decrease in satisfaction in
  the lesson when please and thank you and
  positive encouragement in general were removed
• I found it impossible to remove please and
  thank you whilst retaining positive
  encouragement, leading me to conclude that the
  two are inextricably linked

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• After the Please/Thank you experiment -comments
  from the group
• A few of the students did ask me if there was
  something wrong, and that I did not seem my
  normal self. I guess the non-use of please/thank
  you affected the way I taught, and my
  personality
• The data suggests that there was a very slight
  improvement in satisfaction registered by the
  students concerning their learning, when the key
  words were used. This would support the use of
  positive and polite vocabulary as a tool to aid
  learning

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• After the Please/Thank you experiment -comments
  from the group
• I actually found it quite difficult to not let
  the lack of please and thank you affect my
  mood and body language but I do feel they are
  part and parcel of each other
• Positive encouragement is vital to the running
  of a good lesson 
• For future work I would suggest that staff audit
  themselves to test what their ratio of
  positive/negative comments is

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4. CONCLUDING REMARKS

• It would seem that the key words of please and
  thank you are important, especially to younger
  students, who felt the need to openly discuss the
  matter in class.
• Other year groups (Year 8, Year 9 and Year 11)
  were perceptive enough to ask the teacher if
  there was something wrong, when the key words
  were not used.
• Year 10 students seemed the least perceptive to
  the language of the teacher!

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• Clearly, there are many words and phrases other
  than please and thank you that can engender a
  supportive and positive learning environment, and
  this might account for the Year 10 students
  positive responses to the questionnaire for both
  lessons.
• Non-verbal communication is as (if not more)
  important than verbal. Positive body language and
  facial expressions serve to support learning and
  encourage students in the classroom.

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• An effective teaching strategy is to employ both
  verbal and non-verbal encouragement for students,
  providing a double-strength message which is
  more likely to be understood by the students, and
  receive a profitable response.
• Several colleagues found that by avoiding the
  use of please and thank you, they also
  avoided using any other positive verbal and
  non-verbal communication. Teachers felt
  dissatisfied with their teaching and the students
  were unsettled, and collected data reflected this.

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• The findings are nothing new in terms of
  pedagogic discovery, but do serve as a way of
  bringing our attention to the way that we
  communicate with students in class.
• Also we found, that when colleagues explained the
  research to the students, it conveyed to them the
  important need for everyone to consider how we
  have to communicate carefully to create a
  positive climate for learning.

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• Kids watch, scrutinize, judge. They know body
  language, tone of voice, demeanour in general.
  Its not as if they sit around in toilets and
  cafeterias discussing these things. They just
  absorb it over eleven years, pass it on to coming
  generations.
• Teacher Man by Frank McCourt
• Published by 4th Estate HarperCollins. (ISBN
  0-00-717398-9)