The influence of parents’ and teachers’ interests and student variables on students’ participation in classroom conversations
Submitted by:
Byeonggon Min
Abstract:
In a sociocultural approach, verbal interactions are crucial to learning and development (Vygotsky, 1978; Mercer & Littleton, 2007). Very few studies have been conducted on examining what causes the differences in the degree of verbal interactions in classrooms. This study aims to investigate the factors influencing students’ participation in classroom conversations. Quantitative data were collected from 3,429 primary and secondary students using questionnaires, and qualitative data were collected from 26 students using semi-structured interviews to obtain an in-depth understanding of the results of the quantitative research.
With the quantitative data, we explored the structural relationship between parents, teachers, and student factors with students’ participation in classroom conversations including questioning, presentation, and a small group discussion. Specifically, we examined the mediating effects of students’ communication attitudes—communication efficacy and enjoyment in school talk. Self-efficacy and enjoyment have been regarded as a direct/indirect determinant of an individual's behavior (Bandura, 1997; Clark & De Zoysa, 2011; Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1992). We hypothesized a structural model wherein perceived parents’ interest in children’s oral communication and perceived teacher’s interest in students’ oral communication and in turn, students’ communication attitudes influences their participation in classroom conversation.
The results showed that both communication efficacy and enjoyment had significant positive effects on participation in classroom conversation and the direct effect was .45 and .26 respectively. Communication efficacy had the highest total effect on students’ participation in classroom conversations. The indirect effect of the interest of mothers, fathers, and teachers in oral communication was .10, .09, .32, respectively.
Following the quantitative data analysis, individual interviews were conducted with 16 active participants and 10 passive participants classified on the basis of the survey results. The findings of this study show that there were differences between active and passive participants in terms of the opportunity for personal talk with teachers, nature of parents’ interest in oral communication, perception of peer responses, and experience with public speaking.
These results imply that in an L1 classroom, teachers should use diverse approaches rather than focusing on just the communication skills to help students positively perceive their communication capacities. Additional suggestions to enhance students’ participation in classroom conversation have been discussed: showing a positive interest in children’s speaking at home, creating a safe and supportive classroom, providing ample opportunities for public speaking in the community, and developing a dialogic communication culture in school.
References
Bandura , A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control . New York , NY : Freeman.
Mercer, N. and Littleton, K. (2007) Dialogue and the development of children’s thinking: a sociocultural approach. London: Routledge.
Sohn W., Chung H., Jeong H., Kim J. & Min B. (2015). A Model of out-of-school literacy practices of Korean elementary students - effects of parents, teachers, and students` characteristics -. Korean Language Education, 148(-), 263-298.