Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1970 Verbal classroom interaction and characteristics including self-actualization of home economics teachers Karen Wright Zimmerman Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at:https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of theHome Economics Commons Recommended Citation Zimmerman, Karen Wright, "Verbal classroom interaction and characteristics including self-actualization of home economics teachers " (1970).Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 4379. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/4379 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please [email protected]. 71^14,280 ZIMMERMAN, Karen Wright, 19'+2- VERBAL CLASSROOM INTERACTION AND CHARACTERISTICS INCLUDING SELF-ACTUALIZATION OF HOME ECONOMICS TEACHERS. Iowa State University, Ph.D., 1970 Home Economics University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED VERBAL CLASSROOM INTERACTION AND CHARACTERISTICS INCLUDING SELF-ACTUALIZATION OF HOME ECONOMICS TEACHERS by Karen Wright Zimmerman A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major Subjects; Home Economics Education Family Environment Approved: Signature was redacted for privacy. Signature was redacted for privacy. Signature was redacted for privacy. Iowa State University Of Science and Technology Ames, Iowa 1970 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 6 Introduction 6 Personal Orientation Inventory 6 Description 6 Validity 8 Reliability 13 Social desirability and faking 15 Other studies 18 Use in home economics research 21 Affective Systems of Verbal Interaction 34 Introduction 34 Research on the Flanders Interaction Analysis System 35 Research in home economics 41 Sequential Analysis of Verbal Interaction 45 Student Estimate of Teacher Concern 49 Studies at Cornell and Pennsylvania State Universities 49 Studies at Iowa State University 54 Other Research Utilizing the Data Collected in This Study 58 METHOD OF PROCEDURE 60 Purposes of Study 60 Population and Sampling Plan " 61 Population 61 Sample 63 iii Page Selection and Development of Instruments 65 Introduction 65 Personal Orientation Inventory 65 Questionnaire for Teachers 66 Sequential Analysis of Verbal Interaction 67 Student Estimate of Teacher Concern 76 Selection of Method of Taping Class Sessions 77 Collection of Data 78 First phase 78 Second phase 79 Analysis of Data 82 First phase 82 Second phase 83 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 88 First Phase 88 Personal Orientation Inventory 88 Questionnaire for Teachers 88 Second Phase 96 Personal Orientation Inventory 96 Questionnaire for Teachers 98 Sequential Analysis of Verbal Interaction 99 Student Estimate of Teacher Concern 118 SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 124 LITERATURE CITED 130 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 138 iv Page APPENDIX A: CATEGORIES IN THE FLANDERS INTERACTION ANALYSIS SYSTEM 139 APPENDIX B: CATEGORIES IN THE VERBAL INTERACTION CATEGORY SYSTEM 140 APPENDIX C: RESPONSES OF TEACHERS 141 APPENDIX D: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS 142 APPENDIX E: SAVI MATRIX FOR TEACHER-PUPIL VERBAL BEHAVIORS 146 APPENDIX F: AREAS AND CATEGORIES OF THE SAVI 148 APPENDIX G: GROUND RULES FOR SAVI 149 APPENDIX H: FIRST PHASE LETTER SENT TO ADMINISTRATORS 150 APPENDIX I: FIRST PHASE POSTAL CARD SENT TO ADMINISTRATORS 152 APPENDIX J: FIRST PHASE FOLLOW-UP LETTER SENT TO ADMINISTRATORS 153 APPENDIX K: FIRST PHASE LETTER SENT TO SUPERVISING TEACHERS 155 APPENDIX L: FIRST PHASE LETTER SENT TO TEACHERS 157 APPENDIX M: FIRST PHASE FOLLOW-UP LETTER SENT TO TEACHERS 159 APPENDIX N: FIRST PHASE POSTAL CARD SENT TO TEACHERS 161 APPENDIX 0: FIRST PHASE LETTER REQUESTING COMPLETION OF POI 162 APPENDIX P: SECOND PHASE LETTER SENT TO ADMINISTRATORS 164 APPENDIX Q: SECOND PHASE POSTAL CARD SENT TO ADMINISTRATORS 166 APPENDIX R: SECOND PHASE LETTER SENT TO TEACHERS 167 APPENDIX S: SECOND PHASE POSTAL CARD SENT TO TEACHERS 169 APPENDIX T: INSTRUCTIONS TO TEACHERS FOR HCMEMAKING I FORM OF SETC 170 APPENDIX U: CODING PLAN FOR QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS 173 APPENDIX V: HQMEMAKING I FORM OF THE STUDENT ESTIMATE OF TEACHER CONCERN 175 APPENDIX W: SELECTED DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES 181 V LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Analysis of variance format and components of variance 84 2. Number of years of homemaking teaching experience 89 3. Number of years since bachelor's degree 90 4. Approximate size of university attended for bachelor's degree 91 5. Number of brothers and sisters 92 6. Age of participating teachers 93 7. Size of community of family of orientation 94 8. Educational level of fathers 95 9. Educational level of mothers 95 10. Correlations of the demographic characteristics of the 126 teachers with the POI score on the inner-directed scale 97 11. Frequencies of educational level of parents and activity level of the two groups of teachers and means for the 126 teachers, the 20 teachers, and the two groups of teachers 100 12. Means and F values from the analysis of variance of matrix area totals between the two groups of teachers and F values among teachers within the two groups 102 13. Ranges of the area totals and overall area means for the 40 class sessions 105 14. Area totals of verbal behaviors for the 40 class dis­ cussions, area averages for the 20 teachers, area totals and averages for the two groups of teachers, and overall area totals and averages 107 15. F values for differences among teachers within groups and ranges of area means for the original and revised groups of teachers 117 16. Mean scores and ranges of scores for the 20 teachers on the 89-item SETC and the 39-item cluster 119 vi Table Page 17. F values, means, and standard deviations of the two groups of teachers on the Homemaking I form of the SETC and the 39-item cluster 121 18. F values and means for items from the 39-item cluster of the SETC which significantly differentiated between the two groups of teachers 122 19. Responses of teachers selected for second phase of study 141 20. Selected demographic variables for the 20 teachers who scored high or low on the PCI 182 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Model for method of studying the teaching process 4 2. Illustration of the SAVI matrix format 147 1 INTRODUCTION The question of what makes one teacher more effective than another has been of great interest to teacher educators and school administrators for many years. Today's educational researchers are looking at the cognitive and affective behaviors of teachers and pupils as a way of de­ scribing and analyzing the teaching-learning process. Studies of class­ room interaction have analyzed various global and specific behaviors of the teacher-pupil interaction from the standpoint of the cognitive and affective domains. Earlier classroom interaction studies have found that "How teachers say what they say appears to be a better predictor of change in pupil behavior than anything else education research has turned up to date" (Simon and Boyer, 1968a, p. 5). In recent years the mental health of teachers and the socio- psychological climate of the classroom have been of interest to researchers. Withall (1963) noted: If our experience during this research has any validity, it seems clear that when teachers, regardless of the level at which they teach, demonstrate to learners that they care about what they are teaching and whom they are teaching the quality of learning apparently is enhanced (p. 323). He concluded that: ... the teacher's impact on the learners derives less from her teaching techniques and methods than from the professional and personal values she brings to the classroom as they are revealed and communicated by her classroom interactions with learners (p. 325). Closely related to the values of teachers has been the variable of the personality of the teacher. Many studies have been completed in an attempt to link the effectiveness of teachers with different personality variables. Symonds (1955), in a discussion of effective teaching, stated