Student-teacher interaction in the elementary public schools : a symbolic interactionist perspective in grade six classes

النوع : Thèse

This study investigates the patterns of student-teacher interaction in five elementary public schools in Lebanon along four dimensions of classroom environment: teachers’ expectations, teachers’ feedback, use of the students’ ideas, and students’ attitude towards school using Grounded Theorizing and Symbolic Interactionist approaches. Thirty three teachers were interviewed about their expectations and feedback to students, and their use of the students’ ideas in class. They were also observed in classes during instruction and feedback delivery; 196 students filled questionnaires about the way they perceive their teachers expectations, feedback, and use of their ideas in class, and about their attitude towards their schools. Results indicated inter-patterns of interaction common to all of the public schools chosen in this study. They revealed positive students’ attitude towards their schools, and a positive perception of their teachers’ expectations and feedback. Results also pointed to negative teacher expectations accorded to students but to mismatched accounts of positive types of feedback delivery, this feedback regarded negative from the observer’s perspective. Classroom observations revealed a big discrepancy between what has been reported by the teachers and the students and what has been practiced; it also revealed more points of convergence between the teachers’ accounts and the students’ accounts than between both perspectives and the observer’s. The teachers’ rationalization of their practices and attitudes included stereotypes, prejudice, defense mechanisms, and flawed causal attributions