Teacher Expectancy Effect Essay Example

such harsh terms”. Thus, it emphasizes more on the response towards behaviour, rather than the act categorizes people as being deviant. So, some prefers to call this theory as the societal-reaction approach (Schaefer & Lamm, 1995). This section of the paper would attempt to discuss on the few different case studies involving the teacher-expectancy effect before giving the pedagogical approaches linked to this approach. 3. 1. 1 Case studies

In order to determine the relationship between teacher expectations and students performance, Rosenthal & Jacobson (1963) conducted a research at an educational institutions. The research involved testing of the IQ level of a group of children from the first grade to the sixth grade at Oak School. They chose a test called the Tests of General Ability (TOGA) at the start of the academic year. The advantage of this test was that it is not dependent on the skills students had learned in school. They named this test as the “Harvard Test of Inflected Acquisition”.

Among this group of students, 20% were identified as having a high potential of academic ‘blooming’ and hence were notified to the teachers. What the teachers were not informed of was that these 20% had been in fact selected randomly out of all those who had taken the test. At the end of the academic year, another similar IQ TOGA test was administrated to the students and results collected were significant. Taking the mean (average) point of all the students from the first grade to the sixth grade, it was found that the experimental group (these 20% of randomly selected students) showed a 12. 2 point increment as compared

to those in the controlled group (the rest of the 80%) of having only a 8. 42 point increment. So, the data showed that the randomly selected group whom the teacher expected or believed (in their heads) to perform better scored significantly higher than the rest of their friends even though they took the same exam and studied in the same classroom with the same syllabus and teacher the whole year round (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1963). Another interesting research was also carried out by the famous education sociologist Ray Rist (1970 as cited in Covington, 1992).

Rist observed that in a kindergarten classroom with teacher and students who are all African American, the teacher had the tendency of placing the “better” students at the table nearest to her, the “average” one beside the “better” ones and “the weakest” ones farthest from her. Note that these classifications (“better”, “average” and “weakest”) were all defined solely by the teacher according to her impressionistic perception, with nothing whatsoever like a placement test.

This categorization was also found to be based on the social classes of the students, whereby the “better” ones belong to a higher social class and the “weakest” one from lower social classes (Covington, 1992, p. 140). Other researchers have also been carried out since then and the expectancy effect seems to thrive in all context of social life be it with university scholar at higher educational institutions or working adults at manufacturing company. This phenomenon has also been later coined as the “Pygmalion phenomenon” (Rhem, 1999). . 1. 2 Implications of teacher expectancy effect Hence, after we look at all these case studies,

we could conclude that the students’ academic performance is clearly tied to teacher’s expectation. In other words, the students who were deemed as “better” or “good” ends up achieving better also due to the higher expectation that the teacher was giving to them. These result, especially Rosenthal and Jacobson’s, demonstrated extremely powerful self-fulfilling prophecy on the part of the teacher.

This is because when a teacher forms certain expectations towards their students based on whatever characteristics (academic achievements, appearances, socioeconomic background, behaviour in class), she tend to behave according to these expectations, possibly even to the extent of being governed unconsciously by her expectations. As a result, she may very well treat students who she deemed “better” differently as how she would treat the rest of her students. For instance, she would give the “better” students a longer time to answer a question that she asked as compared to the “weaker” ones.

On the other hand, she may ask a very simple question to the “weaker” students thinking that they cannot answer challenging ones and also to expect less from her student. This low expectancy that a teacher has towards her students would result in the students not trying their best or working their zone of proximal development to their fullest extent possible. In other words, students’ development, growth, and learning become restricted by the teacher who is teaching them.

This would then ‘ensure’ that the “weaker” students remained at a disadvantage, of having lesser opportunity, as compared to the “better” ones and thus would always remain as weak students. Sociologist Robert Sampson would categorize this situation as the labelling theory whereby

the “better” students would always be deemed as more excellent in academics, good in behaviour, cleverer, favoured among the teachers, receiving more praises and motivation from teacher and when they were to commit something wrong, they would be easily forgiven. As opposed to he “weaker” students, they get all the opposite even if both group of students in fact reacted the same ways to the teacher and committed the same crime with the same number of times, they would be deemed as rude, naughty and unreliable; after all, they are the “weak” students (Schaefer & Lamm, 1995). 3. 1. 2 Pedagogical Approach After looking at some of the major researches carried out previously, the question now is what are the pedagogical implications of these findings and how do we make use of these findings to solve the problem in teacher expectancy effect.

Robert Rosenthal admitted himself that he had no idea of what to do with these findings and how exactly that we could use it to solve the problem that teacher and students are facing worldwide (Rhem, 1999). However, recent research paper has shed new light into this issue which had once triggered so many controversies when Rosenthal first published his findings. Tsiplakides & Keramida (2010) stated that when a teacher forms an expectation or stereotypes something about her student, these expectations would be communicated to her students either consciously or unconsciously.

These communicated expectations would then give either positive implications or negative ones to their students, consequently affecting their behaviour, performance and motivation towards the area of subject that the teacher is teaching (Tsiplakides & Keramida, 2010). Therefore, it is of

utmost importance that a teacher communicates high expectations to every single student in her class and thereby boosts the students’ confidence and performance.

Some of the ways suggested by Tsiplakides and Keramida (2010) to help curb this problem in teacher expectancy effect, self-fulfilling prophecies and labelling theory is to firstly create a positive classroom environment by avoiding the giving of impressionistic judgement on different students based on their qualities ( ethnic, socioeconomic background), previous results or information from other teachers and colleagues.

Secondly, by not giving the solutions impatiently to students who show lower academic score so as not to deprive “them of the opportunity to think and answer” (p. 24). Thirdly, all students should be given “equally academically challenging tasks” with the use of “the same questioning strategies” (p. 24). Fourthly, all students should be called of equal number of times to answer question and being given the same number of clues when answering questions regardless of their academic performances.

Fifthly, show a keen personal interest towards the low-achieving students by smiling, having eye contact, communicating and guiding them often. Sixthly, avoid “making social comparisons between students in front of the classroom” (p. 24). Seventhly, treat errors as a normal part of the learning process. Eighthly, promote more cooperative learning activity to enhance on students’ self-efficacy so that they are motivated to take empowerment in their studies through doing hands-on and peer-cooperation.

Ninthly, “effective praise and feedback should focus on the effort and care that the student put into the work on the gains in knowledge or skills; rather than orientating students towards comparing themselves with others” (Brophy, 2004, p.

168-169 as cited in Tsiplakides & Keramida, 2010; Tsiplakides & Keramida, 2010, p. 24). Lastly, the teacher has to show commitment in the progress of teaching and learning, “willing to listen to and value their [students’] opinion and feelings” and “put priority on collaboration, rather than competition among students” (p. 4). Another note-worthy point is that teacher should reassess their expectation from time to time so as their expectations would better reflect on the current needs and abilities of the students. Alderman (2004) also refer this kind of reflection as “the sustaining expectation effect” (as cited from Tsiplakides & Keramida, 2010, p. 24). In a nutshell, although the teacher expectancy effect has been playing a major role in the development of the students both physically and intellectually, it has often been overlooked.

Hence, it is essential to ensure that teachers “become aware of the potential negative consequences of communicating low expectations, and adopt strategies that will help them raise expectations and students’ performance” (Tsiplakides & Keramida, 2010, p. 25). With this in mind, we could better curb the negative consequences of the teacher expectancy effect that has troubled many, including Robert Rosenthal himself, and transform this knowledge on the expectancy effect to something positive and beneficial to the educational orld globally. Reference Covington, M. V. (1992). Making the grade: A self-worth perspective on motivation and school reform. USA: Cambridge University Press. Rhem, J. (1999). Pygmalion in the classroom. The national teaching and learning forum, 8 (2), 1-4. Arizona: James Rhem & Associates, Inc. Rosenthal, R. & Jacobson, L. (1966). Teachers' expectancies: Determinants of pupils' IQ gains. Psychological Reports, 19 (1), 115-118. doi: 10. 2466/pr0. 1966.

19. 1. 115 Tsiplakides, I. & Keramida, A. 2010). The relationship between teacher expectations and student achievement in the teaching of English as a foreign language. English Language Teaching, 3(2), 22-26. Retrieved from http://ccsenet. org/journal/index. php/elt/article/view/5347/4920 Vockell, E. (n. d. ). Educational psychology: a practical approach [ebrary Reader version]. Retrieved from Purdue University Calumet, School of Education website http://education. calumet. purdue. edu/vockell/edPsybook/Edpsy5/Edpsy5_expectancy. htm