Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

3-1975

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Major

Educational Psychology and Guidance

Major Professor

Robert L. Williams

Abstract

A major purpose of the present study was to assess the relative merits of instruction in contingent teacher attention, self-monitoring, and self-reinforcement on teacher approval and disapproval to disruptive classroom students. Other objectives were to assess the reliability of teacher self-recorded data and to determine whether a relationship between the frequency of approval and disapproval occurred as a function of the experimental conditions. Five junior high school teachers in an urban school system served as subjects. Each teacher identified two students in their classes regarded as disruptive or nonparticipating. Teachers and students were observed for 55 days. Data on teacher rates of approval and disapproval to a target students and student rates of appropriate and inappropriate behaviors were collected to ascertain the effectiveness of experimental conditions. Treatments were temporally staggered to avoid simultaneous duplication across teachers. Two teachers were assigned the experimental phases of instruction, self-monitoring approval, self-monitoring disapproval and self-reinforcement. Two others were given instruction, self-monitoring approval and self-reinforcement; and one teacher was under the instruction condition only. The instruction phase involved brief teacher introduction to the rationale and techniques of contingent teacher attention for controlling disruptive classroom behaviors. During the self-monitoring approval and disapproval phases, teachers recorded their rates of approval or disapproval on small mechanical counters. The self-reinforcement condition involved teachers setting up behavioral goals and rewards contingent upon their approval of target students. Line graphs were plotted to illustrate the frequencies of teacher behaviors and percentages of appropriate student behaviors. Single subject analyses of these graphs revealed the changes in teacher and student behaviors. Tabular presentations assisted in the analysis of the relationship between the changes in rates of approval and disapproval and the reliability of self-recorded data. The results showed that instruction had little effect upon either positive teacher or student behavior. Self-monitoring approval had no clear effects on teacher approval or disapproval, although students under this condition reduced their inappropriate behavior. Teachers under the self-monitoring disapproval phase reduced their disapproval, but a decrease in approval rates and appropriate student behavior also occurred. Self-reinforcement increased teacher approval but had ambiguous effects on disapproval and student behaviors. Agreement between teacher self-recorded data was low for both approval and disapproval. Teacher rates of approval and disapproval failed to show systematic variation with respect to each other as a function of the experimental treatments.

Download
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..."

Share

COinS