ࡻᄬିጯ English Teaching & Learning 30. 4 (April 2006): 23-45
Voices From the Language Classroom: A Descriptive Study
of the Interactive Decision-Making of an Expert Teacher
Li-Chin Chiang
National Formosa Universitydeliachi@nfu.edu.tw
Abstract
This study sought to understand the nature of an experienced technological university English teacher's interactive decision-making as he enacted lessons, and to identify the conceptual model that may help explain his teaching practices. Previous lines of research have indicated that, for some teachers, interactive decision-making involves more than simply maintaining established routines to assure smooth activity flow, and involves deviating from the pre-planned activities to attend to issues of content and pedagogy. In this study, inquiry focused on the contextual factors that would affect the expert teacher’s interactive decision-making in a freshmen English classroom context. Using the qualitative method of purposeful sampling, an expert reading instruction teacher was studied for one semester to explore his interactive decision-making processes. Participant observation, field notes, audiotapes, questionnaires and interviews were the data collection procedures used in this study. Results indicated that better developed knowledge structures and effective classroom strategies, along with on-going monitoring, assessments and reflections, constituted this expert teacher’s schemata, which in turn increased his skills in processing information in the unpredictable classroom world and led to his expertise in reading instruction. Although the results may not be generalizable to other teachers, they provide a holistic understanding of and fruitful insights for reading instruction.
Key Words: technological university, teacher’s interactive decision-making, reading instruction
INTRODUCTION
Since the 1970s, research on teacher thinking and the related field of cognitive psychology has led to the realization that teaching is a complex and cognitively demanding activity. Taking a cognitive perspective, researchers assume that underlying teaching behaviors are complex cognitive processes and that planning and interactive decision-making are central aspects of teacher cognition. Shavelson (1973) further characterized decision-making as a basic teaching skill and asserted that decision-making is involved in every aspect of a teacher’s professional life.
In the context of ESL/EFL teaching, researchers have also begun to recognize the importance in language teaching of language teachers’ beliefs and knowledge (Freeman & Richards, 1996; Johnson, 1994; Prabhu, 1990; Richards, 1996; Woods,
1996), and their role in teachers’ instructional judgments and decisions (Borg, 1999). Furthermore, researchers have talked about language teaching as the making of “informed choices” (Stevick, 1982, p.2), or a dynamic decision-making process in which teachers are faced with both macrodecisions about content, methodology, or classroom dynamics, and microdecisions concerning other matters (Freeman, 1989).
Classroom teaching is a complex social process including interruptions, surprises, and digressions (Clark & Peterson, 1986). Therefore, teachers have to continuously make appropriate decisions and change teaching behaviors accordingly (Parker, 1984). Professional decision-making is characterized as the central teacher competency (Medley, 1981), and the quality of teachers’ decisions is acknowledged to determine the quality of the teaching (Medley, 1987). Aiming to investigate the nature of the professional decisions made by teachers in planning and implementing their language teaching programs, researchers have conducted a number of studies to unravel the mysterious processes that influence experienced teachers (Bailey, 1996), teachers in the mid-range of experience (Nunan, 1992), and pre-service teachers (Johnson, 1992).
However, in Taiwan, except for a limited number of studies (Hung, 1998; Hung, Joe, & Wu, 1998; Joe & Hung, 1998) focusing on teachers’ perspectives of English education in the technological and vocational education system (TVES), and on the beliefs and knowledge of English teachers in technological institutes (Wu, 1999), little attention has been paid to exploring the structure of English teachers’ instructional decisions, or experienced technological institute teachers’ interactive decision-making and how it affects teachers’ classroom actions regarding reading instruction. While a number of researchers’ consistent findings have shown that technological institute students’ English reading proficiency needs to be enhanced (Lin, 1992; Ou, 1997), efforts have to be made to explore how expert teachers perceive and subsequently represent educational events, and make deliberate decisions to implement specific actions in the classroom. Thus, the purpose of this study is to describe and explain an expert reading teacher’s thinking and interactive thought to outline how features of the classroom may be mentally represented by the expert teacher, and how the expert teacher perceives and interprets classroom events. The descriptive data collected from multiple methods and process-tracing in this study should be able to provide a realistic view of the realities of classroom life and adequately prepare pre-service teachers or novice teachers to cope with those realities in reading instruction.
Chiang: Teacher’s Interactive Decision-Making
LITERATURE REVIEW
The Current State of English Teaching in Technological Institutes/Universities
Despite the rapid development of technological institutes/universities, students’ English proficiency for academic demands still falls significantly behind that of students in the general education system (Ou, 1997). According to some researchers, the core of the problem with English teaching in technological institutes seems to lie in the inadequacy of class time, quality of textbooks, facilities, and teachers’ qualifications (Hung, 1998; Lin, 1992). Based on Hung’s study, the major problems could be ascribed to programmatic constraints and students’ low proficiency and motivation. Programmatic constraints included (a) a unified syllabus for students of different proficiency levels and background; (b) large-sized classes, in which interaction between teachers and individual students became less possible; and (c) insufficient class time for students’ needs. Furthermore, an overall low level of English proficiency and a lack of motivation stemmed from prior English learning experiences and pressures from content area subjects.
Reading instruction constitutes the major part of the required English course (or Freshmen English) in a number of technological institutes in Taiwan (Joe & Hung, 1998). One of the major functions of the required English course should be to equip students with the ability to cope with their academic reading, including reading English textbooks in their content area. However, the reading comprehension skills of students in technological institutes were found to be weak. Huang’s (2001) descriptive study has revealed some facts about Taiwanese technological university students’ English reading. According to Huang’s investigation, a lack of vocabulary knowledge significantly impeded students from comprehending texts. In addition, the gap between technology-freshmen’s vocabulary size and the words used in their English-printed textbooks is noticeably large (Huang, 2004).
In fact, several efforts have been made to explore the characteristics of reading instruction in technological institutes and to provide solutions which will lead to effective teaching of reading (e.g., Huang, 2001; Hung, Joe, & Wu, 1998; Joe & Hung, 1998; Yang, 2001). For example, Yang (2001) emphasized that students should be guided through teacher intervention to take risks, to learn from error-making, to develop their own strategies, and to foster self-monitoring and self-correction abilities. Huang (2001) suggested that reading teachers should guide students to infer the meaning of the vocabulary from context clues and to increase their word-solving strategies. Moreover, extensive reading should be emphasized because students can increase their knowledge of the world, broaden their horizons, enhance cultural awareness, and therefore consolidate their vocabulary knowledge. In an exploration of
reading strategy instruction and students’ motivation to read in technology-oriented colleges, Ko (2002) found that teachers can contribute to a positive attitude toward reading by using English as a means of interaction and by engaging students in activities such as small group discussion, group presentations, and role play.
Teachers’ Planning and Interactive Decision-Making
Teacher thinking, planning, and decision-making constitute a large part of the psychological context of teaching and substantially influence teacher behavior in the classroom (Clark & Peterson, 1986). Research on teachers’ planning has shown that instructional tasks—content, materials, and classroom activities—constituted much of the planning activities and served as a mental plan for carrying out interactive teaching (Shavelson & Stern, 1981). Interactive decision-making occurred only when the teaching routine was not going as planned or observations of student cues were not within tolerance (Shavelson & Stern, 1981). However, other researchers have claimed that student cues were not the only indicators for adjusting teaching behavior. Some other factors involved with interactive decisions are institutional constraints, external pressures, and individual differences between teachers (Johnson, 1992; Kleven, 1991).
In fact, two related lines of research have addressed the question of what cues inform teachers’ interactive decisions: research on the content of teachers’ interactive thoughts; and research specifically on antecedents of teachers’ interactive decisions (Borko & Shavelson, 1990). Through process-tracing studies, researchers have provided context-specific descriptions of teachers’ interactive teaching (Bailey, 1996; Graden, 1996; Johnson, 1992; McMahon, 1995; Smith, 1996).
Researchers have attempted to “map” the interactive decisions of teachers, to describe the factors influencing teachers’ interactive decisions, and to investigate the relationship between teachers’ interactive thoughts and decisions, teachers’ behavior, and student outcomes (Clark & Peterson, 1986). According to Clark and Peterson, learner attributes including understanding, involvement, attention, and behavior were the largest percentage of teachers’ reported interactive thoughts.
Factors contributing to interactive decisions include responding to students’ needs, ensuring student understanding, increasing student motivation and involvement, being concerned with student cognition and affect, considering time constraints and environment, etc. Teachers’ considerations of students often outnumber other considerations such as instructional objectives, subject matter, or the instructional process (Graden, 1996). In an investigation of six expert teachers’ interactive decision-making, McMahon (1995) concluded that expert teachers’ interactive decision-making was preceded by antecedents, the majority of which were teacher anticipated problems.
Chiang: Teacher’s Interactive Decision-Making
Teachers’ recognition of the antecedents led to the employment of management skills, the majority of which were those used in the service of clarity. In the same vein, Bailey’s (1996) study unraveled the mysterious processes that influenced teachers’ interactive decision-making. The following principles were found to guide the teacher participants’ interactive decision making: (a) to serve the common good—deal with the individual’s issue to benefit the group; (b) to teach to the moment—exemplify the notion of a “window of opportunity”; (c) to further the lesson—change the procedure to promote the substance and the progress of the lesson; (d) to accommodate students’ learning styles—perceive students’ learning style preferences and depart accordingly from the lesson plan; (e) to promote students’ involvement—spend time on the topic that the students have raised; and (f) to distribute the wealth—encourage the less outgoing students to participate (Bailey, 1996).
Expert and Novice Teacher Decision-Making
Differences between expert and novice teachers have been researched from the perspective of teacher cognition. Specifically, researchers have attempted to outline how features of the classroom may be mentally represented by both expert and novice teachers (e.g., Hogan, Rabinowitz, & Craven, 2003). Comparisons of expert and novice teachers have shown that they differ in how they perceive and interpret classroom events (Calderhead, 1981), think and make decisions (Berliner, 1987; Clark & Peterson, 1986), and develop expertise in pedagogical and content knowledge (Berliner, 1986). According to the research, expert teachers have information-rich schemata allowing them to represent the complexities of the classroom in meaningful ways (Calderhead, 1983), and possess metacognitive and monitoring skills enabling them to monitor the classroom situation, recognize problems, and make decisions to solve problems during teaching (Gagné, 1985). Expert teachers also attend to a larger number of instructional goals in making interactive decisions, and use a larger range of instructional strategies, and link actions to student cues in more complex ways than novice teachers (Fogarty, Wang, & Creek, 1983).
Novice teachers, on the contrary, fail to adapt instruction in response to student cues due to their less well-elaborated schemata (Gagné, 1985). According to Westerman’s (1991) study, novice teachers lack integrated knowledge about the overall curriculum and sufficient awareness of student characteristics, ignore students’ prior knowledge and behavior cues, and therefore cannot make the three stages of decision-making—preactive, interactive, and postactive—dynamically interrelated, like the expert teachers. In other words, novice teachers usually teach each lesson as a discrete entity without tailoring it to the characteristics of students because they cannot use various sources of information to form internal goals.
In the context of English teaching, researchers have also been investigating the nature of the professional decisions made by teachers in planning and implementing their language programs. The findings of their studies suggest that the key factor leading to the teaching effectiveness of expert teachers may be the fact that expert teachers frequently utilize pattern matches to adjust their teaching during interactive instruction (McMahon, 1995). According to Smith’s (1996) study, the experienced teachers’ decisions reveal an eclectic use of theory and a skilful blend of theoretical ideas with practical needs in the ESL instructional context. Milner (2001) has outlined the planning, thinking, and teaching of experienced English teachers and indicates that experienced teachers undertake responsive planning after learning about students’ interests and the practical nature of the environment, and adapt lessons interactively.
METHOD
Research on teachers suggests that expert teachers possess more knowledge about classroom practice than do novices. This study was therefore designed to deepen our understanding of the cognitive processes inherent in an effective English reading teacher in a technological university. Specifically, the study aimed to describe and explain an expert reading teacher’s thinking and interactive thought, and to identify the contextual factors that may have influenced his decision-making processes. Based on the purpose and rationale of the research, this study employed ethnographic methods to study the culture of the freshmen English classroom setting in a technological university.
Participant
This study, which was part of a larger study sponsored by National Science Council (NSC) on the comparison of eight expert and novice teachers’ decision-making, examined an expert EFL teacher’s interactive decision-making qualitatively. Purposeful sampling strategy (Morse, 1994) was utilized to study the underlying framework which guided the expert teacher’s classroom actions. Several points with regard to the selection of the participant need to be noted.
First, the researcher supports Patton’s (1990) view that the logic and power of purposeful sampling lay in selecting information-rich cases, those from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the research. Based on this criterion, the researcher selected this expert reading teacher, from the eight teacher participants in the NSC project, because he had the knowledge and experience the researcher required, the ability to reflect, and was articulate (Morse,
Chiang: Teacher’s Interactive Decision-Making
1994). Second, experience was not the only contributing factor in identifying expert teachers. Although experience may improve perceptual abilities, other criteria were included in the accurate identification of expertise. In the current study, the researcher also looked at the department chair’s recommendation and the students’ improved achievement. Finally, although the teacher participant had provided insightful understanding of the nature of an experienced technological university English teacher’s interactive decision-making, the results may not be generalizable to other populations and settings.
The teacher participant in this study holds a PhD degree in language and literacy education and has twelve years of teaching experience in EFL/ESL in Taiwan and the U.S.A. Based on the information he provided in the demographic information questionnaire, the teacher participant also teaches Introduction to Western Literature, Phonics, and English Oral Practice in addition to English Reading. He likes to employ a communicative approach in enacting lessons, adopt performance-oriented assessments to evaluate students, and enhance students’ practice or use of English through classroom interactions. He was recognized as an effective teacher both by the department chair and his colleagues and the students in National Formosa University (NFU), and expressed great interest in participating in the study. The study was conducted when the teacher participant was teaching Freshmen English, in which reading instruction constituted the major part of the required course.
Procedure
Two major complementary methods, participant observations and ethnographic interviews, were adopted to study the social and cultural context of interaction in which the teacher participant’s thinking and decision-making took place. An initial survey was completed prior to observations and interviews in order to obtain descriptive data about the teacher participant’s past teaching experience, teaching philosophy, and about his knowledge of technological university students.
A semi-structured pre-observation interview focusing on probing the teacher’s thinking in instructional planning was conducted prior to classroom observations. It should be noted that all the pre- and post-observation interviews were conducted in Chinese because the researcher thought the teacher participant could verbalize and interpret his perceptions and reasoning for actions more explicitly in his native language. The questions were constructed to capture a holistic picture of the teacher’s thinking and perceptions related to pedagogical decisions in reading instruction. The teacher participant was requested to talk freely about his conceptions and understanding of the characteristics and particularity of reading instruction in a technological university, his interpretations of his role and classroom interactions, the
content of his decisions, and his self-monitoring or evaluation of decision-making processes.
Participant observation, the primary technique employed by ethnographers to gain access to data (Janesick, 1994; Patton, 1990), was employed to actually experience the classroom phenomenon. Observations, thirty-two hours in total, were conducted in each two-hour class for the entire second semester of the required English course (scheduled for two hours a week for an academic year according to the curriculum). The reason for selecting the second semester was that the teacher participant should have had better knowledge of the students and the features of the classroom, and that should have enabled him to provide information-rich data. Field notes were taken during the observations, and these contained the observer’s (also the researcher’s) own feelings, reactions to the experience, and reactions about the personal meaning and significance to the observer of what had occurred. Field notes were expanded immediately after each class session to ensure as complete and accurate a record as possible of the teacher participant’s actions in the classroom. Analytic memos including the researcher’s thoughts and questions generated from observation were also written to help develop questions for the post-observation interview and to provide explanations for the findings. Preliminary analysis of the lesson structure was carried out after each class session to identify emerging patterns of classroom interaction and events that might elicit instructional reflections from the teacher.
A post-observation interview using the stimulated recall procedure was conducted to obtain the teacher participant’s reflections about the instructional sequence and reasoning in implementing specific interactive decisions. All interviews were tape-recorded and later transcribed. The transcripts in conjunction with field notes served as the primary data source for exploring the teacher participant’s planning and post-lesson reflections.
All data collected through the initial survey, classroom observations, ethnographic interviews supplemented by photocopies of pertinent documents (teaching syllabus, classroom materials used during the lessons, and teacher-designed learning process evaluation forms) were taken as a whole and put into on-going content analysis utilizing “the constant comparative method” (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Specifically, the researcher followed the procedures of analyzing qualitative data, which involved identifying, coding, categorizing, and theorizing about the recurrent patterns or themes in the data (Patton, 1990). Then, the categories of the emerging patterns and recurrent themes in the data served as the source for constructing the theoretical model representing the teacher participant’s interactive thoughts and helped describe and interpret his teaching practices.
Chiang: Teacher’s Interactive Decision-Making
RESULTS
Based on the on-going content analysis of observations and interview data, a constructed model entitled “A Model of the Expert Teacher’s Reflective Teaching” was identified to describe and explain the interactive thoughts and decision-making of the teacher participant in regards to reading instruction. By theorizing those recurrent themes in the interview data, observation data, and field notes (Patton, 1990), this theoretical model was constructed in an attempt to conceptualize the expert teacher’s interactive thoughts and decisions and explain the reasoning for his teaching practices.
Figure 1
A Model of the Expert Teacher’s Reflective Teaching
As Figure 1 shows, three major themes, termed Network of Teacher’s BAK (Beliefs, Assumptions, and Knowledge), Elaborated Schemata about Students, and Effective Teaching, accounted for the participant’s thoughts and actions which evolved into the representation of the innovative classroom. The network of the teacher participant’s internalized beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge supported his
leads to involving supports
Classroom Strategies On-going Assessments and Reflections Knowledge of Students Network of Teacher’s BAK Elaborated Schemata about Students Effective Teaching
rich schemata which then led to his effective teaching.
The following sections display and report how the teacher participant constructed his world of experience from the way he enacted lessons and talked about them. As pointed out in the methodology section of this paper, all the collected qualitative data were taken as a whole and put into on-going content analysis. The results presented in this section were therefore derived from various types of data including the information from the initial survey, field notes, and the transcripts of ethnographic interviews. Furthermore, to increase vividness and authenticity of the description, direct quotes from the transcripts of pre- and post-observation interviews, which are presented in English for a consistent use of English in this paper, were frequently employed to help describe and interpret the teacher participant’s interactive thoughts and teaching practices.
Network of Teacher’s BAK
The teacher participant’s instructional decisions in reading instruction and teaching practices were shaped by his internalized beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge. His cognitive interpretations of language learning and teaching evolved from his professional practices over time and eventually contributed to his teaching style. This belief system also played an important role in how the teacher interpreted events related to teaching and thus affected his classroom decisions.
The data collected in this study indicated that the teacher participant’s deeply held beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge about the ideal EFL learning environment influenced the way he enacted lessons and the favored strategies he implemented in his reading classroom, and the teaching objectives he set for the course. Table 1, which was constructed based on the initial survey and interviewing data, shows the teacher participant’s perceptions of the ideal EFL learning environment and instructional objectives for teaching reading in a technological university. For this expert teacher, “providing a pressure-free learning environment is necessary because, based on our Chinese social culture background, students’ personalities tend to show a fear of learning English or math.” He firmly believed that “creating a significant situation for learning is important,” so he “always used brainstorming or webbing to activate students’ prior knowledge and related it to the content to be discussed.” He further claimed that “as Vygotsky said, the teacher is a facilitator who serves as a more knowledgeable adult who knows when to add more information and when to empower students to speak and act.”
Chiang: Teacher’s Interactive Decision-Making
Table 1
Teacher Participant’s Perceptions of the Ideal EFL Learning Environment and Instructional Objectives for Teaching Reading
Characteristics of the Ideal EFL
Learning Environment Instructional Objectives 1. Students in a pressure-free,
anxiety-free environment 2. Students being provided with a
significant and authentic learning situation
3. Students learn under positive social interactions in the classroom 4. Students being provided with
interesting and varied materials 5. Students with high motivation,
intention, and expectations for success
6. Students take active roles in learning and become independent readers 7. Enthusiastic students’ active
participation in tasks and activities
1. Promote students’ communicative ability 2. Help students use the language as a
tool to acquire knowledge
3. Enhance students’ pragmatic ability in the use of English
4. Improve students’ ability in expressing themselves
5. Enhance student’s empathy for different cultures
6. Help students develop the four language skills
7. Enhance students’ reading comprehension 8. Help students acquire reading skills
and strategies—skimming, scanning, predicting, inferring, and summarizing 9. Sustain students’ interest in English learning 10. Promote self-directed learning
The teacher participant’s subconscious and internalized beliefs affected not only the way he structured the classroom teaching but also the way he saw his role as a language teacher and his views toward the quality of teaching. When responding to the question about the role he assumed in reading instruction, the teacher participant emphasized that he was not just playing the role of a spoon-feeder of knowledge. He also endeavored to monitor students’ learning, and offer help accordingly. He assumed that he was a facilitator, a doorkeeper always trying to monitor, remind, and give students help, based—he said—on Vygotsky’s concept of the significant other and a friend also. In the teacher participant’s opinion, “teachers should have more democratic and student-empowered concepts.” They should learn to balance the relationship between being a more knowledgeable one and someone who can also give students rights. Then, students would know that it’s ok to talk to you.”
The teacher participant’s interpretation of his various roles indicated his internalized beliefs about teaching, which contributed to his teaching style. Based on the classroom observation field notes, the reading classes were very productive and students enthusiastically shared their ideas and opinions about the topic they were discussing. Students were allowed to personalize the reading topic and given many opportunities to bring their own experiences into the classroom.
Elaborated Schemata About Students
Better developed knowledge structures, effective classroom strategies, along with on-going assessments and reflections constituted this expert teacher’s schemata, which in turn increased his skills in processing information in the unpredictable classroom world and led to his expertise in reading instruction. Rich data indicated that the teacher participant had comprehensive knowledge about students which helped make sense of the teaching environment in technological universities. His understanding of student characteristics in terms of their prior knowledge, learning attitude, proficiency level, and the use of reading strategies helped formulate his plans and decisions and adjustment of teaching practices. Based on his observation, students in technological universities “are less-motivated, reticent and reserved, incompetent in using different reading strategies, hesitant to express themselves, and stick to bad and passive reading habits.” This knowledge of the students was subsequently used when the teacher participant selected instructional interventions for his students.
The teacher participant also used a variety of classroom strategies in managing instructional tasks and situations, and responding to student needs. In terms of applying appropriate teaching strategies, the teacher participant noted that he would “try to encourage students to express themselves in English by lowering their anxiety.” He also liked to start his class by employing “webbing, brainstorming, or Q&A as warm-up activities, and give students written questions to answer.” A summary of the classroom activities was also provided for the students. In addition, the teacher participant frequently used performance-oriented learning activities to foster more classroom interactions and encourage students’ involvement. He approached lessons through group discussions in which the teacher provided multiple channels for learning to read. He also exploited students’ various cognitive skills and talents, allowed fluidity in the styles of students’ presentations, and employed various strategies and student-centered activities to promote involvement and strengthen memory.
The sub-theme termed as “on-going assessments and reflection” (see Figure 1) was also identified to elaborate the contextual factors that influenced the teacher participant’s interactive decision-making and shaped and guided his teaching practices in the classroom context. It provided the reasoning for the deliberate, and moment-to-moment on-line decisions and deviations from pre-planned activities. In this study, the post-lesson interview using stimulated recall procedure was conducted to gain the insider’s reasoning for and interpretations of the classroom decisions. Rich data indicated that the teacher participant’s interactive decisions were affected by his awareness of the perceived teaching effectiveness on a specific group of students at a specific point of time. For example, the following remarks, which the teacher participant
Chiang: Teacher’s Interactive Decision-Making
made in response to the question about his teaching evaluation methods, revealed that the success of activities and students’ responses were what he constantly paid attention to in the reading classroom context.
Students’ emotions often serve as an index for my implementation of decisions… If students shrink or are afraid of interacting, I will think about my own teaching, strategies, techniques, behaviors or even emotions… I will modify appropriately… Besides on-going monitoring, I also analyze students’ quiz results and needs survey…If they didn’t do well, I know I should switch from a top-down approach to a more bottom-up one.
Field notes of the teaching episodes also manifested that the teacher participant often deviated from his predetermined plan to provide more relevant background knowledge because he detected students’ problems in doing tasks. He explained that his “class is flexible, and ready to be altered according to students’ emotions, proficiency levels, attitudes, and the real situation.” In short, on-going monitoring of classroom dynamics helped the teacher participant tailor his instructional activities to better meet students’ needs.
Innovative Classroom
The third major component of the teacher participant’s reflective teaching was identified as “effective teaching.”As is shown in Figure 1, effective teaching practices were attained based on a more elaborate, well-constructed, and comprehensible schema held by this expert teacher. His concern with enhancing teaching effectiveness drove him to vary his instructional activities or adjust his ways of approaching lessons. For example, aiming to maintain an atmosphere that enhanced learning and to promote student achievement, he adjusted the lessons by asking students to do story relays, shared his real life experiences in traveling or living abroad, and elicited students’ responses. The following narratives explain the teacher’s reasoning for asking students to do story relays and revealed that most of the time the expert teacher was thinking about structuring innovative tasks to pursue effective instruction.
I think students like comic strips in which every picture stands for a little plot of the story. I mean I want my students to comprehend the contents of the passage, which happens to be a diary, through hands-on activity. Different aspects of learning are utilized to help them comprehend. Then, when complemented with language parts, students’ learning effectiveness will be enhanced. In this way, they won’t forget what they have learned.
That is, the expert teacher was thinking about what teaching device was the most valuable at any given moment. The effects of instruction on students were what he was mostly concerned with.
For this expert teacher, it is very natural to employ alternative strategies or tricks (in the expert teacher’s words) whenever necessary. Field notes of the teaching episodes manifested that he often deviated from his predetermined plan to create an innovative classroom. For example, in one lesson discussing Hollywood, pairs of students were asked to describe their favorite stars by using three appropriate adjectives. After the pair-work, students were called on to describe their partners’ favorite stars. Then, the expert teacher gave them a list of adjectives and explained the exact meanings and appropriate usage of them. His reasoning was to exploit students’ tendency toward worshiping idols or movie stars “to promote the learning effect because the closer the learning activity is to students’ experiences, the more effective the learning outcome is. This is Dewey’s belief.” For the teacher, “students’ interests and experiences” were what he valued, so he exploited them to manage instructional tasks.” The result was more effective student learning outcomes.
The expert teacher’s teaching practices were full of examples showing how he managed to add variety and structured tasks that combined reading, speaking, and writing. Based on the researcher’s field notes, the classroom interaction was observed to be dynamic and enthusiastic, and the classroom atmosphere easy, fun, and informative. Students were observed to be productive and responsive in group discussion. Individual students also received opportunities for independent practice. They were encouraged to “construct new meaning based on the content discussed.” For this, the expert teacher once noted that “a teacher, with his professional knowledge and experience, should draw on those different skills or examples rather than repeat what the books say.”
In brief, instructional activities were varied based on content structure, students’ affective state, and the expert teacher’s intention of creating an innovative and effective classroom. To promote teaching effectiveness, the expert teacher exerted himself to structure various instructional activities even though he had to deviate from his original plans.
DISCUSSION
The Role of the Well-Elaborated Schemata of the Expert Teacher
The in-depth analysis performed in this study provides striking evidence that this expert teacher’s interactive teaching displayed a comprehensive, complex, interconnected, and easily accessible schema which provided a framework for the meaningful interpretation of information and classroom events, and permitted him to make flexible adaptations accordingly. As the conceptual map (see Figure 1) shows, it is the
Chiang: Teacher’s Interactive Decision-Making
well-elaborated schemata the expert teacher possessed that accounted for the teaching effectiveness in the reading classroom. This finding supports the views of Borko and Livingston (1989) who characterize successful improvisational teaching as having an extensive network of interconnected and easily accessible schemata, and having the ability to select particular strategies, routines, and information from these schemata during actual teaching.
It should be noted that the conceptual model represented in Figure 1 is continuous and interactive. It is dynamic in the way that all components interact. In other words, supported by his network of beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge, the expert teacher’s well-elaborated schemata, which involve knowledge of students, classroom strategies, and on-going assessments and reflections, lead to effective teaching. And then, the effective teaching experiences accumulated contributed to the reconstruction of the expert teacher’s knowledge system, or schema. This finding lends support to Westerman’s (1991) conclusion that it is the interaction among the information-rich components in teaching that accounts for expertise.
The Influence of Contextual Factors on Interactive Decision-Making
Three sub-themes termed “knowledge of students”, “classroom strategies”, and “on-going assessment and reflection” are identified to elaborate the contextual factors that influenced the expert teacher’s interactive decision-making. They help explain the reasoning for the teacher’s teaching practice and deviation from his lesson plans. First, better knowledge about the characteristics of students and specific constraints and conflicts faced in reading instruction in technological institutes facilitates the expert teacher’s skills in processing information in the unpredictable classroom world and leads to his refinement of interactive decision-making in the reading classroom. Woods (1996) indicates that resources and constraints are inversely related and both are necessary for planning and decision-making, and a lack of resources acts as a constraint and limits the possibilities of options open to a teacher. Therefore, teachers should spend much more time not only looking for resources, but also studying and considering the constraints when they are making decisions in reading instruction.
Second, a variety of classroom strategies are employed in managing instructional tasks and situations and responding to student needs. The teacher participant displays greater pedagogical knowledge in guiding students, managing the classroom, and assessing students’ learning status. In addition, the teacher participant applies specific teaching strategies and modifies his interactive decisions with the purpose of accommodating student needs and enhancing their involvement. This finding is consistent with those of other studies on teachers’ interactive decision-making (Bailey, 1996; Johnson, 1999; Nunan, 1996). It also supports Graden’s (1996) conclusion that
consideration of students often outnumbers other considerations such as instructional objectives, subject matter, or the instructional process.
Third, the teacher participant’s on-line decisions are shaped and affected by his awareness of his perceived teaching effectiveness in the classroom context. Due to his constant judgment of the appropriateness of particular teaching practices and direct observations of students’ changing needs and performances, this expert teacher is prepared to modify his plans accordingly. His on-going monitoring and assessment of the classroom dynamics supported by his analysis on a daily basis help him appropriately tailor his actions to what is happening in the classroom. Stern and Shavelson (1983) suggest that effective teaching involves a process in which teachers make reasonable judgments and decisions in a particular situation and perform these decisions in the classroom context. Therefore, teachers should be more aware of the immediacy and apparent intuitiveness of the decision-making process (Hargreaves, 1994), and constantly involve inner exploration of themselves (Williams & Burden, 1997), if they expect to achieve effective teaching.
The Nature of the Expert Teacher’s Reflective Teaching Practices
The importance of a critically reflective approach to teaching has been increasingly emphasized, and the process of teacher reflection has also been acknowledged as a key element in one’s professional development (Richards & Lockhart, 1994). In this current study, the teacher participant is found to constantly engage in reflective practice and think critically about his own teaching. He constructs his own teaching theory based on inquiring about the nature of effective teaching, meaningful interpretation of classroom phenomena, and accurate judgments of student learning and understanding. His ability to perceive the classroom events accurately is derived from his teaching experience and his on-going data collection, along with his constant reflection upon his superior knowledge base. This finding is consistent with Stough and Palmer’s (2001) conclusion that experts display a larger knowledge base upon which to make on-line assessments of the students’ learning state.
It is noteworthy that this expert teacher’s self-retrospection and looking for improvement appear to be crucial factors that influence his interactive decision- making. His on-going reflection on the teaching appropriateness, students’ individual needs, understanding, and involvement, and their prior knowledge and typical pattern of behavior help him interpret the classroom culture and therefore apply appropriate instructional interventions. This finding indicates that facilitating teachers’ reflectivity is a key element in language teachers’ professional development. Teachers should learn to be reflective professionally and critically because it raises awareness about teaching, enables deeper understanding of variables related to teaching, and triggers
Chiang: Teacher’s Interactive Decision-Making
positive changes in their practice (Liou, 2000).
CONCLUSION
Pedagogical ImplicationsBased on the findings of the study, a number of pedagogical implications are proposed for reading instruction in technological institutes/universities. First, in addition to pedagogical content knowledge, teachers should increase their practical knowledge (or classroom knowledge) to make informed and skilled decisions. The findings from this study imply that besides on-going classroom observations, the teacher participant constantly exploited multiple methods of needs assessment to gain students’ honest feedback. As a result, his practical knowledge enabled him to accommodate student needs and tailor activities to the specific classroom context, especially when he faced a group of less-proficient, less confident, and poorly-motivated students in the TVES.
Second, developing the teachers’ information processing capacity is central to teaching effectiveness. As with the findings in the literature (Carter, Sabers, Cushing, Pinnegar, & Berliner, 1987), the expert teacher in this study appeared to bring rich schemata to the classroom phenomena, and these schemata provided him with a framework for meaningful interpretation of available information. Apparently, limitations of this capacity of information processing will impede the teacher’s perception of the classroom situation (Kleven, 1991). Now that professional decision-making has been recognized as the central teacher competency (Medley, 1981), effective reading instruction can be reached only when teachers are equipped with the ability to analyze and interpret the teaching situation and come to decisions in the interests of their students and their programming.
Finally, teachers in a training program should be provided with opportunities for thoughtful and positive change. Pennington (1990) emphasizes the importance of career growth as an ongoing goal and describes positive change as central to the professional life of a teacher. Therefore, it is important to try to better understand the nature of change in the expert teacher’s knowledge, self-awareness, and teaching practices. Moreover, case-based methods, in which teachers are prepared with context-specific information about reading instruction in technological institutes and universities, should be provided. Through procedural knowledge about day-to-day operations of managing and teaching in real classrooms (Johnson, 1996), teachers should familiarize themselves with how experienced teachers make deliberate
decisions to implement specific actions when confronting the diversity, complexity, and immediacy of classroom events.
Suggestions for Future Research
This study was designed to provide some insights into the expert teacher’s interactive thoughts and decision-making, and the development of expertise in reading instruction. However, there are limitations to the applicability of the findings. Without the use of videotaped excerpts of the teaching situation, access to the teacher’s reports on interactive thoughts was confined to the field notes and interview data. Therefore, possible future research reporting on the expert teacher’s perceptions and reflections on teaching episodes may help close the gap between the current study and the literature.
Moreover, the researcher suggests that comparative studies be conducted to explore the differences in the decision-making processes of expert teachers and novice teachers in preactive, interactive, and postactive stages. It will offer more insights into the cognitive components influencing the ways expert teachers represent aspects of their profession.
Finally, a narrow, or more focused scope of research should follow to discover and describe how specific instructional activities are deemed to influence teaching effectiveness and lead to teacher expertise in reading instruction. The explicit description of experienced teachers’ skills and efficiency in probing for student comprehension and learning outcome should provide a more rapid track for fostering the development of pedagogical expertise in reading instruction.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Li-Chin Chiang is currently a lecturer in the Department of Applied Foreign Languages at National Formosa University. Her research interests primarily lie in the areas of classroom social interaction and English reading instruction.
Chiang: Teacher’s Interactive Decision-Making
