Autonomy Support in the Context of Productive Classroom Discourse

• In Event: 26.026 - Expanding Frameworks for Talk in Science Classrooms

Abstract

Objective
The aim of the study was to combine strands of research investigating meaningful teacher-student interactions in whole-class discussions in the context of a year-long, video-based teacher professional development program. We explore the extent to which participating teachers change their discourse behavior towards non-controlling language and how discourse practices foster and predict student autonomy.

Theoretical Framework
Both research on productive classroom discourse and autonomy-support focus on the importance of verbal teacher-student interactions (Reeve, 2006; Wells & Arauz, 2006) for students’ learning outcomes, such as the co-construction of knowledge and learning motivation. Elements of such productive interactions are specific talk moves, e.g. open questions and constructive feedback (Furtak & Kunter, 2012; Jurik, Gröschner, & Seidel, 2014). A year-long, reflection-oriented professional development program (Dialogic Video-Cycle, DVC) targeting teachers’ re-construction of interaction practices could shift teachers’ discourse behaviour towards more productive classroom discourse. Here, the DVC is investigated with regard to its capability to promote students’ experiences of autonomy-support and personal autonomy, and to understand the links between these and psychometric and behavioral indicators of productive interaction patterns.

Methods and Results
The sample consisted of N = 6 teachers and N = 136 students (47.8 % girls, 52.2 % boys) in six STEM classrooms from German schools (9th grade). Students had a mean age of 15.41 years (SD = .98). Over the course of one school year four measurements were taken, consisting of student self-reports and classroom observations (video-analysis with low-inference codes). Questionnaire data showed meaningful positive relationships between students’ perceptions of autonomy-support, personal autonomy, and productive classroom discourse. Latent growth curve models showed students’ perceptions of classroom discourse (β = 2.18, SE = .60), autonomy-support (β = 2.11, SE = .82) and personal autonomy (β = 2.07, SE = .89) to change significantly over the course of the intervention (ICCs: .23 to .55). Furthermore, video analysis of classroom observations illustrated that teachers change their discourse behavior towards non-controlling language over the course of the intervention, in the form of increased student-to-student interactions (χ²S-S-interaction(df = 3) = 8.20, p = .04) and decreased simple feedback (χ²simple(df = 3) = 8.05, p = .05). Elements of non-controlling language were significant positive predictors of students’ perceptions of autonomy-support (β = .49, SE = 1.62, p < .01) and autonomy (β = .47, SE = 1.55, p < .05) directly after class.

Significance
This study connects two strands of research investigating meaningful teacher-student interactions that thus far have been pursued separately. It adds to the body of literature showing positive effects of productive classroom discourse on students’ motivation, specifically autonomy, and thus broadens the scope of the beneficial effects of specific teacher talk moves in STEM education. It furthermore investigates students’ perceptions of autonomy and autonomy-support as separate constructs, by means of a mixed-methods approach, and makes claims about the predictive power of classroom experiences, i.e. teacher practices, for students’ perceptions of autonomy and autonomy-support directly after instruction.

Authors

• Katharina Elisabeth Kiemer, TU München

• Alexander Gröschner, University of Paderborn

• Mareike Kunter, Goethe University

• Tina Seidel, Technische Universität München