The Effect of Students’ Hands-Raising Behavior on Their Opportunities-to-Learn: A Case Study From Chinese Classroom

• In Event: Culturally Responsive Classroom Management: Improving Outcomes for Diverse Students

Abstract

Opportunity-to-learn is an important indicator of education equality, but previous research on opportunity-to-learn mainly adopted quantitative measurement methods, lacking microcosmic observation in classroom contexts. This study uses video analysis method to analyze a fifth-grade mathematics lesson in a primary school in Shanghai, China. By tracing focal students’ hands-raising behavior and related classroom interactions, this study draws the following conclusions: (1) Students' hands-raising mode has an important influence on their acquisition of opportunities-to-learn; (2) Some students’ premature hands-raising behavior may deprive other students’ opportunities-to-learn; (3) Opportunities-to-learn are shelved when students pretend to raise hands and teachers intentionally ignore.

Author

• Yuhang Yang, East China Normal University