Mapping the Road: Success in Language Training

How schools and teachers exercise considerable influence

over the learning curveJ.P. van den HeedeJ.P. van den Heede

Royal Military AcademyRoyal Military Academy

Brussels - BelgiumBrussels - Belgium

Research put into action

Schools and teachers affect student achievement

Robert J. Marzano

35 yrs. of research into 3 general factors

– School-level factors – Teacher-level factors– Student-level factors

Robert J. Marzano

35 yrs. of research into 3 general factors

–School-level factors – Teacher-level factors– Student-level factors

School-level factors

• Opportunity to learn

School-level factors

• Opportunity to learn

• Time

School-level factors

• Opportunity to learn

• Time

• Monitoring

School-level factors

• Opportunity to learn

• Time

• Monitoring

• Client involvement

School-level factors

• Opportunity to learn

• Time

• Monitoring

• Client involvement

• School climate

School-level factors

• Opportunity to learn

• Time

• Monitoring

• Client involvement

• School climate

• Leadership

• Cooperation

Robert J. Marzano

35 yrs. of research into 3 general factors

– School-level factors

–Teacher-level factors– Student-level factors

Teacher-level factors

Under control of individual teachers

– Specific instructional strategies– Classroom management techniques– Classroom curriculum design

Professionalism

• Efficacy of the teachers (Peterson: 1994)

• Level of teacher experience (Ferguson: 1991)

Quality assurance

1. Teacher education programme accreditation

2. Initial teacher licensing

3. Advanced professional certification

What about subject-matter knowledge

vs. achievement?

• Not a straightforward relationship• 17 out of 31 studies positive (Byrne: 1983)

• 5 out of 14 studies positive (Ashton & Crocker: 1987)

• Only up to a certain point (Monk: 1994)

What about subject-matter knowledge

vs. achievement?

The more a teacher knows about the subject-matter, the better teacher he will be.

What about subject-matter knowledge

vs. achievement?

The more a teacher knows about the subject-matter, the better teacher he will be.

What about subject-matter knowledge

vs. achievement?

A critical minimum of knowledge is needed differing from grade level to grade level.

What about pedagogical knowledge

vs. achievement?

= consistently associated with student achievement

What about pedagogical knowledge

vs. achievement?

It may be that the positive effects of subject matter knowledge are augmented or offset by knowledge of how to teach the subject to various kinds of students. That is, the degree of pedagogical skill may interact with subject matter knowledge to bolster or reduce teacher performance. (Darling –Hammond: 2000)

What about pedagogical knowledge

vs. achievement?

In a related study of 200 teachers, the amount of courses teachers took in instructional techniques accounted for four times the variance in teacher performance than did subject-matter knowledge. (Ferguson and Womack: 1993)

What about pedagogical knowledge

vs. achievement?

Teacher participation in professional development activities accounts for significant amounts of variation in achievement. (Weglinsky: 2000)

What influence does an individual teacher have?

• Independent impact on student achievement

• Instructional strategies

• Classroom management

• Classroom curriculum design

What influence does an individual teacher have?

decisions individual teachers

>

decisions at school level

What influence does an individual teacher have?

Report on achievement scores for 60,000 students(Wright, Horn & Sanders: 1997)

• student learning most affected by teacher• wide variation in effectiveness among teachers

What influence does an individual teacher have?

[…] the most important factor affecting student learning is the teacher. In addition, the results show wide variation in effectiveness among the teachers. The immediate and clear implication of this finding is that seemingly more can be done to improve education by improving the effectiveness of teachers than by any other single factor. Effective teachers appear to be effective with students of all achievement levels […] If the teacher is ineffective, students under that teacher’s tutelage will achieve inadequate progress academically, regardless of how similar or different they are regarding their academic achievement. (Wright, Horn & Sanders: 1997)

What influence does an individual teacher have?

Report on achievement scores for 60,000 students(Wright, Horn & Sanders: 1997)

Improve effectiveness of teachers

Improve education

True for all achievement levels

What influence does an individual teacher have?

Student achievement differences affected by teachersTeacher Student achievement gain in 1 year

Least effective 14 percentage points

Most effective 53 percentage points

What influence does an individual teacher have?

Cumulative effects over three years between studentswith least effective versus most effective teachers

Most effective teacher 83 percentile point gain

Least effective teacher 29 percentile point gain

Cumulative effect

If the effect of attending the class of one of the least effective teachers for some time is not debilitating enough, the cumulative effect can be devastating.

Conclusion

Professionalism includes a certain level of knowledge about one’s subject area, but perhaps more important, it also involves pedagogical knowledge of how best to teach that subject-matter content.

Conclusion

If the individual teacher is the most important factor affecting student learning

andIf the effectiveness of that teacher primarily depends on her/his pedagogical achievements

Then our main concern when recruiting new teachers should be a pedagogical one.