Teaching Practices, Classroom Social Cohesiveness and Student Perceptions of Relatedness in Elementary Classrooms

Abstract Body: Interventions to enhance teachers’ management of classroom social relationships require a clear understanding of what dimensions of teaching are related to student social relationship patterns. This study examines associations among teachers’ behavior and academic management practices, peer network structures, and children’s perceptions of relational support in the classroom. We expect emotionally supportive teachers who provide more positive behavioral feedback will have classrooms with more richly-interconnected social ties among peers, and that positive teacher feedback and tight-knit classroom networks contribute to student perceptions of teacher and peer relational support.

Methods: Participants include students (N=1,254) and teachers (N=60) in 1^st, 3^rd, and 5^th grade classrooms in the Midwestern and northeastern U.S.; 40% of the children were economically disadvantaged. Pairs of observers rated teacher-student interaction quality using the CLASS (Pianta et al., 2008). A bifactor analysis produced 3 orthogonal scales of teacher-student interaction quality: Responsive Teaching (ICC=.84), Routines and Management (ICC=.88), and Cognitive Facilitation (ICC=.83). A new event-based observation system measured three indices of teacher feedback, including instances of Learning Trial - Affirmations (T_prompt-S_response-T_feedback; ICC=.89) and positivity of Academic and Behavioral Feedback (ICC=.76 - .93). Students nominated classmates they liked most and least. Cohesiveness was indexed by the within-classroom density of positive nominations among students and ratio of liking to disliking. Students rated perceived teacher and peer community using 5-point Likert-type scales (α=.81–.86).

 

Results: Controlling for gender, grade level, and class size, multilevel models on a preliminary subsample (N=26 classrooms) found significant associations between both Learning Trial – Affirmations and Positive Behavior Feedback and students’ perceptions of teacher supportiveness (p<.01). In classrooms characterized by greater ratios of liking among peers and more frequent teacher academic affirmations, students reported more teacher supportiveness (p<.05). Teachers’ rates of learning trial-affirmations and positive behavior feedback were positively associated with the classroom liking/disliking ratio.

Discussion: Results suggest that elements of teachers’ instructional feedback and behavioral feedback are related to students relationships with one another (liking/disliking ratio) and to their perceptions of support from teachers and peers. Further examination of how routine teaching practices foster positive peer social environments and feelings of relatedness could provide important guidance to professional development efforts.