SOME REFLECTIONS ON “GOOD” AND “BAD” LANGUAGE TEACHING BEHAVIORS

Abstract

In an experiment conducted recently at the Stanford Center for Research and Development in Teaching, the frequency of selected classroom behaviors of 17 French teachers was observed and correlated with measures of achievement in French on the part of their students. The frequency of some behaviors (e.g. use of Free Response drills; use of visual aids) correlated positively with student achievement. Behaviors showing no significant correlation with achievement included frequency of Repetition drills, Substitution drills. Other behaviors measured (including the use of Dialogue drills or Translation drills) showed significant negative correlations with student achievement. The conclusion is advanced, however, that most teaching behaviors cannot be classified as intrinsically “good” or “bad,” but that the relationship between the frequency of the use of a teaching behavior and student achievement is represented by a curve within which there are ranges of frequency with positive and negative correlations with achievement. A highly complex relation between the overall method, alternatively available teaching behaviors and student characteristics determines whether the frequency with which a teaching behavior is used falls within the positive or negative ranges.

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