Verbal abuse by the teacher and student classroom participation, academic achievement and ...

136 Pages·2009·0.82 MB·English

by  Hana Christie

Verbal Abuse by the Teacher and
Student Classroom Participation,
Academic Achievement and Problem
Behavior in Tbilisi Public Schools
Zhana Kvachadze and Marika Zakareishvili

Master of Philosophy in Special Needs Education
University of Oslo-Norway

Spring 2009
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Abstract
Objectives: the present study seeks to determine to what extent is the relationship
between verbal abuse by a teacher, class participation, academic achievement and
problem behavior in the Tbilisi public schools.
Method: Survey design was used and questionnaires were administered to gather
information: the “Pupils self-reporting questionnaire of verbal abuse by the teacher”
was worked out in the framework of this study. Two well tested questionnaires, “The
student participation questionnaire” (Finn 1991) and “Problem behavior measurement
scale” (Gresham & Elliott, 1990) were translated from English into Georgian and
modified based on our research problems. Research was conducted in ten public
schools from all (10) districts of Tbilisi including both, central and outskirt parts. 384
seven and ten graders and twenty teachers participated in the study.
Results: The study found out, that different forms of verbal abuse by a teacher take
place in Tbilisi public schools. Public humiliation, as one of the four forms of verbal
abuse discussed in the present study was stated by the students at the highest rate.
The number of students who reported their not active participation in the class
activities was quite high. The percentage of pupils with low academic achievement
and problem behavior (externalized and internalized) was also not low. Verbal abuse
by a teacher appeared to be positively connected to externalized problem behavior
and negatively related to the academic achievement and students’ class participation.
No correlation was found between students’ class participation and problem behavior.
However, strong connection appeared to be between non participation and
externalized problem behavior.
Seemingly unexpected results were found about relation between the students’
classroom participation and academic achievement. High per sent of children with
low academic achievement and low per sent of students with high academic
achievement proposed to be high participants in class.
Conclusion: The present study like past empirical findings show that existence of
verbal abuse by a teacher decreases the level of students’ class participation. On the
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contrary it can rise problem behavior in the class and hinder students’ academic
achievement.
The negative connection between the class participation and academic achievement
was explained by the supposition that students’ grading process in Tbilisi schools is
still based on the old assessment criteria like understanding and memorizing the
subject matter by students. Class participation stays ignored by teachers and is not
reflected in the marks. On the other hand, students with low academic achievement
could be subjunctive when proposing about their participation in class and
overestimate their level of participation.
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Dedication
To not yet born baby Sesilia Sarishvili who inspired us with her existence all the
time with us…
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Acknowledgement

We would like to express our gratitude to many people who assisted and helped
us during witting this thesis.
First of all we owe thanks to our Norwegian advisor Professor Steinar Theie for
helping us in dealing with statistics, English grammar and supported us in writing
thesis.
Our eternal gratitude to out local advisors, Ann Laghidze, who helped us to deal
with “strange data” and Marine Chitashvili for helping during the field work.

Our special thanks to Tinatin Tchintcharauli for helping us to deal with statistics.
We express our eternal gratitude to our dear friends Tamuna Loria and Cira
Barkaia who helped us in a very difficult for us situation. Lot of thanks to Tamta
Golubiani for being a parson whom you can always trust.
Many thanks to Denese A. Brittain who always is kind and takes care of students.
Our sincere gratitude to University of Oslo for giving us opportunity to study
here.
A special thank to Dr. Finn who send us the “Student Participation Questionnaire”
that we used in our study.

 Huge thanks to Saba Sarishvili, who inspires to do more in the life with his love.

Thank you!
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Abbreviations

IDPs Internally Displace Persons.

MOES Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia.

PB Problem Behavior Measurement Scale.

SES Social Economic Status of Families.

SP Student Class Participation Questionnaire.

VA Pupils Self-Reporting Questionnaire of Verbal.

UNESCO The United Nations Organization of
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization.
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Table of Contents

ABSTRACT..........................................................................................................................................2 
DEDICATION......................................................................................................................................4 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...................................................................................................................5 
TABLE OF CONTENTS.....................................................................................................................7 
LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................................................12 
LIST OF TABLES..............................................................................................................................13 
CHAPTER 1: BAKGROUND OF THE STUDY.............................................................................15 
1.1 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................15 
1.2  POLICY AND LEGISLATION IN GEORGIA.................................................................................16 
1.3  CHANGES IN GEORGIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM.........................................................................17 
1.4  STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM.....................................................................................19 
1.5  SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.................................................................................................20 
1.6  OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS......................................................................................................21 
CHAPTER 2:THEORETICAL OVERVIEW.................................................................................22 
2.1 STUDENT CLASS PARTICIPATION.................................................................................................22 
2.1.1 Defining student classroom participation........................................................................23 
2.1.2 Student classroom participation related to gender...........................................................25 
2.2 STUDENT’S ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT.......................................................................................25 
2.2.1 Student’s classroom participation and academic achievement.......................................26 
2.3 VERBAL ABUSE BY THE TEACHER...............................................................................................30
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2.3.1 Prevalence of verbal abuse by the teacher......................................................................32 
2.3.2 The connection between verbal abuse by the teacher and academic achievement..........34 
2.3.3 The connection between students’ classroom participation and verbal abuse by the teacher 35 
2.4 PROBLEM BEHAVIOUR IN CLASS.................................................................................................37 
2.4.1 The connection between verbal abuse by the teacher and students’ problem behavior..39 
2.4.2 The connection between participation and problem behavior.......................................41 
CHAPTER 3: METHODS................................................................................................................44 
3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN.....................................................................................................................44 
3.2 INSTRUMENTS............................................................................................................................44 
3.2.1 Pupils self-reporting questionnaire of verbal abuse by the teacher (VA scale)............45 
3.2.2 Problem behavior measurement scale (PB scale)............................................................46 
3.2.3 The student participation questionnaire (SP scale).........................................................47 
3.2.4 Academic achievement.....................................................................................................48 
3.3 POPULATION AND SAMPLE SELECTION.......................................................................................49 
3.3.1 Sample selection...............................................................................................................49 
3.3.2 Population........................................................................................................................49 
3.4 DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES...............................................................................................50 
3.4.1 Pilot study.........................................................................................................................50 
3.4.2 Entering the schools........................................................................................................51 
3.4.3 Response rate....................................................................................................................52 
3.4.4.Statistical procedures of data analysis.............................................................................52 
3.4.5 Constructing scales...........................................................................................................54 
3.5 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY.......................................................................................................62 
3.5.1 Threats for validity and reliability and ways of dealing with them..................................62
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3.6 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS.........................................................................................................65 
3. 7 LIMITATIONS AND DILEMMAS....................................................................................................66 
CHAPTER 4: DATA PRESENTATION AND RESULTS.............................................................67 
4.1 GENDER, GRADE, AND DISTRICTS AND SCHOOLS........................................................................67 
4.2 ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT..........................................................................................................68 
4.3 VERBAL ABUSE BY THE TEACHER...............................................................................................68 
4.3 1 Analyzing through items..................................................................................................68 
4.3.2 Prevalence of verbal abuse by the teacher - subscales....................................................71 
4.3.3 Verbal abuse by the teacher towards children-overall scale............................................75 
4.3.4 Relation between verbal abuse by the teacher and gender..............................................77 
4.3.5 Relation between verbal abuse by the teacher and student classroom participation.......77 
4.3.6 Relation between verbal abuse by the teacher and student academic achievement..........80 
4.3. 7 Relation between verbal abuse by the teacher and student problem behavior in class...80 
4.4 THE PROBLEM BEHAVIOR MEASUREMENT SCALE........................................................................81 
4.5 STUDENT CLASSROOM PARTICIPATION.......................................................................................83 
4.5.1 Item analysis......................................................................................................................83 
4.5.2 The Effort taking subscale.................................................................................................86 
4.5.3 The Initiative taking subscale............................................................................................87 
4.5.4 Student classroom participation – the overall scale (SP).................................................88 
4.5.5 Non participatory behavior subscale................................................................................90 
4.5.6 Relation between student class participation and gender.................................................91 
4.5.7 Relation between student classroom participation and problem behavior.......................92 
4.5.8 Relation between academic achievement and student class participation........................92 
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS...............................................................95
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5.1 SUMMARIZING FINDINGS............................................................................................................95 
5.2 CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................97 
5.3 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY........................................................................................................98 
5.4 IMPLICATION FOR FUTURE STUDIES............................................................................................99 
5.5 IMPLICATION FOR PRACTICE.....................................................................................................100 
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................102 
APPENDIX 1 QUESTIONNAIRES...............................................................................................111 
1.1 PUPILS SELF-REPORTING QUESTIONNAIRE OF VERBAL ABUSE............................................111 
1.2 STUDENT CLASSROOM PARTICIPATION QUESTIONNAIRE......................................................114 
1.3 PROBLEM BEHAVIOUR MEASUREMENT SCALE......................................................................119 
APPENDIX 2: RELIABILITY ANALYSIS FOR SCALES........................................................121 
2.1 RELIABILITY FOR STUDENT CLASS PARTICIPATION TOTAL SCALE BEFORE ITEMS DELETED121 
2.2 RELIABILITY FOR STUDENT CLASS PARTICIPATION TOTAL SCALE (SP) – AFTER ITEMS DELETED 123 
2.3 RELIABILITY FOR PUPIL’S SELF-REPORTING QUESTIONNAIRE OF VERBAL ABUSE BY THE TEACHER
(VA)..............................................................................................................................................125 
2.4 RELIABILITY FOR PROBLEM BEHAVIOR MEASUREMENT SCALE (PB) AFTER ITEMS DELETED127 
APPENDIX 3 RELATIONS BETWEEN VARIABLES..............................................................129 
3.1 RELATION BETWEEN VERBAL ABUSE AND STUDENT CLASS PARTICIPATION........................129 

APPENDIX 4: FACTOR ANALYSIS ……………………………………………………………135
4.1 FINAL FACTOR SOLUTION FOR STUDENT CLASS PARTICIPATION SCALE…………………………135
4.2 FINAL FACTOR SOLUTION FOR PROBLEM BEHAVIOR SCALE …………………………………………136