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• Effect of social aspects of the classroom climate on Grades 3–6 students’ perceptions of the emotional classroom climate in primary school mathematics lessons

  51-76

  Ana Kuzle

  Views:

  44

  Current research efforts highlight the significance of the social climate in the classroom. This climate influences not only students’ academic performance, motivation, engagement, and participation, but also their perception of the emotional classroom climate. However, little attention has been given to the effects of the various social aspects of the classroom climate on students’ perceptions of the emotional classroom climate. The present study addressed this gap by investigating aspects of the social classroom climate as possible explanatory factors of a positive, negative or ambivalent students’ perception of the emotional classroom climate in Grades 3–6 mathematics lessons. The secondary analysis of participant-produced drawings revealed that in drawings depicting a positive emotional classroom climate, the teacher provided assistance and made the lesson goals clear. Furthermore, the students talked to each other about mathematics. Conversely, in drawings depicting a negative emotional classroom climate, the teacher made behavioral requests, and negative student-student communication was present. Both the working method and the classroom seating arrangement did not seem to affect the perceived emotional classroom climate. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical, and practical implications.

  Subject Classification: 97C20

• Impact of teacher communication skills on students’ classroom engagement in mathematics learning

  1-27

  Martha Mimi Chianson-Akaa

  Emmanuel Edoja Achor

  Benjamin Rott

  Views:

  923

  The study investigated teachers’ communication skills in relation to students’ classroom engagement in mathematics learning. The study area is Makurdi Local Government Area in Benue State, Nigeria. This study adopted a cross-sectional research design. A sample of 34 teachers and 204 students were drawn from twenty schools. Two researcher-structured instruments were used for data collection: Mathematics Teacher’s Communication Skills Questionnaire (MTCSQ) and Students’ Engagement in Mathematics Questionnaire (SEMQ). Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and independent t-tests were used to address the research questions and test the hypotheses. It was found that there is significant difference among the mean ratings on behavioural, and emotional engagements of students in mathematics classes taught by teachers with poor, fair, and good communication skills. There is no significant difference among the mean ratings on combined and cognitive engagements of students in mathematics classes taught by teachers with poor, fair, and good communication skills. Equally found was that the differences between male and female students’ mean engagement in mathematics for poor, fair, and good communication skill classes were not statistically significant. It was then recommended that teacher communication skills should be fashioned in ways to accommodate and strengthen each component of students’ engagement.

  Subject Classification: 97C70