Contexts as switchmen: The variable effects of formal and informal instructional strategies on student achievement

Abstract

Abstract. This study presents an exploratory theoretical framework that analyzes the extent by which the contexts of classroom instruction mediate the effects of instructional strategies on achievement. The study first presents the two main tasks that teachers face in classrooms-teaching, and controlling the social order. The study then elaborates on formal and informal instructional strategies that teachers use to manage these tasks. The main foei of the study is to show that the effects of these different instructional strategies on student achievements vary by grade level. The results suggest that the contexts of instruction determine the magnitude and direction of the effects of instructional strategies on achievement. Positive effects on student achievement appear when a functional congruence occurs between teachers' instructional strategies and the contexts wherein they are used. The analyses suggest that changes in the cognitive, social, and institutional contexts of classrooms may change the relative efficacy of specific instructional strategies. Consequently, researchers should pay more attention to the changes in the sociology of classrooms during students' school careers.

Reforming Motivation: How the structure of instruction affects students’ learning experiences

“…While past research programmes assumed that motivation is a personality trait, and that students have xed performance tendencies in school (Bandura, 1982;Weiner, 1979), recent developments show that motivation is signi cantly determined by structural and contextual factors (Deci, 1992;Stipek, 1986). Current theoretical accounts of student motivation bring in the structure of instruction (Ames, 1992;Blumenfeld, 1992;Doyle, 1986;Yair, 1997c). They postulate that students may respond differentially to different instructional structures (Deci, 1992).…”