Do Teachers Treat Their Students Differently? An Observational Study on Teacher-Student Interactions as a Function of Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement

Abstract

Through classroom interactions, teachers provide their students with different opportunities to learn. Some kinds of interactions elicit more learning activities than others. With differential treatment of students, teachers may exacerbate or reduce achievement differences in their classroom. In addition, differential interactions may contribute to teacher expectation effects, with teachers treating their high-expectation students more favourably. This study investigated how differential teacher-student interactions are related to students’ mathematics achievement and teachers’ expectations. In eight fourth-grade classrooms in the Netherlands, interactions between teachers and students (N = 152) were observed in maths lessons. Data regarding teachers’ expectations about their students and mathematics achievement tests scores were collected. Analyses indicated that there were relations between teacher expectations and teachers’ classroom interactions. Teachers gave more direct turns and more directive feedback to their low-expectation students, who were also the students who performed low in maths. After controlling for actual achievement, it appeared that students for whom the expectations were lower than could be expected based on their performance received more direct turns and directive task-related feedback. These results point to the existence of teacher expectation effects.

A study of reliability, validity and development of the teacher expectation scale

“…The number of organized items differs from most studies in the teacher expectation literature. In teacher expectation studies, scales comprising of one item (Gregory & Huang, 2013;Papageorge et al, 2019;Peterson et al, 2016;Rubie-Davies et al, 2020;Watson et al, 2017;Zhu et al, 2018) or a couple of items, (Archambault et al, 2012;Denessen et al, 2020;Friedrich et al, 2015;Gentrup et al, 2020;Timmermans & Rubie-Davies, 2018) are widely used (Friedrich et al, 2015). The first studies on the subject (Babad et al, 1982;Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968) and other studies conducted since (de Boer et al, 2010;Gentrup et al, 2020;Papageorge et al, 2019;Szumski & Karwowski, 2019;Zhu et al, 2018) mostly focus on the individual teacher expectation effect.…”

Teacher Beliefs and Student Learning

“…Two recent studies found teacher feedback to be another important correlate of teacher expectations. Denessen et al (2020) observed interactions between teachers and students in the Netherlands and found that teacher expectation effects accounted for the type of feedback teachers gave in mathematics; specifically, teachers gave more directive feedback to students for which they had low expectations and more facilitative feedback to the students for which they had high expectations; subse-quently, this feedback predicted math achievement. A longitudinal study in Germany found that varying teacher expectations translated into differentiated types of feedback, but that this did not substantially mediate the expectancy effects, pointing to other potential mechanisms (Gentrup et al, 2020).…”

A capability-driven path to well-being: cases of community-based education in rural Indonesia

“…Overall, teachers' role in students' lives is to be considered in a multifaceted way. The relationship between teachers and students can affect many psychological-development processes Eder, 1981;Liebenberg et al, 2015;Kremling et al, 2017;Denessen et al, 2020); student-teacher interactions, can in fact, not only affect aspects such as cognition, language and learning, but also personality-building, motivation and adaptation during development, thus attending both academic and emotional needs (ibid.). Respect, support, and encouragement from one's teacher can create a better learningconducing environment and mitigate social risks Liebenberg et al, 2015;Crosnoe et al, 2010;Rubie-Davies et al, 2012;.…”

“…Similarly, teachers' pedagogic communication, and cognitive or teaching style may differently affect their students' learning Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990;Brint, 2006;Crosnoe et al, 2010;Rubie-Davies et al, 2012;Hyer et al, 2018;Denessen et al, 2020), either via learning/teaching-style mismatches or simply through the application of methods that are less conducive to learning and growth Crosnoe et al, 2010;Rubie-Davies et al, 2012). It has been shown, in fact, that teaching strategies that support selfadvocacy by reinforcing metacognition and conceptual thinking create better learning outcomes in opposition to lower-order and more procedure-based instructions (Crosnoe et al, 2010;Rubie-Davies et al, 2012;Devecchi et al, 2014;Denessen et al, 2020). However, there also seems to be a difference between the style devoted to higher-and lower-achieving students, with an adaptive tendency that is inclined to underestimate more disadvantaged students Denessen et al, 2020), oftentimes through perceptions of overlapping social characteristics (Don Milani-Scuola di Barbiana, 1967;Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990;.…”

“…It has been shown, in fact, that teaching strategies that support selfadvocacy by reinforcing metacognition and conceptual thinking create better learning outcomes in opposition to lower-order and more procedure-based instructions (Crosnoe et al, 2010;Rubie-Davies et al, 2012;Devecchi et al, 2014;Denessen et al, 2020). However, there also seems to be a difference between the style devoted to higher-and lower-achieving students, with an adaptive tendency that is inclined to underestimate more disadvantaged students Denessen et al, 2020), oftentimes through perceptions of overlapping social characteristics (Don Milani-Scuola di Barbiana, 1967;Bourdieu & Passeron, 1990;.…”