SEL as a Component of a Literature Class to Improve Relationships, Behavior, Motivation, and Content Knowledge

Abstract

The study assesses the effect of social and emotional learning (SEL) integrated in a literature class, named here “affective teaching,” as compared to conventional teaching. Dependent variables include relationships, behavior, motivation to learn, and content knowledge. Participants were 36 teacher trainees in one college in Israel and 1,137 fifth and sixth grade students from 36 classrooms in 12 schools. A hierarchical model of analyses (Mixed Models) was used to assess children’s gains in the two teaching conditions. Results indicated significantly more improvement on all measures for children in the affective teaching condition compared to control. Relationships and behavior were significantly associated with children’s gains in motivation and content knowledge. The discussion focuses on the importance of SEL for children’s development and the potential contribution of affective teaching as a modality of social and emotional learning.

Affective Teaching: A Method to Reduce Negative Classroom Behavior and Improve Relationships

“…The Arab community is characterized as less personal, the Arab school system tends to focus less on feelings, the practice of teachers in that system is stricter (Arar & Abu-Rabia-Queder, 2011; Khoury-Kassabri & Ben-Harush, 2012), and Arab students’ academic achievements are lower than in the Jewish educational system (Arar & Abu-Asbah, 2013). Together with earlier research (Shechtman & Abu-Yaman, 2012), the outcomes of the current study clearly point to the benefits of affective teaching in the Arab educational system in Israel. However, the Arab population may react differently to affective teaching than others because they tend to be less exposed to personalized education.…”

“…Two trained observers used a chart of all classmates that included eight behaviors; four negative (talking without permission, showing distractive behavior, moving around or leaving, and being verbally or physically aggressive) and four prosocial (engaging in class discussion, expressing feelings, demonstrating understanding of self and others, and offering encouragement and positive feedback). In our previous study, we performed a factor analysis on this observation scale, resulting in two components: positive and negative behavior, which explained 81% of the variance (Shechtman & Abu-Yaman, 2012).…”

“…The second study involved 1137 students and 36 teachers-in-training in 36 classrooms (Shechtman & Abu-Yaman, 2012). Two cohorts of teachers-in-training in one college were randomly divided into experimental and control conditions.…”

Engaging minds and hearts: Social and emotional learning in English Language Arts

“…Additional support for the efficacy of SEL-ELA integration is seen in cases where ELA has been adapted to impact targeted purposes such as empathy development (Aronson, 2002;Mar, Oatley, & Peterson, 2009), and improving pro-social behaviours (Jones et al, 2011). Furthermore, students who participate in an ELA curriculum enhanced with SEL components have been found to have improved relationships, behaviour, motivation, and better content knowledge than those exposed to conventional teaching (Masten & Cicchetti, 2010;Shechtman & Yaman, 2012).…”

Encouraging Socioemotional Development among Preschool Children through Responsive Practices of Teacher

“…Teachers play a vital role in boosting their creativity and encouraging their imagination (Schonert-Reichl, Kitil & Hanson-Peterson, 2016). This opens up much more space for children in their development, in that traits of humour and ability to show empathy for others are likely to be nurtured (Shechtman & Abu Yaman, 2012).…”