Teachers’ strategies for enhancing shy children's engagement in oral activities: necessary, but insufficient?

Abstract

Shy children can present challenges for teachers aiming at inclusive classrooms. Their educational attainments can be lower than their peers, they may have difficulties in adjustment to school and they can be at risk of meeting clinical criteria for social anxiety disorder. One recurrent finding is that they are often quiet across a range of school situations. The study reported here focused on teachers' strategies to engage shy students in frequently occurring oral activities, such as group work, in elementary school classrooms. Data were gathered through post-observation stimulated-recall interviews with eight teachers who had experience of success with shy students and three focus groups with 11 similarly experienced teachers. The analysis examined teachers' actions with these children to enhance their visible engagement in activities that require oral participation. The findings suggest that although teachers attended to the psychosocial aspects of student engagement, there was little emphasis on the pedagogic purposes of oral activities with these children. We conclude that more attention should be paid to the academic aspects of oral activities when aiming at inclusion for shy children.

Improving Classroom Communication: The Effects of Virtual Social Training on Communication and Assertion Skills in Middle School Students

“…Additionally, when examining recent trends in student social-emotional learning, it was found that self-efficacy, social awareness, and, to a lesser degree, selfmanagement decrease after Grade 6 (West et al, 2020). Furthermore, teachers are recognized within the school setting as first identifiers and responders to the social needs of students, yet several studies point to a lack of help from school policies or clear lines of support once educators have observed social difficulties (Solberg, et al, 2020;Nyborg, et al, 2020). As such a process to accurately identify and then refer for social support in middle school may be lacking.…”

Leading for School Inclusion and Prevention? How School Leadership Teams Support Shy Students and Their Teachers

“…All three schools had earlier been identified as places where teachers had evidenced success with shy children (Mjelve et al, 2019;Nyborg et al, 2020). It was therefore unsurprising that the leadership teams saw teachers as primary tools, encouraging them to be "first responders" supported by social teachers as "the one who holds the strings".…”

“…However, there is little research into the systems needed to achieve and maintain Tier 2 supports (Newcomer et al, 2013), as well as a clear lack of written procedures for these interventions (Debnam et al, 2012). Considering our intention to address how school systems both promote inclusive environments for shy students and prevent possible negative consequences of escalating in a longer-term perspective, this is important background information, as shy students might require more intensive efforts (Mjelve et al, 2019;Nyborg et al, 2020) than those provided within Tier 1.…”

“…Shyness is not categorized as a special educational need, demanding interventions from school psychology services. Yet, for some students it can inhibit learning and require tailored responses from schools (Mjelve et al, 2019;Nyborg et al, 2020). In the study reported here we draw on cultural-historical framings of motivated actions and use of conceptual, human and material tools (Engeström, 2007;Hedegaard, 2012) when examining the resources school leadership teams in three Norwegian elementary schools employed to facilitate teachers' work with students perceived as shy (henceforth referred to as "shy students").…”

“…School leadership teams are important providers of support for teachers working with vulnerable children (Prather-Jones, 2011), as well as key to creating supporting school conditions for teachers and students (Leithwood et al, 2019). Recent Scandinavian research into classroom practices has indicated that teachers have specifically tailored strategies to support shy students within classroom settings, and during break (Mjelve et al, 2019;Nyborg et al, 2020). However, the broader school conditions from school leadership teams' perspectives for the kinds of responsive teaching advocated by these studies have yet to be understood.…”