Equal opportunity of interaction in the classroom: A case study in the primary school in China

Since China's reform and opening up, economic development, systemic reform and social structural changes have created increasing gaps among different social groups in the society. Disparity among the social groups meant not only an inequitable opportunity in education for the children, but had an impact on the equality in the actual educational process in the classrooms. Interaction between the teachers and students differs according to the teachers' views of different students. This differential treatment by the teachers invariably influenced the educational opportunities in the classroom.; A class in a Primary School in the City of Nanjing in the People's Republic of China was selected as our research case, using ethnographic methodology, a three-month long data collection was carried out. A Chinese Language teacher, a Mathematics teacher and an entire class of 51 students from different family backgrounds were chosen for this study. The research included participation classroom observation, interview, and questionnaire. Analysis and explorations were carried out from the data collected to see if there existed different treatment of students by teachers in their classroom interactions. In other words, whether students from different family backgrounds enjoyed equal opportunities in the classrooms.; Our research showed that the opportunity to participate in classroom interaction by students from different family backgrounds could be divided into one of visible and of invisible. Visible opportunity to participate refers to the differences or gaps in the quantity and the types of interactions between the teachers and the students. Invisible opportunity to participate refers to the gaps in the methods of interaction between teachers and students. In the Language class, there exited obvious gaps in participation and interaction among students with different family backgrounds, whereas in the Mathematics class no obvious gaps existed. The gap in the participation of students in the classroom was influenced by the teachers' views on the students. In evaluating the students' performance, viewing the students' behaviors, which in turn influenced the teachers' expectations of the students, the language teacher was obviously influenced by the students' family background, whereas the mathematics teacher was less influenced. The views and treatments of the students by the two teachers could be influenced by their own social status and teaching experience. The majority of the students showed high motivation to participate in classroom interaction, but the actual given opportunity to interact in the classrooms showed relatively large gaps, thereby effecting the students' interest in learning and the self-evaluation of their academic achievement. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...