THE RELATIONSHIP OF EARLY FIELD EXPERIENCES, THE COOPERATING TEACHER, UNIVERSITY PROGRAM, AND SUBJECT FIELD TO THE USE OF FIFTEEN SELECTED TEACHER BEHAVIORS IN STUDENT TEACHING

The purpose of this study was to examine the following relationships: varying amounts of observation and practice of 15 teacher behaviors to the use of those behaviors during student teaching; teacher candidates' intention to use 15 teacher behaviors during student teaching to the actual use of those behaviors during student teaching; the cooperating teachers' commitment to the use of 15 teacher behaviors during student teaching to the actual use of those behaviors during student teaching; teacher education programs to the use of 15 teacher behaviors during student teaching; and teaching fields to the use of 15 teacher behavior during student teaching.;Based on the experiences of observing student teachers it was anticipated that there would be a considerable variance among student teachers in the extent to which 15 selected behaviors would be used in student teaching. The findings of this study confirmed this premise: the behaviors were used to a varying degree by the student teachers serving as subjects in this study. The research was addressed to the following problem: what accounts for the observed variances?;A sample of 88 teacher candidates enrolled at four universities and their cooperating teachers participated in this study. The teacher candidates responded to a questionnaire which assessed the extent to which they observed and practiced a set of 15 teacher behaviors during EFE. In addition, the teacher candidates indicated the extent to which they intended to use the behaviors during their student teaching experience. The cooperating teachers responded to a questionnaire which measured their commitment to the use of the set of behaviors by their student teachers. Finally, the cooperating teachers indicated the extent to which their student teachers actually used the 15 teacher behaviors during student teaching.;Data collected from the responses to the questionnaire were analyzed using the Pearson product moment correlation procedure to assess relationships among the use of 15 teacher behaviors and 13 predictor variables: observation and practice in EFE, intention by the teacher candidate, commitment by the cooperating teacher, the amount of time in EFE, differences among four programs, and differences among four subject matter fields. In addition, multiple regression analysis procedures were used to determine the value of those 13 variables for predicting the use of each of 15 behaviors during student teaching.;The findings support the following conclusions: (1) There is a relationship between the degree of commitment by the cooperating teachers to the 15 teacher behaviors and the use of all of the 15 teacher behaviors by the student teacher. (2) There is no relationship between the number of clock hours of early field experience and the use of the 15 teacher behaviors in student teaching. (3) As one in a set of 13 predictor variables, the teacher candidates' intentions to use the 15 teacher behaviors in student teaching is significantly related to the use of only five of the 15 teacher behaviors. (4) As two in a set of 13 predictor variables, observation and practice in early field experience are not significantly related to the use of the 15 teacher behaviors in student teaching. (5) Four subject fields and four university teacher education programs as eight in a set of 13 predictor variables are not significantly related to the use of the 15 teacher behaviors in student teaching.