On Worlwide Educators' Understanding Of Effective Teaching And Its Principles

Effective teaching(ET)has been attracting concern in the field of pedagogy around the world,and therefore there have been controversies on the understanding of ET and its principles.By summarizing the typical research,some differences exist among these theories;there are some common problems with them.One is that the theorists tend to ignore teachers' actual understanding when developing their theories.The other one is that they seldom take into account the new research derived from Mind,Brain,and Education Science,(MBE)Science.This research was conducted to observe worldwide teachers'understanding of effective teaching(ET)and its principles,and constructed a new version based on examining it from the perspective of(MBE)Science.The first research question and its supporting sub-questions aimed to examine how educators' understood(ET)and its principles,they also aimed to observe which principle the participants considered to be the most important to guide teaching.The scope of the first research question also considered the possibility of transforming the findings into practical applications.The second research question aimed to examine the educators' actual understanding of ET and its principles from the perspective of(MBE)Science by providing a new rationale or adjustment based on the scientific research from three specific theories from this academic area.They could also provide a theoretical,practical,and generative use of the theories.This study followed a mix-method approach through surveys and some interviews to find out the educators' actual understanding of ET and its principles and their extent of agreement with the new version that it was constructed.We also took a humanistic-pragmatic view of research.It means that in order to observe the phenomena under study it had to specifically consider individual perceptions of reality.We choose 292 participants for the study,covering different ages,different levels of teaching(primary,secondary and University),different working experience(1-20 years),different countries,different identities(teachers and educators),different subjects(128 of 292 people were language teachers).The initial survey had n=292 participants;and n=251 were in-service teachers from all over the world.Most of them were female n=217.57.5%.Most of them were between 21 to 65 years old.They belonged to 30 countries.48.63%of them had a master degree.Most of them worked in primary school,secondary school,or university.Their professional experience was between 1 to 20 years.The participants of the second survey were n=124,which is almost half of the original sample.The research design of the study was planned as follows.In order to solve the problem related to the understanding of the topics,two surveys were used to gather data;the initial and the confirmatory survey.Once the initial data was collected and analyzed(MBE)Science was used to find rationale for teachers' understanding of the topics.Based on that,we constructed the new version of the conception of ET and its principles.Then,the new versions were sent to the participants in order to be revised by means of the confirmatory survey,and attain their actual support and approval through their analysis.After all these processes,the new versions of the topics could be finally found,including the new conception of ET,a related taxonomy,and the hierarchy of the ET principles.The data was mainly analyzed under the framework of a content analysis method;specifically an inductive approach.All the analysis was performed by using ATLAS.ti.The overall results of this study were as follows.(1)According to the first survey,a new understanding of ET was found within the participants' opinions.First,they described the personal and professional characteristics of the effective teacher,which on their view,is fundamental to attain ET.The results also showed that ET encompasses the synergetic relationship and interaction of the core elements of teaching;teacher,learner,teaching,and learning.These elements were also bound to specific roles each of the 4 elements should posses or attain;the role of the teacher,the role of the student,the role of teaching,and the role of learning.Also,the teacher and the student were considered as agents,and therefore teaching and learning as actions,all equally necessary for ET.It also included the sub-interactions these elements could produce;Teacher-teaching,Teacher-learner,Teacher-learning,Teaching-learner,Teaching-learning,Learner-learning.A taxonomy of practical suggestions was conceived including 15 principles depicting several aspects of ET with actions to perform.The principles were related to;planning,instruction,assessment,connectivity and socialization,management,affective or emotional,effectiveness,professional traits,contextualization and appropriateness,engagement,attention,personal traits,effective learning,clarity,and cognition.These 15 principles depict a comprehensive view of the topic because the participants5 understanding included most of the elements of the general teaching and learning process.(2)According to the examination of the survey results from the perspective of(MBE)Science,the results seemed to be encouraging because most of the results depicting teachers'understanding were supported by this academic field because it could provide a theoretical,practical,and research generative support.To be more specific,the supporting rationale for ET and its principles was made by using 3 specific theories of MBE science.Similarly,each principle of ET was also associated with other related theories found within(MBE)Science.These processes allowed a reconstruction of the visions of(ET),and its principles by using both,teachers' understanding of the topics and(MBE)Science.These results were then sent to the participants for revision.(3)The results of the second survey showed that the 124 participants agreed with the overall findings of the study.A hierarchy for the principles could be constructed,which stated that 'the planning principle' is the most important principle to be followed and to guide the rest.Therefore planning should be what guides and supports the rest of the principles.There are some issues related with the results need to be discussed.Firstly,the new version is constructed based on the actual understanding of front-line educators and the examination from the perspective of(MBE)Science,which is the combination of theory and practice.(MBE)Science is only a perspective,not a substitute for all theoretical perspectives,and the understanding of effective teaching should be comprehensive.However,this perspective is helpful to supplement the current theoretical research.Secondly,the construction of the ET principle taxonomy is helpful to provide guidance for practice,but due to the excessive number of principles,teachers can only design and reflect their own teaching practice by relating some of them with the specific teaching context.Meanwhile,the hierarchical structure of ET principles proposed in this study shows that some principles(such as the planning principle)are paid more attention to while others are paid less attention.However,in teaching practice,it seems difficult to say,violation of the highest teaching principles in the hierarchy would yield the worst lesson,and vice versa.Thirdly,this is of great significance to the general understanding of ET and its principles.However,as this study has shown,there are some differences in the understanding of ET and its principles in different cultures.Nevertheless,the vast majority of understandings are universal,and building a universal framework of understanding is helpful in providing practical guidance.To conclude,this study finds that it is necessary to bring the practical understanding of front-line educators into the theoretical research,which helps to combine theory with practice.This research constructs a new understanding of effective teaching and its principles through the process of practice investigation and reflection,construction through comparison with theory,and reconstruction.It emphasizes the interaction of various elements and sub-elements of teaching.At the same time,this research constructs the taxonomy and the hierarchical structure of ET principles,which are theoretical supplements to the current research,and also helpful to guide the teaching practice.Thirdly,the first-line educators investigated in this study come from all over the world,and their different cultural experiences enhance the universality of this study.Finally,the introduction of(MBE)Science perspective makes the combination of theory and practice of this study more appealing,and adds new opinions to current teaching theories.