Classroom climate and students' goal preferences: a cross-cultural comparison

Goal preferences indicate intentions to achieve or avoid particular states. We examined whether Curacaoan and Dutch students differ in goal preferences related to school and whether goal preferences are associated with students' evaluation of the classroom climate. Measurement invariance of the instruments was also tested between samples. Participants attended vocational high schools in Curacao ( N = 276) or in the Netherlands ( N = 283). Both the classroom climate and goal preferences differed between the samples. In the Netherlands the preference for individuality, belongingness, and recognition was stronger, whereas in Curacao mastery, satisfaction, self-determination, and material gain were more frequently endorsed. The two variables were modestly correlated. Schools do have a globalizing effect on students' school experiences and hardly adapt to goal preferences. The latter seem to be affected by non-school related cultural factors.     

Classroom Climate and Political Learning: Findings from a Swedish Panel Study and Comparative Data

Numerous studies have shown that an open classroom climate for discussion increases students' civic knowledge. However, most previous studies draw on cross‐sectional data and have not been able to show that the effect is causal. This article presents results from a Swedish panel survey following students during the first year in the gymnasium (upper secondary level). Using this study, we are better equipped to evaluate the link between an open classroom climate and political knowledge. Results suggest that the effect is causal. A 10% increase in open classroom climate is associated with about 5 percentage points higher knowledge. The beneficial effect of an open classroom climate is an important insight that should be seriously considered not only by researchers but also by educational policy makers, school managements, and teachers.     

班级环境变量对儿童社会行为与学校适应间关系的影响

运用同伴提名和问卷法,对82个城市初中班级的4650名学生进行了测试,并使用多水平分析技术探讨了班级环境变量对儿童社会行为和学校适应间关系的影响。结果显示：儿童的亲社会行为可以显著地正向预测其同伴接受和学业成就,儿童的攻击、退缩行为对学业成就和同伴接受有明显的负向预测效果;在班级环境变量方面,老师支持可以减弱退缩行为和学校适应间的负向联系;老师训诫不仅可以减弱攻击行为与同伴接受间的负向关联,并且对退缩行为与学业成就之间的负向联系也具有削弱效果;同学关系这一变量的班级效果最为明显,可以明显地增强儿童问题行为与学校适应间的负向联系;而班级秩序纪律对攻击行为和学校适应间的负向关联有明显的强化效果。     

An on site stress workshop for teachers: The creation of a therapeutic group environment

This paper describes an ongoing stress workshop conducted for 5 years in an elementary school. The school was located in an economically deprived area in the Bronx, New York. Similarities and differences between on-site workshops and therapy groups are discussed. The developmental stages of the group and its corresponding issues are analyzed in terms of group process, transference, and resistance. Illustrative vignettes are presented. The positive effects of group dynamic and group therapy interventions on the participating group as well as on nongroup personnel is demonstrated. Suggestions for adapting group therapy methods in school settings are also presented.This paper was presented as a poster at the Annual Conference of the American Group Psychotherapy Association held in Atlanta, Georgia, February 1995.     

Association of parent,coach, and peer motivational climate with high school athlete burnout and engagement: Comparing mediation and moderation models

The purpose of this study was to (1) examine the direct association of parent-, coach-, and peer-initiated motivational climate with high school athlete burnout and engagement and (2) evaluate whether peer-initiated motivational climate mediates or moderates the association of coach-initiated motivational climate with burnout and engagement. Athletes (n = 150) completed a survey on their perceptions of parent-, coach-, and peer-initiated motivational climate, burnout, and engagement. Findings supported the mediation model, but not the moderation model. In addition to mastery and performance climate direct effects, significant medium-to-large indirect pathways from coach mastery climate → peer mastery climate → burnout, β = -.15, 95% CI [-.333, −.009], and coach mastery climate → peer mastery climate → engagement, β = .19, 95% CI [.020, .293] were observed. Findings support that a parent, coach, and peer-initiated mastery motivational climate was associated with burnout and engagement while a performance climate was mostly unrelated to these indices of athlete well-being. In addition to direct associations with burnout and engagement, coaches also had an indirect association through peer mastery-initiated motivational climate. Findings advance understanding of how parents, coaches, and peers conjointly shape athlete burnout and engagement.     

School social climate and teachers’ perceptions of classroom behavior problems: a 10 year longitudinal and multilevel study

Using longitudinal and cross-sectional data, the present research sought to identify school social climate predictors of teachers’ perceptions of classroom behavior problems. The social climate and classroom behavior in 107 public and private French speaking Canadian high schools was evaluated by 1399 teachers. The present analysis is unique in its ability to control for school differences in the enrollment of students with a history of problem behavior. As hypothesized, between-school variation in the proportion of students with histories of disruptive problems predicted high school classroom behavior problems. Moreover, when controlling for these between-school differences, concurrently measured school-level variables (type of school, location of school, and academic emphasis) are found to be significant predictors of classroom behavior problems. The theoretical and practical implications of the present findings are examined and recommendations are made for future research.     

Impact of Teachers' Language Expression and Message Valence when Conveying Classroom-Compliance Instructions1

This study examines how the types of language expression and message valence used by teachers to convey classroom-compliance instructions affect elementary-school children's psychological reactance and their intention to follow instructions. Altogether, 178 elementary-school children (54% girls) participated in a mixed-design experiment. Participants read four self-developed cartoons, where a hypothetical teacher conveyed classroom-compliance instructions through four expressions, and responded to questions measuring psychological reactance and the intention to follow instructions based on the cartoons. The results showed that psychological reactance was relatively significant in the high-controlling language condition. In the low-controlling language condition, the approach evoked less psychological reactance and enhanced the intention to follow instructions, whereas avoidance did so in the high-controlling language condition. Our findings offer suggestions on how teachers can improve classroom management by altering their messages in accordance with the motivation characteristics of their students.     

Effect of the good behavior game on disruptive library behavior

A modification of the good behavior game was used to reduce disruptive behaviors during a weekly library period of children in a fourth-grade class. Modifications included student input in designing rules, attempts to state rules in positive terms, observation of class behavior in the experimental (library) setting as well as in a comparison (classroom) setting, and librarian involvement in instituting the game coupled with teacher involvement in delivering reinforcers. Reinforcers consisted of special classroom activities conducted by the teacher with winning team members. Modification of the good behavior game did not detract from its effectiveness in reducing disruptive and off-task behavior.     

同事公正氛围：构念、测量、效能与展望

以往对公正氛围的探讨主要集中于源自权威的公正氛围上,而对来自同事的公正氛围关注较少。同事公正氛围是指团队成员对团队内同事之间相互对待公正性的共同知觉。本文首先对比总结界定了同事公正氛围的概念,明晰了其结构维度与测量工具,然后着重梳理评价了同事公正氛围的影响效能。未来研究应致力于：加强探讨同事公正氛围的前因变量,探讨同事公正氛围影响效能的内在机制和边界条件,运用纵向设计研究同事公正氛围的形成机制及影响效能,以及探索同事公正氛围研究的本土化。     

组织氛围研究：概念测量、理论基础及评价展望

组织氛围是员工对组织环境的主观知觉。文章在回顾组织氛围研究起源、总结归纳组织氛围定义的基础上, 给出了组织氛围的新定义。组织氛围有个体、团队和组织三个分析水平, 分别对应着不同的测量方法。组织氛围与组织文化既存在区别又密不可分。组织氛围的形成机制及可能的影响因素常用社会信息加工、社会交互作用、吸引选择磨合、涌现和意义建构等理论来解释。未来研究应进一步加强对组织氛围概念、研究方法、影响因素等方面的深入探讨, 拓展组织氛围的跨文化及其差异研究。     

Job Stress and Organizational Learning Climate

Job stress may depend on the organizational learning climate, the organizational factors that affect learning how to cope with the rapid external and internal changes in working life. The relationship between individual job stress and the individual perception of learning climate was studied among 383 employees in the Norwegian Postal Service and in various community health care institutions. Mismatch between individual perceptions of learning climate and the averaged evaluation of learning climate in the rest of the working group, was found to be an important source of stress. Individuals who perceived the learning climate as good and who were working in a group that agreed with this position, had a low job-stress level. This may be ascribed to their feeling of control over the work situation and reduced demands due to the social support from the group, producing a low job stress level.     

Do sales and service compete? The impact of multiple psychological climates on frontline employee performance

This research examines how employees’ climate perceptions – or psychological climate – influence their performance of climate-related outcomes. We focus on two specific climates arguably most relevant to boundary-spanning organizations: service and sales climates. Building from the resource-allocation framework, the authors examine the way employees reconcile these multiple psychological climates. Polynomial regression and response surface modeling are used to test for the influence of these distinct climates on employee outcomes using a sample of 252 marketing employees and their 68 immediate supervisors. Specifically, the authors examine relationships between service and sales climates and the employee performance outcomes of customer satisfaction, helping behavior, effort, and sales performance. Results provide insight into the benefits and pitfalls of sales and service climates co-existing. Specifically we find that while sales effort is highest in climates that heavily favor sales, sales performance may exist in both sales-favored and service-favored climates (yet not in the presence of both). From a customer satisfaction perspective we find no significant impact of increasing sales climate in the presence of high service perceptions. These findings – both significant and non-significant – provide implications for future research in the realm of service-sales ambidexterity and interface as well as insight and direction for frontline managers.     

Pedagogical issues in the teaching of classroom guidance curriculum—a hybrid Hong Kong case

Unlike many other places in the world, guidance lessons in Hong Kong are taught mainly by class teachers rather than school counsellors. Given the unique educational context of Hong Kong as East meets West and given that guidance is essentially a concept from the West, it is important to investigate what kind of pedagogy is suitable for teaching guidance in Hong Kong. This paper examines what teaching guidance lessons are like in Hong Kong for the researcher and for some primary teachers. A qualitative case study methodology is used. Data are drawn from the author's own experience in a primary school teaching attachment and interviews with guidance professionals, primary school principals, teachers and students in three selected primary schools in Hong Kong. Pedagogical issues for the teaching guidance curriculum are explored and discussed. The researcher argues for a hybrid guidance pedagogy for the teaching of classroom guidance in Hong Kong. Findings are applicable to countries facing similar issues in parallel mixed cultural settings.     

An experimental approach to language training in second language acquisition: Focus on negation

The effect of negation training in a second language on the expression of negation in the native language was investigated. Four-year-old children from bilingual (Spanish/English) homes who showed no expressive or receptive ability in Spanish negation and were either proficient or nonproficient in English negation received Spanish negation training. Children who were proficient in English negation maintained correct responses in English and showed increased correct responses in Spanish following simultaneous training in both languages or in Spanish alone. Children who were nonproficient in English negation demonstrated a decrease in correct English responses following training in Spanish alone; however, children who received training in English and Spanish simultaneously showed increases in correct responses in both languages. These findings suggest that language training programs with children learning a second language should consider the relationship of the two language training conditions (simultaneous vs. independent) with the child's level of native language proficiency.     

中学校风因素结构的探索性分析

本研究结合国内外相关研究,探索了校风的内涵、外延,并在此基础上,通过开放式调查、深度访谈、问卷初测和正式施测,使用探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析等方法探索了校风的因素结构。本研究认为校风的因素结构包括学生风气、教师风气和组织风气三个二阶因子和十三个一阶因子,本问卷具有良好的信度和效度,可以作为评定中学校风的工具。     

组织创新气氛的研究进展与展望

组织创新气氛（organizationalinnovationclimate）是组织成员对组织环境创新特性的一致性认知。在文献研究的基础上,文章从组织创新气氛的概念与形成、结构与测量、组织创新气氛与创新绩效的关系等方面,对国内外组织创新气氛研究进行了归纳概括,指出了该研究领域存在的问题,并提出了一些具体的改善建议     

小学教师课堂信息加工能力的研究

研究采用小学语文和数学教学录像为实验材料,以98名小学语文数学教师、其他学科教师和非教师为研究对象,运用反应时测量法探讨小学教师加工不同类型课堂信息的速度和辨别能力。结果表明:有学科教学经验的教师(语文和数学教师)在重视学科教学内容的同时,也重视课堂教学活动的组织和课堂气氛的调节;学科知识、学科教学经验和课堂教学经验对教师的课堂信息加工能力和教学专长发展有显著的影响;研究结论对提高教师课堂教学能力、教学专长以及教师培训提供了有力的实验证据。