Normative consciousness, principles, and frequency of talking in class: Focusing on within- and between-level factors

Abstract

This study investigated the factors that influence the frequency of talking in class, focusing on within- and between-level factors. Four hundred and thirty-nine junior high school students completed a questionnaire evaluating their own and others’ (i.e., people near the respondent in the classroom) normative consciousness, frequency of talking, etc. Regression analysis showed that the students’ own normative consciousness and others’ frequency of talking had negative and positive relationships, respectively, with the students’ own frequency of talking. In addition, the effects of principles (i.e., types of attitudes, such as “obedient” or “deviant”) were assessed. Hierarchical linear modeling of the students’ principles (within-level) and the proportion of each principle in each classroom (between-level) was performed. Of the within-level factors, “obedient” had a negative relationship and “deviant” had a positive relationship with the frequency of talking. As for the between-level factors, “obedient” had a negative relationship with the frequency of talking despite its low proportion (31%), and “conforming” had no relationship with the frequency of talking, even though its proportion was higher (47%) than that of “obedient”. This implies that some students influence the whole classroom’s frequency of talking.