Effective Teaching: an Emerging Synthesis

Abstract

In this chapter we discuss research on effective teaching. Effective teaching can be defined in many ways including teacher behavior (warmth, civility, clarity), teacher knowledge (of subject matter, of students), teacher beliefs, and so forth. Here we define effective teaching as the ability to improve student achievement as shown by research. As noted, this is but one way to define effectiveness. However, teacher effects on student achievement are the preferred definition of high quality teaching by American policy makers, and those in many other countries as well. After discussing what is known about how effective teachers teach, we then turn to an examination of one of the many either-or debates about research on teaching. Our discussion focuses upon the strident but self-defeating arguments that student learn- ing is best described by a behavioral or a constructivist conception of learning. We contend that a more powerful explanation of good practice is achieved by combining these two theoretical approaches. We then present a brief discussion of teaching in Japan and the United States. Many policymakers have argued that American students would learn more if they were taught the way that Japanese students are. We will show that an analysis of nor- mative teaching in Japan corresponds to best practice teaching in the United States. Then we discuss one new direction in research on effective teaching. Some edu- cational researchers have recently argued the need to understand students as social beings and to explore the relationships between both teachers’ instructional support for students as well as their social and emotional support for learners if achieve- ment outcomes are to be understood. However, most research continues without this integration. Thus, we argue that research needs to become more integrative and to assume a more mature and more comprehensive approach to the study of teaching. We argue the need for looking at students both as learners and as social beings.