Relations between teacher-child interactions and children's learning and motivation in Finnish kindergartens
Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Finnish summaryThe present thesis focused on the predictive relations between the quality of teacherchild interactions and children's learning motivation, task avoidance, and academic pre-skills.The thesis had four aims: First, to examine the reliability and validity of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS Pre-K; Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008) in Finnish kindergartens.Second, to investigate the effects of teacher-child interactions on children's motivational outcomes, namely, task avoidance and learning motivation.The third aim was to examine the predictive role of teacher stress in kindergarteners' learning motivation and phonological awareness.The fourth aim was twofold: first, to investigate the predictive role of children's academic pre-skills in teacher-child interactions, and, second, to examine the influence of teacher-child interactions on academic skills.The data stem from the First Steps longitudinal study.Altogether 49 kindergarten teachers were observed using the CLASS instrument.Other sources of data utilized in the analyses include assessments of 1268 kindergarteners (655 boys, 613 girls) conducted in the beginning and in the end of their kindergarten year, questionnaires filled out by kindergarten teachers (n = 137) and children's mothers (n = 1028), and kindergarten teachers' ratings of task-avoidant behavior of the children in their kindergarten classroom.The results of the thesis suggest that the CLASS is a reliable and valid instrument for investigating teacher-child interactions also in Finnish kindergarten classrooms.Further, the results suggest that teacher-child interactions are important to kindergarteners' motivational outcomes.Children's task avoidance and learning motivation assessed at the end of their kindergarten year were related to their academic pre-skills.Moreover, learning motivation mediated the association between kindergarten teachers' stress and children's phonological skills.The results also suggest that kindergarten teachers adapt their classroom interactions in accordance with children's academic pre-skills.Overall, these results suggest that it is essential to study the actual practices and interactions in classrooms in order to determine how teacher-child interactions facilitate children's motivation and learning.
Author: Eija Pakarinen
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2225913649