Culturele perspectieven op de leerkracht-leerling dynamiek en hun verband met executieve functies van kinderen
Year: 2024
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Executive function (EF) involves cognitive processes crucial for goal-directed behavior, fundamental to children's learning, social interactions, and overall well-being. EF develops significantly from childhood through young adulthood, with key growth during the preschool and primary school years. This development is enhanced by supportive environments, particularly through effective teacher-student interactions (TSI), which occur at both the dyadic and classroom levels. However, most research on TSI-EF relationships has focused on individualistic societies, potentially leading to biases in understanding across diverse cultural contexts. This dissertation uses a mixed-method approach, combining etic and emic perspectives and incorporating Hofstede's cultural dimensions to explore how TSI-EF relationships vary across cultures. It aims to identify both culturally universal and specific TSI components and contribute to theories on the universality and diversity of EF development. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the definitions of TSI and EF, highlighting the research gaps in cultural investigations. Chapter 2 presents a cross-cultural meta-analysis investigating the strength of the TSI-EF association and the moderating role of culture. This chapter identifies significant associations between both dyadic and classroom TSI with EF, with dyadic TSI showing larger effect sizes. These findings confirm the relevance of attachment theory, social learning theory, and socio-cultural theory in EF development, particularly highlighting the role of teachers as secondary attachment figures. Additionally, the results reveal a stronger dyadic TSI-EF association in collectivistic societies compared to individualistic societies, underscoring the importance of cultural context when applying attachment theory to teachers. Chapter 3 shifts to a qualitative approach, using meta-theme analysis to explore how dyadic TSI—conceptualized as 'closeness,' 'conflict,' and 'dependency' in individualistic cultures—is expressed and understood across different cultural contexts. The findings suggest that the concept of 'dependency' may have different interpretations across cultures; in collectivistic cultures, it may signify a positive bond, in contrast to its more negative interpretation in individualistic cultures. These cultural differences were further validated through quantitative analysis in Chapters 4 and 5. Chapter 4 adapts the most widely used dyadic TSI scale, the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale, by integrating both etic and emic perspectives to ensure cultural sensitivity. This adaptation confirms 'closeness,' 'conflict,' and 'dependency' as key dimensions in individualistic cultures, while identifying 'closeness,' 'conflict,' and 'supportive teaching' as crucial in collectivistic cultures. This challenges the reliance on attachment theory and individualistic pedagogy for conceptualizing dyadic TSI across cultures. The revised collectivistic model, which emphasizes a teacher-centered Confucian pedagogy, contrasts with the child-centered Socratic approach typical of individualistic contexts. This model was quantitatively validated in Chapter 5 through a cross-sectional study that included both etic and emic scales (i.e., STRS and STRS-R-China), re-examining the relationship between different dimensions of TSR and EF. The findings further support the role of supportive teaching as a culturally sensitive dimension in children's EF performance in collectivistic society. Moreover, Chapter 6 integrates these findings, discussing their theoretical and practical implications, and offering recommendations for future research. In summary, the findings reveal that culture significantly shapes the TSI-EF relationship, particularly in how attachment functions are defined and how dyadic TSI qualities relate to EF across various cultural contexts. This dissertation underscores the importance of integrating cultural perspectives on the construction of the 'self' and 'others' (e.g., individualism vs. collectivism) and educational traditions (e.g., Socratic vs. Confucian pedagogy) into theoretical models. Such integration is crucial for a deeper understanding of TSI formation and its relationship to children's EF development across diverse educational settings.
Source: Lirias
Author: Xu, Canmei
Institution: KU Leuven
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7037051387
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: