Scheduled for Pedagogy II Free Communications: Exploring Issues Related to Instruction, Thursday, April 3, 2003, 8:45 AM - 10:00 AM, Convention Center: 307AB


French Canadian Physical Education Teachers' Usage of Mosston Spectrum of Teaching Styles

Dominique Banville1, Jean-Francois Richard2 and Gilles Raiche2, (1)George Mason University, Manassas, VA, (2)University of Moncton, Moncton, NB, Canada

Many theoretical models have been developed so far to identify teaching styles used by teachers (e.g. Grasha, 1994; Mosston, 1990; Trigwell & Prosser, 1996). The model developed and refined by Mosston (1966,1990, Mosston, & Ashworth, 1994) has been a popular feature in physical education (PE) teacher training in the United States and in other countries such as Canada, England (Mellor, 1992), and Finland (Telama, 1992). While many studies have been performed to determine which style leads to better learning, little is known about the usage of the various styles. The purpose of this presentation is to identify the extent with which French-Canadian PE teachers use the teaching styles, and to determine if demographic characteristics have an impact on styles used. This research is part of an international effort to identify teaching styles used by PE teachers around the world. A questionnaire developed and validated by Kulinna, Cothran, and Zhu (2000) to identify PE teachers' usage and perceptions of the 11 styles as described by Mosston and Ashworth (1994) was used. The questionnaire is comprised of 11 scenarios describing what a PE teacher typically does when using the different styles. Each scenario contains a series of questions related to the use and perception of the style. Each questions is to be answered using a 5-level Likert scale (never to always; strongly agree to strongly disagree). The questionnaire was translated into French using a cross-cultural protocol (Banville, Desrosiers, Genet-Volet, 2000). Elementary and secondary French-Canadiens PE teachers from Quebec and New-Brunswick answered the questionnaire (n=398). The results show that reproductive styles (Command to Inclusion) are used more often than productive styles (Guided Discovery to Self-Teaching); the Practice style was identified as the most popular. Statistical analyses (descriptive, ANOVA, MANOVA) were performed to determine if demographic characteristics had any impact on the styles used. Significant differences were found with teaching levels, length and frequency of class, age of teachers, and class size. The overall low level of popularity of productive styles, which essentially represent a constructivist teaching paradigm, might be an indication that teachers lack the knowledge required to develop a curriculum that will allow them to use these styles in the most opportune situation. In-service and better teacher preparation related to these styles should be provided to help develop curricula that will provide opportunities for students to experience learning situations in which they construct as well as reproduce motor and cognitive competencies.

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