The Relationship between Espoused and Enacted Beliefs about Teaching Adults: A Photo-Elicitation Perspective

The Relationship between Espoused and Enacted Beliefs about Teaching Adults: A Photo-Elicitation Perspective Edward W. Taylor, Ed.D. Penn State Univer...
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The Relationship between Espoused and Enacted Beliefs about Teaching Adults: A Photo-Elicitation Perspective Edward W. Taylor, Ed.D. Penn State University – Capital College John M. Dirkx, Ph.D. Michigan State University Abstract: The use of the photo-elicitation technique is discussed as a means of studying the complex relationship between what teachers say they and what they actually do. Several strengths of the method and areas for concern are explored. Beliefs play a significant role in determining how we perceive, interpret, and organize information (Dewey, 1933; Schommer, 1990), representing reality and serving as a basis for action in the classroom (Pajares, 1992; Richardson, 1996). However, we have much to learn about teaching beliefs (Taylor, 1999), especially their relationship with what is actually done in the classroom. (Pratt, 1998, Richardson & Hamilton, 1994). Within the areas of reading/literacy and mathematics, for example, this relationship has received particular attention (K. E. Johnston, 1992; Fang, 1996; Richardson & Hamilton, 1994). Research supports the “notion that teachers do posses theoretical beliefs towards reading and that such beliefs tend to shape the nature of their instructional practices” (Fang, 1996, p. 52). Other studies, however, suggest that the challenges of classroom teaching often constrain the teacher’s ability to provide instruction that are congruent with their beliefs (Davis, Konopak & Readence, 1993). Despite teachers’ espoused beliefs, studies suggest that teachers’ actions are significantly influenced by classroom contexts. Much of the problem in understanding this relationship resides in the various methodologies used to explore this phenomenon. Richardson and Hamilton (1994) argue measurement and design issues might account for part of the disagreements observed. Through the use of an anthropological belief interview method and open-ended conversations using the teacher’s language, they suggest that private beliefs about teaching are elicited which prove to be consistent with actions. Some studies have also been done which use multiple observations and video recordings (e.g, Richardson & Hamilton, 1994; K. E. Johnston, 1992), in which videotaped segments of teacher practice is then compared to their espoused beliefs. However, despite these advancements in design, a number of methodological problems still remain in exploring the relationship between espoused and enacted beliefs. Some teachers do not reflect deeply about their practice and may not be verbally explicit about their work. Identifying and describing the underlying assumptions that shape their practice can be quite challenging. In addition, beliefs generally operate on a subconscious level. Beliefs are not easily “articulated without some assistance” (S. Johnston, 1992, p. 125), making it difficult to identity and describe them deeply. Finally, observations or video recordings of teachers in practice are often interpreted and analyzed from the perspective of the researcher. The researcher observes the teacher and sees if her actions match his or her espoused beliefs. But teachers’ actions could be misinterpreted, along with their associated beliefs. It is just as likely that the teacher is making-meaning of an event in the classroom differently than the researcher’s interpretation and therefore their actions are reflective of different beliefs about teaching. Photo-elicitation or photo interviewing is a promising approach to these methodological concerns. Photo-elicitation is the use of photography as a medium for exploration into the 275

personal and subjective experience (Tucker & Dempsey, 1991; Norman, 1991). It stimulates the interview process with the expressed intent to explore the “participants values, beliefs, attitudes, and meanings and in order to trigger memories...” about their teaching experience (Prosser, 1998, p. 124). Moreover, photographs used in interviewing Ask their own questions which often yield unpredictable answers. The imagery dredges the consciousness (and subconsciousness) of the informant and in an exploratory fashion reveals significance triggered by the photographic subject matter. The content of the imagery which photographically is an outside view is used projectively with informant to give us an inside view of our research territory. (Collier, 1979, p. 274, original emphasis) Photography and language are interdependent mediums for expression that have the potential to assist each other in making meaning of an experience. According to Weade and Ernst (1990), When descriptions and interpretations are generated for what is seen, language provides a ‘frame’ for the visual experience. Language, then provides ways of assigning meaning to what we encounter visually, and it enables us to extend and enhance our interpretations of what we see. (p. 133) When used during an interview, photographs provide a frame for language, a place in which to focus the meaning-making process, and a catalyst that can extend and enhance the interpretation of what the participants’ believe about the subject under study. As Collier (2001) suggests, “The richest returns from photo-elicitation can often have little connection to the details of the images, which serve only to release vivid memories, feelings, insight, thoughts and memories” (p. 46). When photography is used in settings where there can be multiple perspectives of an event, they spontaneously invite and encourage open expression and rapport that a verbal interview alone could not as easily accomplish. Used often in other fields such as sociology and anthropology, the method, however, has received little attention in the field of education. We argue that photo-elicitation provides a means to better understand the relationship between espoused and enacted beliefs. In this particular study, it also offers a collaborative approach to inquiry. Instead of the researcher interpreting a video observation of a teaching episode and looking for consistency with espoused teaching beliefs, a video recording of the teaching experience is used to stimulate the interview process with participant. This approach provides a space for both the researcher and the participant together to make meaning of the teaching episode. In this paper, we discuss and explore photo-elicitation interviewing technique in the study of beliefs among teachers of adults. Description of the Methodological Approach The methodological design most appropriate for understanding the application of the photoelicitation interviewing technique is an interpretive qualitative approach (Merriam, 1998). A qualitative approach that incorporates videotape recording allows for a descriptive understanding of the participants’ beliefs about teaching adults and how they were enacted in practice. To explore the application of the photo-elicitation technique in this manner, eleven teachers of adults who taught in computer-mediated settings with similar students were purposively selected. Participating teachers included trainers, occupational educators, software instructor, and a librarian. Each participant was interviewed twice, once before and again after a videoed observation of his or her teaching. The first semi-structured interview, about 60 minutes in length, focused on espoused beliefs about teaching. After the initial interview, a video recording of one teaching session of each participant, ranging from 45 minutes to more than three hours in 276

length, was completed. The second interview used the video recording of the participant’s teaching episode as a prompt. Recorded segments were played back during the interview and, as the video played, teachers were asked open-ended questions about the events being observed. The intent here was to further elicit teachers’ descriptions, interpretations, and underlying assumptions of their actions. Transcriptions of both interviews and observation data were analyzed using a constant comparative method (Strauss, 1998) and findings were then organized into categories and themes using a graphic organizer to display dominant themes. To enhance trustworthiness of the findings, multiple data sources were used and multiple researchers came together to jointly analyze the data.

The Relationship between Espoused and Enacted Beliefs To ground our analysis of the photo-elicitation method, we provide a couple examples of findings derived through this study. The findings reveal a high degree of consistency between espoused and enacted beliefs, particularly among participants’ core beliefs. Core beliefs are teaching beliefs that are central to an individual’s practice, usually remaining constant across contexts. For example, Joan, a computer instructor, espoused a core belief that reflected a student-centered practice - making the needs and interest of students primary in the classroom. For example, she strongly believed it important to ensure that students feel comfortable and safe when using a computer. In her first interview, she described her primary goal as an educator: “To decrease intimidation with technology…making people comfortable with it is usually the very first thing I need to do.” In her second interview, involving the photo-elicitation, she described her actions in the classroom: “I just want them to be comfortable with what they’re doing, and the more comfortable they are with it, the more they’re apt to not get so tense when they make a mistake.” This core belief about students’ feelings in the classroom is so central to Joan’s practice that, even when she experiences an unforeseen circumstance (a change in context), her core belief shapes her response, placing the feelings of the student first. In this particular case, her computer overhead projector failed and she describes her actions and the reasons behind them. She states “there was no happy medium, so you just have to roll with it, so they [students] don’t get frustrated.” In a second example Ernie, who is librarian, offers a contrasting view that reflects a more teacher-centered orientation. He describes his approach to teaching in the first interview: “I am facing a group of students in a traditional classroom environment…where you have students in rows of desks and chairs…[and] where the teacher is the leader commanding the students. In the second interview when describing the reason behind his classroom arrangement, he states: “It shows that I’m in charge, and for the student, I think it sets a tone. It’s a legacy arrangement, if you will, [students] are more passive and I’m more the active.”

Lessons Learned about the Use of the Photo-Elicitation Technique In the remaining discussion, we will focus on what we have learned about the use of the photo-elicitation technique in the study of teacher beliefs. We first discuss several advantages of this method and then several significant issues. 277

The photo-elicitation technique has the potential to help make explicit what teachers hold true about their teaching practice. For example, Anita, a CAD instructor, espoused a strong belief in the overall aim of her teaching as fostering problem-solving skills and abilities among her learners. Observations by the researcher revealed that Anita helped learners walk through problems that they encountered in attempting to do their drawings. However, the observation, also suggested some subtle deepening or complexities of the beliefs she described in the interviews. For example, how she described problem solving in the interviews conjured up in the researcher’s mind one particular image of activity. Watching what she actually did, however, seemed less consistent with the image derived from her description. The photo-elicitation technique allows the teacher, as she watches and describes her interactions with learners on video, to more fully develop the image in her own words. This approach avoids introducing the researcher’s rendering and interpretation of her actions into the follow-up interview. If the video was not available, the researcher would have to describe to the teacher what he or she thought she was doing, and then ask her to relate it with what she described in the interview. In other words, the researcher’s verbal picture of her doing is mediating the reflective process. The photoelicitation process allows her to directly observe her actions, unencumbered by the researcher’s words or images. Therefore, beliefs derived simply from biographical interview provide us with a kind of "script" of the teacher's thought processes as they relate to classroom actions. At one level, this script might appear to be more or less consistent with what we observe. Nevertheless, until we are able to allow the teachers themselves to describe what it is they were doing and why, this notion of whether beliefs and actions are consistent or inconsistent may remain shrouded in uncertainty and ambiguity. In essence, the photo-elicitation technique provides a “mutual visual context” that can be seen by both the researcher and the participant when making meaning of the participant’s beliefs about teaching adults. This visual context allows for a shared a reference point that not only stimulates a deeper dialogue about the participant’s subjective view of teaching, but also provides points of interest that both the researcher and the participant can probe for greater clarity. The use of photo-elicitation can also serve as a tool to promote reflective learning on the part of the teacher (McDonald & Krause, 1995). The video not only helped the researcher probe for implicit thoughts about teaching, but also offered a window for the participant to reflect on their teaching practice. For example, during the second interview with Bill, a computer software instructor, the researcher played a video segment of Bill’s teaching students how to make banners in a word processing software. Bill observed, They made different things and they played with different parts a little bit, but they really didn’t sit down and say here’s my Halloween banner or whatever. When I reflect on it afterwards, if I was to do something over with the class, what I would have done is try to do less talking and let them to more of the learning. In addition, only the teacher knows most clearly what resonates with him or her in the video, while for the researcher it is often a matter of guesswork. Therefore, engaging in a collaboratively making meaning process of the video segments increases the likelihood for reflective moments to emerge, like the example illustrated by Bill. 278

Video recording also offers multiple sites of investigation in the photo-elicitation process. Often the recording will capture events, activities, and actions of the teacher that both the researcher and the teacher were unaware of during the original classroom observation. Furthermore, the recording is temporal in nature, covering a period of time in the classroom, not a single moment. This evolving process has the potential to reveal patterns of behavior and habitual responses by the teacher. For example, there were multiple situations where Joan’s core belief of student-centeredness manifested itself in the classroom, which provided greater clarity and description of the core belief. Furthermore, this ongoing view of the teacher’s actions can help create a “Gestalt” of the teaching practice, where not only the individual actions within video recording can be explored, but also the relationship between the actions. Using the video recording to probe for clarification results in a richer understanding about the participants’ beliefs about teaching adults. Despite the strengths that emerged from using the photo-elicitation technique, we observed several unintended consequences. The video camera is a potentially intrusive device within the learning setting, creating anxiety and stress for the teacher being observed and recorded. As the teachers immersed themselves in their teaching, however, this effect was less evident and they often forgot about the camera and the observer. For a few interviewees, the experience seemed somewhat uncomfortable and anxiety provoking. For example, it was quite clear that Anita was very self-conscious through much of the feedback process. She often just glanced at the segment selected and then turned her eyes away from the video monitor, looking to the floor or off to the side as she talked and the video continued to run. While not objecting, she seemed clearly uncomfortable with the process. Some of the others did not display such marked discomfort over the process, but they exhibited a kind of curiosity about the projection that might have been somewhat distracting to the purpose at hand. For example, one could obsess about how one looks on camera. There is also the potential for this process to evoke defensive explanations for what is observed that have little to with deeply felt beliefs or values. In a sense, they might simply provide justification for what they observe, rather than offering insight into their core beliefs. If the video suggests disconnects with what they described earlier, the teachers may want to justify rather than acknowledge the disconnect. There is a seductive aspect to this method, where we might assume that interpretation of the visual representation of reality is something easily accomplished and mutually understood. However, as mentioned in the previous example involving Anita and her understanding of problem solving, it was quite apparent that both the researcher and teacher had different interpretations of what was happening in the video. Therefore, it is imperative that the researcher, stay vigilant in not making conclusions too quickly about what is happening in the video. How an interview is conducted using a photo-elicitation and what the data means needs to be given considerable thought.

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Implications Our use of the photo-elicitation technique in the study of teacher beliefs suggests that it is a potentially powerful method for developing a deeper understanding of the relationship of a teacher’s espoused beliefs to actions taken within the learning setting. It is an underused technique within the study of teachers of adults that should be more widely incorporated into such research studies. This method provides a means of fostering a more reflective and dialectical stance among teachers toward what they believe about teaching and what they do as teachers. Furthermore, this technique provides a framework for approaching the study of teaching more collaboratively, in which the meaning of what is happening within a classroom is jointly constructed by the researcher, teacher, and perhaps even the learners. While we did not incorporate learner review of the videotaped segments, such an approach seems promising. There are, however, several concerns arising from the use of this technique, which caution us to proceed carefully with the method.

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Understanding the Zone of Proximal Development in Adult Literacy Learning Maurice Taylor - University of Ottawa Judy King - University of Ottawa Christine Pinsent-Johnson Ottawa Carleton District School Board Abstract: The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate how adult learners in formal literacy classroom programs improve their reading and writing skills through scaffolding and guided participation. An early organizing framework emerged that depicts four major types of collaborative practices used among peers as they move towards the Zone of Proximal Development.

It has been argued that literacy is a social cultural process where one becomes literate within a social context as an extension of relationships with other people (Kirshner & Whitson, 1997). Studies from early literacy development such as the work of Neuman and Roskos (1997) suggest that literacy settings include not only physical surroundings but human relationships that determine when, how often and in which situations learners use the cultural tools of literacy. As Christie and Stone (1999) point out higher order cognitive functioning, such as reading develops in a collaborative social context. To date, there is a paucity of empirical evidence that looks at the relationship between adult literacy learners and their classroom peers in the acquisition of reading and writing skills. The research questions of this study were (1) how does scaffolding and guided participation occur in an adult literacy classroom? (2) what teaching methods and learning materials are best suited to support scaffolding and guided participation among adult literacy learners? Conceptual Context The concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is central to Vygotsky’s position that learning moves from an initial form of guided learning to later independent learning (1978). He proposed that there are two developmental levels. The first he termed actual development and defined it as “the level of development of a child’s mental function determined by independent problem solving” (p. 86). The second level of potential development was defined as “that which a child can achieve if given the benefit of support during the task. It is the ability to solve problems under the guidance or in collaboration with more capable peers” (p. 86). Vygotsky suggested that there is always a difference between these two forms of development and that this gap is an indicator of the functions that have not yet matured but are in the process of maturation. It is this Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) that is critical for learning and instruction. To further explore the dynamics of the ZPD, Bruner (1986) devised the concept of scaffolding to explain how learning is fostered and how teachers define their role in it. For the 282

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