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A descriptive study of problem-oriented parent-teacher conferences
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore and define what occurs during a problem-oriented parent-teacher conference with respect to verbal interactions and the use of problem-solving steps. Due to difficulties in developing a reliable coding scheme to assess quality of problem-solving, the questions of interest centered around investigating the verbal interactions between the teacher and parent with the exception of assessing teacher perceptions of level of problem-solving. More specifically, this study explored patterns in the verbal interactions between the teacher and parent, the role of the teacher in terms of control, and the effect of teacher experience and education on the level of teacher control. Results indicate teachers were significantly more domineering than parents during the conference. However, no significant difference was found between the level of dominance between parents and teachers. In addition, the level of teacher experience and education did not appear to significantly affect the level of teacher control in terms of teacher domineeringness or dominance. Of the total number of controlling messages made by the teacher, 86.3% were coded as instructional messages using the Relational Communication Analysis Record. In contrast, parents responded in a "neutralizing" way to all teacher messages 72.9% of the time. The majority of these messages could be considered a minimal expression by the parent to encourage the teacher to continue speaking. Therefore, it appears teachers took a domineering, instructional role during the conference, while parents took a more passive role. In addition, results indicate teachers have a positive perception of their skill level in problem-solving. Over 90% of the teachers indicated strong to moderate agreement with all of the statements on the Conference Evaluation Form with the exception of identifying the variables contributing to the problem and identifying the person responsible for each step of the plan. With respect to each of the problem-solving steps investigated, over 80% of the teachers indicated moderate to strong agreement.
Subject Area
Elementary education|Educational psychology
Recommended Citation
Allison, Janet Elaine, "A descriptive study of problem-oriented parent-teacher conferences" (1994). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9519524.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9519524