CHAPTER II

FLANDERS INTERACTION ANALYSIS CATEGORY SYSTEM

AND CONCEPTUAL ASPECTS OF PERSONALITY TRAITS

The problem of the present research is involving a

study of classroom behaviour of teacher-trainees having

different personality traits. The twenty two dimensions of

teaching behaviour according to Flanders Interaction Category

System as dependent variables and the twelve personality

factors as independent variables are accepted for the study

of teacher-trainees regarding classroom behaviour.

This chapter is divided into txiro sections :

(a) Flanders Interaction Analysis C at egory System; and

(b) Conceptual Aspects of Personality

2.1 (a) Flanders Interaction Analysis Category System (FIACS)

This (FIACS) technique was developed by Dr. Ned A.

Flander at the university of Minnesota between 1955 and

I960. It is an observation technique which records class­

room interaction in ten categories. This system measures

only the verbal behaviour of teachers. This tool which is

developed by Dr. Ned A. Flanders related children's attitudes

to patterns of teacher influence. Interaction analysis is

primarily concerned wi th analyzing the influence patterns

of the teacher, and distinguishes those acts of the teacher

which increase pupils' freedom of action from those acts

22

that decrease it. The system of categories forms a screen in front of observer's eyes so that those acts which result

in compliance are sharply separated from those that invite

more creative and voluntary participation while certain

aspects of subject matter are ignored.

2.1.1 Description of Categories

In the Flanders ten category system all the events that occur in the classroom are classified into three major sections: (1) Teacher-talk, (2) Student-talk, (3) Silence

or confusion. These sections are subdivided in order to make the total pattern of teacher pupil interaction more

meaningful. Teacher talk is divided into two sub-heads

viz., indirect influence and direct influence. Indirect influence consists of four observation categories : (l)

accepting feeling; (2) praising or encouraging; (3) accept­

ing ideas, and (k) asking questions. Direct influence is

divided into three categories (5) lecturing (6) giving directions, and (7) criticizing or justifying authority.

Student talk consists of only twl categories; (8) responding to teacher, and (a) initiating talk, and last

category which is silence or confusion, used to handle

anything else that is not teacher or student talk.

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2.1.2 Indirect Teacher Behaviour

Category 1 s Acceptance of Feelings

"The teacher accepts feelings when he says : he

understands how the children feel, that they have the right

to have these feelings, and that he will not punish the

children for their feelings. These kind of statements often

communicate to children both acceptance and clarification of

the feeling. Also included in this category are statements

that recall past feeling, refer to enjoyable or uncomfortable

feelings that are present, or predict happy or sad events

that will occur in the future.

Category 2 s Praise or Encouragement

Included in this category are jokes that release

tension, hit not those that threaten students or are made

at the expense of individual students. Often praise is a

single word : "good", "fine", or "right11. Sometimes the

teacher simply says, "I like what you are doing". Encourage­

ment is slightly different and includes statements such as

"Continue". "Go ahead with what you are saying", "Uh,

huh; go on; tell us more about your idea".

Category 3 J Accepting Ideas

This category is quite similar to category 1; however,

it includes only acceptance of student i deas and not

acceptance of expressed emotion. When a student makes a

2k

suggestion* the teacher may paraphrase the student's

statement, restate the idea more simply* or summarize what

the student has said. The teacher may also say, "Well,

that1s an interesting point of view. I see what you mean."

It is rather difficult to understand category 3, but the

teacher has to shift the idea of the pupil.

Category k : Asking Questions

This category includes only questions to which the

teacher expects an answer from the pupils. Questions that

are meant to be a swered are of several kinds. There is a

right or wrong answer of the question. Questions can be

very broad and give the student a great deal of freedom in

answering,

2.1.3 Direct Teacher Behaviour

Category 5 : Lecture

Lecture is the form of verbal interaction that is

used to give information, facts, opinions, or ideas to

children. The presentation of material may be used to

introduce, review, or focus the attention of the class on

an important topic. Whenever the teacher is explaining,

discussing, opining or giving facts or information,

category 5 is used.

25

Category 6 s Giving Directions

The decision about whether or not to classify the

statement as a direction or command must be based on the

degree of freedom that the student has in response to

teacher “direction.

Category 7 : Criticizing or Justifying .Authority

A statement of criticise- is one that is designed to

change student behaviour from nonacceptable to acceptable.

If the teacher is explaining himself or his authority,

defending himself against the student or justifying himself,

the statement falls in this category.

2.1.4 Student Behaviour

Category 8 t Student Talk ; Response

This category is used when the teacher has initiated

the contact or has solicited student-statements, when the

student answers a question asked by the teacher, or when he

responds verbally to a direction the teacher has given.

Category 9 : Student Talk t Initiation

In general, if the student raises his hand to make a

statement or to ask a question when he has not been prompted

to do so by the teacher, the appropriate category is 9.

26

2.1*5 Other Behaviour

Category 10 i Silence or Confusion

This category includes anything else not included in

the other categories. Periods of confusion in communication

when it is difficult to determine who is talking, are classi1fied in this category.

2.2 Procedure for Categorizing Teacher -Pupi 1 Interaction

The Flanders system of interaction analysis was

originally used as a research tool and continues to serve

this function. To record classroom behaviour, the observer

sits comfortatoly at a vantage point in the classroom from

where he can see conveniently and hear the students and the

teacher. He listens to the communication, decides category

that best represents the particular communication event and

writes down the relevant category number simutaneously

assessing the continuing communications. Every three

seconds the observer writes down the category number of the

interaction he has just observed. It is important to keep

the tempo as steady as possible, but it is even more crucial

to be accurate. He may use a tape recording for his

observations.

Edmond, J. Amidon and John, B. Hough: (Eds.)Interaction Analysis : Theory, Research and Applica­tion. Addison Wesley Publishing Company, London: 1967. pp. 121 to 124.

1.

27

AThe observ^stops classifying whenever the classroom

activity is changed so that observing is inappropriate as

for instance, when there are various groups urorking around

the classroom, or xtfhen children are working on work books

or doing silent reading. He will usually draw a line under

the recorded numbers, make a note of the new activity, and

resume categorizing when the total class discussion continues.

At all times the observer notes the kind of class activity

he is observing.

2.3 Recording Data in a Matrix

Frequency of occurrence of different categories can

be obtained by mere tallying. But more information can be

obtained from a 10 x 10 matrix. The preparation of the

matrix according to Flanders follows the folloxidng steps:

Step 1 : Add 10 in the beginning and in the end of the

series of observations, if not there.

Step XX : The observations are paired. In forming pairs

of observations, each number is used twice, excepting the

first and the last observations. The second number of the

first pair forms the first number of the second pair, the

second number of the second pair forms the first number of

third pair, and so on. The pairs will look like :

__ l_i 3 __ 5__ __7__ 9 11 1310 4___ 8 8_ 2 5 5 5 % ~8 3 5___5 9___10

2 *T” 5“ 5“" 10 12 nr

28

There are l4 failles. The fourteen tallies form

fourteen pairs of observations.

Step TXT : Tabulating Interaction Analysis Matrix

The tabulation of the matrix follows a convention,&

whereby the first number of any pair designates the r^Lw

and the second number designates the column. This way, all

the 100 cells in 10 x 10 matrix have their respective

addresses. Table 2*1 &ives addresses of each of the cells.

“Once observations have been grouped into pairs,

the pairs can be transferred to the matrix according to

their respective cell addresses as shown in the following

Table 2.1. It is better, if more space is provided to the categories 3»^ »^58^'and 9 in rows as well as columns, as

these categories usually carry higher frequencies than

others and consequently form more pairs. The pairs formed2in this section can be transferred to the eells in Table".

M.B, Bich (Ed.): Studies in Teaching and Teacher Behaviour, CASE, Baroda.University, Baroda, 1975. pp. 12 i-’ l6.

2

29

Table 2,1Cell Address in a 10x10 Matrix

C at e- gory

■ l 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 TotalRox«

1 i-i 1-2 1-3 1-4 1-5 1-6 1-f 1-8. 1-9 1-102 2-1 2-2 2-3 2-4 2-5 2-6 2-7 2-8 2-9 2-103 3-1 3-2 3393 3394 3-5 3-6 3-7 3-8 3-9 3-104 4-1 4-2 4-3 4-4 4-5 4-6 4-7 4-8 4-9 4-105 5-1 5-2 5-3 5-4 5-5 5-6 5-7 5-8. 5-9 5-106 6-1 6-2 6-3 6-4 6-5 6-6 6-7 6-8 6-9 6-107 77-1 7-2 7-3 7-4 7-5 7-6 v 7-7 7-8 7-9 7-108 8-1 8-2 8-3 8-4 8-5 8-6 8-7 8-8 8-9 8-109 9-1 9-2 9-3 9-4 9-5 9-6 9-7 9-8 9-9 9-1010 10-1 1-2 X 0 10-4 10-5 10-6 10-7 10-8 10-9 10-10TotalColumn

TotalMatrix

- Table 2.2Tabulation of the l4 pai r s

C st 0“ 1 2 3 4 5 b 7 8 9 10 Totalgory12 - a - - 1 - - - ■ - 13 - - - - 1 - - - 14 - - - - - - - 11 - 2567

- - a 1 Ill - - - 1 5

a a a a a

a a a

a a

Bi MB 1 1 - - - - 1 - 39 - a - - - - - a - 1 110 - - - 1 ■- - - a a 1Total - 1 1 2 5 - - 3 1 l 14The fourteen pairs entered into this matrix are given on page-iy *

30

(5) Teacher Question Ratio .....

(Category 4) x 100 (Category-*5+5")

(6) Instantaneous Teacher Question Ratio

(Cells (8-4)+(<?-4) x 100 (Cells jg-4)+(6-5)+(9-4)+(9-5)

*7)+ (9-1) +-6) + ( 9-7)

TOR

TQRgg

3* M.g, Buch (Rd.) s Studies in Teaching and Teacher Behaviour, CASE, Barodas 1975, pp. 13-14.

2.4 Computation of Classroom Interaction Variables^

The meaning and the significance of the interaction

variables be taken up in the section on "Int erection Pattsrna

in Indian Classrooms". Here only computational procedure

has been given* The interaction patterns given below are

computed from the 10x10 interaction matrix.

(1) Percent Teacher Talk

(Categories 1+2+3+4+5+6+7) x 100 Total of all categories

PIT

(2) Percent Pupil Talk

(Categories 8+9) x 100 Total of all categories

(3) Teacher Response Ratio .....

(Categories 1*2+3) x 100 1 , (Categories 1r2+ 3+ 6+7)

(4) Instantaneous Teacher Response Ratio

PPf

TRR

TRRjjQ■wav™.*

(Cells(8.-1)+(8-2)+(8.3)+(9-1)+(9-2)+(9-3) xl00+ +poo CD H*

CA

31

(7) Pupil Initiation Ratio ... PIR

(Category 9ft x 100 (Category 9+8^

(8) Pupil Steady State Ratio .... FSSR

(Cells (8-8)+ ( 9-9 ) x.100 Total of categories 8 and 9

(9) Steady State Ratio ... SSR

(Total 10 diagonal cells) x 100 Total of all categories

(10) Content Cross Ratio .... CCR

(Categories 4+5)xl00 Total of categories

(11) Indirect/lJirect Ratio X/d

(Categories l+2+3+^)Cat egori es l+6+ 7 )

(12) Revised Xndir ect Ratio ... i /dUirect

(Categories l+2+3)Categories 6+7)

2.5 Significance of TRR , T®R, PIE, TRRg^ TQRgcj, CCR,

S5R , PSSR , PTT ,~TpTT~i7TTand~i /d 4 ’

Teacher Response Ratio (TRR) :

Teacher Response Ratio indicates the teacher*s tendency

to react to the ideas and feelings of the students. The

ratio provides an index of the emotional climate in the

4. Ned A. Flanders^ Analyzing Teaching Behaviour,Addison Wesley Publishing Company, 197 0. PP. 87 -Tv 123.

32

classroom. The corresponding value of TSR norm given by

Flanders is 42. The responsiveness of the Indian Teacher

is higher than the American Teacher.

Teacher Question Ratio (TQR)

This ratio, as the nomenclature indicates, points to

the tendency of the teacher, to ask questions during the

more content oriented part of the class discussion. TQR

is 26 for an American Teacher according to Flanders.

Pupil Initiation Ratio (PIR)

Pupil Initiation Ratio indicates the proportion of

pupil talk, "judged to be an act of initiation". PIR has a

norm of 34 according to Flanders.

Instantaneous Teacher Response Ratio (TRRgg)

Instantaneous Teacher Response Ratio is "the tendency

of the teacher to praise or integrate pupil ideas and

feelings into the class discussion, at the moment the pupils

stop talking". (Flanders, 19?0s 104). TRRgg in Indian Class­

rooms under study was found to be 74.97® It is above the

normative expectation of about 60. '

33

Instantaneous Teacher Question Ratio (TQRg^)

Instantaneous Teacher Question Ratio indicates the

tendency of the teacher to respond to student talk with

questions based on his own ideas instead of lecture. In

Indian classrooms, the ratio worked out to be 50*27. The

corresponding American normative value of TQRg^ is about

Content Cross Ratio (QOS)

Content? Cross Ratio indicates the emphasis given to

the content coverage during classroom transactions. The CCjR

in Indian Classrooms worked out to be 59 which is close to

the American normative expectation of 55.

Steady State Ratio (SSR)

The Steady State Ratio reflects the tendency of teacher

and, pupil talk to remain in the same category for periods

longer than 3 seconds. The average of SSR is around 50.

Pupil Steady State Ratio (PSSR)

Pupil Steady State Ratio indicates the index for

tea cher behafiour and student behaviour respectively. The

3h

higher the SSR, or PSSR , the less rapid will be the transi­

tion in classroom behaviour of teachers and students. The

PSSR is averaged around 35 to 40*

Percent Teacher Talk (PTT)

In consists the verbal interaction which is used by/

the teacher in the classroom, that is, from the category 1 to

7 are the useful interaction. In Indian Classrooms and

American norms are the same : 68.

Percent Pupil Talk (PPT)

It consists the category 8 and 9. It is a verbal

interaction towards the teacher's question attitude. There

is norm of American 20 but in Indian Classroom i k* was found

19.

Indirec t /pi rect Ratio and Revised i/d Ratio

The teachers are very much direct in their talk it

is called i/d ratio. Indirect influence gives the pupils

freedom more. If the teacher speaks less and let the pupils

speak more in the response of. the teacher's work the i/d

ratio will give more response to the students. A Revised

i/d Ratio is employed in order to find out the kind of

emphasis given and motivation and control in a particular

classroom. This ratio eleminates the effects of categories

4 & 6, asking questions and lecturing, and gives evidence

/

35

about whether the teacher is direct or indirect in his

approach to motivation and control.

Table 2.3 below summarises the various ratios discuss­

ed above along with the corresponding American norms given

biy Flanders (1970).

Table 2.3

Interaction Ratios in Indian and American Classrooms.5

Wo. Interaction Variables

IndianClassrooms

American Norms (Approxi- mate)

1 PTT 68 68

2 PPT 19 20

3 Silence/Confusion

13 11 or 12

4 TER 55.42 42

5 THR89 74.97 60

6 TQR 16.32 2b

7 tQR89 50.27 44

8 PIR 11 34

9 PSSR 47 35-40

10 SSR 63 50

11 CCR 59 55

5. M»B. Bich. Op. cifc., p, 22.

i|

O

3 6

2.6 (b) Conceptual Aspects of Personality

Personality, of course, is not a veneer that can be

applied to a person by himself or by any one else, nor some­

thing he can turn on or off like on electric:current. Persona

lity has its roots in physical health, emotions, intelligence

knowledge, and ideals. It is the sum of a person's total

capacities and developed should be healthy, intelligent and

very diligent. He should have knowledge and ideals also.

So it is required for the society that there should he well-

adjusted teachers. Poorly adjusted teachers cannot be

useful to the society. So it is necessary to inquiry about

the concept of personality.

2.6.1 The Meaning of Personality

The word personality probably had its origin in the

Latin verb PERSONARE which means to SOUND THROUGH. This

term was used to describe the voice of an actor speaking

through a mask. At first the term PEESONA referred directly

to the mask worn by actors. Later it came to be applied

to the actors themselves. During earlj' Roman times, then,

personality was regarded as constituting what a person

seemed to be.

2.6.2 Various Definitions of Personality

The term personality has no standard meaning. There

are so many definitions for it. Some of the better known

attempts defining personality are presented below :

37

"Personality is that which makes one effective, or

gives one influence over others. In the language of psy­chology it is one's social stimulus value".^

"A ma ris personality is the total picture of his

organised behaviour, especially as it can be characterised

7by his fell ow men in a consistent way*1,'

According to Allport, "Personality is the dynamic

organisation within the individual of those psycho-physical

systems that determines his unique adjustment to his environ­

ment".8

Cat tell said, "Personality is that whi ch permits a

prediction of what a person will do in a given situation.

The goal of psychological research in personality is thus

to establish laws about what different peopld will do in

all kinds of social and general environmental situation...

Per sonality.

6. H.A. May : The Foundations of Personality; Whittlesey House, McGraw Hill Book Company, 1932, p. 82.

7. J*f• dashiel: Fundamentals of General Psychology, Houghton Mifflin Company, Bostans 1937. P> 579*

8. &•W. Allport| Personality. A Psychological Inter- preation, London: Constable and Company Ltd. 1937» Reprinted 1956, p. 48.

\

38

2.6*3 Empirical Studies of Traits

Woodworth said, "A trait can be thought of as a

behaviour tendency sociability is a tendency to behave

sociably, to seek company and to participate eagerly in group

activities. Assendance is a tendency to be masterful in any

situation, whether involving people or not".9

Psychologists usually define a trait as a mode of

behaviour. Allport believes that traits are "dynamic and

flexible dispositions, resulting, at least in part, from

the integration of specific habits expressing characteristics

models of adaptation to one's surroundings.

In short, a trait of perso nality means such a distinc­

tive character of a person's thoughts, feelings and actions/

as marks him off from other persons.

According to Ross Stagner, "... certain traits are

readily observables they appear in interpersonal contacts,

in one's xvay of doing a job, in responses to questionnaires.

These may be represented as being close to the surface of

the personality. They are likely to be readilj' modifiable

under environmental pressure. Jt seems appropriate to

follow CATTELb (1945) in designating them as surface traits.

9. Robert S. Woodworths Psychology., Methuen & Go. Ltd. London: 194-5, p. 159.

10. G-. W. Allport, Op. ci t. , p, 49.

39

Cheerfulness, liveliness* and quarrelsomeness would be apt.If

example",

Difference between the Surface Traits and Source traits

of Personality by &.B« Cattell.^

Source traits may be thought of as understanding

structures, expressed not directly but the medium of the

surface traits. For example, we might think of a general

reactivity to social stimuli, lending unity to the apparent

inconsistency of a man who is above average on both friendly

and quarrelsome behaviour. This might also explain the

observation by Murphy (1937) that the children in her group

who were most often sympathetic were likewi se most often

agreesive in their relations to playmates. Source traits,

of course may be either common or unique, as may surface

traits.

How many surface traits there are, and how many source

traits, cannot be definitely stated, Allport add Odbert

counted 17, 953 trait names in English, but many of these

were synonymus and others represented temperory/ rather

than permanent trends. H ,B. Cafctell (19^5), making an

11. Hess Stagner : Psychology of Personality 3rd Edition, McGraw Hill Book Company , Inc., New York: 1961,pp. 163 165,

12. Tbid

40

exhaustive study of ratings, found, a total of 131

"phenomental clusters", or common traits. These grouped

themselves readily into 50 "nuclear clusters" of related traits, which itt turn could be arranged in 20 "sectors

of the personality sphere".

Catfcell believes that he has effectively covered

the personality sphere with these 20 sectors : i.e. he

believes that any surface traits will be found to fit

snugly into one or another sector. A source trait however,

might underline several sectors.

Among the major source traits reported by Cat tell (1957) are cyclothymid versus schizothymia, ego strength

versus proneness to neurolicism, excitability, insecurity, dominance verses submissive, surgency (cheerful, energetic,

sociable) versus desurgency, superego strength, and several

others less clearly defined. The schizothyme factor is characterized by such surface traits as obstructive, con-

tankerous, rigid, secretive, suspicious, cautious; on the

other end, of course, bty easy going, warm hearted, frank, trustful, impulsive. It seems plausibte that there is some

common thread running through each group of surface traits, whi ch is precisely what Cattell is arguing. He is not: sure

4i

what this common thread is, but suggests that it may have

an innate basis, may involve frustration tolerance (the

cyclothymes having more tolerance), and may also relate

to ability to abandon habits which are not successful, We

can also suggest particularly in the and phase of develop-

ment on this dimension,

2,6.^ What a Good Personality is

To understand this, the interpretation of the words

good, desirable, and well -ad justed needs consideration.

Goodness may seem to have an ethical or moral significance

that would remove it from the vocabulary of the psychologist

interested primarily in attempting to explain human behaviour

rather than to pass judgement upon it. The term desirable

and well-adjusted have a social connection, depending upon

the standard set by society concerning what may be consi­

dered desirable or when a person is well adjusted.

Second, if personality is regarded not as an isolated

entity but an integration of traits or qualities, it

cannot be evaluated except in so far as observed behaviour

may seem to give evidence of the consistency of this or

that trait,

R,B. Cattell collected from 2Q8 directors, inspectors,

head and assistant teachers and others tests of traits which

they regarded as important in a TEACHER and boiled them down

into 22 major categories given here in order of frequency of mention:

42

1. Confidence, leadership2. intelligence3. id ealism4. general culture

5. kindness, friendliness6. enthusiasm7. knowledge of psychology and padogogy8. classroom technique9. persuance10. self control (stability marals)li. enterprise, courage, adventure12. sympathy and fact13. openmindedness, fairnessl4. sense,of humour and cheerfulness15. orderliness16. knowledge of subjects17. outside interest18. physical health19. presence (appearance and voice)20. alert mind, inquiring, critical21. social fitness, manners, and22. conservation, respect for tradition.

43

Looking to the above major categories the investigator

decided to use the l6 P».F« Scale by Cat tell and the

extrovert and introvert measuring inventory by Dr. A.S.

Patel to measure personality traits possessed by the

teachers to be included in the sample.