INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS USED BY TEACHER

EDUCATORS OF STATE COLLEGES

IN NEGROS OCCIDENTAL

KAREN LUZ TEVES, PhD.

Assistant Professor III

Negros State College of Agriculture

Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental

Rationale

An effective teacher is never

fully prepared for teaching,

but forever preparing.

There is no best way to teach a class but there are

many good ways.

The “assign, study and recite” method is not

applicable anymore, and a method which fails

with one student may be very helpful to another.

Limiting instruction to a classroom

recitation supported by traditional

textbooks will make lively subjects

dull for students.

In short, to be an effective teacher, one needs to

be versatile and should vary teaching methods in

different classroom situations.

Unfortunately, a vast majority of teachers

utilized only few methods and often only

one, limiting their overall effectiveness.

When a teacher depends on one method,

students will be bored and boredom will

easily create learning problems.

It is important that teachers utilize a number of

instructional methods, to be competent.

The selection of a particular instructional method

should be based on important factors such as

nature of the learner, school facilities and

equipment and the teacher himself.

The study of instructional methods used by teacher

educators, being the mentors of future basic education

teachers will provide insights on how to promote more

effective teaching and learning situations.

This study determined the instructional methods used by

teacher educators of State Colleges in Negros Occidental

during the Academic Year 2006-2007. Specifically the

study sought to answer the following questions :

1. What was the demographic and academic

background of teacher?

2. What were the personal profile and major fields of

specialization of education students?

Statement of the Problem

3. What were the factors associated with the selection

and utilization of instructional methods as regards :

3.1 extent of use;

3.2 effectiveness of instructional methods;

3.3 student-related factors;

3.4 subject matter-related factors; and

3.5 facilities and cost-related factors?

4. What were the relevance and effectiveness of instructional

methods as perceived by students in terms of :

4.1 extent of use;

4.2 effectiveness of instructional method;

4.3 cognitive relevance;

4.4 psychomotor relevance;

4.5 affective relevance and

4.6 skillfulness in the utilization of instructional methods?

5. What was the degree of difficulty of students in adjusting to

the instructional methods used by teacher educators?

6. Were there significant relationships between teacher

educator-related variables and;

6.1 extent of use of instructional methods; and

6.2 effectiveness of instructional methods?

7. Was there significant relationship between student-related

variables and degree of difficulty in adjusting to

instructional methods?

8. What constraints were met both by teacher educators and

students and how were these resolved?

THEORY

Teaching effectiveness of teachers through careful selection and utilization of

instructional methods on the bases of important factors as the aim of lesson, nature of

learner, nature of subject matter, school equipment and facilities and the teacher himself

(Aquino, 1974)

INSTRUCTIONAL

METHODS

● Lecture

● Discussion

● Demonstration

● Reporting

● Problem-solving

● Role playing

● Case study

● Laboratory

● Project method

● Field trip

● Film showing

● Others, specified

Students

● Extent of Use – Very

Often,Often,Seldom, Not at All

● Effectiveness – Very Effective, Effective,

Slightly Effective, Not Effective

● Teacher-related Factors - sex, age, civil

status, eduational attainment, position, salary

● Student-related Factors - sex, age, civil

status,course/major

-past learning experience, learning

ability, personality, aptitude, class size

● Subject-related Factors – nature of

subject matter, skills required, difficulty of

subject matter,adaptability of subject matter

● Facilities and Cost-related Factors –

Adequacy of classroom, availability of

textbooks, supplies, materials, additional cost

Cognitive Relevance – Very relevant,

Relevant, Slightly Relevant, Not Relevant

● Affective Relevance - Very relevant,

Relevant, Slightly Relevant, Not Relevant

●Psychomotor Relevance - Very relevant,

Relevant, Slightly Relevant, Not Relevant

● Skillfulness – Very skillful, Skillful, Less

Skillful, Not Skillful

●Degree of Influence – very much, Much,

Little, None

●Degree of Difficulty – Very

Difficult, Difficult,

Not Difficult

Research Methodology Descriptive method to gather information on the

factors that influence the teacher educators’ selection

and utilization of instructional materials and their

students’ perception on the relevance and effectiveness

of the methods.

The study was conducted in the three State Colleges of Negros

Occidental offering Teacher Education Program :

1. Negros State College of Agriculture (NSCA)-Kabankalan City

2. Carlos Hilado Memorial State College (CHMSC)- Talisay City

3. Northern Negros State College of Science and Technology

(NONESCOST)- Sagay City

Respondents of the study were teacher educators

handling professional and major education

subjects and education students taking these

subjects.

Using the Slovin’s formula, thirty-two randomly

selected teachers and two hundred twenty

education students participated in the study.

FINDINGSDemographic and Academic Background of Teacher Educators

Majority of the teacher educators were female, married, belonged to

age bracket of 30 to 40 years old, and within the P10,001-15,000

monthly salary range. Some of the teacher educators were already 51

years old and above

Of the 32 teacher educators, 11 of them were master’s degree

holders, 10 were working towards their master’s degrees, 9 of them

were baccalaureate degree holders and 1 was already a doctoral

degree holder.

Majority of them were Instructors I (53.1%), taught for 8-15 years with

no formal pre-service and in-service trainings in instructional methods.

Demographic Background of Student-Respondents

Most of the students were female (76%), a great majority of

them were single (97%), belonged to age bracket of 17-20

years old and few belonged to age 21-23 years.

BSEd and BEEd programs have 8 choices of specialization;

namely, Home Economics and Livelihood Education

(HELE), Mathematics, Technology and Livelihood Education

(TLE), General Science, Biology, Science and

Health, General Education, Gen. Ed.–Early Childhood

Education (ECE).

Majority of the students majored in Biology (26%),Gen. Ed

(12%), both HELE and Math (20%), Gen. Science (11%) and

few in TLE (2.3%), Science and Health (2.8%) and Gen. Ed-

ECE (5.5%).

Factors Associated with the Selection and

Utilization of Instructional Methods

Extent of Use and Effectiveness of Instructional

Materials

Teacher educators used

Lecture, discussions, demonstrations very often or

everyday in their classes, few used reporting, while

very few used laboratory, problem solving and film

showing.

They perceived lectures, discussions and

demonstrations as very effective, reporting, problem

solving, role playing as effective while field trip and

field trip as slightly effective.

Student-Related, Subject Matter-Related, Facilities and

Cost-Related Factors

Teachers perceived that the students’ past learning

experiences, learning abilities, personalities and class size

influenced them very much to utilize the instructional methods.

The nature of subject matter, skills required, coverage, organization

of subject matter and objectives of lesson influenced very much the

utilization of instructional methods.

Difficulty of the subject matter and sustainability of the subject matter

to the interests of the students influenced slightly the teachers’

choice of instructional methods.

All facilities and cost-related factors influenced much the teachers’

utilization of instructional methods.

Relevance and Effectiveness of Instructional Methods as

Perceived by Students

Students revealed that teacher educators were very effective in

using lecture, discussion, demonstration.

Film showing was not effective and did not contribute to the

attainment of learning objectives.

Role playing, case study and laboratory were slightly effective

according to the students.

Lecture, discussion and demonstration were very relevant

instructional methods that have contributed to the students’

acquisition of cognitive, psychomotor and affective learnings.

Field trip, reporting, laboratory and project methods were considered

relevant while role playing, film showing and case study were found

to be slightly relevant.

Skillfulness in the Utilization of Instructional

Methods

As perceived by students, teacher educators were very skilful in

utilizing lecture, discussion, discussion, reporting and problem

solving.

It is sad to note that students found their teachers to be less

skilful and seldom have the skills and abilities to use role

playing, field trip and film showing methods.

According to Lardizabal (1991), prior to choosing a particular

method, the method must be well known to the teacher.

Degree of Difficulty in Adjusting to Instructional Methods

Students found reporting, problem solving, role playing, case

study, laboratory and project methods difficult to adjust with.

Students found lecture, discussion, demonstration, field trip and film

showing not difficult to adjust.

According to Gregorio (1976), an effective method brings into harmony

with experiences, ability, interests and needs of the students. If

students find difficulties with the method used by teachers, then the

method can not be perceived as effective.

Lardizabal (1991) pointed out that teaching method forms the bridge

between the student and the subject matter, and this bridge enables

the student to get to the other end.

Relationship Between Teacher Educator-Related Variables to

Extent of Use and Effectiveness of Instructional Method

Chi-square test results showed significant relationship between gender

of teachers and extent of use of discussion.

Significant relationship occurred between teachers’ civil status and

extent of use of problem-solving.

A significant relationship occurred between the effectiveness of

discussion method and gender of teacher educators

Significant relationship was found between effectiveness of problem-

solving and age of teachers.

When it comes to teaching, women, in general are considered adept in

discussion compared to men and the younger the teacher

is, regardless of gender and civil status, the more he/she is challenged

and active in solving problems.

Relationship Between Student-Related Variables and

Degree of Difficulty in Adjusting to Instructional Method

Chi-square test results showed significant relationship

occurred between students’ major field of specialization and

degree of difficulty in adjusting to problem-solving, case

study and laboratory methods.

Math, Gen. Sci and Biology Education major students were

more oriented with science and math subjects, thus they found

it not difficult to adjust to problem-solving, case study and

laboratory methods.

Constraints Met by Teacher Educators and Students

Constraints met by teachers :

- poor communication skills of the students

- absenteeism and laziness of students

- inadequate mastery of the subject matter.

Constraints met by students :

- difficulty in understanding the teachers’ topics

- boring subject matter

- teacher does not know how to teach

- frequent use of reporting in the class

CONCLUSIONS

Education students found lecture, discussion and demonstration

very effective, not difficult to adjust with and very relevant in their

acquisition of cognitive, psychomotor and affective learnings.

Teacher educators were considered by their students very skilful in

using lecture, discussion, demonstration and problem-solving.

Most of the student-related, subject-related, facilities and cost-

related factors influenced very much the teacher educators’ choice

and utilization of instructional materials.

The extent of use and effectiveness of instructional materials were

influenced by gender, age and civil status of teacher educators.

CONCLUSIONS

The degree of difficulty of students in adjusting to

instructional materials were mainly influenced by their

major field of specialization.

Constraints met both by teacher educators and

students were generally related to personal problems

and school matters like limited references and materials

needed, overcrowded classrooms, excess number of

students and class interruptions.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Faculty members should be allowed to finish their

graduate studies through scholarship and study grants

Necessary school facilities and laboratory equipments

should be adequately provided to encourage teachers to

adopt and use more innovative instructional methods.

Lecture, discussion and demonstration methods should

be promoted for more effective instruction.

Use of reporting should be minimized.

Further studies are recommended involving private

schools to find out more conclusive findings.

25

Teaching not only imparts knowledge and skills but

also builds character all of which make up the

nation builders, the citizens, thus, teacher educators

play a very important role, because they are the

mentors of future teachers . . .

Thank You and Mabuhay Tayong Lahat

!