INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS USED BY TEACHER EDUCATORS OF STATE COLLEGES

IN NEGROS OCCIDENTAL

KAREN LUZ TEVES, PhD.Assistant Professor III

Negros State College of AgricultureKabankalan 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 subjectsdull 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; and3.5 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 and4.6 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; and6.2 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?

THEORYTeaching 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 City2. 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 toExtent 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 andDegree 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.

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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 !