Volume 8 (2017) Issue 1
Inez
De Florio: Effective Teaching and Successful Learning. Bridging the
Gap between Research and Practice. New York et al: Cambridge
University Press, 2016 (XII + 234pp.) (ISBN 978-1-107-53290-8).
Effective
Teaching and Successful Learning. Bridging the Gap between Research
and Practice
is a highly recommendable publication for researchers as well as
prospective and in-service teachers all over the world, particularly
in English speaking countries, such as the U.S., the UK, and
Australia. The overall aim of this book is to enable teachers as well
as other educational professionals to improve their daily practice,
leading to more successful learning for all students. In a succinct
introduction, the main features and types of educational research,
especially newer findings of evidence-based education, are explained
in a reader-friendly way. On this basis, the author provides a
research- and value-based approach to teaching and learning that
takes the personality of teachers and students as well as the
particular learning contexts into account. Learners’ needs and
interests are the primary focus of the research-based Model
of Effective Teaching (MET),
which is described and exemplified in detail.
While
the number of teaching guides and connected lesson plans is growing
rapidly, their quality is as diverse as their formats. Whether they
are helpful for the teaching profession in general may also depend on
the respective cultural as well as institutional contexts of
different countries. But most of these publications share the style
and scope of cookery books in one way or another (Lemov 2010). On the
other hand, instructors are facing increasing demands in terms of
work load, heterogeneous classes and educational concerns so that a
majority of them will find it difficult to stay abreast of scientific
research to make their teaching more effective and their students
learn more successfully. Even the globally spread findings of
Hattie’s (2009) meta- and mega-analyses, despite all their merits
in making teaching effects more measurable and thus more accountable,
cannot resolve the growing dilemma for instructors to cope with their
day-to-day teaching and to incorporate even the more recent results
of educational and neurobiological studies – never mind living up
to Hattie’s proposals to view learning through their students’
eyes.
It
is the present publication by the German researcher Inez De Florio
which precisely bridges “the
Gap between Research and Practice”,
as the subtitle of her book promises the adept reader and, as will be
shown here, fully lives up to this challenge. In recent years, De
Florio has engaged in qualitative and quantitative empirical research
about questions of educational psychology, widening her research
interest from studies into (foreign) language teaching and learning
to substantial questions of all subject matters.
Not
only does her research, which can be read as a practical teacher
manual without recipes, cover an overview of qualitative and
quantitative research in educational strategies and interventions,
particularly experimental studies in Randomized Control Trials (RCTs)
and the impact of global meta- and mega-analyses, as made popular by
John Hattie. Furthermore, and what is probably more important for
instructors in-between theory and practice, “Effective
Teaching”
links lesson plan design first authored by Madeline Cheek Hunter
(1976) to the concept of direct instruction, thus juxtaposing
conventional teaching methods with the forms of interactive
whole-class teaching. Concretising thirty steps of her Model of
Effective Teaching (MET), De Florio is able to flesh out older models
(Marzano
1998)
in a way that is very helpful and digestible at the same time for any
lesson planning and implementation. The real need for a
teacher-friendly book bridging research and practice is attended to
by the author’s ability to integrate evidence-based research and
its practical implications in a succinct and comprehensible manner.
De
Florio draws on relevant examples of scientific research in education
and, at the same time, shows the practical consequences for effective
teaching and successful learning. In this way, teachers are enabled
to make informed decisions on the basis of research and methodology
and to compare them with their own experience. Teachers are actively
invited to reflect on traditional teaching and their own instruction
routines.
In
the first
part
of
her book (Chapters 1-5),, the author lays the ground for
science-oriented teaching and learning. Referring to eminent scholars
and educationalists (Chapter 1) like Piaget (pp. 12),
Vygotsky (pp. 16)
and
Bruner (pp. 19),
practitioners are enticed to have a closer look at three foremost
pioneers of educational research and discuss their findings as to
whether they are still relevant today. In an introductory and
fictional “conference talk” (9-10), questions of teaching habits
are connected with these scholars and enriched by concepts of
evidence-based research, pointing out newer strategies like
reciprocal teaching or concept mapping. In this way, existing vague
ideas about quantitative and qualitative research can be addressed
and a systematic approach to science and research established.
Piaget’s contribution to developmental psychology is presented in
some detail
(12),
although his genetic stages of cognitive development are
refuted (15). The
long forgotten Russian psychologist and educationalist Vygotsky is,
among his other achievements, remembered by his Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD) (18-19),
and Bruner’s research into cognition and his ideas of a spiral
curriculum lead to reflections of his considerations about classroom
teaching and learning, such as empowering students to get a sense of
the structure of deeper learning and the consequences for curriculum
design (19).
In
this context, scaffolding is considered as a means to accelerate
learning, being interchangeable with Vygotsky’s ZPD (21).
In
another – fictional – dialogue, John Dewey’s main ideas are
presented (Chapter 2,
(41),
returning to his learning
by doing as
the recurrent hall mark of project work and referred to again later
in the teacher guide as his message, when problem- / project-based
approaches are combined with forms of collaborative leaning. In this
second chapter, other ways of gaining scientific knowledge are
discussed to show the full range of different types of scientific
research on education (pp. 29
ff),
including the character of theories, hypotheses and models (pp. 28),
a closer look at research design and methodology (pp. 22
ff),
the findings of psychometrics (pp. 35
ff),
and the role of experiments (RCTs) (pp.
37),
quasi-experiments (40)
and correlation studies (41).
The
benefits – sometimes also shortcomings – of evidence-based
research on education are presented in three subsequent chapters 3-5
(45-93),
providing a succinct overview of relevant approaches and enabling
practitioners to judge for themselves whether they are able to apply
those results and findings to their school curriculum, teaching
routines and professional experiences such as the importance of class
sizes or the measurement of interventions and their impact on
learning processes. This is done by drawing on an impressive variety
from medical evidence through to the potentials and pitfalls of the
aforementioned RCTs (37-41),
and
further including practical surveys like the Tennessee Class Size
Project (52
ff),
eventually leading to the globally received meta- and mega-studies by
researchers like John Hattie (pp.
80).
Whether the parallels drawn between evidence-based medicine and
evidence-based education are completely convincing remains for the
individual reader to decide – but they provide interesting food for
thought – as does the entire book indeed.
It
remains a refreshing exercise to then be able to study in some
details what De Florio phrases as “shortcomings of [Hattie’s]
visible learning” (84-87) in that this discussion seems to be an
ongoing event both in staff rooms and teaching institutions overall
with supporters and opponents of Hattie’s mantras, such as teaching
to DIE for
(diagnose-intervention-evaluation) (pp.
202 ff)
or know
thy impact
(pp.
83)
distributed
almost equally. Whether Hattie can claim to have found the 'holy
grail' of teaching and visible learning or whether this was just a
marketing ploy of his publishers – as he has been heard to argue
himself –, this teacher guide puts some of his findings into
perspective, notwithstanding the fact that newer research into
feedback has supported Hattie’s basic story that feedback, in its
reciprocal and formative variety, is able to close the gap between
where students are and where educators want them to be. Feedback
occurs too little and too infrequently at our schools and needs to be
much more differentiated, as De Florio points out, such as given by
teachers to students, by students to students (peer feedback), and
also given by students to teachers.
As
a conclusion,
it can be said that teachers need to know what empirical research is
all about and what the relevant premises entail to be able to
evaluate research findings. Already in the structure of the
individual chapters, the dialectics between theory and practice are
expertly demonstrated and thus supersede most publications on similar
topics, where either educational research is available for academic
interests mainly or teaching models with little or no back-up from
empirical research induce teachers to implement strategies that
cannot be verified on scientific grounds.
In
the second
part,
De Florio describes classroom practice on the basis of her
research-oriented teaching model. As mentioned above, it is the MET
that links evidence-based theories of teaching and learning to
classroom practice in thirty steps (Chapters 6-11; 94-214).
To really honour the outstanding merits of the MET, it is important
to note that it comes less as a “teacher’s guide” rather than
as a piece of advice to (re)consider teaching steps and classroom
interventions in the light of thirty steps spanning the planning,
preparation, implementation and evaluation of learning processes in a
particular teaching context, which needs to be considered by
instructors before the respective steps can be applied, extended,
some omitted and enriched by their own and individual practice. As it
is impossible to even try and apply all of the steps, the MET invites
teachers to open their minds to what else might be advisable and
possible in their particular classrooms without prescribing,
appraising or validating individual steps. This selection has to be
made by each instructor and in the process will already augment his
or her teaching outcome in the aforementioned sense.
Once,
however, practitioners have familiarized themselves with the 30 steps
of the MET and selected those strategies and interventions
appropriate for their own teaching contexts, they might want to go
back to the foundations of educational research leading to the
assumptions and directives of the MET. They can also go forward in
this teacher guide, going beyond the concise MET presentation
(Chapter 6; 110-113),
where research evidence and teacher expertise are brought together.
The
following chapters unfold the MET by focusing on planning, and
starting a lesson (Chapter 7; 118-136),
explaining, presenting and modelling new content (Chapter 8;
137-156),
and conceptionalizing guided and independent practice, gradually –
as in the overall strategy of scaffolding, where this is called
‘fading’ – withdrawing teachers’ guidance and supervision,
aiming at reinforcement and transfer of knowledge or skills and
bringing the lesson to an appropriate conclusion (Chapter 9;
157-174).
Cooperative and problem-based forms of learning are at the centre of
Chapter 10 (173-197),
following Dewey’s concept of learning
by doing (introduced
earlier as one of the great educational thinkers and practical
project planners in Chapter 2 (27-44),
and underlining the importance of group cohesion as opposed to
competition or individualistic learning.
Although
critical towards most of John Hattie’s findings and statistical
process, De Florio follows his belief in the overall importance of
reciprocal and informative feedback outlined in Chapter 11 (198-214)
and consequently draws on Hattie’s and Timperley’s Feedback Model
(202-204) as in the “Flow of the Lesson” (202).
The Concluding Remarks (215-219)
quite intentionally contain more questions than answers but postulate
that “standards need more evidence” (215) and urge researchers
and practitioners to further debate in how far standards are in
accordance with results of evidence-based education, at all.
As
each chapter ends in a “review-reflect-practice”
section, the teacher guide creates an additional direct access for
many practitioners, beyond the practical aspects of the MET that
stand as a value in themselves, as shown above. These sections can
serve not only as a guide for further research and experiences but
enable readers to gain a straightforward entry into the chapter
topics, as the following examples will show:
- Messages of Piaget, Vygotsky and Bruner are connected with today’s classroom issues (25-26);
- Research design and methods can be discussed in the light of Dewey’s impact and the basic cultural categories of language systems (pp. 176 ff);
- A summary of listed RCTs is supposed to be discussed for their value (40);
- The question of whether meta-analyses can improve teaching or learning practice or not is correlated to Marzano’s list of instructional strategies (40);
- Shortcomings of Hattie’s studies are turned around productively by the invitation to transform his “Personal Health Check” (90) into students’ questionnaires (92);
- Lesson plan design and direct instruction are discussed in the light of learning theories and the SOLO (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome) taxonomy;
- Introductions of new learning contents are tried out as “hooks” – a phrase coined by Hattie’s model of direct instruction – in the classroom;
- Steps of the MET are put to the test with textbooks or teaching units with a focus on assertive questioning;
- Readers are invited to analyze textbooks with the aim to detect differences between exercises, tasks and learning activities, guided and independent practice;
- Information on cooperative learning is extended, and
- Feedback is focused upon as being reciprocal, formative and / or peer conducted.
Whereas,
in particular, the “practice chapters” (6 and 7-11) make this
book “unputdownable” for educators in all subjects, especially
for teachers in junior and senior high school, in my own professional
experience, I have rarely seen a more readable resource book for
teaching processes and the underlying theoretical foundations. It is
with great pleasure that I followed the “review-reflect-practice”
sections, which empower one’s own learning curve and almost
guarantee very attentive and, indeed, effective reading results.
Another very practice-oriented feature are the ongoing summaries and
definitions of science and research findings, e.g. the Zone of
Proximal Development, scaffolding, educational science, descriptive
and explanatory research, theories, hypotheses and scientific models,
research design and methodology, experiments, and randomized
controlled trials (RCTS) – to name but a few.
In
a nutshell, the MET passages (102-185) are of crucial importance and
play a pivotal role in the teacher guide. They are “intended as a
scaffold for practitioners” (5), based on experimental research
(Hattie
2009 / 2012, Marzano 1998, and Wellenreuther 2004) and
comparable to models of direct instruction. The MET, however, is
different from other planning models turned into lesson plans in that
it is meant to “help teachers to question teaching traditions and
personal habits so that they can make informed decisions to the
benefit of their students” (5). In order to prepare teachers for
these “informed decisions”, the MET is embedded in the
foundations of scientific methods following the principle to use
research to improve practise.
Accordingly,
the reading audience for this teacher guide would be stretched across
a wide field, from students, student teachers to practitioners and
teacher trainers. It appears to be especially useful in the area of
undergraduate- and graduate-student courses as well as teacher
seminars and in-service teachers. An informed public with a special
interest in educational research and current discussions about
teaching standards and evaluation will find the features of
scientific research of great value, whereas the chapters on the Model
of Effective Teaching (MET, Chapters 6-11) will be useful for direct
implementation in the classroom.
Effective
Teaching and Successful Learning
should most certainly be available to the teaching community at
large, whose learning from the book will be effective and whose
teaching will be all the more successful. All in all, De Florio’s
book more than lives up to Thomas Huxley’s verdict that “science
is simply common sense at its very best” – as quoted at the
book’s beginning – and is an apt teacher guide without showing
the fallacies of teaching recipes detached from essential aims and
objectives, initiation of competencies and educational values. It is
highly recommended to adorn every teacher’s bookshelf.
References
Lemov,
Doug (2010). Teach like a champion: 49 techniques that put your
students on the path to college. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Hattie,
John (2009). Visible learning. A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses
relating to achievement. London etc.: Routledge.
Hattie,
John (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximising impact on
learning. London etc.: Routledge.
Hunter,
Madeline Cheek (1976): Improve Instruction. El Segundo, CA: TIP
Publications.
Engelmann,
Siegfried & Carnine, Douglas (1982): Theory
of instruction: Principles and applications. New York: Irvington
Publishers.
Marzano,
Robert J. (1998). A theory-based meta-analysis of research on
instruction. Aurora, CO: Mid-Continent Regional Educational Lab.
Reviewer
Dr.
Bernd Klewitz (Jena / Göttingen, Germany)
University
of Jena
Ernst-Abbe-Platz
8
07743
Jena
Germany
E-mail:
b.klewitz@web-horizon.de