Development of a Method for Measuring and Analyzing State Sojourn Times Resulting from Teacher Utterances during the Teaching/Learning Process.

Abstract

A method providing rather simple and comparatively accurate measurements by using a tape recorder and a noise meter for measuring four state sojourn types (teacher utterances, student utterances, silence, and multiple utterances) was developed. The obtained teaching/learning process data were applied to a stochastic process model and the distribution of the state sojourn times and state transition process are described graphically. This process revealed a number of characteristics which normally cannot be located using only total frequencies, mean times, etc. The report visually presents the frequencies of the transitions between the various states as well as the frequency of occurrence of each state over time through use of state transition charts and trisected state frequency graphs. The author also considers the problem of the intervals between teachers' utterances during instruction. Using these techniques, it was possible to express the teaching/learning process in detail, both objectively and quantitatively, and it was found to be an effective means for grasping common trends and difference between sets of data and to study the reallife instructional process.