The purpose of this study was to clarify how teacher decision-making is affected by differences between student responses and teacher expectations whenever the student response is unexpected. Based upon the teachers' expectations and reactions to student responses, a series of categories for analyzing unexpected responses was created. Seven elementary school Japanese classes were selected for analysis of teaching records. The results were as follows : (1) When the student's response was above the teacher's levels of expectation, the teacher did not change the lesson plan. The teacher accepted the response and/or asked the same question of other students. When the student's response was below the teacher's level of expectation, there was a tendency for the teacher to change the lesson plan by asking the student to change his or her answer or by correcting the response. (2) Teacher expectations described in the lesson plans influenced the teachers' decision-making upon receipt of an unexpected response. The teacher did not change the lesson plan if the response was above the level expected. But if it were below that level, there was a tendency for the teacher to attempt to raise the student response to his own level of expectations.

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The authors have developed a new concept for teacher education, the use of a self-instructional study course on classroom teaching for use in preservice teacher training. This course, while establishing the learning environment through a textbook, a guide, videotape, reference books, experiential learning and discussions, also supports and promotes student-teacher problem solving (or problem discovering) as he or she learns about classroom instruction. This course promotes both individual and group learning (discussion and classroom discussion) in order to enhance teacher-trainee self-awareness and promote their experiences in collaborative learning. In evaluating this course the authors distinguished between evaluation of research design and evaluation of outcomes. Consequently, they focused primarily upon assessment of student learning activities and self-awareness. The authors found student problem-solving (or problem-discovering) activities at each stage of this course. The students became capable of looking at both curriculum design and teaching practices from a plurality of views. At the end of the course, the teacher-trainees taking the course integrate these views on their own. In addition, they develop the knowledge and skills needed for actual teaching practice.

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In this paper, the author reports on a support system he has developed for classroom observation during practice teaching. Through this system, student teachers learn about and receive both pre- and post-training on methods of classroom observation. This system consists of four sub-units : 1. Rating instructional behaviors. 2. Describing video equipment protocols. 3. Analyzing teaching objectives, strategies, tactics ; and inferring learner cognition and emotion during the teaching/learning process. 4. Computer-assisted analysis of instructional behaviors using a "SOCSIA" category system. ("SOCSIA" is a method for categorizing classroom observations.) In applying this system the author showed its applicability for support of classroom observation by student teachers.

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The purpose of this study was to develop a method for analyzing the logic and viewpoints of the teacher during individual instruction. A gymnastics lesson was used as an example. Using stimulated-recall procedures, the author tried to reconstruct the lesson. The lesson was divided into small segments so that the teaching strategies of the instructor could be highlighted. In conclusion, it was shown that the teacher instantaneously reacted to the child's actions from the viewpoint of the educational goals and based upon the character of the child. This study also showed that stimulated-recall is useful for research on teachers' practical knowledge.

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The debate between objectivism and constructivism has been growing apace with the changes presently coming about in the educational environment. In this article, the author reviews several paradigmatic theories and explains how instructional/learning theories have been developed under different paradigms. In the objective paradigm, it is assumed that goal is to seek the "absolute truth" through scientific methods and researchers try to develop grand time- and context-independent theories. On the other hand, under the constructive paradigm, each individual constructs his or her own reality, in other words. Therefore there are really multiple realities. Objectivist methods, which regard all knowledge as objective and independent of human cognition and which involves the manipulation of symbols, are quite different from constructivist methods. Since these two paradigms have complete different sets of basic assumptions, their related instructional/learning theories are also quite different. A paradigmatic viewpoint can make tacit assumptions more visible as well as can clearly point out problematic situaions.

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The purpose of this paper was to discuss teachers' communicative behaviors in the classroom the standpoint of the communication process. The process described in this paper refers to two aspects of communication : One being comprised of the sets of words used in an exchange ; the other being the meta-thinking done by both the sender and the receiver taking part in the exchange. There are three ways to view communication : (1) by its process, (2) by its meaning, and (3) by its forms ofexpression. All three of these are derived from Harrison's communication model and are the result of his examination of the concept of communication. The author continues by discussion the multiplicity meaning of the term communication as well as the application of the concept of communication in education.

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