Toward Social Aspirations Instruction (TSAI)

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The instruction is embedded in the cooperative learning approach, implemented especially in a whole class discussion after a small group discussion. The steps to take are as follows:

(1) Students work in heterogeneous groups of 3-4.

(2) One student in each group would be designated by the teacher as "the star of the group" (hereafter this text will be abbreviated as Star). The Star needs to be the first to talk for their group in class discussions by raising their hands. Then, the rest of the group members take turns by the order of their student numbers. ^(a)

(3) Students put up their hands gesturing their group total counts of the oral participation by the end of the class;

(4) Whichever group has the fewest counts in that class will sing a song in the next class. ^(b)

Notes:

(a) Students raising hands and then being called upon by the teacher counts 1 time of class participation (i.e., 1 count), regardless of a right or wrong answer being given (i.e., No-wrong-answer policy).

(b) Singing a song is conceptualized as a "punishment" in class and an ultimate goal for each group to "avoid"(i.e., The other side of the coin is the participation count, that is, the ultimate goal for each group to achieve. Concerning the designed goal, whether singing should be taken as a "punishment" or a "reward" or whether adopting a reward rather than a punishment in the strategy may require further studies). Take my class as an example. The losing team will be asked to find an English song with (at least) one key vocabulary word being learned in the lyrics. When the team sing the song in the next class, the rest of the class need to find out which word it is. If failing to answer, whichever group is being called to answer will sing another song the next time instead. Besides, to save time, no more than one group sings in one class period. Therefore, if there are more than 2 losing teams, they will play the finger-guessing game (i.e., Rock-Scissors-Paper) and the "winner" of the game will be "punished" by singing in the next class.

ps SAI is revised as TSAI, or Toward Social Aspirations Instruction.

Citation: 

Tsai, H. W. and Cheng, C. L. (2018). Peer pressure as a motivational enabler for adolescents' class participation: A preliminary investigation on Social Aspiration-Driven Instruction. Poster session presented at: The 30th APS Annual Convention; 2018 May 24-27; San Francisco, CA, USA

Abstract

Class participation puts students in "favorable position" in learning. However, East Asian students have been alleged to be passive learners in oral participation in class discussions (e.g., Beekes, 2006). While the causes to the reticence are in debate, it is unanimously suggested that teachers aim to create an inviting class climate with effective instructions to promote class participation and hence the learning (O'Connor, 2013). Adolescence is a time of drastic transitions in neuronal processes, environments, and relations (Nelson et al., 2005). Neurobiologically, adolescents are distinct in their exaggerated ventral striatum response to the rewarding experiences of peer interactions (Blackmore & Mills, 2014). Furthermore, as adolescents spend more time with peers, peer evaluations and acceptance are exerting a growing impact on self-worth, learning engagement and academic achievement (Martin & Dawson, 2009). Existing research takes relatively little interest in high school students' performance in class discussions. Furthermore, the known techniques that address students' reticence in class discussions are not without problems. Accordingly, this study proposed the Social Aspiration-driven Instruction (SAI) and evaluated its effect by examining the relationships between students' perceived peer pressure and engagement in class oral participation. SAI is theoretically framed by social interdependence theory (Johnson & Johnson, 1989) and social goal theory in academics (Urdan & Maehr, 1995), with a further focus on the issue of shame (Lashbrook, 2000). Underscoring teens' susceptibility to peer relationships, the positive social-interdependence salient conditions of SAI orient learners to the social goals of peer evaluations, acceptance and likeability while attenuating students' concerns about shaming themselves. Participants comprised 117 female 11th graders from one public high school in Taiwan. They were frequently situated in SAI in their English language classes throughout a semester (a total of 20 weeks and 5 class periods of 50 minutes a week). The instructor conducted SAI as following procedures: (1) Students work in heterogeneous groups of 3-4; (2) One student in each group is designated as Star, who is required to be the first to talk for their group in class discussions. Raising hands and being called is one participation count and no-wrong-answer policy is adopted; (3) The other group members take turns contributing to participation counts in class discussions; and (4) The group has the fewest counts receives rewards/punishments. At the end of semester, the participants completed 2 questionnaires on a 4-point Likert-type scale: a 6-item Peer Pressure Questionnaire (α = .85) and a 24-item Engagement in Class Discussions Scale (α = .91; Skinner et al., 2009). The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was .76 and .87, above the recommended value of .6, and Bartlett’s test of sphericity were both significant. The results indicated that the perceived peer pressure and engagement in class discussions are moderately correlated (r = .39***). SAI is handy enough for teachers to implement in their classrooms and, most importantly, it is specifically tailored to adolescents' developmental characteristics. Further research needed, this preliminary study showed that adolescents' propensity to peer relationships, if employed properly, bears great potential to enhance students' engagement in class discussions.

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