The Model of Teaching and Learning

Teaching and learning activities in the classroom can occur if the variables supporting accomplished. Dunkin  and  Biddle's  1974  book  The Study  of Teaching  gave  great  impetus  to  this  process-product  type  of  research, impacting  both  general  and  ELT  education.  In  this  work,  they  constructed  a  basic research  model  with  four  main  variables,  including  presage  variables  (teacher characteristics,  training,  etc.),  context  variables  (properties  of  pupils,  school, community,  etc.),  process  variables  (observable  actions  of  teachers  and  students, classroom, etc.), and product variables  (immediate and  long-term effects of  teaching on pupil  intellectual growth).

1)      Presage Variables

Presage variables include those that influence teachers and their teaching behaviors (i.e., those things that teachers contribute to the learning process). Presage variables concern traits that teachers have that affect the teaching process (Dunkin & Biddle, 1974; Clark & Peterson, 1986).

Presage variables consist of teacher formative experiences, their training experiences and their personal attributes. Teacher formative experiences are inclusive of all the incidences and situations that teachers go through that may mold and shape their behavior and mental reactions. Training experiences include the events that have occurred to prepare for a teaching career, such as attending college or a university.

These events include the undergraduate courses taken, post-graduate education, teaching practice experience, in-service and all experiences that have the possibilities of shaping their beliefs in the teaching profession. Teacher attributes include their beliefs, attitudes, perceptions and background knowledge toward the teaching/learning process. These are presumed to characterize the individual teachers because they carry these attributes within themselves (Dunkin & Biddle, 1974). They are embedded deep within themselves and they serve to explain the teachers’ behavior in response to a variety of situations.

Most aspects of classroom learning involve the teacher. It is a commonly held view that the success of teaching depends primarily, although not entirely, upon the teacher. Therefore, Savignon (1991 cited in Holliday, 1994b: 8) reminds us that a purely learner-centered approach needs to be implemented with caution, because “teachers too are very important participants in the classroom”.

Learner responsibility can develop if teachers allow more room for learner involvement (Scharle and Szabo, 2000). In autonomous learning, the teacher is a  facilitator  of  learning,  an  organizer  of  learning  opportunities,  a  resource person providing  learners with  feedback and encouragement, and a creator of the learning atmosphere and a learning space (Kohonen, et al, 2001: 40). 

2)      Context Variables

Context variables represent conditions to which the teacher must adjust including the population of students and the characteristics of the students, classroom, school, and community.

Context variables consist of student factor and evaluation factor. Student  factor  and evaluation  factor  concern  conditions  to  which  teachers  have  to  make  personal adjustments.  Context  variables  consist  of  the  nature  of  the  pupils  and  the  physical  or instructional  situation  or  setting  in which  the  educational  process  is  taking  place. With these  two  factors  combined, maximum  input  learning  could  be  achieved  (Dunkin  and Biddle, 1974).

3)      Process Variables

Process  variables  examine  the  actual  activities  that  take  place  in  classrooms.  They comprise the observable behaviors of both pupils and teachers. As often assumed, the success of teaching is in the teachers’ hands. Therefore, how and why the teachers behave in class matters.  Process/product variables concern the actual activities of classroom teaching- what teachers and students do in class. 

4)      Product Variables

Product variables include commonly investigated variables such as subject-matter learning and attitude toward the subject.  Other product variables of interest include knowledge acquisition and critical-thinking ability.

Product variables “concern the outcomes of teaching – those changes that come about in pupils as a result of their involvement in classroom activities with teachers and other pupils” (Dunkin & Biddle, 1974, p. 46).  Although most often thought of in positive terms, such as student growth or achievement, product variables may also represent undesirable outcomes such as anxiety or isolation. By far, the most commonly investigated variables in this category relate to positive student outcomes such as subject-matter learning and attitude toward subject.  Specific product variables of interest for this study are critical thinking ability and content knowledge. 

Source: Dunkin, M. J. & Biddle, B. J. (1974). The study of  teaching. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Wisnton, Inc.