Teacher educators in Negros Occidental, Philippines primarily used lecture, discussion, and demonstration methods in their classes. Students found these methods to be very effective for learning. Other methods like role playing and film showing were found to be less effective and difficult to adjust to. The study aimed to determine the instructional methods used by teacher educators and factors that influenced their selection and students' perceptions of various methods. It was conducted in three state colleges and surveyed 32 teacher educators and 220 students. The findings provided insights to help promote more effective teaching and learning.
1. INSTRUCTIONAL METHODS USED BY TEACHER
EDUCATORS OF STATE COLLEGES
IN NEGROS OCCIDENTAL
KAREN LUZ TEVES, PhD.
Assistant Professor III
Negros State College of Agriculture
Kabankalan City, Negros Occidental
2. Rationale
An effective teacher is never
fully prepared for teaching,
but forever preparing.
There is no best way to teach a class but there are
many good ways.
The “assign, study and recite” method is not
applicable anymore, and a method which fails
with one student may be very helpful to another.
3. Limiting instruction to a classroom
recitation supported by traditional
textbooks will make lively subjects
dull for students.
In short, to be an effective teacher, one needs to
be versatile and should vary teaching methods in
different classroom situations.
Unfortunately, a vast majority of teachers
utilized only few methods and often only
one, limiting their overall effectiveness.
4. When a teacher depends on one method,
students will be bored and boredom will
easily create learning problems.
It is important that teachers utilize a number of
instructional methods, to be competent.
The selection of a particular instructional method
should be based on important factors such as
nature of the learner, school facilities and
equipment and the teacher himself.
5. Statement of the Problem
The study of instructional methods used by teacher
educators, being the mentors of future basic education
teachers will provide insights on how to promote more
effective teaching and learning situations.
This study determined the instructional methods used by
teacher educators of State Colleges in Negros Occidental
during the Academic Year 2006-2007. Specifically the
study sought to answer the following questions :
1. What was the demographic and academic
background of teacher?
2. What were the personal profile and major fields of
specialization of education students?
6. 3. What were the factors associated with the selection
and utilization of instructional methods as regards :
3.1 extent of use;
3.2 effectiveness of instructional methods;
3.3 student-related factors;
3.4 subject matter-related factors; and
3.5 facilities and cost-related factors?
7. 4. What were the relevance and effectiveness of instructional
methods as perceived by students in terms of :
4.1 extent of use;
4.2 effectiveness of instructional method;
4.3 cognitive relevance;
4.4 psychomotor relevance;
4.5 affective relevance and
4.6 skillfulness in the utilization of instructional methods?
5. What was the degree of difficulty of students in adjusting to
the instructional methods used by teacher educators?
8. 6. Were there significant relationships between teacher
educator-related variables and;
6.1 extent of use of instructional methods; and
6.2 effectiveness of instructional methods?
7. Was there significant relationship between student-related
variables and degree of difficulty in adjusting to
instructional methods?
8. What constraints were met both by teacher educators and
students and how were these resolved?
9. THEORY
Teaching effectiveness of teachers through careful selection and utilization of
instructional methods on the bases of important factors as the aim of lesson, nature of
learner, nature of subject matter, school equipment and facilities and the teacher himself
(Aquino, 1974)
● Extent of Use – Very
Often,Often,Seldom, Not at All Cognitive Relevance – Very relevant,
Relevant, Slightly Relevant, Not Relevant
INSTRUCTIONAL
● Effectiveness – Very Effective, Effective,
METHODS ● Affective Relevance - Very relevant,
Slightly Effective, Not Effective
● Lecture Relevant, Slightly Relevant, Not Relevant
● Discussion
● Teacher-related Factors - sex, age, civil
● Demonstration ●Psychomotor Relevance - Very relevant,
status, eduational attainment, position, salary
● Reporting Relevant, Slightly Relevant, Not Relevant
● Problem-solving
● Student-related Factors - sex, age, civil
● Role playing ● Skillfulness – Very skillful, Skillful, Less
status,course/major
● Case study Skillful, Not Skillful
-past learning experience, learning
● Laboratory
ability, personality, aptitude, class size
● Project method ●Degree of Influence – very much, Much,
● Field trip Little, None
● Subject-related Factors – nature of
● Film showing
subject matter, skills required, difficulty of
● Others, specified ●Degree of Difficulty – Very
subject matter,adaptability of subject matter
Difficult, Difficult,
● Facilities and Cost-related Factors – Not Difficult
Adequacy of classroom, availability of
textbooks, supplies, materials, additional cost
Students
10. Research Methodology
Descriptive method to gather information on the
factors that influence the teacher educators’ selection
and utilization of instructional materials and their
students’ perception on the relevance and effectiveness
of the methods.
The study was conducted in the three State Colleges of Negros
Occidental offering Teacher Education Program :
1. Negros State College of Agriculture (NSCA)-Kabankalan City
2. Carlos Hilado Memorial State College (CHMSC)- Talisay City
3. Northern Negros State College of Science and Technology
(NONESCOST)- Sagay City
11. Respondents of the study were teacher educators
handling professional and major education
subjects and education students taking these
subjects.
Using the Slovin’s formula, thirty-two randomly
selected teachers and two hundred twenty
education students participated in the study.
12. FINDINGS
Demographic and Academic Background of Teacher Educators
Majority of the teacher educators were female, married, belonged to
age bracket of 30 to 40 years old, and within the P10,001-15,000
monthly salary range. Some of the teacher educators were already 51
years old and above
Of the 32 teacher educators, 11 of them were master’s degree
holders, 10 were working towards their master’s degrees, 9 of them
were baccalaureate degree holders and 1 was already a doctoral
degree holder.
Majority of them were Instructors I (53.1%), taught for 8-15 years with
no formal pre-service and in-service trainings in instructional methods.
13. Demographic Background of Student-Respondents
Most of the students were female (76%), a great majority of
them were single (97%), belonged to age bracket of 17-20
years old and few belonged to age 21-23 years.
BSEd and BEEd programs have 8 choices of specialization;
namely, Home Economics and Livelihood Education
(HELE), Mathematics, Technology and Livelihood Education
(TLE), General Science, Biology, Science and
Health, General Education, Gen. Ed.–Early Childhood
Education (ECE).
Majority of the students majored in Biology (26%),Gen. Ed
(12%), both HELE and Math (20%), Gen. Science (11%) and
few in TLE (2.3%), Science and Health (2.8%) and Gen. Ed-
14. Factors Associated with the Selection and
Utilization of Instructional Methods
Extent of Use and Effectiveness of Instructional
Materials
Teacher educators used
Lecture, discussions, demonstrations very often or
everyday in their classes, few used reporting, while
very few used laboratory, problem solving and film
showing.
They perceived lectures, discussions and
demonstrations as very effective, reporting, problem
solving, role playing as effective while field trip and
field trip as slightly effective.
15. Student-Related, Subject Matter-Related, Facilities and
Cost-Related Factors
Teachers perceived that the students’ past learning
experiences, learning abilities, personalities and class size
influenced them very much to utilize the instructional methods.
The nature of subject matter, skills required, coverage, organization
of subject matter and objectives of lesson influenced very much the
utilization of instructional methods.
Difficulty of the subject matter and sustainability of the subject matter
to the interests of the students influenced slightly the teachers’
choice of instructional methods.
All facilities and cost-related factors influenced much the teachers’
utilization of instructional methods.
16. Relevance and Effectiveness of Instructional Methods as
Perceived by Students
Students revealed that teacher educators were very effective in
using lecture, discussion, demonstration.
Film showing was not effective and did not contribute to the
attainment of learning objectives.
Role playing, case study and laboratory were slightly effective
according to the students.
Lecture, discussion and demonstration were very relevant
instructional methods that have contributed to the students’
acquisition of cognitive, psychomotor and affective learnings.
Field trip, reporting, laboratory and project methods were considered
relevant while role playing, film showing and case study were found
to be slightly relevant.
17. Skillfulness in the Utilization of Instructional
Methods
As perceived by students, teacher educators were very skilful in
utilizing lecture, discussion, discussion, reporting and problem
solving.
It is sad to note that students found their teachers to be less
skilful and seldom have the skills and abilities to use role
playing, field trip and film showing methods.
According to Lardizabal (1991), prior to choosing a particular
method, the method must be well known to the teacher.
18. Degree of Difficulty in Adjusting to Instructional Methods
Students found reporting, problem solving, role playing, case
study, laboratory and project methods difficult to adjust with.
Students found lecture, discussion, demonstration, field trip and film
showing not difficult to adjust.
According to Gregorio (1976), an effective method brings into harmony
with experiences, ability, interests and needs of the students. If
students find difficulties with the method used by teachers, then the
method can not be perceived as effective.
Lardizabal (1991) pointed out that teaching method forms the bridge
between the student and the subject matter, and this bridge enables
the student to get to the other end.
19. Relationship Between Teacher Educator-Related Variables to
Extent of Use and Effectiveness of Instructional Method
Chi-square test results showed significant relationship between gender
of teachers and extent of use of discussion.
Significant relationship occurred between teachers’ civil status and
extent of use of problem-solving.
A significant relationship occurred between the effectiveness of
discussion method and gender of teacher educators
Significant relationship was found between effectiveness of problem-
solving and age of teachers.
When it comes to teaching, women, in general are considered adept in
discussion compared to men and the younger the teacher
is, regardless of gender and civil status, the more he/she is challenged
and active in solving problems.
20. Relationship Between Student-Related Variables and
Degree of Difficulty in Adjusting to Instructional Method
Chi-square test results showed significant relationship
occurred between students’ major field of specialization and
degree of difficulty in adjusting to problem-solving, case
study and laboratory methods.
Math, Gen. Sci and Biology Education major students were
more oriented with science and math subjects, thus they found
it not difficult to adjust to problem-solving, case study and
laboratory methods.
21. Constraints Met by Teacher Educators and Students
Constraints met by teachers :
- poor communication skills of the students
- absenteeism and laziness of students
- inadequate mastery of the subject matter.
Constraints met by students :
- difficulty in understanding the teachers’ topics
- boring subject matter
- teacher does not know how to teach
- frequent use of reporting in the class
22. CONCLUSIONS
Education students found lecture, discussion and demonstration
very effective, not difficult to adjust with and very relevant in their
acquisition of cognitive, psychomotor and affective learnings.
Teacher educators were considered by their students very skilful in
using lecture, discussion, demonstration and problem-solving.
Most of the student-related, subject-related, facilities and cost-
related factors influenced very much the teacher educators’ choice
and utilization of instructional materials.
The extent of use and effectiveness of instructional materials were
influenced by gender, age and civil status of teacher educators.
23. CONCLUSIONS
The degree of difficulty of students in adjusting to
instructional materials were mainly influenced by their
major field of specialization.
Constraints met both by teacher educators and
students were generally related to personal problems
and school matters like limited references and materials
needed, overcrowded classrooms, excess number of
students and class interruptions.
24. RECOMMENDATIONS
Faculty members should be allowed to finish their
graduate studies through scholarship and study grants
Necessary school facilities and laboratory equipments
should be adequately provided to encourage teachers to
adopt and use more innovative instructional methods.
Lecture, discussion and demonstration methods should
be promoted for more effective instruction.
Use of reporting should be minimized.
Further studies are recommended involving private
schools to find out more conclusive findings.
25. Teaching not only imparts knowledge and skills but
also builds character all of which make up the
nation builders, the citizens, thus, teacher educators
play a very important role, because they are the
mentors of future teachers . . .
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