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Running head: TEACHING METHOD PAPER
Teaching Method Paper
Meera Mehtaji
Virginia Commonwealth University
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TEACHING METHOD PAPER
Direct Instruction
Rationale
Direct Instruction is one of the oldest methods of teaching. Today’s education system has
many new techniques like Universal Design for learning, Peer Tutoring, Collaborative Teaching.
Still, Direct Instruction remains the most used method. Direct Instruction consists of carefully
sequenced curriculum and a rigid controlled instruction program (Stallings and Stipeck 1986).
This is effective for students with disabilities for there is immediate feedback and the wrong
answer is corrected before proceeding further.
Introduction
The first research paper titled ‘Effectiveness of the DISTAR reading I program
in
developing first graders' language skills.’ by Sexton, C.W. (1989), aims to determine the
effectiveness of the Direct Instruction System for Teaching Arithmetic and Reading (DISTAR)
reading program as compared to the basal reading program, in increasing school based language
ability. This research will be labeled Research Data 1. The second research paper titled ‘The
effectiveness of direct instruction in teaching English in elementary public education schools in
Kuwait: a research case study.’ by Zaid, A.S., Hussain, A.S., & Thomas, D.Y. (2008). This
research studies the effectiveness of direct instruction for improving English proficiency among
non – English speaking students. This research will be labeled Research Data 2.
Both these
researches study the effect of direct instruction on students who are not at grade level.
Research Data 1
Purpose
The purpose of the present study was to determine if the combined use of direct
instruction strategy and the language emphasis of the DISTA reading program increased
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TEACHING METHOD PAPER
school – based language ability more than the Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ) basal
reading program (Sexton, 1989).
Method
The experimenter randomly selected 40 students out of 80 students, for the experimental
group. In a similar process the experimenter randomly selected 40 students out of 112, for the
control group. In both the groups the experimenter omitted those students who participate in
special education, students possessing Spanish surnames and repeaters.
The experimental group received DISTAR instruction, daily for 120 minutes per day. The
students received additional language instruction in the district approved language series.
The control group received HBJ basal reading instruction, daily for 125 minutes per day. These
students also received additional reading in the district approved language series.
Participants
The experimental group (DISTAR reading program) consisted of 40 African American
students from the first grade. There were 18 boys and 22 girls. These students were from a
metropolitan school district in southwestern United States. This school enrolled, 617 students in
the elementary school, out of which 99% were African American. The school rated 16th on the
district economic index. Number 1 on this index rates the lowest socioeconomic status.
The control group (HBJ basal reading program) consisted of 40 African American students from
the first grade. There were 15boys and 25 girls. These students were from the same metropolitan
school district in southwestern United States, as the experimental group. This school enrolled,
850 students in the elementary school, out of which 70% were African American. The school
rated 5th on the district socioeconomic status.
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TEACHING METHOD PAPER
Procedure
The experimenter used ‘The school language and listening’ subtest of the Metropolitan
Readiness Test (MRT), as a pretest. To establish the reliability, in the individual area scores of
the test, the experimenter used the split-half reliability. The MRT was used by the school district
at the beginning of the school year for all first grade students in the district. This test was
administered by the teacher.
The experimenter used the Slossons Intelligence Test (SIT) in the March, as a post test. This test
was administered by the experimenter along with a reading specialist. This test provides age
adjusted measure of generalized language skill (Sexton, 1989).
Design
The experimental design was used for this study. The experimenter chose two groups of
student, one for the control group and one for the experimental group, randomly.
The scores
were reviewed, with pretest and a post test, on the MRT and SIT respectively.
Results
The results indicated that the DISTAR reading program was significantly more affective
in influencing SIT than the HBJ basal reading program (Sexton, 1989). The DISTAR reading
program was equally effective for students
with low initial language ability and for students
with high initial language ability.
Research Data 2
Purpose
The research attempts to study the effectiveness of direct instruction in improving non-native
student achievement in English learning. (Zaid, Hussain, & Thomas, 2008)
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TEACHING METHOD PAPER
Method
The researcher selected a formal curricular unit from the Kuwait public school system. Then the
experimenter interacted with the teachers of the experimental group and discusses the students
differences based on their abilities and needs. The researcher then designed a lesson plan based
on direct instruction method. The lesson plan was reviewed and revised. Then experimenter then
trained the teachers used these lesson plans in the experimental group. The experimental group
received direct instruction lesson for a particular unit. The control group on the other hand, did
not receive any direct instruction lessons. At the end of the lesson plan, both the groups were
evaluated
Participants
The sample groups were selected form two English classes from the 5th grade. The experimental
group had 21 students. The control group had 22 students. The two groups were chosen on the
basis of the past achievement of these two classes on the formal curriculum of the public schools
of Kuwait.
Procedure
There was no pretest for this experiment. The experimenter conducted post tests for both
groups. The experimenter used static analysis to interpret the results. The T-test was used to
evaluate the null hypothesis. The researchers also used the Mann-Whetney test (NonParametric) to test the mean ranks of these two groups (Zaid, Hussain, & Thomas, 2008).
Design
The research design is a case study.
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TEACHING METHOD PAPER
Results
The tests indicated that using a direct instruction approach with the experimental group led to
better results when compared to the results for the control group (traditional method) (Zaid,
Hussain, & Thomas, 2008).
Summary
It is evident from both the researches that Direct Instruction is an effective method of
teaching students.
In the first experiment, 1st grade elementary students improved significantly more on
language tasks with the use of DISTAR reading program, as opposed to HBJ basal reading
program. The direct instruction method was especially effective for teaching African American
students who came from a lower socioeconomic background. It also was effective for students
who had a higher initial ability. This proves that the program will be equally effective with
students who have a good base in language, but need build it.
The second experiment was not conducted in the United States. Thus the experiments
were establishing the efficacy of direct instruction in another education system. This experiment
also proved that direct instruction was an effective means of teaching language. The structure
and controlled process make it easy form non- native learners to learn a new language and
succeed.
As I reviewed both the researches, the effectiveness of direct instruction was evident. The
teacher is an important part of this process. This method requires detailed and systematic
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planning, as a teacher. The teacher guides and builds the lesson according to the requirements of
the class. The concept of immediate feedback is very effective, especially for elementary
students. As I reviewed the literature, it emphasized that the student masters that content before
moving to the next. This is especially effective for students with disabilities, as understanding
and learning concept is difficult. Thus one step at a time is ideal way to proceed. This method
can be incorporated with pictorial representation of information to help students learn. Though
direct instruction looks like it is teacher centered, it can be used to have structured participation
of students. The teacher has to develop questions that the students can respond to during the
explanation.
According to me direct instruction is effective if the teacher plans and structures the tasks
to meet the specific need of her students. The student feels that they have mastered the task
because of immediate feedback. This makes learning a joyous process for the students.
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TEACHING METHOD PAPER
References
Sexton, C.W. (1989). Effectiveness of the DISTAR reading I program
in
developing
first
graders' language skills. Journal of Educational Research, 82(5), 289-293
Zaid, A.S., Hussain, A.S., & Thomas, D.Y. (2008). The effectiveness
of Direct Instruction
in teaching English in elementary public education schools in Kuwait: A research case study.
Education, 129(1), 80-90.