Applied Behavior Analysis - Research Paper Example

? The Effectiveness of Direct Instruction: A Literature Review The Effectiveness of Direct Instruction Literature ReviewThe process of direct instruction takes on many forms. For some, it means using small groups to emphasize and demonstrate comprehension of key points covered in a class. For others, it involves the face-to-face instruction that is facilitated by teachers and aides. This face-to-face teaching is often accomplished using well organized and tailor made lesson plans that breaks down each component of a topic in such a way that it can be clearly and concisely taught to a classroom full of students. Cognitive skills are presented and covered during the course of any such lesson. Whatever the method, it is clear that direct instruction is teacher led and directed. Rather than students directing what happens in the classroom, teachers have complete control of every aspect of the learning environment. Direct instruction directly impacts curriculum development. In a school or classroom that employs this methodology of instruction, certain curricular materials will be chosen and utilized in order to maximize the effectiveness of instructional practices. In fact, early studies indicate that most teachers are trained to use particular instructional practices. These same practices were then assessed to determine how effective they were in promoting student learning. The results were then compared to other students who were taught using methods other than direct instruction. It was found that many aspects of the direct instruction methodology were effective in the promotion of student learning and comprehension (Kousar, 2010, pp. 101-102). During the early days of studies that examined direct instruction, certain instructional techniques became the focal point. This included the scaffolding procedure, for example, where students were taught a concept using a series of small steps. After each step, the class would be directed to practice what was just discussed. Initially, to ensure that direct instruction was effective, that practice would be modeled for the student and they would be guided through the process directly by the teacher. The reason behind this was to help ensure that all students had the optimal chance to be successful in their practice. Obviously, the goal here was to give students the tools to success, model those tools, and them improve their willingness to learn by allowing them the opportunity to feel great about what they had just accomplished (Ulring, et. al., 2010, p. 412). Direct instruction is actually a model for teaching. Being a teacher-led model, this particular technique usually involves the teacher following set and detailed procedures. This would be similar to an adult following an instruction manual, or watching a video, before determining how to go about completing a particular task. Herein lies the debate as to how effective direct instruction truly is. Many scholars believe that the model is too generic and does not allow enough flexibility during the instructional hour for students to get individually involved in their own learning process. Nearly any discipline can see the use of direct instruction being employed. Consider reading, by way of example. Direct instruction would involve the thorough analysis of a given passage of text in order for the students to fully comprehend what is being read. This will hopefully lead to each member of the class successfully reasoning through what the text is trying to say. When learning how to read, direct instruction has proven to be effective in helping young learners reproduce sounds in spoken English. Students are also able to learn the way each sound is associated with a corresponding written letter or series of letters. In this way, any type of phonics instruction today is usually accompanied by direction instructing teaching methodologies and activities (Parette, et. al., 2009, p. 394). In order to show the effectiveness of direct instruction, researchers first examined the way in which students apply previously learned knowledge to newly introduced concepts and ideas in the classroom. This is the scaffolding approach to instruction. One set of knowledge is necessary in order to learn the next, and so on. In this manner, direction instruction is designed to be a set of teaching practices where learners take what they presently know and use that information to understand new examples that are just now being demonstrated to them. In order to do this, teachers actually lead each member of the class through a series of tasks. The point of contention is that many educational scholars believe that this is the very breakdown in the direction instruction model. Many educators believe that student’s do learn best when they are free to explore and discover new information on their own. Getting back to the issue at hand, studies have shown a direct link to student comprehension when teachers guide students through a series of tasks. Teachers can do this by using a combination of techniques. They can utilize questions, signal prompts, or even scripted remarks. Each of these strategies is then designed to have the students recite set responses and model the correct behavior or activity. In addition, direct instruction will often involve the student working directly out of a workbook or completing activity sheets. Obviously, there are different ideas about the effectiveness of such techniques, but it does appear that teachers who are directly involved and guide the students through the completion of these tasks see the best results. It must be noted that if students are left on their own to complete these tasks, then direct instruction is not actually taking place. The teacher must be active and engaged at all levels of the instructional process, all the way through to guided practice activities, in order for learning and comprehension to truly be maximized (Yeh, 2009, pp. 194-195). Yeh (2009) states that, “The direct instruction model favors the use of teacher explanation and modeling combined with student practice and feedback to teach thinking skills” (p. 185). A study using this model was recently conducted over an 18-week period. Specifically, 48 teachers were included in the research project. Each teacher utilized a combination of instructional practices that included scaffolding, observational learning, mastery of critical-thinking skills, guided practice, cooperative learning, verbal feedback, self-reflection, online discussion, and active participation in an online environment. Using online instruction as a basis for the study, Yeh was attempting to discern if direct instruction could be effective in nearly any learning environment, as the theory advertises. It was discovered that online learners overwhelmingly preferred this method of instruction in comparison to other techniques utilized in other courses. Their performance in the course reflected this reality as well. In addition, teachers who were asked to tailor their instructional practices specifically to this model discovered that their ability to think critically increased, as did their own professional knowledge (Yeh, 2009, p. 201). It appears that, in the online environment, discussions and interactions directly in the virtual classroom leads to improved academic performance. Part of the ‘bad press’ that direct instruction receives is directly related to methods that are no longer widely used in today’s classroom. Many people associate direct instruction with boring lectures and the need for students to perform rote memorization in order to demonstrate their mastery over any given set of material. This is not longer really the case, yet teachers do need to constantly be aware of the various stimuli that impact their student’s ability to learn. Today, for example, students have a shorter attention span and they have the need to remain active in the learning environment in order to stay engaged in the lesson. As such, direct instruction today, in order to be effective, needs to make use of modern instructional techniques, including technology. Current studies have recently been engaged to discover the effectiveness of direct instruction in terms of reading skills. Direct instruction, as we know, has been widely used in classrooms for over 40 years. Its use has been especially prevalent in the reading classroom. Student’s today, however, learn differently than they did 40 years. If the same techniques were to be employed in early childhood classrooms today, the results seen would likely be much different than in decades previous. Utilizing technology, however, has reversed this trend. Common theory dictates that direct instruction is still the instructional medium of choice in the reading classroom because students would find a difficult time learning to read on their own. They need to have a teacher modeling sounds and written language, and then guiding them to practice various activities. Parette et. al. (2009) recently examined the use of computer assisted technology as an instructional aid in early childhood reading lessons. Specifically, the program PowerPoint was examined. This program is visually stimulating, allows teachers to make use of visual graphics, sounds, and letters, and affords children the opportunity to interact with the program. Teachers are still in control of every aspect of the instructional process, yet, in theory, students become more engaged in the learning process as they have a computer to maintain their focus (pp. 394-395). With young children, much success has been shown in using such technology with young children. Specifically, delivering a direct instructed lesson to the children via PowerPoint slides, using an LCD project system or big screen television, has shown success. Specifically, children have been able to learn certain word recognition skills in this type of classroom environment, where other teaching methodologies have failed. This would seem to indicate that direct instruction is certainly effective under these controlled situations, as opposed to implementing a different accepted teaching practice or methodology. This study did focus on using set, prescribed scripts in order to deliver the lesson (Parette, et. al., 2009, pp. 395-396). Other scholars wanted to test the effectiveness of direct instruction on elementary students with learning disabilities. The theory here is that direct instruction is not student driven enough to maintain the interest of a young leaner who also has a learning disability. Research indicates, however, the direct instruction with such students has resulted in an increase in reading comprehension and word association in more than 60 % of the students studied and analyzed in current projects (Ulring, et. al., 2012, p. 406). The areas tested in this study centered on the use of direct instruction flashcards and reading racetracks. The results were even more conclusive in support of the effectiveness of this teaching technique when one considers that many of the participants who did not improve academically also exhibited poor school attendance. It was also observed that the students enjoyed this type of instruction over previous attempts to get them involved in the learning process. This was noted by their facial expressions, their general enthusiasm over the tasks they were presented with, and their questioning to complete certain activities again. While this does not constitute statistical proof that direct instruction is effective, qualitative observations are a valuable indicator in the educational process to determine if a particular strategy is working or not. Direct instruction has not just been proven effective at the primary and secondary levels. College and university professors have utilized the practices of direct instruction for decades. With increasing enrollment and diminishing numbers of professors on campus, this methodology has experienced resurgence for logistical reasons as well. Beyond that, however, direct instruction has been proven to be an effective instructional strategy with university-aged students in a variety of disciplines. Consider English grammar for a moment. Kousar (2010) discovered that students who received direct instruction in their college grammar courses performed better than students who received traditional instruction. The results are even more telling considering that both quantitative and qualitative statistics supported this point. Students receiving direct instruction not only achieved higher achievement scores overall, but their attitude towards class was observed to be much improved over their peers who were in a classroom conducted using more traditional instructional techniques (p. 99). The direct instruction methods commonly used in university grammar courses are, “academically focused, teacher-directed classroom instruction using sequenced and structured materials” (Kousar, 2010, p. 99). Activities commonly utilized indicate clear goals to the students, allows time for proper instruction, and provides that feedback be given almost immediately. Because university students are more cognitively developed, it is also essential that any such feedback be given in academic manner. Current research does seem to indicate that, when these variables are present, direct instruction proves most effective. Finally, it is important to note the distinction between direct and instruction. Direct instruction is certainly teacher directed, but the students get actively involved in the learning process once a concept has been modeled for them. When traditional instruction is utilized, however, teachers do a majority of the work, while students listen, take notes, and are expected to retain the information given. There is little opportunity, under traditional instruction, for students to actually practice the material and make it come alive in their mind. This is the important distinction that this literature review has attempted to discuss. There is certainly much work to still be done as educators attempt to better reach a quickly evolving student populace, but current research certainly seems to answer the question – Direct instruction has proven itself to be an effective instructional technique that should be incorporated into the classrooms of today. References Kousar, R. (2010). The effect of direct instruction model on intermediate class achievement and attitudes toward English grammar. Journal of College Teaching and Learning, 7(2), 99-103. Molenda, M. (2008). The programmed instruction era: When effectiveness mattered. Tech Trends, 52(2), 52-58. Parette, H., Blum, C., Boeckmann, N., & Watts, E. (2009). Teaching word recognition to young children who are at risk using Microsoft PowerPoint coupled with direct instruction. Early Childhood Education Journal, 36(5), 393-401. Ulring, A., McLaughlin, T., Neyman, J., Waco, T. (2012). The differential effects of direct instruction flashcards and reading racetracks on sight word accuracy for three elementary students with learning disabilities. Academic Research International, 2(2), 406-420. Yeh, Y. (2009). Integrating e-learning into the direct-instruction model to enhance the effectiveness of critical-thinking instruction. Instructional Science, 37(2), 185-203. Read More