Article Summary: Examining Pre-Service Teachers by Meungguk Park, Morgan Chitiyo and Yun Seok Choi - Research Proposal Example

Article summary and critique Quantitative article Research design The article by Meungguk Park, Morgan Chitiyo and Yun Seok Choi “Examining pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards children with autism in the USA” was chosen for the discussion as a quantitative article. This article is an example of correlation research design. The structure of the paper is based on correlation comparison of data obtained from different quantitative researches devoted to teachers’ attitudes toward students with autism. A hypothesis of this article is that there is a positive correlation between how teachers treat learners with autism as indication of changed social attitude toward this mental disorder. In other words, this article exemplifies social attitude toward students with autism focusing on teachers’ attitudes to these students. The structure of the article proves its specific research design: introduction-method-results-discussion. Topic area Topic of this study is pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards children with autism in the USA. A high relevance of this topic can be proven by the fact that modern society has shifted accents from autism –mental disorder, preventing people with this disease from full social activities to autism–as mental disorder, not preventing people with this disease from full social activities. Children with autism were chosen as the audience for discussion not in vain. A current tendency of growing number of children with autism expanding worldwide proves a necessity to initiate researches directed on prevention of this disease occurrence and the ways of its overcoming. The researches of previous years were directed on better understanding of nature of autism. This article expands the scope of autism’ discussion and is focused on pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards children with autism. Positive attitudes’ of pre-service teachers to children with autism indicate a necessity to support and develop their positive attitude further on. Scope of literature review Literature review, which is a theoretical background of the paper, comprises 46 sources. There are articles from scholar journals and online sources. Years’ range of works is from 70s till 2009. Literary sources are specific and correspond with the topic of the given article. A presentation of different points of view of different authors justifies an unprejudiced theoretical background of the article. Moreover, the fact that works presented comprise four decades supports a valid theoretical background of the article. A section ‘Introduction’ of the article has subsections correlated with literary sources. Theoretical material of the article is grouped in accordance with deduction method: from ‘Concept of attitudes and attitude formation’ section (general concepts about attitudes to autism), to the section ‘Attitudes towards people with autism’ and finally to ‘Teachers’ attitude towards autism’. Furthermore it is necessary to underline a well-balanced distribution of literary sources in every section of the article. As a result literature review of the paper provides readers of the article with multi-sided and valuable information. Methods employed A quantitative method presented in this study was based on answers obtained from 131 students enrolled in the teacher education program (TEP) in the college of education at a Midwestern university in the USA. On the basis of the Autism Attitude Scale for Teachers (AAST), worked out by Olley, DeVellis, DeVellis et al. (1981), teachers’ attitude toward students with autism was measured. Data were collected from students’ answers to AAST, which is a Likert-type scale with five options. These forms were filled in class or via email. Thus regular survey method and online survey method were involved. Ethical consideration The study conducted is based on authentic data supported by information presented in 6 tables. Demographic information presented in one of the article subsections and calculations presented in a percentage relation, witness that article is authentic and non- fraudulent. Consequently, the article observes the standards of good writing and shows no plagiarism exposure. The analysis of data The data obtained in the result of the research is based on demographic information about participants of the survey. Gender of the participants, their age, students’ majors, TEP stage and autism workshops’ attendance were taken into account and fixed in Table 1 (Demographic Information). In the section ‘Internal consistency’ Cronbach’s alpha was calculated in order to define AAST reliability for the article. As a result, coefficients for Form A, Form B and the 14 items combined into a single form were 0.72, 0.82 and 0.87. Therefore a good reliability of data obtained was proven. In the section ‘Pre-service teachers’ attitudes’ it was shown that participants have a positive attitude to children with autism. Teacher’s role in successful educational process of children with autism was underlined by the majority of the participants. Moreover, pre-teachers attitudes towards children with autism were compared with in-service teachers’ attitude toward children with autism. As a result there was no difference between them and both groups of teachers had positive attitude toward children with autism. Conclusions Consequently, the results of this study revealed positive attitudes of pre-service teachers to students with autism. Different factors, such as gender and different types of exposure of teachers to children with autism influenced positive attitude of pre-service teachers toward children with autism. Teacher’s attitudes’ formation which depends on their exposure to children with autism is correlated with the studies taken as theoretical background (Martin, 1974; Rosenbaum, Armstrong and King, 1988 and others). An exposure to children with autism is a persuasive factor for pre-service teachers that these children could study as children with no mental disorders. A high informative level of modern educational institutions is another valuable contribution to pre-school teachers’ attitude towards students with autism. Therefore this article proved that positive attitudes of pre-school teachers to children with autism may be influenced by their learning, working experiences and social environment. Critique This article has some drawbacks and requires certain additions. For example, in the section Demographic Information, a number of males is lower than females. Consequently, gender influence on pre-school teacher’s attitude towards children with autism is rather questionable. Moreover, AAST as the main instrument for the research was developed in 1981. Thus relevance of this method is rather questionable as well. It is more desirable to work at more modern instruments directed on definition of teachers’ attitude to children with autism. If appropriate modern methods were found, then generalizations of the study would be reached for sure. Qualitative article Research design The article by Mahmoud M. Emam and Peter Farrell “Tensions experienced by teachers and their views of support for pupils with autism spectrum disorders in mainstream school” was chosen for the discussion as a qualitative article. Data given in this article are based on 54 literary sources including scholar journal articles, books and online sources. In accordance with the nature of qualitative research, data of the study is based on case studies and researches conducted by different scientists and researches. Yin (2003) and his applied social research methods next to descriptions of cases on pupils with ASD are discussed in this article in order to generalize holistic tendencies of teachers’ relation to autistic students. Thus a qualitative approach of this article is proven by a holistic tendency of pupils with ASD and their influence on teachers. The structure of the paper is theory grounded. The authors of the article chose multiple case-study design. Cases considered in the article are discussed in detail. 17 pupils with ASD chosen for the research represent insufficient quantity for the research. Nevertheless a theoretical background of the article is essential and numerous thus making this article a qualitative one. Topic area Children with autism present a serious problem for the modern society. During the last ten years the number of children with ASD has significantly increased. Moreover these children are now treated in a more humanistic manner and the doors of public schools are open to them. A general inclusion of children with ASD to public schools is a serious challenge and it is necessary to discuss all the aspects of this inclusion, taking into consideration influence on teachers, children and their parents. This article deals with tensions that teachers are subjected to in public schools while teaching children with ASD. The scope of discussion concerns teachers’ tensions caused by emotional and social background of autism. In such a way effectiveness of the educational process of children with ASD is under question. Scope of literature review On the basis of 54 sources from scholar journals, books and online documents theoretical background of the article is essential and presents a serious theoretical background. The works overviewed are modern sources of the last decade. Therefore the article presents a modern look at the problem of teachers’ tension which may occur in the process of teaching ASD children. The issues covered in the references are closely related to the topic. Thus school teachers and teachers of students with special needs’ experiences are discussed. ASD is also discussed in detail covering physical, emotional and social aspects. Therefore it is possible to claim that sources of literature review of the article, referenced in each section, are relevant and essential. Methods employed On the basis of a multiple case study design a particular context of the study is defined. Ideographic assumptions of the study are interpreted by the authors and practically proven by the questionnaires of 17 participants, who are children with ASD and interviews with teachers, TAs and special needs coordinators. Ethical considerations The article is based on data obtained in the process of study thus providing authentic data supported by information are shown in Table 1 presenting an overview of the participants of the study. The rest of the information is presented in Figure 1 “Key themes illustrating the tensions in the relationships between the teachers and pupils with autism spectrum disorders and the perceived support arrangements” and Figure 2 “A conceptualization of successful inclusion of pupils with autism spectrum disorders based on teacher–pupil relationship and support arrangements”. Therefore information presented in the article is authentic and not fraudulent. Thus article is a good example of good writing with no plagiarism. Analysis of data Data collected from interviews with teachers, TAs and special need coordinators provide necessary background information for the study. In the form of open field notes data were fixed and processed. Data collected were processed in the combination with theory analytic approach. Qualitative data collected from 17 participants and teachers’ interviews were coded by initial, axial and theoretical coding procedures using Atlas Ti 5.2 qualitative analysis software (Charmaz 2006). Conclusions The results of this study show that 17 cases discussed witness tensions’ occurrence among teachers of students with ASD. The main reason is in social stereotypes of ASD, which represent this mental disorder as socially deviant factor and preventive for active social life, educational success etc. Thus tensions among teachers of pupils with ASD lead to unsuccessful education. TAs involvement in the educational process is a perfect alternative for successful inclusion of children with ASD in the everyday educational process. Critique A close relation of the current study to the governmental report on the evaluation of learning support units (LSUs) (Ofsted 2006) for pupils with SEN undermines authentic research idea of the study. On the one hand it’s a negative aspect of the study, but on the other hand it opens a future perspective of finding other alternatives of inclusion of children with mental disorders in the everyday educational process. Therefore an accent of the article should have been shifted from sympathetic attitude of teachers to pupils with ASD to teachers’ motivational abilities and support of these pupils. Works cited 1. Emam, Mahmoud M. and Farrell, Peter. (2009). Tensions experienced by teachers and their views of support for pupils with autism spectrum disorders in mainstream schools. European Journal of Special Needs Education, 24 (4), 407 — 422. 2. Park, Meungguk, Chitiyo, Morgan and Yun Seok Choi. (2010). Examining pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards children with autism in the USA.jrs3_ Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs 10 (2), 107–114. Read More