A study of semantic flexibility as a predictor of teacher communication patterns

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not semantic flexibility as a language characteristic of teachers in training could be used as a predictor of the teacher's ability to receive and transmit information. The Guilford Word Association Test, designed by J. P. Guilford to measure convergent and divergent thinking, was selected as the instrument for measuring semantic flexibility and was administered to 201 students enrolled in the block methods course at Boston University. The students were all juniors, scheduled to student teach the following semester. The Guilford Word Association Test was also administered to 154 sixth grade children enrolled in the Boston Public Schools in the South End and Roxbury and to 182 sixth grade children enrolled in the Newton Public Schools. The two groups of children were designated as the urban and suburban samples, respectively. From the populations tested four high Guilford teachers and four low Guilford teachers were selected. From each of the urban and suburban classes four high Guilford and four low Guilford children were selected. Each teacher had eight pupils assigned to her and for the purposes of data analysis, the children were categorized first as high and low Guilford scorers and then as urban or suburban children. In total there were eight teachers and sixty-four children in this experiment. [truncated]