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1、Gender and Classroom Size Differences in Classroom Climate and Deviant Behavior: A Study of Elementary School Students in Central TaiwanAbstractThe main purpose of this study was to investigate gender and classroom size differences in classroom climate and deviant behavior among elementary school st
2、udents. The survey data were collected from 1,007 sixth-grade students of elementary schools in Changhua County of central Taiwan. The descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and one-way MANOVA were used to analyze the data. Among four classroom climate dimensions, sixth grade students perceived the
3、level of teacher-student relationships was the most positive and the level of classroom order was the least positive. Each dimension of deviant behaviors was slight. In peer relationship and teacher-student relationship dimensions, female students were more positive than male ones. In addition, ther
4、e were classroom size differences in classroom climate. In teacher-student relationship dimension, it was more positive in medium classroom size than in other classroom size groups. There were gender differences in each dimension of deviant behavior; female students got more emotional disturbances w
5、hile male students showed more disobediences and misbehaviors.Keywords：gender, classroom size, classroom climate, deviant behavior, elementary school students1.INTRODUCTIONClassroom management often focuses on classroom climate and behavior management. Based on practical teaching experiences, we see
6、 that teachers can easier to create a better classroom climate and run activities smoothly in smaller or most female students classes. On the other hand, teachers have to pay more attention to deal with problem behaviors in larger or more male students classes. From the reflection, classroom size an
7、d gender distribution appear to influence the classroom climate and deviant behavior. In terms of classroom climate, there were significant gender differences in classroom climate and the scores of female students perceived classroom climate were higher than male students (Cerezo & Ato, 2010; Goh &
8、Fraser, 1997). However, some research findings showed there were not significant gender differences in classroom climate (Brophy-Herb, Lee, Nievar, & Stollak, 2007; Chen, 1995; Chiu, 2008).Many research results illustrated there were significant gender differences in deviant behavior and male studen
9、ts were more prone to having deviant behaviors than female students(Dodge,Greenberg and Malone, 2008; Liang, 2007; Su, 2006;Weng, 2004). But Marcus (1999) indicated male and female students might engage in different deviant behaviors . Marcus mentioned male students were more likely than female stud
10、ents to beaten up someone because they were anger at them, snatched a purse or wallet, and broken into a place for fun. Female students were more likely than male students to have ever cut class and been drunk in a public place.In Taiwan, according to policies and regulations, school were pushed cla
11、ssroom size reduction which to reduce the number of students from 32 to 29 students per class during 96 to 99 school year. Classroom size reduction has apparently become a trend in Taiwan. Based on practical experience, it appears that there are more interactive between peers and teachers and less d
12、eviant behaviors in smaller classes. However, classroom size reduction can result in greater in-depth coverage of subject matter by teachers, enhanced learning and stronger engagement by students, more personalized relationships between teachers and students, and safer schools with fewer discipline
13、problems (Cohen, Miller, Stonehill, & Geddes, 2000; Thompson & Cunningham, 2001). In terms of related researches, Chen (1995) and Chou (2004) indicated there were no significant classroom size differences in classroom climate. But according to Huangs(2003) findings, classroom size influences student
14、s perceived classroom climate and the size of 21-30 which were more positive than size of below 20 and above 31. In addition to classroom size may affect the classroom climate, could classroom size have an impact on deviant behavior?Because of classroom climate formation takes a period of time and t
15、he researcher is as a sixth-grade teacher, participants for this study were sixth-grade students. The purposes of this study were to investigate gender and classroom size differences in classroom climate and deviant behavior among sixth-grade students of elementary school in Changhua County of centr
16、al Taiwan. To understand the current classroom climate and deviant behavior in sixth-grade Taiwanese students? To clarify if gender and classroom size influent classroom climate and deviant behavior. Specifically, the following research questions were addressed in this study:1. What are the current
17、classroom climate and deviant behavior in sixth-grade Taiwanese students?2. Could gender influent classroom climate and deviant behavior?3. Could classroom size influent classroom climate and deviant behavior?2.RESEARCH DESIGN2.1 Research sampleParticipants for this study were sixth-grade elementary
18、 school students in Changhua County of central Taiwan. In Changhua County, there were totals of 175 public elementary schools and 574 classes of sixth-grade in the 98 school year. We utilized stratified random cluster sampling to select 42 classes and the total valid subjects were 807. There were 40
19、7 male students (50.43% of samples) and 400 female students (49.57% of samples). We got 807 Taiwanese samples, among which 326 samples were from small classes (1-20 students), 312 ones from medium classes (21-30 students) and 169 ones from big classes (over 31 students).2.2 Research Instrument Parti
20、cipants were given a questionnaire, Knowing Yourself Class and Behavior, including “classroom climate scale (CCS)” and “deviant behavior scale (DBS)”. CCS was modified from Wu (2000) and P. T. Chen, (2002). Initially, a large number of subjects (n=208) was generated as self-report and describes a st
21、udents perceived class interaction disposition. Each item rated on bipolar agree-disagree statements on a 4-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 4=strongly agree), and students were asked to select the one that most accurately describes their classroom climate. We conducted a pilot study with 20
22、8 samples. Through item analysis, we omitted an item which didnt exist in significant difference between lower (below 27%) and higher (above 73%) scores group. Next, through Pearson product-moment correlation between each item scores and overall scores, we omitted an item corresponding to Pearson r
23、less than .20 or didnt exist in significant correlation. Furthermore, through factor analysis, students classroom climate was categorized into four main categories. Estimates of reliability coefficient for four subscales, utilizing Cronbachs alpha, ranges from 0.77 to 0.86( see table 1). In terms of
24、 CCS, after conducting item analysis and Pearson r, the CCS was not reduced and the scale was a 20-item self-report instrument, was used to assess students perception of classroom climate which consisted of four aspects: teacher-student relationships (5 items), classroom order (5 items), obey and co
25、ntrol (5 items), and peer relationships (5 items). Deviant behavior scale was modified from Liang(2007), Lo (2001) and Lin (2004). In terms of DBS, after conducting item analysis and Pearson r, the DBS was reduced from 23 to 15 items and the scale was consisted of three aspects: emotional disturbanc
26、e (4 items), disobedience (5 items) and misbehavior (6 items). Estimates of reliability coefficient for three subscales, utilizing Cronbachs alpha, ranges from 0.65 to 0.79. ( see table 2). Table 1 Reliability and Validity of four aspects in “Classroom Climate Scale” aspectCronbach % of Varianceteac
27、her-student relationships.8118.56%classroom order.7613.55%obey and control.7512.35%peer relationships.6310.50%total.8654.96%Note: N208.Table 2 Reliability and Validity of three aspects in “Deviant Behavior Scale”aspectCronbach % of Varianceemotional disturbance.7920.27%disobedience.7818.47%misbehavi
28、or.6513.8%total.8452.54%Note: N208.2.3 Data processing and analysisData analyses were performed using SPSS for Windows 14.0. Descriptive statistics, including mean and standard deviation were conducted for the dimension. Scale scores were generated using the mean value of the items within each subsc
29、ale. Statistical tests included one-way ANOVA, one-way MANOVA analysis, and Post hoc comparisons.3.RESULT AND DISCUSSION3.1 Classroom climate in sixth-grade Taiwanese studentsTable 3 showed mean and standard deviation of four dimensions of classroom climate. The Mean of each dimension was between 2
30、and 4 scores. The result indicated six-grade students perceived classroom climate tend to be positive. It is similar to P. T. Chen (2002), Chou (2004) and Kuos (2002) findings.The mean of scores in teacher-student relationships was the highest. Because of elementary school stage, students were not m
31、ature enough to solve problems at school. When students have troubles, they rely on teachers for good advice. Teacher plays an important role to help students solve problems. In addition, the declining birthrate era, parents take more care with children especially their school education and therefor
32、e it affects teachers tend to have good relationships with parents and students.Table 3 Mean and S. D. for different dimensions of “Classroom Climate”aspectitemssumMeanSDpeer relationships516.343.272.63teacher-student relationships516.383.283.16classroom order511.862.373.48obey and control516.123.22
33、2.48Note: N=807.3.2 Deviant behavior in sixth-grade Taiwanese studentsTable 4 showed mean and standard deviation of three dimensions of deviant behavior. The mean of scores in each dimension was below 2 scores. The result indicated sixth-grade students had a slight deviant behavior. Results are part
34、ly consistent with the outcome of studies by Liang (2007) and Su (2006). The mean of scores in emotional disturbance was the highest. Hsu (2009) indicated parents are putting pressure on children to get best academic performance and children face pressure from the high expectations. If children dont
35、 really get along with the pressure, they get a bad temper or negative feelings instead. Table 4 Mean and S. D. for different dimensions of “Deviant Behavior”domainitemssum Mean SDemotional disturbance47.741.942.21disobedience57.901.582.62misbehavior68.821.472.86Note: N=807. 3.3 Gender differences V
36、.S. classroom climate in sixth-grade Taiwanese studentsBecause of different dimensions had various number of items, we used means of items within each dimension to analyze. First, table 5 showed mean and standard deviation of three dimensions by gender. Second, there were gender differences in class
37、room climate (Pillais V = .03, F= 5.24, p.001) and table 6 showed the results. In order to further investigate the differences in dimension responses between male and female participants, one-way ANOVA was administered on a dimension-by-dimension basis; the results are presented in table 7. The sign
38、ificant results indicated that female students had higher scores in peer relationships and teacher-student relationships dimensions of classroom climate than did male students. It was consistent with the results of studies by Cerezo and Ato (2010), Goh and Fraser (1997), Huang (2003) and Wu (2000).
39、The reason may be because under the influence of gender expectations, girls are often expected to be polite, and more willing to listen, cares more about than boys to relationships -based interactive forms, while boys are more interested in power than girls as the center of the interaction (Liu,1998
40、), so girls have a good teacher-student relationships and peer relationships.Table 7 Mean and S. D. of classroom climate for genderaspectgenderMSDNpeer relationshipsmalefemale16.0916.592.762.47407400teacher-student relationshipsmalefemale16.0916.673.163.14407400classroom ordermalefemale12.0311.693.5
41、53.40407400obey and controlmalefemale15.9916.272.412.56407400Note: N=807.Table 8 One-way MANOVA of classroom climate for gendersourcedfSSCPPillais VF valueBetween groups150.25.58.05-34.6828.17.035.24*58.0567.07-40.0732.54-34.68-40.0723.93-19.4428.1732.54-19.4415.79Within groups8055518.401938.112696.
42、571605.011938.117968.412955.262331.792696.572955.269720.521100.321605.012331.791100.324965.82*p .001.Table 9 Gender differences in retirement attitudeaspectDVSSDFMSFpeer relationshipbetween groups50.25150.257.33*within groups5518.4016.86teacher-student relationshipsbetween groupswithin groups67.0779
43、68.411167.079.906.78*classroom orderbetween groups23.9380523.931.98within groups9720.5280512.08Obey and controlbetween groups15.7980515.792.56within groups4965.828056.17*p .01. *p .001.3.4 Gender differences V.S. deviant behavior in sixth-grade Taiwanese studentsFirst, table 10 showed mean and stand
44、ard deviation of three dimensions by gender. Second, there were gender differences in deviant behavior (Pillais V = .16, F=51.01, p.001) and table 11 showed the results. In order to further investigate the differences in dimension responses between male and female participants, one-way ANOVA was adm
45、inistered on a dimension-by-dimension basis; the results are presented in table 12. The significant results indicated that female students had higher scores in emotional disturbance dimension than did male students. In contrast, male students had higher scores in disobedience and misbehavior than di
46、d female ones. Results are consistent with the outcome of studies by Dodge, Greenberg and Malone (2008) , Liang (2007) and Su (2006). The reason may be that people have different role expectations to behaviors which male and female performed in the process of socialization. Such as male students to
47、take anger or aggressive behaviors to solve the pressure; while female students with crying to solve the problems (Chen, 2002). Thus, boys are more prone to deviant behavior, such as disobedience or illegal acts; while women are vulnerable to harm themselves or give up on themselves. Table 10. Mean and S. D. of deviant behavior for genderdimensiongenderMSDNemotional disturbancemalefemale7.497.992.082.31407400disobediencemalefemale8.567.232.722.32407400misbehaviormalefemale9.687.953.032.40