Classroom Verbal Interaction and Self‐Actualization of Home Economics Teachers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze verbal interaction in class discussions in home economics in relation to self‐actualization of the teacher. Ten Iowa ninth grade teachers who scored high on the inner‐directed scale of Shostrom's Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) and 10 who scored low were selected. Two classroom discussions were video taped for each teacher. The Sequential Analysis of Verbal Interaction (SAVI) was used to analyze classroom verbal interaction with inter‐ observer and intraobserver reliabilities established at .85. Although no differences were found between the two groups of teachers on use of the SAVI areas, some significant differences were found within teacher groups using a nested analysis of variance. Self‐actualizing teachers tended to vary more in verbal patterns than did the less self‐actualizing group. It is recommended that some areas of the SAVI be omitted in studies of home economics classrooms and that the validity of the POI for use with home economics teachers be examined.