Advances in Cognition, Education, and Deafness

Implications from the Cognitive Paradigm for Teacher Effectiveness Research in Deaf Education

Implications from the Cognitive Paradigm for Teacher Effectiveness Research in Deaf Education Donna M. Mertens Leaders in teacher education have recognized a shift in the image of the teacher to that of "thoughtful professional" or "reflective thinker" (Carnegie Commission Task Force 1986; Holmes Group 1986). Along with this shift in the teacher's image has come a shift in the research paradigm used to investigate teacher effectiveness (Peterson 1988; Shavelson 1988). For the past decade, the most vigorous program of research on teaching has been the processproduct model of research (Shulman 1986). However, the emerging image of the teacher as a thoughtful professional suggests a need for researchers to use one of the emerging approaches to research, such as the cognitive paradigm (Peterson 1988). The purpose of the present paper is to examine the implications of the cognitive paradigm for research in teacher effectiveness in deaf education. First, a historical perspective of the paradigm shift from the process-product model to the cognitive model is presented. Second, a conceptual framework for the cognitive model is used to examine researchable topics and appropriate methodologies. Third, variables that are unique to deaf education are discussed, and suggestions are made for future research. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF PARADIGM SHIFT In the process-product research model, investigators used an atheoretical approach to correlate teacher behaviors with student outcomes (Shulman 1986). 342 Implications for Teacher Effectiveness Research in DeafEducation 343 Thus, effective teaching was defined as a composite of variables that correlated highly with student achievement. However, there was little evidence that anyone teacher had ever carried out the behaviors in that composite collective pattern. Also, experimental studies that trained teachers in the desired behaviors did not always indicate that they used those behaviors or that the behaviors were consistently related to achievement. Because of the atheoretical nature of the approach , researchers were unable to explain why particular combinations of behavior led to gains and others did not. For this reason, the process-product model is "losing intellectual vigor within the research community" (Shulman 1986), and researchers have shifted to the cognitive model in order to examine the mediators of learning between teacher behavior and student performance. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE COGNITIVE MODEL Weinstein and Mayer (1986) developed a framework for describing the teachinglearning process from the cognitive perspective. This framework included teacher characteristics (what the teacher knows), learner characteristics (what the learner knows), teaching strategy, learning strategy, encoding process (how the information is processed), learning outcomes, and performance (how learning is evaluated ). Peterson (1988) recommended adding general and content-specific categories of cognitional and meta-cognitional knowledge to the model. In other words, to learn effectively in a classroom, students need to have both general knowledge strategies for learning and acquiring information during classroom instruction and content-specific knowledge of strategies that enable them to learn the specific subject matter. At the meta-cognitive level, learners must have a selfawareness that includes both general and content-specific cognitive processes and strategies. Definition of Researchable Topics Teachers' and students' thinking are important objects of study within the cognitive model (Peterson 1988). Wittrock (1986) identified six topics that relate to student mediation of classroom events: perceptions and expectations, attention, learning and memory, comprehension and learning strategies, and meta-cognitive strategies. An example related to teacher expectations can illustrate the difference between the process-product approach and the cognitive model of research. Researchers using the process-product approach have reported inconsistent findings concerning the effect of high expectations on student achievement (Wittrock 1986). Cognitive researchers would ask such questions as: Did the teachers convey their expectations to the students? Did the students perceive the teachers' expectations? Did the students try to change their behavior? If these conditions exist, then the self-fulfilling prophecy will be observed. This point implies that some students will manifest this effect and others will not. Clark and Peterson (1986) frame the cognitive researcher's question as: Do 344 Cognitive Intervention Programs teachers who are effective in producing positive gains in student achievement differ in their patterns of interactive decision-making from teachers who are less effective in promoting student achievement? This definition of a researchable topic is very different from asking whether the number of times a teacher performs a specific behavior (e.g., uses positive reinforcement) will affect achievement. Methodological Implications Use of the cognitive paradigm has implications for the importance of the subject matter being taught, the level and...