Teacher Expectancy Effect
3.1 Teacher Expectancy Effect
When we discuss about the interactionist (or symbolic interactionist) view in the context of educational institutions, teacher expectancy effect would be one of the major areas affecting the growth and improvement of students both in academically and in extra-curricular, mentally and physically. In other words, teacher expectancy effect is something that ties closely to the social development of the students as a whole. Teacher expectancy effect is defined as “the impact that a teacher’s expectations about a student’s performance may have on the student’s actual achievements” (Schaefer & Lamm, 1995, p. 461). However, before we look at what teacher expectancy effect really is, it is crucial for us to also understand another two terms, i.e. the self-fulfilling prophecy and the labelling theory. According to Vockell (n.d., Chapter 5) self-fulfilling prophecy “refers to the idea that a false definition of the situation evokes a new behavior which makes the original false conception come true”. In other words, when a teacher stereotypes or makes an unreliable generalization about a student, she may then act based on that stereotype. This hence results in the false generalization becoming an accurate and true one. The teacher’s ‘prophecy’ is therefore fulfilled by the teacher herself. This is self-fulfilling prophecy. On the other hand, the labelling theory is one defined as the condition as to “how a person comes to be labelled as deviant or to accept that label” (Schaefer & Lamm, 1995, p. 187). Labelling theory is one that is frequently encountered in criminology. The theory “attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants…while others…are not seen in such harsh terms”. Thus, it emphasizes more on the response towards behaviour, rather than the act categorizes people as being deviant. So, some prefers to call this theory as the societal-reaction approach (Schaefer & Lamm, 1995). This section of the paper
When we discuss about the interactionist (or symbolic interactionist) view in the context of educational institutions, teacher expectancy effect would be one of the major areas affecting the growth and improvement of students both in academically and in extra-curricular, mentally and physically. In other words, teacher expectancy effect is something that ties closely to the social development of the students as a whole. Teacher expectancy effect is defined as “the impact that a teacher’s expectations about a student’s performance may have on the student’s actual achievements” (Schaefer & Lamm, 1995, p. 461). However, before we look at what teacher expectancy effect really is, it is crucial for us to also understand another two terms, i.e. the self-fulfilling prophecy and the labelling theory. According to Vockell (n.d., Chapter 5) self-fulfilling prophecy “refers to the idea that a false definition of the situation evokes a new behavior which makes the original false conception come true”. In other words, when a teacher stereotypes or makes an unreliable generalization about a student, she may then act based on that stereotype. This hence results in the false generalization becoming an accurate and true one. The teacher’s ‘prophecy’ is therefore fulfilled by the teacher herself. This is self-fulfilling prophecy. On the other hand, the labelling theory is one defined as the condition as to “how a person comes to be labelled as deviant or to accept that label” (Schaefer & Lamm, 1995, p. 187). Labelling theory is one that is frequently encountered in criminology. The theory “attempts to explain why certain people are viewed as deviants…while others…are not seen in such harsh terms”. Thus, it emphasizes more on the response towards behaviour, rather than the act categorizes people as being deviant. So, some prefers to call this theory as the societal-reaction approach (Schaefer & Lamm, 1995). This section of the paper