What do pupils think about the way teachers use language in the classroom?

This project is part of a larger enquiry into the language teachers use in secondary school classrooms when addressing pupil behaviour. All schools in the UK are required to create a whole school policy that outlines expectations in respect of pupil behaviour. As part of this policy, each school is asked to adopt a system of rewards and sanctions to encourage certain types of behaviour in the interest of optimising the learning environment.

One key area that is being explored is pupils’ perceptions of the different strategies teachers use in relation to classroom management; this project is piloting a series of questionnaires to find out which questions generate the most meaningful – and interesting – responses.

Questionnaires are being organised by year group across a partner school where there are over 1,500 pupils: that’s a lot of data! We will need to decide which questions are most effective and then explore ways of presenting the findings, as well as designing the final questionnaire based on the outcome of the pilot survey.

Activities to be undertaken by the RES student:

• Help to assess the level of consistency of responses to individual questions
• Help to group answers that glean information about similar topics
• Help to identify questions that have been unsuccessful
• Begin to explore patterns in responses across year groups

Possible number of students: 4

Start date: negotiable

Duration: 8 weeks

Hours per week: 3

Students who have questions about this project should contact Dr Ruth Payne on r[email protected]

If you would like to work on this project, please complete an RES application form via the 'How to apply' tab. If your application is successful, the supervisor will be in touch in due course. Closing date for applications: 13th December 2013