TRADITIONAL VERSUS MODERN METHODS OF EFFECTIVE

TEACHING
Education is vital to the pace of the social, political and economic
development of any nation, so effective teaching is very essential.
Effective teaching is important because teaching is based on helping
children progress from one level to another in a more sociable
interactive environment and to get the approach right to get students to
be independent learners . Effectiveness does not mean being perfect or
giving a wonderful performance, but bringing out the best in students.

My experience comes from a Government schools, where traditional

teaching method is more widespread than the modern method of
teaching. It is in this line that I decided to investigate empirically which of
the two methods is more effective in primary schools.

A lot of the teaching in primary schools is done with the traditional

method especially in the government schools where the teacher is in
charge of the classroom.

Traditional method relies mainly on textbooks while the modern method

relies on hands-on materials approach. In traditional method,
presentation of materials starts with the parts, then moves on to the
whole while in the modern approach, presentation of materials starts
with the whole, then moves to the parts. Traditional method emphasizes
on basis skills while modern method emphasizes on big ideas. With
traditional method of teaching, assessment is seen as a separate activity
and occurs through testing while with modern method of teaching,
assessment is seen as an activity integrated with teaching and learning,
and occurs through portfolios and observation .
DIVERSITY IN TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM

For effective teaching to take place, a good method must be adopted by

a teacher. A teacher has many options when choosing a style by which to
teach. The teacher may write lesson plans from other teachers, or search
online or within books for lesson plans. When deciding what teaching
method to use, a teacher needs to consider students’ background,
knowledge, environment, and learning goals. Teachers are aware that
students learn in different ways, but almost all children will respond well
to praise. Students learn in different ways, of absorbing information and
of demonstrating their knowledge. Teachers often use techniques which
cater to multiple learning styles to help students retain information and
strengthen understanding. A variety of strategies and methods are used
to ensure that all students have equal opportunities to learn. A lesson
plan may be carried out in several ways: questioning, explaining,
modeling, collaborating, and demonstrating.

QUESTIONING
A teaching method includes questioning is similar to testing. A teacher
may ask a series of questions to collect information of what students
have learned and what needs to be taught. Testing is another method of
questioning. A teacher tests the student on what was previously taught
in order to identify if a student has learned the material. Standardized
testing is in about every Middle School (i.e. Ohio Graduation Test (OGT)
Proficiency Test, College Entrance Tests (Act and SAT). before that we
have to teach how to make questioner. If the question is perfect then
this method will be effective.

EXPLAINING
Another teaching method is explanation. This form is similar to lecturing.
Lecturing is teaching, giving a speech, giving a discourse on a specific
subject that is opened to the public. It is usually given in the classroom.
This can also be associated with demonstrating and modeling. A teacher
may use experimentation to demonstrate in a science class. A
demonstration is the circumstance of proving conclusively, as by
reasoning or showing evidence. Modeling is used as a visual aid to
learning. Students can visualize an object or problem, then use reasoning
and hypothesizing to determine an answer.

DEMONSTRATING
Demonstrations are done to provide an opportunity in learning new
exploration and visual learning tasks from a different perspective.
Demonstrations can be exercised in several ways. Here, teacher will also
be a participant. He will do the work with his/her students for their help.

COLLABORATING
Students working in groups are another way a teacher can enforce a
lesson plan. Collaborating allows students to talk among each other and
listen to all view points of discussion or assignment. It helps students
think in an unbiased way. When this lesson plan is carried out, the
teacher may be trying to assess the lesson of working as a team,
leadership skills or presenting with roles.
TRADITIONAL VERSUS MODERN METHOD OF
TEACHING
Traditional method of teaching is when a teacher directs students to
learn through memorization and recitation techniques thereby not
developing their critical thinking problem solving and decision making
skills while modern or constructivist approach to teaching involves a
more interacting, student-based of teaching. Here, the students learn
through group participation.

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Primary education in government schools is deteriorating at a very fast
rate and this has been a great concern to the ministry of education,
parents, teachers and others concerned. It was in this light that the
researcher deemed it fit to investigate the varying influences of the
traditional and modern methods of teaching on students’ academic
performance.

PURPOSE OF STUDY
Because education is a vital aspect of society, the purpose of this study
was to investigate the effects of teaching methods (Traditional Versus
Modern) on students’ academic performance. The purpose of this study
was also to investigate and determine which of the two major teaching
methods was more effective.

RELEVANCE OF STUDY
The findings of this study would be found relevant to teachers, parents,
students and the society at large. The findings of this study would be of
great importance to Ministry of Education in drafting the curriculum for
primary schools.

The parents and the students also stand to benefit greatly if the effective
teaching method was used to teach the students. Effective teaching
method would improve the performance and learning of the students.
And, lastly, the society at large would benefit because the children
(students) are the leaders of tomorrow.

SCOPE OF STUDY
The study is particularly;

i. Concerned with the determinants of teaching method effectiveness.

ii. Concerned with examining influences of teaching method (Traditional

and Modern) and determining which of the teaching methods is more
effective than the other.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

(1) To what extent if there is a shift in pedagogical practice from

traditional methods to modern methods in Nigerian primary school in
the classroom?

(2) Which approach is more effective in terms of student outcomes and

more successful between the traditional methods and modern methods
of teaching?

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
(1) Modern Method of teaching is more effective than the traditional
method of teaching
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

LEARNING THEORIES OF COGNITION

Learning theories were used in this study as the theoretical framework to

explaining how children learn.

Classical conditioning
The typical paradigm for classical conditioning involves repeatedly
pairing an unconditioned stimulus (which unfailingly evokes a particular
response) with another previously neutral stimulus (which does not
normally evoke the response). Following conditioning, the response
occurs both to the unconditioned stimulus and to the other, unrelated
stimulus (now referred to as the “conditioned stimulus”). The response to
the conditioned stimulus is termed a conditioned response.

Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning is the use of consequences to modify the
occurrence and form of behavior. Operant conditioning is distinguished
from Pavlov conditioning in that operant conditioning deals with the
modification of voluntary behavior. Discrimination learning is a major
form of operant conditioning. One form of it is called Errorless learning.

Observational learning
The learning process most characteristic of humans is imitation; one’s
personal repetition of an observed behaviour, such as a dance. Humans
can copy three types of information simultaneously: the demonstrator’s
goals, actions and environmental outcomes. Through copying these
types of information, (most) infants will tune into their surrounding
culture.

Play
Play generally describes behavior which has no particular end in itself,
but improves performance in similar situations in the future. This is seen
in a wide variety of vertebrates besides humans, but is mostly limited to
mammals and birds. Cats are known to play with a ball of string when
young, which gives them experience with catching prey. Besides
inanimate objects, animals may play with other members of their own
species or other animals, such as orcas playing with seals they have
caught. Play involves a significant cost to animals, such as increased
vulnerability to predators and the risk of injury and possibly infection. It
also consumes energy, so there must be significant benefits associated
with play for it to have evolved. Play is generally seen in younger
animals, suggesting a link with learning. However, it may also have other
benefits not associated directly with learning, for example improving
physical fitness.

Habituation
In psychology, habituation is an example of non-associative learning in
which there is a progressive diminution of behavioral response
probability with repetition of a stimulus. It is another form of integration.
An animal first responds to a stimulus, but if it is neither rewarding nor
harmful the animal reduces subsequent responses. Humans have been
able to handle certain cognitive tasks due to habituation. One example
of this can be seen in small song birds – if a stuffed owl (or similar
predator) is put into the cage, the birds initially react to it as though it
were a real predator. Soon the birds react less, showing habituation. If
another stuffed owl is introduced (or the same one removed and re-
introduced), the birds react to it again as though it were a predator,
demonstrating that it is only a very specific stimulus that is habituated to
(namely, one particular unmoving owl in one place).

Sensitization
Sensitization is an example of non-associative learning in which the
progressive amplification of a response follows repeated administrations
of a stimulus (Bell et al., 1995). An everyday example of this mechanism
is the repeated tonic stimulation of peripheral nerves that will occur if a
person rubs his arm continuously. After a while, this stimulation will
create a warm sensation that will eventually turn painful. The pain is the
result of the progressively amplified synaptic response of the peripheral
nerves warning the person that the stimulation is harmful. Sensitization is
thought to underlie both adaptive as well as maladaptive learning
processes in the organism.

Imprinting
Imprinting is the term used in psychology and ethnology to describe any
kind of phase-sensitive learning (learning occurring at a particular age or
a particular life stage) that is rapid and apparently independent of the
consequences of behavior. It was first used to describe situations in
which an animal or person learns the characteristics of some stimulus,
which is therefore said to be “imprinted” onto the subject.

Enculturation
Enculturation is the process by which a person learns the requirements
of the culture by which he or she is surrounded, and acquires values and
behaviours that are appropriate or necessary in that culture. The
influences which as part of this process limit, direct or shape the
individual, whether deliberately of not, include parents, other adults, and
peers. If successful, enculturation results in competence in the language,
values and rituals of the culture.
Rote learning
Rote learning is a technique which avoids understanding the inner
complexities and inferences of the subject that is being learned and
instead focuses on memorizing the material so that it can be recalled by
the learner exactly the way it was read or heard. The major practice
involved in rote learning techniques is learning by repetition, based on
the idea that one will be able to quickly recall the meaning of the
material the more it is repeated. Rote learning is used in diverse areas,
from mathematics to music to religion. Although it has been criticized by
some schools of thought, rote learning is a necessity in many situations.

Informal learning
Informal learning occurs through the experience of day-to-day situations
(for example, one would learn to look ahead while walking because of
the danger inherent in not paying attention to where one is going). It is
learning from life, during a meal at table with parents, Play, exploring.

Formal learning
Formal learning is learning that takes place within a teacher-student
relationship, such as in a school system.

Non-formal learning
Non-formal learning is organized learning outside the formal learning
system. For example: learning by coming together with people with
similar interests and exchanging viewpoints, in clubs or in (international)
youth organizations, workshops.

Interview data from marks, Schrader, and Levine (1999) revealed that
paraedsucators perceived that their job responsibilities included:

1) Keeping students with disabilities from “bothering” general education

classroom teachers.

2) Creating all modifications and adaptations for the child, and

3) Maintaining responsibility for all aspects of the child’s education.

These findings indicate that paraeducators perceived their duties to be

actions that are not considered ethical (Heller, 1997): National joint
committee on Learning Disabilities (NJCLD), 1999). Marks et al, reported
corroboration of these perceived job duties by another group of
paraeducators, but no observation were conducted and no comparison
made to job description.

French and Chopra (1999) conducted interviews with parents who

reported that they believe inclusion without paraeducators is impossible.
The parents cited reasons of health and safety, social and academic
engagement in support of their assertion. Actually, these parents believe
that paraeducators are more important than teachers to their child’s
inclusion. But parents also emphasized that paraeducators should “stand
back a little, too” and to “become invisible in a very calculated way”
(French and Chopra, 1999 p. 264).

In Scotland, more than 4,400 classrooms were appointed between 2000

and 2001 in an effort to improve adult-to-student ratios. The program
was federally funded and evaluated in three phases. All data sources
verified that the amount of time students were engaged in active versus
passive tasks increased as a result of the presence of the assistants, and
that the presence of the assistants permitted teachers to improve the
quality of their teaching time and to engage in more small group and
individual work with students.

Scottish teachers also reported that their expectation of students has

increased because of the added support available to them. Students
liked working with classroom assistants and appreciated the extra
support. Student clearly distinguished between classroom assistants,
whom they saw as “helpers” and teachers. This evaluation study did not
disaggregate findings for special education students (Wilson et al 2002).

Storey et al 1993, conducted a study using a “multiple-probe across

settings” design to examine the effectiveness of a peer-mediated
intervention conducted by classroom assistants on the social behaviour
of socially withdrawn and socially skilled preschoolers in public school
classrooms. Two socially skilled students were matched with one socially
withdrawn student, and the group of three became the unit of study. The
results demonstrated that all of the withdrawn preschoolers increased
their social interactions with peers during the instructional triads studied.
Social validation findings also indicated improvement in the students’
behaviour.

Hall, McClannahan, and Krantz (1995) observed that paraeducators were

reluctant to “Step away” from students in classroom interactions.
Although they did not inquire as to the paraeducators’ beliefs about
their roles, the researchers assumed that the paraeducators believed
their primary role to be that of providing support and assistance juts as
Marks, Schrader, and Levine later reported Hall et al, however, provided
training for paraeducators on how to reduce the number of verbal and
gestural prompts given to students and to use physical prompts were
absolutely necessary. Observations subsequent to training revealed a
significant reduction in the number of verbal and gestural prompts,
indicating that the concepts the paraeducators had learned during
training were being applied on the job. They then observed the amount
of engagement and initiative on the part of students and found that
both increased significantly.

Young et al (1996) examined in elementary education classroom, each of

whom as assigned a full-time paraeducators. Researchers assessed the
on-task, in-seat, self-stimulatory and vocalization behaviours of the
students as a function of paraeducators proximity, recording activities,
and behaviours at 20-second intervals. They considered three conditions:

Close proximity? Less than 2 feet away;

More than 2 feet away; and

Out of room.

Teachers initiated contact with the target students occurred most often
when the paraeducators was more than 2 feet away from students or
when out of the room, but the teacher initiated contact with student less
than 1% of the time when the paraeducators was closer than 2 feet away.
This finding suggests that paraeducators proximity effectively reduced
student opportunities to engage with the classroom teacher and could
be used to support the argument that the presence of a paraeducators
allows the argument that the presence of a paraeducators allows the
classroom teacher to be relieved of responsibility for the child.

At the same time, observations showed that the issue of gestures or

cueing occurred less than 1% of the time a problem because all students
had difficulty with verbal direction and needed cues and prompts.
Nevertheless, students were on task, appropriate amount of time most
often when working with a peer. Similar to the earlier conclusions of
Storey, Smith and Strain (1993) regarding preschoolers, those authors
concluded that the most appropriate role of the paraeducators working
with elementary-aged children with autism is to facilitate peer
interaction, and they did not recommend discontinuing the sue of
paraeducators.

Giangreco (1997) observed classrooms where students with significant

needs were included and reported that dedicated paraeducators serving
children one-to-one “hovered” over their charges, which limited
opportunities for the students to benefit from the teacher’s instruction
and interfered with social interactions among students. These findings
were published in a widely read article that served as the wake-up-call
for those who had rushed to provide every child with an individual
dedicated paraeducators.

At variance with these findings, Hill (2003) observed paraeducators

working in classrooms where students with disabilities were included.
Their observations focused on:

1) The activities in which the instructional assistant was involved;

2) Participants in the interactions; and

3) Whether the interaction occurred in or out of the classroom.

Hill concluded that assistants facilitated inclusive practices by interacting

more frequently with both exceptional and typical students together,
rather than with the exceptional student alone, and that they spent
significant time assisting in activities that did not include exceptional
students. Hill also concluded that paraeducators promoted
independence by limiting the amount of direct instruction they provided
to exceptional students, so that students would attend to the classroom
teacher for their instruction.

RESEARCH METHODS

Research Setting
The study was carried out in two primary schools in Bhopal.

Participants
The sample was drawn randomly among the primary school students .
Due to the limitation of time, only 20 participants were used for this
study. 10 participants were selected from the public schools and 10
participants were also selected from the private schools. The rationale for
this was to have 10 students that had been used to the modern teaching
method and 10 students that were used to the traditional teaching
method. The 10 students selected from the public schools were assumed
to have been taught with traditional method of teaching while the 10
students chosen from private schools were assumed to have been taught
with modern method of teaching.

Research Instruments
The researcher used 2 classrooms for this study. The first class used for
the study was a classroom in a private primary school, where the
classroom setting wore the look of modern classroom. And, the other
classroom used was a classroom in a public primary school, where the
classroom setting wore the look of the traditional classroom, where
learning is individualistic
Merits of Traditional Teaching Methods: Traditional teaching methods used in the educational
institutions have many advantages. These advantages can also be seen as disadvantages of
modern teaching methods-
Traditional teaching method is cheaper than the modern teaching methods which make it
more suitable in the schools of rural areas.
Some subjects like mathematics or chemistry are best taught on a blackboard as there is a
need of explaining the concept at each every step.
There is more interaction between the teacher and student in traditional teaching methods
as compared to the modern teaching methods. We can also say that in traditional teaching
there is more discipline in the class.
In traditional teaching methods teacher does not require any special technical knowledge
and can focus more on his subject for imparting the best knowledge to the students.
Traditional teaching methods don't put any strain on the eyes of students whereas modern
teaching methods can adversely affect the eyes of the students.

Merits of Modern Teaching Methods: Modern teaching methods have various advantages over
traditional teaching methods. These merits can also be viewed as disadvantages of traditional
teaching methods-
Modern teaching methods create more interest among the students with the help of
interesting animations and videos.
Research has shown that use of visual media for teaching helps the students to understand
the subject better and also helps students to memorize the concept for longer time.
With the help of modern teaching methods teacher can cover more syllabus in lesser time
as they don't have to waste their time in writing on the blackboard.
Videos and animations used in the modern teaching methods are more explanatory than
the traditional blackboard methods.
Till
4. Research

4.1 Experiment Introduction and Background

In this part of my thesis I will present how I applied the two approaches in
teaching,modern methodology and traditional methodology in real classrooms and
with whateffect. My research includes questionnaires answered by the pupils, the
opinions of pupils’ parents, and my experiment. In my experiment I taught two
groups. Both of the groups had the same number of lessons (three lessons a week),
they were of similar age (the fourth and fifth class, which means children between the
ages of nine
and eleven), and they were approximately at the same level as they started learning
English at school one year before I conducted my experiment.

4.1.3 Description of the Two Groups

Here I introduce and describe the two groups which I used in my experiment:
Group T: seven children in the fourth grade of a basic school, at the age of nine to
eleven. Two children have learning disabilities (especially problems with
spelling,therefore their spelling mistakes are not taken into consideration) and one
child has a speech impediment (his speech is not taken into consideration). I used the
traditional methodology in this group.
38
Group M: eight children in the fifth grade of a basic school, at the age of ten to
eleven.One child has learning disabilities (her spelling mistakes is not taken into
consideration). I used the modern methodology in this group.
The Experiment

A Review of The Experiment:

I started my experiment with questionnaires. I let the children work in groups of

three to four and gave them a piece of paper with three questions:
1. What ways of learning doyou like?
2. What way of learning do you not like?
3. In what way have you been learning?”

Their replies were very similar, so I am presenting them together.

Here is a summary of pupils’ replies:


What way of learning do you like?

football, competitions, crosswords, games, break, drawing, centres , trips, projects,

playing theatre performances, singing songs, pelmanism and writing letters

What way of learning do you not like?

writing, reading, tests, dictations, learning by heart, projects, pelmanism, singing

songs,writing letters, centres

What way have we been learning?
quite Ok, sometimes we played games, sometimes we learned normally, we wrote
dictations, played pelmanisms, did projects and crosswords, sang songs, we wrote
letters, and we learned from pictures
As one can see, the answers are rather contradictory. Therefore I decided to use
onemore detail in my research: I gave to each child two smileys – one green and
smiling,
the other, red and frowning, to see how much they liked each lesson. At this point I
started my experiment. However, I did not expect the results which I obtained. After

noting down children’s evaluation of the lessons for several times, I noticed that the
same children usually showed the same smiley independently of the activities done
and of how much they evidently enjoyed them. In the classrooms two groups of
pupils appeared: the “good pupils” and the “bad pupils”. The good pupils, those who
always pay attention to the teacher, like their teacher, do what they are expected, do
not necessarily have the best results in the class, however, the teacher can see the
effort,
always showed the smiling smiley. The “bad pupils,” the ones who frequently
rebel,usually are bored, no matter what the teacher does, these pupils rarely pay
attention and often disturb the lesson, showed the frowning smiley. The evaluation
of my lessons andmethods were based not on how much the pupils enjoyed it, but
on their normal attitude to teachers and to school, maybe on their desired image
among the pupils. Therefore, I
decided not to use this as a valid evaluation of the methods. On the other hand, the
parents of my pupils reacted quite strongly, which is in my
opinion an interesting point. Concerning group T, the parents were very
dissatisfied,because in their view their children became demotivated, uninterested in
English, and unable to express anything new. The strong reaction of the parents of
this group of pupils, a letter of complaint, led to the Headmistress of the school
instructing me to discontinue the experiment with that particular group after three
months. Therefore, I
decided to discontinue the experiment with both of the groups, though I knew it was
a too short time for such an issue. For this reason, I was not able to get completely
conclusive results in the final test. However, I believe that the outcomes of my
experiment indicate some interesting conclusions.