European Journal of Alternative Education Studies
ISSN: 2501-5915
ISSN-L: 2501-5915
Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu
Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017
doi: 10.5281/zenodo.290243
THE DOMINANT MODEL OF
COMMUNICATION IN TRADITIONAL TEACHING AND
MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
Semir Šejtanić1, Mustafa Džafić2
1
Phd, University "Džemal Bijedić" Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2
Independent Researcher
Abstract:
The traditional school system included adopting as much information without critical
thinking while modern school tends to democratic education that is focused on the
development of individual abilities of each student and to develop his critical thinking.
In traditional teaching communication the teacher dominates. Such is the autocratic
communication which was reflected in a bossy role of teachers while in modern
teaching the emphasis is on the student's role and the democratic communication. In
pursuing the goal of non-experimental empirical research that we set in our study, we
found that there is a statistically significant connection between interpersonal
communication in teaching and students' success, and that those students whose
teachers mostly used the democratic model of communication in teaching achieved
statistically significantly better school achievements than those students whose teachers
use mainly the autocratic model of communication. The survey was conducted in
Bosnia and Herzegovina (Herzegovina-Neretva Canton) and a sample of 423
respondents (322 students and 101 teachers of primary schools). Through the results,
contents and messages of this paper we have tried to make you aware of the importance
of this segment of communication in the learning process and as such to make it the
subject of everyday questioning and continuous work that should lead to its
improvement, and thus to improving the quality of the entire educational process.
Keywords: communication, education, communication skills, quality teaching
1. Introduction
Communication between students and teachers, i.e. communication between all
subjects of the teaching process is an important factor in quality schools. Students in
Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved.
© 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group
1
Semir Šejtanić, Mustafa Džafić
THE DOMINANT MODEL OF COMMUNICATION IN TRADITIONAL TEACHING AND
MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
quality schools use democratic means of communication, and achieve better results in
learning. To help the students learn to work well, it is necessary to understand that to
us all the quality of life is extremely important. Quality school claims that all people
have five basic needs: love, power, freedom, fun and survival. Quality is everything
that meets one or more basic needs. The success of students in school is better if the
school has quality. Quality school implies a democratic school, democratic form of
communication, taking into account all the participants of the educational process.
Caspe (2003) believes that the preparation of teachers in professional development
programs should actively promote the development of communication skills for
teachers. Lunenburg (2010) investigated the factors that may facilitate or impede the
process of communication and its impact on the effectiveness of teaching.
He noted four categories of barriers to effective communication: process barriers,
physical barriers, semantic barriers and psychological barriers, and he stressed the
active listening as one of the conditions of successful teaching. The tendency of modern
school is for students to be active participants in all phases of the teaching process, the
aim is quality work which is based on a democratic, open and stimulating pedagogical
communication. Today the teacher should not be only a teacher and evaluator, but
more and more a planner, programmer, diagnostician, researcher, organizer, guide,
innovator, advisor and educator. The more the teacher implements these modern
functions his style of work is less classic authoritarian and more inventive and
democratic Ilić,
:
. William Glasser for the needs of the modern school finds a
solution in quality education that is not based on coercion and autocratic
communication. According to the author, "a successful teacher is the one who manages to
convince not half or three quarters but all of his or her students to do well in school." (Glasser,
1994: 25).
Quality school has six conditions for quality work (Glasser, 1999: 36) as follows:
1. Class environment should be enjoyable and stimulating
2. The students should be asked to work only on something useful
3. The students are asked to do their best
4. The students are asked to evaluate and improve their work
5. Quality work always feels good
6. Quality work is never destructive
Quality school requires quality teachers. There is a wide range of tasks to be
carried out by a modern teacher: new teaching programs, new teaching strategies, new
student role, the use of different sources of knowledge, training students for permanent
education Stevanović and Ajanović,
, p.
.
Jersild classified teachers' characteristics "that students love most":
European Journal of Alternative Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017
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Semir Šejtanić, Mustafa Džafić
THE DOMINANT MODEL OF COMMUNICATION IN TRADITIONAL TEACHING AND
MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
Human qualities: kindness, cheerfulness, naturalness, sociability, good humor,
sense of humor
stable, disciplined, impartial
good health
Quality related to the attitude of teachers to discipline: that the teacher is just,
Physical qualities: physical attractiveness, pleasant voice, nice suit, youthfulness,
Teaching quality: good knowledge of the profession, helping the student, acting
in the interest of students, to be interesting and enthusiastic, to know how to
make the students interested, to teach clearly and to emphasize what is
important source: Ozegović,
, p.
.
In addition to students and their parents, teachers are the most important factors
of the educational process. We can rightfully say that the quality of future education
will depend on the teachers, their qualifications, commitment and motivation. Quality
teachers who strive to democratic communication in quality schools and the teaching
process are very important but motivated students who seek quality education are as
well. High-quality schools, quality teachers, motivated students create democratic
communication in the teaching process, and so better success in learning.
2. Research methodology
2.1 The aim research
Concerning this specific topic, the aim of research is to show if there is a significant,
statistical connection between interpersonal communication in teaching and students'
achievement. The other of this research is to determine whether is achievement
statistically better using democratic teaching model rather than autocratic one.
2.2 The main hypothesis of the research
Based on the defined problems, goals and objectives of our research, the main
hypothesis is: We assume that there is a statistically significant connection between
interpersonal communication in teaching and student success in learning, and that
students whose teachers mostly used the democratic model of communication in the
classroom achieve significantly better success in learning than those students whose
teachers use mainly the autocratic model of communication.
2.3 Respondents
The population from which a sample of respondents was selected, and the population
to which this study applies to, consisted of subject teachers and eighth-grade students
European Journal of Alternative Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017
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Semir Šejtanić, Mustafa Džafić
THE DOMINANT MODEL OF COMMUNICATION IN TRADITIONAL TEACHING AND
MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
from primary schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Herzegovina-Neretva Canton). The
sample in this study had an element of deliberate, commemorative and simple
accidental. The research was conducted on a sample of 423 respondents of which 322
respondents of the representative sample are primary school students, while the other
101 were primary school teachers.
2.4 Instrument
After we created a methodological concept as the basis for an empirical investigation of
the problem, we have also made instruments of research. In order to achieve the set
goal and tasks, as research instruments, we used: Scale assessment of students and
teachers of the dominant model of communication used by teachers and students in the
teaching process. Scale assessment we used is the Likert scale in which the respondents
expressed strong degree of agreement or disagreement with the proposed claims, in
accordance with the proposed guidelines on your usual five-point scale: always, often,
sometimes, rarely, never. The survey was conducted during the following period:
March-June 2014 in four primary schools of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
In accordance with the defined goal and tasks, with this study we wanted to
inquire whether there is a statistically significant connection between interpersonal
communication in teaching and student success, and whether students whose teachers
mostly used the democratic model of communication in teaching achieved statistically
significantly better school results than those students whose teachers use mainly the
autocratic model of communication.
3. Results and discussion
Guided by the idea related to our assumption, it seemed interesting to examine whether
there are significant differences in the assessment of the respondents on dominant
models of communication in the modern educational systems and in the traditional
teaching, and consequently we started calculating the value of the t-test. A closer look at
the frequent estimates of dominant model of communication in innovative systems and
in traditional teaching can be obtained by analyzing the results of the research related to
the degree of acceptance of certain claims, i.e. the degree of acceptance of some
indicators of democratic models in innovative teaching systems and indicators of
autocratic model of communication in traditional teaching.
European Journal of Alternative Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017
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Semir Šejtanić, Mustafa Džafić
THE DOMINANT MODEL OF COMMUNICATION IN TRADITIONAL TEACHING AND
MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
Table 1: Indicators of acceptance of certain elements of the communication in the
modern / innovative systems
4.
5.
6.
d) suggest 2-3 methods of study and implement the one
that most students want
Teachers encourage students to ask a lot of questions
and give their opinion
Teachers communicate with students' parents only
when there is a problem
Teachers have the ability:
a) to build a good and pleasant relationship with
students
b) to motivate the students to learn
c) to encourage individual work and learning
d) to provide challenges to students
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
During the lesson in innovative systems the teacher
encourages students, and respects their different
opinions
Teachers in cooperation with the students provide an
environment in which students feel respected as
individuals
During the curricular and extracurricular activities,
teachers are rude, ill-disposed toward students and not
ready for their proposals
Teachers have the ability to adapt to students'
individual needs and abilities
During innovative teaching, there is a good and friendly
work atmosphere
The teacher does not commend students when the
student knows the answer
Never
(f i %)
b) set new problems and encourage students to solve
them
c) prepare tasks with different levels of difficulty
Rarely
(f i %)
3.
Sometimes
(f i %)
2.
Teachers in a clear and interesting way exhibit teaching
materials
Teachers use the modern equipment (projector,
Internet, prepared material for work)
When implementing the teaching content, teachers use:
a) new methods of study
Often
(f i %)
1.
M
Always
(f i %)
Claims related to the model of communication in
innovative systems
167
39,5
76
18,0
155
36,6
162
38,3
65
15,4
108
25,5
16
3,8
56
13,2
20
4,7
21
5,0
4,02
112
26,5
77
18,2
141
33,3
119
28,1
147
34,6
99
23,4
157
37,1
159
37,6
170
40,2
154
36,4
171
40,4
112
26,5
104
24,6
111
26,2
77
18,2
79
18,7
71
16,8
100
23,6
24
5,7
27
6,4
27
6,4
49
11,6
26
6,1
64
15,1
26
6,1
49
11,6
8
1,9
22
5,2
8
1,9
48
11,3
3,72
183
43,3
168
39,7
164
38,8
107
25,3
171
40,4
137
32,4
157
37,1
142
33,6
170
40,2
136
32,2
57
13,5
57
13,5
85
20,1
93
22,0
84
19,9
29
6,9
31
7,3
26
6,1
32
7,6
27
6,4
17
4,0
10
2,4
6
1,4
21
5,0
5
1,2
4,04
131
31,0
143
33,8
90
21,3
38
9,0
21
5,0
3,77
34
8,0
36
8,5
63
14,9
99
23,4
191
45,2
2,11
140
33,1
118
27,9
68
16,1
46
10,9
51
12,1
3,59
173
40,9
50
11,8
145
34,3
85
20,1
56
13,2
89
21,0
31
7,3
109
25,8
18
4,3
90
21,3
4,00
European Journal of Alternative Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017
3,51
3,44
3,97
3,71
4,00
3,35
4,04
4,02
3,73
4,04
2,75
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Semir Šejtanić, Mustafa Džafić
THE DOMINANT MODEL OF COMMUNICATION IN TRADITIONAL TEACHING AND
MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
The presented results show that the respondents of the dominant model of
communication replied in the following statements:
•
That teachers in a clear and interesting way exhibit teaching materials 167 respondents
agree (39.5%).
•
That during the lesson in innovative systems the teacher encourages students, and
respects their different opinions 171 respondents agree (40.4%).
•
That during innovative teaching, there is a good and friendly work atmosphere173
respondents agree (40.9 %).
In addition, they frequently choose the following claims:
•
Teachers encourage students to ask a lot of questions and give their opinion.
•
Teachers have the ability to build a good and pleasant relationship with students.
•
Teachers have the ability to motivate students to learn.
•
Teachers have the ability to encourage individual work and learning.
A more precise insight into the results presented in Table 1 point to the
frequency of the assessment and the selection of statements that indicate the autocratic
model dominant in traditional teaching.
Table 2: Results of the assessment of the frequency of elements of the model of
communication in traditional teaching
3.
4.
5.
6.
b) encourages creativity - gives opportunity
7.
8.
9.
Teachers do not prepare for classes adequately. They
think they have it all in their head
The teacher's authoritative approach causes fear, unease
and uncertainty in students
Teachers in their work:
a) do not encourage student ideas
Never
(f i %)
The teacher scolds a student when the student does not
know the answer
Teachers do not like it when the students constantly
give their suggestions during the class
Teachers do not allow their students to suggest
anything for their work
Students have the opportunity to choose and use
different sources of information
During the class the teacher:
a) conducts – orders
Rarely
(f i %)
2.
Sometimes
(f i %)
Teachers exhibit teaching materials frontally
Often
(f i %)
1.
M
Always
(f i %)
Claims on the dominant model of communication in
traditional teaching
63
14,9
26
6,1
31
7,3
30
7,1
133
31,4
151
35,7
64
15,1
44
10,4
60
14,2
140
33,1
134
31,7
106
25,1
102
24,1
72
17,0
68
16,1
44
10,4
98
23,2
127
30,0
115
27,2
50
11,8
31
7,3
129
30,5
119
28,1
146
34,5
32
7,6
3,40
68
16,1
140
33,1
32
7,6
33
7,8
92
21,7
137
32,4
87
20,6
65
15,4
125
29,6
102
24,1
113
26,7
121
28,6
71
16,8
29
6,9
97
22,9
109
25,8
67
15,8
15
3,5
94
22,2
95
22,5
3,05
52
48
106
90
127
2,55
European Journal of Alternative Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017
2,43
2,39
2,32
3,69
3,85
2,68
2,60
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Semir Šejtanić, Mustafa Džafić
THE DOMINANT MODEL OF COMMUNICATION IN TRADITIONAL TEACHING AND
MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
b) do not pay attention to students' opinions
10.
11.
12.
c) ask of the students to have to learn every word the
way they said it
Students have the opportunity to explain their ideas
The teacher should have a decisive role in the course of
teaching
The teacher is the main source of knowledge
12,3
37
8,7
53
12,5
160
37,8
134
31,7
124
29,3
11,3
57
13,5
54
12,8
145
34,3
140
33,1
136
32,2
25,1
105
24,8
72
17,0
68
16,1
101
23,9
104
24,6
21,3
86
20,3
87
20,6
26
6,1
34
8,0
35
8,3
30,0
138
32,6
157
37,1
24
5,7
14
3,3
24
5,7
2,45
2,43
3,92
3,82
3,71
The dominance of the autocratic model of communication in traditional teaching is
evident based on the presented claims:
The teacher should have a decisive role in the course of teaching 134 respondents agree
(31.7%), while 101 respondents (23.9%) believe that the teacher should only
occasionally play a decisive role in teaching.
With the claim that the teacher is the main source of knowledge 124 respondents
(29.3%) strongly agree, while 104 (33.1%) believe that still the teacher sometimes
is a source of knowledge.
That the teachers exhibit teaching materials frontally 63 respondents (14.9%) agree,
while 151 respondents (35.7%) believe that that is a common practice and 134
(31.7%) believe that the teachers only sometimes use frontal teaching.
The following claims were also frequent:
Teachers in their work do not encourage student ideas
Teachers in their work do not pay attention to students' opinions
Teachers in their work ask of the students to have to learn every word the way
they said it
As we can see from Table 2, the arithmetic mean on the Scale of assessments of
the respondents of the dominant democratic model of communication in the modern
educational system is higher for teachers (M = 63,346) as compared to students (M =
55,838). However, this difference is not statistically significant (t = -8,948, df = 221, p
<0.05).
So, teachers and students, on average, have similar assessments related to the
dominance of the democratic model of communication in the modern educational
system. A group of children on average achieves higher scores (M = 35,900) than groups
of teachers (M = 27.29), when it comes to the assessment of dominance of the autocratic
model of communication in the traditional teaching. However, here as well, this
difference is not statistically significant (t = 10,289, df = 421, p <0.05). In other words,
European Journal of Alternative Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017
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Semir Šejtanić, Mustafa Džafić
THE DOMINANT MODEL OF COMMUNICATION IN TRADITIONAL TEACHING AND
MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
these two groups of respondents express fairly equal estimates related to the dominance
of the autocratic model of communication in traditional teaching.
Table 3: Results of the t-test for determining the possible differences in the assessment of
respondents (teachers and students) of the dominant democratic model of communication in
the modern educational systems and the dominant autocratic model of communication in the
traditional teaching
Variable
Respondent
N
M
SD
∆M
SE∆M
t
df
p
Assessment of the
Student
322
55,838
9,181
7,508
0,839
-8,948
228
.000
Teacher
101
63,346
6,683
Student
322
35,900
7,465
8,603
0,836
10,289
421
.000
Teacher
101
27,297
6,884
respondents of the dominant
democratic model of
communication in the modern
educational systems
Assessment of the
respondents of the dominant
autocratic model of
communication in the
traditional teaching
Legend:
∆M – arithmetic mean difference,
SE∆M – standard error of the difference,
t-the value of t statistics,
df – degrees of freedom, p –significance
Since the differences in the estimates of the respondents, i.e. students and teachers, did
not turn out to be statistically significant, but in order to get a more detailed insight into
the results of the distribution of the results of the assessment of the dominant model of
democratic education in innovative systems and the dominant autocratic model of
education in traditional systems, we have developed a degree of assessment of
dominance of these two models with the responses of respondents categorized in the
manner presented in Table no. 4.
European Journal of Alternative Education Studies - Volume 2 │ Issue 1 │ 2017
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Semir Šejtanić, Mustafa Džafić
THE DOMINANT MODEL OF COMMUNICATION IN TRADITIONAL TEACHING AND
MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
Table 4: The connection of the assessment of the respondents of the dominant democratic
model of communication in the modern educational systems and the dominant autocratic
model of communication in the traditional teaching
The autocratic style in traditional teaching
not dominant
0
,0%
0
,0%
1
,2%
1
,2%
Not dominant
Dominant
Very dominant
Total
X2= 6,340; df=4;
The democratic style in innovative systems
C.Coeff=0,122;
dominant
0
,0%
62
14,7%
48
11,3%
110
26,0%
very dominant
3
,7%
205
48,5%
104
24,6%
312
73,8%
Total
3
,7%
267
63,1%
153
36,2%
423
100,0%
p=0,175
Thus, presented results strongly suggest that the highest percentage of respondents
largely opted for the dominance of the autocratic style in traditional teaching and of the
democratic style in innovative teaching. The values obtained X2 = 6.340 in the value of
the coefficient C = 0.122 which is not significant at any statistical level, point to the lack
of cohesion among the variables mentioned above, and on the basis of these research
results we reject our research hypothesis.
4. Conclusion
Estimates of the majority of our respondents indicate that teachers predominantly use
the democratic model of communication in the classroom. Respondents expressed their
views entirely agreeing with the statements that teachers always encourage, motivate
and reward students for their work, then that the willingness of teachers to help the
student affects the positive attitude in the teacher-student relationship, that the teachers
are always willing to help the students, and that the understanding and the respect for
the students' personalities and teachers' interesting exhibits are important elements to
creating a positive attitude in the teacher-student relationship, and that most teachers
are always nice to students. Since it is based on attitudes and personal assessment, this
research has the character of a snapshot of the awareness of respondents of different
characteristics within a certain time period and should be viewed as such.
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THE DOMINANT MODEL OF COMMUNICATION IN TRADITIONAL TEACHING AND
MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
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THE DOMINANT MODEL OF COMMUNICATION IN TRADITIONAL TEACHING AND
MODERN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS
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