Sustaining pupil engagement in literacy lessons

This digest found in

English
Behaviour

How did lessons involving closed tasks affect pupils?

The researchers noted how when children:

lacked control;
particularly disliked prescribed tasks;
had difficulty comprehending the activity; and
feared failure;

they not only disengaged from the task, but showed resistance to it. Disengagement and resistance usually occurred during lessons where the activities were closed (such as lessons that involved workbook exercises, reading round the class etc).

The children showed their resistance in different ways. For example, they wasted time to try to get out of doing the task by going to the toilet, colouring, and losing their place. Others merely became restless or inattentive. Some children cried. The teachers in turn reacted to the resistance and a cycle of negativity evolved. The researchers cited previous studies which found that when they met with pupil resistance, teachers sometimes adopted defensive tactics, such as assigning less challenging work, because they thought it would lead to less resistance.

Even young children appeared able to explain why they resisted particular activities. The researchers gave the example of a child who interrupted the teacher as she was instructing two other pupils to ask if he could give water to the classroom gerbil instead of reading. The reason he gave suggested a lack of choice and control over the reading activity:

‘I didn’t want to read. I get tired of reading. I like it sometimes (reading) but not some stories and not doing it for so long’.

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction What factors were associated with off and on-task behaviour? What kind of tasks and activities disengaged pupils? How did lessons involving closed tasks affect pupils? How was the study designed? Implications Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To find out more about collated digests click here Get Word Reader Sustaining pupil engagement in literacy lessons This digest found in English Behaviour Send to a friend Word doc 60KB Printer friendly Collate for later How did lessons involving closed tasks affect pupils? The researchers noted how when children: lacked control; particularly disliked prescribed tasks; had difficulty comprehending the activity; and feared failure; they not only disengaged from the task, but showed resistance to it. Disengagement and resistance usually occurred during lessons where the activities were closed (such as lessons that involved workbook exercises, reading round the class etc). The children showed their resistance in different ways. For example, they wasted time to try to get out of doing the task by going to the toilet, colouring, and losing their place. Others merely became restless or inattentive. Some children cried. The teachers in turn reacted to the resistance and a cycle of negativity evolved. The researchers cited previous studies which found that when they met with pupil resistance, teachers sometimes adopted defensive tactics, such as assigning less challenging work, because they thought it would lead to less resistance. Even young children appeared able to explain why they resisted particular activities. The researchers gave the example of a child who interrupted the teacher as she was instructing two other pupils to ask if he could give water to the classroom gerbil instead of reading. The reason he gave suggested a lack of choice and control over the reading activity: ‘I didn’t want to read. I get tired of reading. I like it sometimes (reading) but not some stories and not doing it for so long’.