ABSTRACT
In the last chapter we began to look at the data on teacher-student interaction in terms of communication patterns: teachers’ views of their ideal, students’ perceptions of the best and worst teachers. Having analyzed extreme behavior patterns we began to examine the more common profiles and grouped them in a typology. It gradually became clear that the typology would add to the growing body of research connecting student learning and teaching behaviors, teaching styles and students’ perceptions of the learning environment (Brophy and Good, 1986; Fraser, 1986; Bennett, 1976). This chapter will describe the typology’s origins, its attributes in terms of the model and the relationship between communication styles and class and teacher characteristics. In Chapter 5 we will turn to the research which brings together these communication patterns and student outcomes.
