An Innovative Approach to Teaching and Learning

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Mar 12, 2010 - in the curriculum for pre-service science teachers. .... Reading The Book Of Nature (Kosso, 1997) was used to guide the ...... was chosen as the experimental group, while class B2 was the ... creating a bilingual and dialogical learning environment to empower them to ...... ariah_Mior_Shaharuddin_ppt.pdf.
An Innovative Approach to Teaching and Learning about the Nature of Science: Student’s Learning Outcomes Beh Kian Lim Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia.

ABSTRACT This paper is based on the author’s classroom experience. It looks into the content and the methodology used in the classroom for SCE500- Nature of Science (NOS), a course for pre-service science teachers. It highlights the innovative and creative elements of the class lessons especially pertaining to the variety of approaches used in the set induction of every class session. These approaches were based on the consensus model of the Nature of Science. Among the approaches were using optical illusions as illustrations of what constitutes observation and the notion that observation is theory laden, using the developmental model of the atom from the historical perspective as illustration for the tentativeness of scientific ideas, using ‘ magnetic field’ as revealed by dusting iron filings around a bar magnet to illuminate the notion that scientific constructs are created by scientists, using specific examples of scientific law and theory in conceptualising the distinction between theory and law in view of the misconceptions harboured by students that theory with sufficient evidence will become law, and, using the duality of light as particles and waves to illustrate the possibility of multiple theories for a particular set of data. The paper also highlights the eight misconceptions of NOS commonly found among students and the effectiveness of the course in addressing these misconceptions based on students’ course feedback and the quantitative data obtained before and after the course using an inventory designed by the author to gauge students’ conceptual gain in the eight aspects of NOS.

Key words: Nature of Science (NOS), innovation, teaching & learning, course outcomes

Introduction Science literacy emcompasses not only knowing about science content, but also about science in accordance with the current science education reform definition. For example, in the USA science literacy has been defined as having six domains: Concept, Process Skills, Application, Attitude, Creativity and Nature of Science as stated in the Iowa Assessment Handbook (Enger & Yager 1998). Nature of Science illuminates how scientific knowledge has developed and the roles scientists have played in this process. These are two fundamental aspects considered essential for students to learn. In tandem with the reform in science education, the subject SCE500-Nature of Science (NOS) has been included among the science based core subjects

in the curriculum for pre-service science teachers. It is mandatory for all students majoring and minoring in science. However, in Malaysian schools, it is a common practice that teaching science focuses mainly on knowing science content

and NOS has not been

addressed explicitly. This has resulted in school students, even science based ones, harbouring misconceptions about NOS when entering our science education programs at a higher level.

The Nature of Science The Nature of Science has many facets. The realist sees science as a discovery process, the constructivist sees science as a human construct and the instrumentalist sees science for its utility. Issues regarding the nature of science are not settled because of its complexity and its relation to context (Clough, 2007). However, science education reform documents such as Science for All Americans, AAAS 1990 have reached a consensus about the following noncontroversial views of the nature of science as summed up by Liang, et al. (2008). In brief, the views are:  Scientific knowledge is tentative but durable and reliable,  Observation and inferences are guided by scientific theories,  Science strives to be objective but subjectivity is inevitable,  Science involves both creativity and rationality,  Science as a human endeavor is subject to the influence of society and culture,  Scientific theories explain scientific laws and theories do not become laws with additional evidence, and  Scientific methods generally include analysis, hunches, speculations, experimentations and investigations. However, research concerning students’ understanding of NOS reveals that students, even the science based ones, harbour some general misconceptions when confronted with the notion of NOS.

Misconceptions of Nature of Science Studies in students’ conceptions of NOS abound. Among these studies, many have used the diagnostic tool designed by Lederman known as the Views of Nature of Science Form C (VNOS-C) for example Parker, Krocker, Lasher-Trapp & Eichinger (2008) using American students, and Tan and Boo (2003) using Singaporean pre-service teachers or its modification such as Lin, Chiu & Chou (2006).) The common findings from these studies were:  Experiments in science confirm scientific ideas,  Scientists use their imagination at the early stage of investigation only,  Science provides explanations with facts and proofs,  The content of scientific texts is certain facts,  Theories become laws with sufficient evidence,  Hypothesis-experiment-conclusion is the scientific method used by all scientists,  The same piece of evidence or data cannot be subjected to multiple interpretations, and  Scientists are people with ”abnormal” behaviour as portrayed in most films.

The information on the accepted characteristics of NOS and the tenacity of misconceptions of NOS among students even after studying science in schools and colleges are important information to guide curriculum review in the teaching of science especially when deciding on the implementation of teaching NOS as a subject. Due consideration needs to be given to the misconceptions of NOS as highlighted by various studies. What follows are the author’s views and experience of teaching NOS.

Teaching Nature of Science

There are two possible approaches: the implicit and the explicit to enhance students’ understanding of NOS. The implicit approach believes that by “doing science” students will also come to understand the Nature of Science. The explicit approach applies the methodology of instruction based on.elements from the history and philosophy of science which are are used to improve students’ view of the Nature of Science. However, research on these two approaches has indicated that the implicit approach has little impact on students’ understanding of NOS, while the explicit one has been proven to be better (Lederman, 1998). Lederman and Abd-El-Khalick (1998) have developed a set of activities with specific learning outcomes pertaining to certain specific aspects of NOS such as the Black-Box, the Real Fossil, and the Young? Old?. The Black-Box seeks to address the distinction between observations and inferences, the role of models and theories in science and creativity in devising scientific hunches. The Real Fossil seeks to help learners realize knowledge in science is partly a product of human inference, imagination and creativity and that there is no single scientific method which is followed in all scientific investigations. As for the Young? Old?, the old woman-young lady picture seeks to help students to understand that scientists’ paradigms, resulting from their beliefs, preconceptions, training, experiences and expectations can influence their mind-set in collecting data and interpreting processes. The author has used the old woman-young lady picture as a pedagogical tool with much success in teaching NOS since 2004. The picture has not only been an effective way of showing that scientific observation is theory laden to students but is a sure way of getting students excited about the class. The visual experience with the picture for the first time was definitely an insight. The author would like to share the course content and some of the pedagogical approaches based on the constructivist paradigm in the teaching of NOS for the subject SCE 500. The SCE500 Experience

The subject SCE 500 -The Nature of Science is a core subject taken by all undergraduates enrolled in the pre-service science teacher program at the Faculty of Education, UiTM. The course content has a philosophical bias and the approach is constructivistically inclined. This approach is deemed appropriate as it ensures the learning outcomes not only pertain to meaningful construction of content knowledge but also to the development of both cognitive and soft skills such as creative and critical thinking, leadership, communicative, presentation, problem solving and research skills. These skills are among the requirements suggested by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education in the OBE reform curriculum for tertiary education. Course Content In designing the curriculum for Science education program, the explicit approach was used in educating our students regarding the various facets of the Nature of Science. A book, entitled Reading The Book Of Nature (Kosso, 1997) was used to guide the students through the philosophical perspectives of the following topics as classified by the author.  Theory, Hypothesis and Law,  Theory: External and Internal Virtues,  Explanation and Truth,  Confirmation,  Under determination,  Observation,  Blurring the internal-external distinction,  Coherence and truth,  Objective evidence, and  Science and common sense.

The content of each topic can be rather abstract due to the nature of the language used. Hence, before a class embarked on the discussion of the above topics according to the sequence in the book, two chapters from Science for All Americans, that is, ”The Nature of Science” and ”The Nature of Mathematics and Technology” were incorporated as an overview. The objectives of the overview were twofold, first to provide a general framework of NOS as a prerequisite for enhancing understanding of the philosophical arguments set in the book, and second, as a complement to the book content where Kosso (1997) did not include explicit discussion. A topic on Religion and Science was introduced as the closure. The main objective was to enable students to internalise what was not science. The closure was executed in a debating mode where the class was divided into two sides, one side would argue the motion of the supremacy of scientific knowledge and the other would defend the supremacy of religious knowledge as the guiding principle in our daily life. The inclusion of religion is in the context of belief in God which is one of the five pillars in the national ”Rukunegara”. What the author hoped to achieve through the debate was realisation among the students of the difference between knowledge in science and knowledge in religion and the importance of these two knowledge as the guiding principles for the development of modern Malaysian society. . Instructional Approach

The teaching approach was based on the constructivist paradigm where students are given the opportunity to demonstrate their creative and critical thinking skills via presentations, projects and assignments. The paradigm theorizes that learning with understanding is the result of learners active construction or generation of meaning from sensory input via accommodation and assimilation as modelled by Piaget and Kelly. No one can do the learning for the students.

Teachers cannot assume that students’ mind is an empty bottle into which they can transfer knowledge directly and fill it up. Learning has to be viewed from the mechanism of knowledge construction and not transmission. The general guidelines for the weekly 3-hour block session are briefly as follows:  Students are divided into groups of not more than five each. 

Every week, each group is responsible for sharing the content based on the assigned reading materials. The content is shared via a methodology created by the group after consultation with the instructor.



The instructor acts as a facilitator.



Inquiry method that emphasizes the student-centred mode of instruction is applied.



Students experience cooperative, reflective, and experiential learning.



There is a focus on creative learning with critical thinking.

To enhance students’ conception of NOS, a session called ”induction” was incorporated at the beginning for each of the 3-hour block weekly discussion. Students reported in their reflective essay that the inductions were interesting, illustrative, and illuminating. The following are some of the inductions created by students. Induction 1

Figure 1 Optical Illusion Source: http://www.moillusions.com/2010/03/lg-phone-detects-up-to-16-faces.html The main objective of using this optical illusion (Figure 1) is to illustrate the followings:  Science demands evidence to support claims. Evidence is obtained by observations and measurements. In some cases, controlled experiments are done deliberately and precisely to obtain evidence. However, observation is theory laden.  The role of theory is to enable scientists to make decision regarding what data to look for and what data to ignore. For example, if one is familiar with “a lady’s face”, one would then be able to see a face prominently in the picture. One sees not only a lady’s face but one can recognise or can ”see” the eye, the eyebrow, the nose and the mouth although in close examination, the eye and the eyebrow are leaves, the nose is a butterfly, and the mouth is a flower. However, if one is familiar with ”flower’, ”butterfly’ and ”leaf’ one will be able to ”see” these entities in Figure 1. A person is able to see the face, the flower, the leaves and the butterfly because he possesses mental constructs regarding these entities. Theory in science is analogous to these mental constructs.

 Science seeks to construct theories to describe nature. As in this case, one can possibly come out with many theories to describe and explain the natural world. This multi perspectives lead to the notion of uncertainty in science and the issue of ”science is about truth” is a fallacy. Science by nature is dynamic, changing, tentative, yet durable.

Induction 2 Students are asked to draw the magnetic field around a bar magnet. Many do not have a problem with the drawing which appears in science textbooks as in Figure 2.

Figure2. Textbook drawing (source: http://www. :hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu

)

Figure 3. Real life image (source: http://www.people.web.psi.ch ) In Induction 2, a bar magnet was placed under a piece of transparent paper on an overhead projector. A student was asked to sprinkle iron filings over the magnet and subsequently, to give the paper a gentle tapping at the edge. The filings traced out a pattern of magnetic field lines in the surrounding space as in Figure 3. Students were intrigued and amazed with the

visual image of the formation of the magnetic field pattern. The following questions were subsequently posted to the students:

 Do you see Figure 2 in Figure 3? Where are N and S and the arrow signs in Figure 3?  Do you see the lines of force in Figure 3?  Do you think magnetic fields come with lines in its natural setting? If not, how do you get to see the pattern as traced out by the filings? In the class discussion, relating to the phenomena of magnetic field patterns, the following ideas were introduced:  This particular pattern is formed by the filings because each tiny iron filing has been induced into becoming a temporary magnet. The iron filings with the magnetic property of ’ different poles attract and similar poles repel” align themselves to form lines. The gaps between the lines are due to the repulsive force created between filings that are aligned side by side. The magnetic lines of force is a physics construct invented by scientists. This construct is just a representation of an invisible entity but useful in that it has predictive value.  As for the labels N and S and the arrow signs which appear in Figure 2, these are conventions agreed by scientists in defining the directions of a magnetic field, that is, the directions indicated by the needle of a compass when it is placed in the field. The following features of NOS were then introduced:  Scientific constructs are generated to make the natural world comprehensible and intelligible.

 The constructs do have predictive value. Based on these constructs, for example, we can predict the magnetic field pattern of two bar magnets placed side-by-side.  Scientific ideas are grounded on agreements among scientists.  Since ”magnetic lines of force’ is a human construct, it can be subjected to change when a better representation has been created in future.  What constitute observation is the effect of the unobservable scientific entity and not the scientific entity itself.

Induction 3 Students were requested to carry out the following activity according to the instructions below with reference to Figure 4

Figure 4. Optical illusion (source: http://www.eyetricks.com/jesus.htm)

* * *

1) Stare at the four little dots in the middle of the picture for 30 seconds. 2)Then look at a wall near you. 3) A bright spot will appear.

* *

4) Wink a few times and you‘ll see a figure. 5) What do you see? Or even WHO do you see?

In this sensational experience, students will see a face of an old man in 3D. If they are of Christian faith, they may associate the 3D image with Jesus. This 3D illusion is an effective way for the students to get the message that science

gains its believability through

observation. However, observation alone is insufficient. This is because our eyes may deceive our mind at times as in the case of Figure 4. The object in Figure 4 is made up of patches of ink mark in two dimension but our eyes see it in the form of a human face in the three dimensional form. This experience hopefully would convince students regarding the message that science is not about truth but is about its explanary power. As has been indicated earlier under the section of Misconception, many students habour the misconception that scientific knowlege is fact with certainly rather than the correct conception that ideas in science are tentative but durable. Magic Eye, the 3D Illusions series published by N.E. Thing Enterprise in 1994 is another amazing source for similar optical illusions that can be used to similarly illustrate that "SEEING IS BELIEVING“ is necessary but not sufficient in science since hypotheticodeductive method of confirmation is a myth in describing process of science. This leads to Karl Popper‘s proposal that falsification rather than proof is the most crucial phase of the scientific process. Induction 4

Dalton’s Billiard ball model(1800-1900): An atom is a tiny, hard, indestructible sphere

Thompson’s “plum-pudding“ model (1856-1940): An atom as a volum of positive charge with electrons embedded through the volum.

Rutherford’s planetary model of atom(1910)

Bohr‘ shell model with quantum concept (1913)

Erwin Schrödinger’s cloud model or quantum mechanical Model based on probability theory (1926)

Figure 5. Models of Atom: Historical perspective (Source: https://www.google.com.my/search?q=Models+of+atom+pictures&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&t bo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=inOLT6_dKIHkrAegmrSqCw&ved=0CCMQsAQ&biw=853&bih=57 0

The chart in Figure 5 shows the historical development of the idea of an atom. The message on the chart hopes to convince students that ideas in science are tentative yet durable. This aspect of the tentative and durable nature of science has been used as the theme for the term paper as well.

Induction 5

Wave Particle Duality in Light

Interference

Photoelectric Effect

In the 1600s, Christiaan Huygens and Isaac Newton proposed two competing theories for the behaviour of light. Huygens proposed a wave nature of light while Newton invented a "corpuscular" (particle) theory of light. Thomas Young's double slit experiment resulted in obvious wave behaviour and seemed to firmly support the wave theory of light over Newton's particle theory. In 1905, Albert Einstein published his paper to explain the photoelectric effect, which proposed that light travelled as discrete bundles of energy. The energy contained within a photon was related to the frequency of the light. This theory came to be known as the photon theory of light (although the word photon wasn't coined until years later). The photon theory defines the particle nature of light. So light has wave and particle duality. The question of whether such duality also showed up in matter was tackled by the bold de Broglie hypothesis, which extended Einstein's work to relate the observed wavelength of matter to its momentum. Experiments confirmed the hypothesis in 1927, resulting in a 1929 Nobel Prize for de Broglie. So matter has particle and wave duality. Figure 6. Wave Particle Duality in Light (Source: http://physics.about.com/od/lightoptics/a/waveparticle.htm )

The passage in Figure 6 was shared with students and the following questions were posed: Do you really think that light can possess two different natures; wave and particle? If de Broglie's hypothesis is right, humans consisting of matter also possess the wave nature. If so, can we go through Young’s double slit? This last question always elicited students’ laughter. This reflects the notion that science is not about ”truth” but about the power of explanation. Theories generated are introduced to explain natural phenomena such as wave theory for interference pattern and particle theory for photoelectric effect. Science can have multiple theories for a particular scientific entity but the theories need to be congruent with each other. As in this case of light, it is necessary to come out with a new theory of duality to unify the wave and particle theories.

Induction 6 Why do science textbooks name the following as Laws? 

Newton’s 3 Laws



Snell’s Law of Refraction



Boyle’s Law

Why do science science textbooks name the following as theories? 

The Kinetic theory of gas



Charle Darwin’s theory of evolution

Figure 7 Laws and Theories

In science teaching, students are seldom asked to make a distinction between the terms law and theory. The questions in Figure 7 are used with this intention. Research has indicated that most science students hold a simplistic, hierarchical view of the relationship between theory and law, that a theory is elevated to the status of law if the theory is well tested with sufficient supporting evidence(Lederman, 1998).

Lederman (1998, p. 3) offers a clear explanation to differentiate between theory and law. “Laws are statements or descriptions of the relationships among observable phenomena. Boyle's law, which relates the pressure of a gas to its volume at a constant temperature, is a case in point. Theories, by contrast, are inferred explanations for observable phenomena. The kinetic molecular theory, which explains Boyle's law, is one example. Moreover, theories are as legitimate a product of science as laws. Scientists do not usually formulate theories in the hope that one day they will acquire the status of "law." Scientific theories, in their own right, serve important roles, such as guiding investigations and generating new research problems in addition to explaining relatively huge sets of seemingly

unrelated observations in more than one field of investigation. For example, the kinetic molecular theory serves to explain phenomena that relate to changes in the physical states of matter, others that relate to the rates of chemical reactions, and still other phenomena that relate to heat and its transfer, to mention just a few.”

Students’ Learning Outcomes In the constructivist classroom as implemented for the subject SCE500, knowing students’ misconceptions about NOS and to what extent the subject has effected a conceptual change in students about NOS are essential in the learning outcomes. In this subject, an inventory as shown in Figure 8 (Appendix) has been designed and used for this purpose, that is to gauge students’ conceptual change about the Nature of Science after finishing the course. The inventory has been constructed based on the eight common misconceptions as revealed by the work of Parker et al. (2008) with American students, Tan and Boo (2003) with Singaporean pre-service teachers and Lin, Chiu and Chou (2006) with pre-service elementary teachers. The inventory was administered to 18 undergraduate students before and after they took the subject SCE500. It was administered in class during the December -- May 2011 semester. The students were required to make their responses in the Likert scale of 1-5 where 1 indicates “Strongly agree” to 5 which indicates “Strongly disagree” before (Entrance) and after (Exit) the course. Scales of 1 and 2 indicate students’ misconceptions and scales of 4 and 5 indicate students’ correct conceptions. Table 1 shows the average score for each of the eight items in the inventory.

Table1: Entrance-Exit Mean Score Question  Experiments in science confirmscientific ideas.

Entrance Exit 2.1 3.2

 Scientists use their imagination at the early stage of investigation only.

2.7

4.0

 Science provides explanations with facts and proofs.

1.8

3.9



2.8

4.2

 Theories become laws with sufficient evidence.

1.9

4.4

 Hypothesis-experiment-conclusion is the scientific method used by all scientists.  The same piece of evidence or data cannot be subjected to multiple interpretations.  Scientists are people with “abnormal “ behaviour as portrayed in most films.

1.8

2.6

3.2

4.5

3.9

4.00

The content in scientific texts is certain fact.

Table 1 reveals that before taking the subject, the level of misconception among the students about the Nature of Science was high except for item 8 as most students tended to disagree with the statements. However, after completing the subject, most of the students changed significantly

about disagreeing with the statements and acknowleged their earlier

misconceptions for item 1 to item 7. However, the change in item 6 was rather small indicating that the misconception regarding the notion of the scientific method had not been addressed convincingly by the subjects or that this notion was too tenacious to change as these students had been trained in writing laboratory reports in a particular sequence starting with a hypothesis since studying science in school. It is interesting to note that before the class, very few students were in disagreement with item 8; only one indicated ”disagree” and two were ”not sure”. However, after the class, these three students maintained their view which was not surprising as the course content did not address this issue explicitly.

The positive improvement in students’ understanding of NOS can be substantiated by the course feedback from students. The following is an example of the verbatim feedback by a student of his view about this course. “Learning the Nature of Science was very interesting to me. It brought a whole new experience. When I was a kid, I used to have a different point of view about science. Science was the truth. Having knowledge of science makes me proud. When we were talking about science, it never disappoints me. Talking about science makes me feel big. I was proud of having scientific mind, scientific method and scientific explanation. Why? Because I though I was at the truth side of everything. I even still remember having the habit of arguing my science teacher before. Being able to come out with arguments that sometimes even my teacher could not answer makes me feel smarter than my teacher. Yet, I never ask myself why they could not answer the question. Not until I am in secondary school. During secondary school, I love to watch Discovery Channel, even until now. They come out with so many convincing facts and scientific knowledge yet sometimes leaves more questions on every show. So I asked myself. If science was the truth, then why sometimes there are still questions to ask. Is the truth itself is not perfect? If science is the truth, why sometimes it is against my religious believe? All the answer I discover it in this subject. I learn about the nature of theory and law. Not forgetting the internal and external virtue that it has. Then only it answers my entire question. Apparently, science fact is not a truth. Science is always close to the truth but it never touches the truth. However, although it never touches the truth, yet why many people believe in it? In this class I learned the reason why people believe it. It is simply has the power to explain and predict. Curiosity is a human nature. We always ask why and demand explanation about things that happened around us. Science has this characteristic and it suit human nature perfectly. As for predict, human always want to control what is around us. Therefore, if any

changes happen we always want to be prepared for it. Hence, science has the power to predict things that happens, it helps us to adapt to these changes and survive in this world. I learn many things in the class. The book itself is the first philosophical book I ever read. So it was quite a challenge to understand it. Not forgetting the content which is quite difficult to understand. Yet with helps from lecturer and friends, I was able to sort thing out and understand the content. Therefore I would like to express my gratitude to all who help me throughout the class. For my group members, thank you to all of you for the endless commitment and support. Thank you also to the lecturer, XXX for the encouragement and the patient in teaching us a quite challenging subject. With the help from you, now I am able to see science in a new different view. Thank you.”-by XXXX

Conclusion

Students find SCE500 subject useful and interesting but difficult to digest at times. It is useful because it addresses the issue of what is this thing called science. Before the class, students’ ideas about science were very limited. Most students anchor science with specific discipline content such as physics, chemistry or biology that they have studied at school. Some associate science with doing experiments, a unique laboratory experience that the non science couses do not offer. None of the students can offer a glimpse of what science is about, how it operates, the epistemological and ontological foundation of science, how scientists operate in personal and social contexts and how society influences and reacts to scientific endeavours. These features of NOS have not been included explicitly in school science testbooks.

Students love the inductions. They can relate to the messages easily and find the presentations illuminating. However, admittedly, both the text and the content in the

book (Kosso, 1977) is hard, abstract and beyond visualisation at times.This is especially so when most of the students do not possess the English language proficiency demanded by the book. Most students require a dictionary to help them while reading the chapters since English is not their mother tongue.

Due to the complexity of NOS, Clough (2007) suggests an innovative idea for teaching , that is making the “tenets” of NOS into questions to embrace such as: 

In what sense is scientific knowledge tentative? In what sense is it durable?



To what extent is scientific knowledge empirically based (based on and/or derived from observations of the natural world)? In what sense is it not always empirically based?



To what extent are scientists and scientific knowledge subjective? To what extent can they be objective? In what sense is scientific knowledge the product of human inference, imagination and creativity? In what sense is this not the case?



To what extent is scientific knowledge socially and culturally embedded? In what sense does it transcend society and culture?



In what sense is scientific knowledge invented? In what sense is it discovered?



How does the notion of a scientific method distort how science actually works? How does it accurately portray aspects of how science works?



In what sense are scientific laws and theories different types of knowledge? In what sense are they related?



How are observations and inferences different? In what sense can they not be differentiated?



How does private science differ from public science? In what ways are they similar?

(Clough, 2007, p.3)

Investigating NOS as questions rather than ‘tenets’ creates opportunities for addressing issues pertaining to context, conceptual understanding and various philosophical positions. However, this approach may be too challenging and beyond the cognitive ability of most students if NOS is to be introduced at an introductory level. It may be appropriate to be used as a framework for an advanced course in NOS. At the advanced level, students can then relate NOS to the issue of context and complexity of various science disciplines to expose the multi facets of science. The tenets are used to expose the general characteristics of NOS as the foundation to introduce ”special cases” as posted by the questions that have been transformed from the ”tenets”. If the Nature of Science is to be introduced in science in schools, it is likely that the content similar to those in the inductions would be suitable.

Appendix

Name: Female

Gender: M Male

Please indicate with a tick ( √ the extent of your agreement with these statements using the following: 1.Strongly agree 2. Agree 3. Not sure 4.Disagree 5.Strongly disagree Please provide a brief explanation for the choice you make.

1 1

Experiments in science confirm scientific ideas. Explanation:

2

Scientists use their imagination at the early stage of investigation only. Explanation:

3

Science provides explanations with facts and proofs. Explanation:

4

The content of scientific texts is certain facts. Explanation:

5

Theories become laws with sufficient evidence. Explanation:

6

Hypothesis-experiment-conclusion is the scientific method used by all scientists. Explanation:

7

The same piece of evidence or data cannot be subjected to multiple interpretations. Explanation:

8

Scientists are people with “abnormal” behaviour as portrayed in most films. Explanation:

Figure 8 Conceptions in Nature of Science

References

2

3

4

5

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). (1990). Science for all Americans. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science. Clough, M. P. (2007). Teaching the Nature of Science to secondary and post-secondary students: Questions rather than tenets. California Journal of Science Education 8(2), 31-40. Enger, S., & Yager, R. (1998). The Iowa assessment handbook. Iowa, USA: Science Education Centre, The University of Iowa. Kosso, P. (1997). Reading the book of nature: An introduction to the philosophy of science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lederman, N. G. (1998). The state of science education: Subject matter without context. Electronic Journal of Science Education, 3(2). Retrieved March 27, 2012 from http://www.scholarlyexchange.org/ojs/index.php/EJSE/article/viewArticle/7602/5369 Lederman, N. G. & Abd-El-Khalick, F. (1998). Avoiding de-natured science: Activities that promote understandings of the nature of science. In W. McComas (Ed.), The nature of science in science education: Rationales and strategies, (pp.83-126). Dordrecht: Kluwer . Liang, L. L., Chen, S., Chen, X., Kaya, O. N., Adams, A. D., Macklin, M., & Ebenezer, J. (2008).

Assessing preservice elementary teachers views on the nature of scientific knowledge: A dual-response instrument. Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, 9(1),n.p. Lin, H.-S., Chiu, H.-L., & Chou, C.-Y. (2006). Student understanding of the nature of science and their problem-solving strategies. International Journal of Science Education, 26, 101–112. Ling L. , Chen, S., Chen, X., Kaya, O., Adams, A., Macklin, M., & Ebenezer, J. (2008). Assessing preservice elementary teachers views on the nature of scientific knowledge: A dual-response instrument. Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, 9(1). Parker, L. C., Krocker, G. H., Lasher-Trapp, S., & Eichinger, D. C. (2008). Ideas about the nature of science held by undergraduate atmospheric science students. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, November 2008, 1681-1688.

Tan, L. T., & Boo, H. K. (2003). Assessing the Nature of Science: Views of Singaporean preservice teachers. Paper presented at the Annual conference of the New Zealand/Australia Association for Research in Education, Auckland. Nov-30- Dec 2003. E-mail: [email protected]

Managerial Decision Styles of Deans: A Case Study of a Malaysian Public University Leele Susana Jamian Gurnam Kaur Sidhu Parmjit Singh Aperapar Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia ABSTRACT

It is often said that decision making style (DMS) is reflective of leadership style. Numerous studies in the area of Management and Leadership indicate that DMS is a key factor that contributes to the success of both managers and their organizational performance. Using the Decision Making Styles Inventory (DMSI) developed by Rowe and Boulgarides (1992), this paper examines the managerial DMS ofdeans in one of the Malaysian public universities. The scores derived from the DMS were categorized into four decision styles, namely directive, behavioural, analytical and conceptual. The findings revealed that a majority of the deans adopted at least one very dominant or dominant DMS, i mainly behavioural DMS, along with one or two back-up decision styles. Nevertheless, the overall individual results further revealed that the deans possessed more than one style implying that they have considerable flexibility in their managerial DMS and are able to change their decision styles from one situation to another with little difficulty.

Keywords: Decision Making Styles, Leadership, Deans. Institutions of Higher Education (IHE), Leadership Flexibility. Introduction

Bensimon and Neumann (1993, cited in Wolverton et al., 2001) highlight that external changes which take place in the real world have affected the academic landscape of Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) all over the world. This has had an impact on the roles and responsibilities of leaders at all levels including deans. Initially, deans were regarded as managers of academic institutions and their duties focused mainly on the administration of students which include managing, planning, budgeting, advocating, fundraising and cultural perspectives (Wolverton et al., 2001). However, with the impact of the twin forces of globalization and internationalisation, the roles and responsibilities of deans in IHEs are far more challenging as they are required to act as both managers and leaders of change.

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So where do all these roles lead to? A synergy between these two roles as manager and leader requires deans of IHEs to make decisions in the effort to build effective academic organizations that can provide quality education. In such a scenario, the effectiveness of leadership can be measured in many ways. In measuring one’s leadership, Boulgarides and Cohen (2001) have applied the leaders’ managerial decision making styles inventory (DMSI) as a tool to measure and reflect leadership style. They indicated that leadership style is “a consistent pattern of behaviour displayed by a leader over time” (p.1). Hence, based on past empirical research, both scholars disclosed that “a leader’s style is reflected in his style of decision making” (p.1). In the same vein, Jones (2005) emphasized that decision making is one of the important competency components in leadership. He noted that both decision and decision-making processes are explicitly “fundamental to all leadership and management processes” (p. 121). In relation to leadership, Drucker (1967, cited in Harrison, 1999) stated what determines an effective organization will always depend on an effective leader who is also an effective decision maker. Besides this, Leonard, Scholl and Kowalski (1999) agreed that decision making is the fundamental function in any organization. This is because the quality of decisions made would influence the effectiveness of the managers and consequently, affects the success of the whole organization. Similarly, Hammond (1999) advocated that the success in all the roles orchestrated by a manager in an organization reflects the decisions that he or she made. Above all, Rue and Byars (2000) stated that a manager must first be a good decision maker before he or she can be a good planner, organizer, staffer, leader and controller in any organization.

At this juncture, it is perhaps pertinent to question if deans in Malaysian public universities are equipped with the required skills such as effective managerial decision styles. Unfortunately, until now there is little empirical research conducted concerning deans in Malaysian public universities. A recent study on Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for Governance of Public Universities in Malaysia stated that the literature agreed that deans should be able to lead and above all possess management skills in order to navigate effective academic organizations. The study further revealed that both groups of respondents consisting of deans and deputy deans along with heads of departments, ranked decision-making as the most important managerial skill required of effective deans. This is followed by other management skills such as communication skills, problem-solving skills, interpersonal skills, public relation skills, negotiation skills and ICT skills (Parmjit et al., 2009). Even though this study managed to illuminate empirical data on the most needed management skills among deans and top administrators in local IHEs, little is known about their managerial decision styles. Besides the above, managerial decision making has usually been investigated in relation to organizational performance among corporate managers and leaders in private and business organizations worldwide. In addition, there are also a number of studies carried out among school principals at school levels globally but very little has been conducted in the local university setting particularly among deans of Malaysian public universities.

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Considering the fact that one’s decision making could affect the effectiveness of an organization, the researchers embarked on the current study with the aim of exploring and identifying the managerial decision making styles of deans in a Malaysian public university. A review of literature which examines a decision making model consisting of four basic styles, research framework, methodology and findings is also presented in this study. Background Rowe and Boulgarides (1992) affirmed that there is a need to measure decision making styles since “individual’s decision styles form the backbone of effective decision making” (p. 22). Drucker (1966, cited in Rowe and Boulgarides, 1992) pointed out that effective decision makers will try to concentrate only on a few important decisions, to search for what is constant in a situation, and to think through what is strategic and generic rather than to solve problems. Above all, the notion of style flexibility is more effective than one best style only. This is because a flexible style can be adapted to suit the change in a situation, thus improving effectiveness. Furthermore, decision making styles help to probe the structure of the mind and they also could display how an individual thinks based on his or her perceptions and values. In addition, decisions are built within the “unique frame of reference or psychological set of each individual” (p. 28) and this would transcend the subjective reality. Specifically, the decision making style inventory (DMSI) employed in the study was based on four driving forces and situations confronting decision makers as developed by Rowe and Mason in 1987. The scores derived from the inventory will categorize decision makers into four basic decision styles, namely directive, behavioural, analytical and conceptual. Having to measure an individual’s style pattern is significant since this would predict how one will react to various situations. In an absolute sense, decision styles are the tabulated scores that one receives after answering a set of questions in the DMSI. However, in a relative sense, the decision style inventory is the “way” where style is utilized based on decision making situations. They further added that effective decision makers are those whose style matches the requirements of the decision situations. In other words, decision style is referred to as “the way in which a manager perceives information and mentally process that information to arrive at decisions” (Rowe and Boulgarides, 1992, p.28). With this understanding, DMS is seen as an important variable since it can reveal whether academic managers have considerable flexibility or rigidity in changing their decision making styles based on situation warrants (Rowe and Boulgarides, 1992). Thus, this paper examines deans’ decision making styles according to the DMS model and discusses the implications of such styles in relation to leadership. Decision Making Styles Due to complexities and variations, Rowe and Mason (1987, cited in Jacoby, 1996) proposed the term decision making style (DMS) as “the way a person uses information to formulate a decision” (p.5). In fact, they further emphasized that DMS is still a cognitive process which encompasses one’s personality and is highly correlated to one’s needs, values and self-concept.

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Rowe and Boulgarides (1992) asserted that “individual decision making styles form the backbone of effective decision making” (p.22). However, due to the complexity of individuals, one may not expect organizational leaders to “neatly fit into only one category of decision making style” (p.31). Indeed, typical organizational leaders have at least one dominant style with at least one and often two back-up styles. Therefore, the notion of one best style may not be ideal and this has been replaced with the idea of style flexibility that can be adapted to a specific situation. According to management scholars, flexibility in decision making style apparently can improve effectiveness. Rowe and Mason’s Decision Making Style Inventory (DSI) The Decision Making Style Inventory (DMSI) was developed in 1987 by Alan Rowe and Richard O. Mason. According to this model, there are four decision styles, namelydirective, analytical, conceptual and behavioural. Rowe and Boulgarides (1992) clarified that decision making styles (DMS) builds on two key elements, values and perception. DMS describes the way managers make decisions. It involves factors such as the context in which a decision is made, the way the managers perceive and understand cues and what managers value and judge as essential. In brief, decision making style reflects the manner in which managers react to a situation. This includes how managers interpret and understand cues, what managers believe and how they respond to numerous demands and forces. These theorists stated that DMS can be measured using an instrument called the decision making style inventory (DMSI) which probes the structures of the mind. Rowe and Mason’s DMSI reflects a person’s cognitive complexity and values. Figure 1 below shows the DMS model which has two components, cognitive complexity and values orientation. The lower half of Figure 1 indicates the directive and behavioural styles preferred structure and the upper half indicates preferred complexity. The cognitive complexity dimension separates the upper and the lower half as well as distinguishes managers from leaders (Zaleznick, 1970 cited in Rowe and Boulgarides, 1992). Based on the figure also, the values dimension separates the left and right halves and covers task and people dimensions. The left half of the figure indicates the analytic and directive styles that are task oriented. The right half indicates the conceptual and behavioural styles that are people oriented.

Figure 1 Decision Style Model (Rowe and Boulgarides, 1992). Left hemisphere

Right hemisphere

Complexity

Leaders Analytic

Conceptual

Directive

Behavioural

Cognitive Complexity

Manager

Structure Task

People Values 4

A complete decision-style model by Rowe and Mason (1987) is shown in Figure 2 below. It is a more complete description of the DMS model. The model describes an individual’s personality, self-competence, interpersonal competence, situation awareness and problem-solving capability. This model is divided into four styles. These are directive, analytical, conceptual and behavioural . Below is the description of each of the four styles.

Figure 2 Complete Decision Style Model by Rowe and Mason (1987, as cited in Rowe and Boulgarides, 1992) Left hemisphere (logical)

Tolerance For ambiguity

Cognitive Complexity

Need for Structure

Analytical Enjoys problem solving Wants best answers Wants best control Uses considerable data Enjoys variety Is innovative Uses careful analysis N-ACH, needs challenges Directive Expects results Is aggressive Acts rapidly Uses rules Uses intuition Is verbal

Right hemisphere (relational) Conceptual Is achievement-oriented Has a broad outlook Is creative Is humanistic/artistic Initiates new ideas Is future-oriented N-ACH, is independent and wants recognition Behavioural Is supportive Uses persuation Is emphathetic Communicates easily Prefers meetings Uses meetings Uses limited data

Thinking (Ideas)

Doing (Action)

N-POW, needs power N-AFF, needs affiliation

Task/Technical People /Social Values Orientation 1. Directive Style - This decision style is characterized by autocratic and internal orientation. Individuals with this style have low tolerance for ambiguity and low cognitive complexity. The focus is on technical decisions which involve a need for speed, efficiency and limited alternatives. At the same time, they prefer specific information to be given verbally and like to dominate others. They are focused, structured, aggressive and rigid. Their orientation towards the internal organization is always short range with tight controls. They also have the drive to achieve results but concomitantly, they need security and status. 2. Analytical Style - This decision style is characterized by an autocratic bent. Individuals with this style have a much greater tolerance for ambiguity and more cognitive complex personality. They always need more information and consideration for alternatives since they focus on technical decisions. They are typified by the ability to cope with new situations. Therefore, they enjoy more problem solving and always strive to achieve the maximum. Position and ego seem to be important characteristics and they often reach top posts in a company or start their own company 5

since they need more control. However, they are not rapid in decision making but enjoy variety and prefer written reports. They also welcome and enjoy challenges and examine every detail in a situation. 3. Conceptual Style - This decision style is characterized by high cognitive complexity and people orientation. Typically, the people under this category are thinkers rather than doers. Hence, there is trust and openness in relationships. They share goals with subordinates, tend to be idealists, and emphasize more on ethics and values. They are also creative and can readily understand complex relationships. They tend to use data from numerous sources and consider many alternatives. They focus on long range with high organizational commitment. They are achievement-oriented, value praise, recognition and independence. They prefer loose control to power and exhibit participation. 4. Behavioural Style – This style is characterized by supportive and friendly orientation (concerned with subordinates’ well being and are people-oriented). Individuals with this style have a low cognitive complexity scale but they have deep social concern for organizations and development of people. They normally provide counselling, are receptive to suggestions, communicate easily, portray warmth, are empathetic, persuasive, compromising and accept loose control. They focus on short term range and uses meetings for communicating. They tend to avoid conflict, seek acceptance but sometimes are insecure. Mc Clelland (1962, cited in Rowe and Boulgarides, 1992) also described learned needs in terms of economic achievements and feelings that fit the categories of decision making styles. The terms used are as follows:  need for achievement (N-ACH)  need affiliation (N-AFF)  need power (N-POW). The amount that each of the decision making style intensity is used can be determined from the score specified on the decision making style inventory (DMSI). There are four levels of intensity. They are: 1. Least preferred This level of intensity indicates that the individual rarely uses the style but when required could do so. For instance, under stress, a high analytic shifts to a directive style. 2. Back-up This level of intensity indicates that the individual will use the style occasionally and reflects the typical score on the decision style inventory. 3. Dominant This level of intensity shows that the individual will frequently use this style in preference to other styles. However, in general, individuals can have more than one dominant style and they can also switch from one to another. 4. Very dominant This level of intensity indicates the highest level that describes the compulsive use of the style preferred by individuals. This level of intensity becomes the focus of individuals and will override other styles that have a lower intensity

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level. However, there are individuals who have more than one very dominant style. Table 1 below is used to determine the level of intensity for an individual’s style based on the scores obtained on the DMSI instrument. The level of intensity is useful for interpreting the scores on the decision style inventory. For instance a person with a score of directive = 55, analytic = 95, conceptual = 80 and behavioural = 70 would have the following levels of intensity: Directive Analytic Conceptual Behavioural

= 55 marks : = 95 marks : = 80 marks : = 70 marks :

Least preferred Back up Back up Dominant

Based on the example above, a person with the scores shown above has one dominant decision making style, i.e. behavioural, two back up decision making styles, that is analytic and conceptual and one least preferred decision making style, that is directive. Below is the guideline of interpreting what the scores on DMSI mean. Table 1 Decision Making Style Intensity (DMSI) Levels

Style Directive Analytic Conceptual Behavioural

Least preferred Below 68 Below 83 Below 73 Below 48

Intensity Back-up 68 to 82 83 to 97 73 to 87 48 to 62

Dominant Very Dominant 83 to 90 Over 90 98 to 104 Over 104 88 to 94 Over 94 63 to 70 Over 70 (Rowe and Boulgarides, 1992)

DMSI aims at testing one’s preferences when approaching a decision situation. DMSI instrument consists of 20 questions. Each question consists of 4 responses that concern typical situations facing managers. Respondents are to rank behaviours in each question using the scale of 8, 4, 2, and 1. A ranking of 8 indicates the response is most like you, 4 indicates moderately like you, 2 indicates slightly like you and 1 indicates least like you. However, for the purpose of this research, those rankings of 8, 4, 2 and 1 were changed to 4, 3, 2 and 1 in order to avoid confusion among the respondents. Upon analysing the data, these values were then recoded to the original values.

Decision Making Style Inventory Scoring Below are the steps to measure the score of Decision Making Style Inventory (DMSI): a. Total the scores in each of the four columns – I, II, III, IV. b. Total the sum of the score in the four column – I, II, III, IV. The total sum of the four columns is 300. In case it is less or more than 300, check the scores so that respondents do not repeat any number for any question in columns I, II, III and IV. c. Place the total sum of the four columns scores according to the appropriate box: I, II, III and IV as in Figure 3.

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Figure 3 Individual Scoring Matrix (Rowe and Boulgarides, 1992)

Analytic II

Conceptual III

Directive I

Behavioural IV

The Nature of Decision Making in Educational Management. Lunenberg and Ornstein (2002) defined ‘decision making’ as the process of choosing from among alternatives. This is significant to an understanding of educational administration because “choice processes play an important role in motivation, leadership, communication and organizational change” (Lunenberg and Ornstein, 2002, p.182). In addition, decision making permeates all parts of administrative functions such as planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating and controlling in the education setting. According to both scholars, all decisions result in some influence on the performance of both the faculty and students. Therefore, educational managers must develop their decision making aspect ssuch as decision styles and skills for they make many decisions which eventually affect the whole working organization. In addition to that, educational managers in general are also evaluated on the results of their administrative decisions. In this case, the quality of the decisions is crucial in evaluating their effectiveness. The quality of numerous decisions made will not only reflect an impact to the clients but above all will transcend the values held by educational managers who represent the educational organization. The decline in the world ranking of Malaysian universities in the past few years has gained major attention of all stakeholders including students, administrators of higher education, the government, academicians and even the public. With the deteriorating state of Malaysian public universities, the issue of quality decision making particularly by the heads (deans) has been identified as one of the potential areas that need to be investigated. A study conducted by Nik Maheran indicated that indirectly, the issue has to do with the management of IHE. She encourages top managers in universities to be more democratic and less autocratic to ensure the “reform undertaken deliver the right prescriptions for the well known weaknesses or shortcomings” (2009, p.4). This is mainly due to the reason that the autocratic leadership style in IHEs may create poor management and indirectly lead to poor decisions. Eventually, all these may lead to the falling standard of IHEs in Malaysia (Magoha, 2004).

Nonetheless, scholars in the area of leadership always believe that rigourous empirical researches on leadership need to be carried out in order to investigate academic excellence in academic organisations. Zairi (2009), the author of the book entitled Total Transformational Thinking in Academic Leadership - A New DNA, asserted that a new DNA is required in becoming a leader in the academic environment. He claims 8

that it is crucial to understand the key attributes of an effective leader in an academic setting. He further mentions that IHEs need to conduct investigations and determine individuals’ capacity as in “Who are they?” since this information can help to build academic leadership . To date, there is a dearth of research on leadership focusing on the top ranked managers in IHEs particularly public universities in Malaysia. Hence, this case study was conducted with the aim to explore and identify the managerial decision making styles of deans in one of the Malaysian public universities. Specifically, managerial DMS were measured among the deans from a public universitin Malaysia which was categorized as a comprehensive university. This case study is important from theoretical and practical perspectives. Findings from this study might extend the corpus of knowledge in the area of educational management and leadership particularly in Malaysian higher education .

Methodology The aim of this study therefore is to explore and identify the decision making styles of leaders in a Malaysian public university. The target population for this study was all the deans in one comprehensive public university located in the Klang Valley in the state of Selangor in Malaysia. This particular university has 24 faculties. Quantitative methodology was employed in data analysis and findings were reported via descriptive techniques. A survey using the questionnaire, Managerial Decision Styles Inventory or also known as DMSI (developed by Rowe and Mason, 1987) was used to measure and identify deans’ managerial decision styles. Over the years, testing, that is the validity and reliability of the DMSI instrument has been carried out with numerous groups. Based on Rowe and Boulgarides (1992), DMSI instrument has a very high face validity and reliability. Following the administration to more than 10,000 individuals in different fields and professions, including presidents of companies, board chairs, corporate key persons, architects, chiefs of police, army generals, nurses, teachers and many other professionals in numerous settings, the DMSI instrument was reported to have more than 90% face validity and 70% test-retest reliability (Rowe and Mason, 1987). Thus, published research continues to employ this instrument (Bowman, 1992; Leonard et al.,1999; Fox and Spence, 2005). In this study, the ‘drop off and collect’ survey was applied in the administration of the questionnaire. Further, taking into consideration the characteristics of the target respondents, the type of questionnaire, the time required to complete the survey, the geographical coverage (Rosidah, 2004), and also personal delivery resulted in the researcher communicating with the deans personally and motivating them to participate in the study. All these helped to yield a higher response rate with few objections (Webster, 1997). Thus, the ‘drop off and collect’ survey approach became a major contribution to the outcome of the current study. Out of 24 questionnaires distributed to all the 24 deans from 24 faculties in the university selected, 22 (91.6%) sets were returned by 22 deans from the respective faculties.

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A descriptive analysis was conducted to analyse and describe the findings of the overall individual deans’ decision making styles and their decision style patterns. The demographic profile and results are presented below.

Demographic Data Table 2 shows the respondents’ demographic profile. The sample of the case study consisted of 54.5% (n=12) male and 45.5% (n=10) female deans and 13.6% (n=3) were in the age group of 40-45, 36.4% (n=8) were 46-49 and 50-55, and 9.1 % were 56-60. In addition, 86.4% (n=19) were PhD holders and 13.6% (n=3) were Masters holders.

Table 2 Demographic Profile of Deans Demographic Variables

Gender Age

Highest academic Qualification

Male Female 40 – 45 46 – 49 50 – 55 56 – 60 Missing value PhD Master

Research sample (n =22) Number of Percentage Respondents 12 54.5 % 10 45.5 % 3 13.6 % 8 36.4 % 8 36.4 % 2 9.1 % 1 4.5 % 19 86.4 % 3 13.6 %

Findings and Discussion Table 3 reveals the overall individuals’ scores on the managerial decision making style. The majority of the deans practised at least one very dominant or dominant style and often one or two back-up decision styles. In particular, a majority of them also scored at the very dominant or dominant levels of behavioural DMS. Details are discussed as follows. Table 3 Decision Making Style Intensity Scores for all the 22 deans Analytical

Conceptual

Behavioural

Behavioural

LP

82

D

90

VD

79

300

2

Dean 2

3

Dean 3

4

Dean 4

LP LP LP

60 63 67

BU BU BU

93 94 87

BU BU BU

86 86 73

BU BU VD

61 57 73

300 300 300

Total

Analytical

49

Conceptual

Directive

LP

1

Directive

Dean 1

DEANS

10

5

Dean 5

6

Dean 6

7

Dean 7

8

Dean 8

9

Dean 9

10

Dean 10

11

Dean 11

12

Dean 12

13

Dean 13

14 15

Dean 14

16

Dean 15 Dean 16

17

Dean 17

18

Dean 18

19

Dean 19

20

Dean 20

21

Dean 21

22

Dean 22

LP BU LP D LP VD BU BU BU BU LP LP VD BU LP LP BU BU

50 74 59 86 59 96 79 77 77 74 62 64 95 78 64 51 72 71

BU 85 D 91 LP 81 BU 82 BU 87 LP 64 LP 82 LP 65 LP 63 BU 87 LP 51 BU 83 LP 82 BU 75 D 103 LP 65 BU 96 LP 66 VD 105 BU 85 BU 89 BU 82 VD 115 LP 62 D 99 LP 64 BU 89 BU 84 BU 91 D 90 BU 84 VD 105 BU 92 D 91 BU 96 BU 86

VD D VD D VD D D BU BU LP D BU LP BU BU BU LP LP

74 63 90 67 91 70 64 55 61 36 67 59 42 49 55 60 45 47

300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300

LP=Least Preferred, BU= Back-Up, D=Dominant, VD= Very Dominant Level of Intensity (Rowe and Mason, 1992) Style Directive Analytic Conceptual Behavioural

Least preferred Below 68 Below 83 Below 73 Below 48

Back-up 68 to 82 83 to 97 73 to 87 48 to 62

Dominant 83 to 90 98 to 104 88 to 94 63 to 70

Very Dominant Over 90 Over 104 Over 94 Over 70

Table 4 below displays a summary of the deans’ DMS. Specifically, among the four decision styles, the highest number of deans 22.7% (n=5) scored at the very dominant and 22.7% (n=5) scored at the dominant level of behavioural DMSI. Many deans 36.4% (n=8) also scored at the back-up level and only 18.2% (n=4) scored at the least preferred of behavioural DMSI. It can be inferred that the majority of the deans in this university preferred behavioural decision style as compared to the other three decision styles, analytical, conceptual and directive. Besides behavioural, the highest number of deans 54.5% (n=12) scored within the back-up level of analytical DMSI. This was followed by 50.0% (n=11) who scored within the least preferred level of directive DMSI. The results also revealed that a small number of deans scored at the very dominant (9.1%, n=2) and dominant (9.1%, n=2) analytical DMSI, very dominant (9.1%, n=2) and dominant (4.5%, n=1) directive DMSI and very dominant (4.5%, n=1) and dominant (18.2%, n=4) conceptual DMSI. Further, many of them also scored within the back-up level for all the styles: (54.5%) n=12 for analytical DMSI, (50.0%) n=11 for conceptual DMSI and (36.4%) n=8 for 11

both directive and behavioural DMSI. This is indicative that the deans tend to have more than one style of category they preferred and scored very dominant or dominant as well as back-up styles. Overall, this implies that they are flexible decision-makers who do not confine themselves to one style (which reflects rigid decision-makers). This is in line with the theory put forward by Rowe and Boulgarides (1992) which indicates that as managers, they are rather flexible in their decision styles and are able to change and adapt their decision styles from one particular situation to another with little difficulty. Table 4 Managerial decision Style Profile for all deans (frequency and percentage) Managerial Decision Style Directive Analytical Conceptual Behavioural

Least Preferred n 11 (50.0%) n6 (27.3%) n6 (27.3%) n4 (18.2%)

Back-Up

Dominant

n8 (36.4%) n 12 (54.5%) n 11 (50.0%) n8 (36.4%)

n1 (4.5%) n2 (9.1%) n4 (18.2%) n5 (22.7%)

Very Dominant n2 (9.1%) n2 (9.1%) n1 (4.5%) n5 (22.7%)

Total N 22 (100.0%) N 22 (100.0%) N 22 (100.0%) N 22 (100.0%)

Issues: Decision styles and Flexibility Rowe and Boulgarides (1992) highlighted two essential issues that need to be treated when measuring managerial decision styles. The issues concern one’s decision styles and flexibility. Thus, researchers need to ask the following:  Is there any one best style?, and  How flexible can one’s style be? Looking at the first issue, both theorists highlighted that there is no one style that is more effective than any other. This is because each style is very contingent on the appropriateness of one’s situation. In 1973, Boulgarides compared decision styles and leadership flexibility. Results indicated that “the extremes of being too flexible (indecisive) or too rigid are least effective” (as cited in Rowe and Boulgarides, 1992, p.35). Indeed, what transpired was a flexible style which can match a given situation and which proved to be more appropriate than a single best style. In line with the findings of this current study and bearing in mind Rowe and Boulgarides’ model, it can be inferred that on the whole, the majority of the deans are rather flexible; able to change and adapt decision styles contingent to situation. With such findings, this group of deans can be categorized as effective when 81% (n=18) of them had the trend of having one or two back-up styles and 77% (n=17) had at least one very dominant or dominant styles. However, when analysed carefully, even though there was a trend of flexible decision styles being rated by the deans, an issue can be raised when findings indicated the highest number of deans 22.7% (n=5) scored very dominant and 22.7% (n=5) scored dominant behavioural DMSI levels as compared to the other three decision styles. These findings indicated that the majority of the deans in this university tended to adopt the very dominant and dominant behavioural DMS instead of a mixture of all four decision styles. 12

Rowe and Boulgarides (1992) characterized behavioural decision-makers as those who formulate decisions based on their cognitive processes which areusually deeply rooted in people-orientation and have social concerns for organization. This implies that the decision style of the majority of the deans is mainly based on people-relations which require more personal attention than intellectual aspects. Nevertheless, Rowe and Boulgarides (1992) emphasized that those who adopted the directive and behavioural styles are action-oriented and that they operate as first-line managers. However, both theorists suggest that the upper levels of managers who adopt the behavioural decision style are often “seen as being inconsistent, and leave their subordinates in a weak position because they cannot be sure of what to expect” (p.34). It can therefore be inferred that the dominance of behavioural decision style among deans in this current study should be highlighted since deans are regarded as top academic managers who lead academic organisations and this requires consistency in their academic performance. Nonetheless, when compared to studies pertaining to decision styles at a global level, this case study portrays rather similar results with those involving the educational setting using the same instrument. For instance, Abdulrahman AlQarni (2003) indicated that the majority of Florida university library managers (n=40 or 47% out of 85 respondents) scored within the very dominant and dominant behavioural DMSI levels and this was followed by the conceptual decision style (n=28 or 32.9% out of 85 respondents). A similar result was also reported in a recent doctoral thesis by Ismail Hussein Amzat (2010). His study involving 1,117 university teaching staff investigated decision making styles and their relationship with job satisfaction in five Malaysian public universities. The studies showed that three out of the five public universities in Malaysia had actually adopted the behavioural decision style, while the remaining two had adopted the analytical and conceptual decision styles. Looking at the second issue, Rowe and Boulgarides (1992) explored how flexible managers are and if they can they be trained to be flexible. Flexibility is the term equated with high or low cognitive complexity in a person. Managers with rigid or fixed style are found to be less able to adapt than those with a flexible style (able to adapt to most situations). However, Fielder (1967, cited in Boulgarides and Cohen, 2001) mentioned that it is easy to change almost anything but not a manager’s personality or style. Boulgarides and Cohen (2001) added that a flexible style does not mean changing personality but above all, it involves exposure and becoming proficient in applying different tactics, depending on situations rather than maintaining any given style of leadership or decision making. With regard to this current study, it is rather difficult to address this issue since data collected are based on the managerial DMSI survey and it did not explore this aspect. Hence, this research can be further enhanced by involving a qualitative aspect such as interviews to provide in depth information pertaining to the issue. Perhaps what can be recommended is to come up with leadership tactics training among the deans. This is further discussed in the following section that looks into the strengths and weaknesses of the current findings.

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Implications and Recommendations for further research The majority of the deans can be said to be rather flexible in their decision making styles as they are able to change and adapt their decision styles from one particular situation to another with little difficulty as results indicated that the majority of them rated one or two very dominant or dominant DMSI levels along with one or two backup DMSI levels. Rowe and Boulgarides (1992) highlighted that an effective manager is the one who has a combination of directive and strong back-up behavioural DMS. The combination of both styles will lead to an action-oriented manager. Nevertheless, findings from this study indicated that a majority of the deans possessed very dominant and dominant behavioural styles instead of a mixture of a few decision styles. Hence, the findings from this study cannot be used as a benchmark for training novice deans in this particular university. Perhaps what can be recommended is that training be provided to deans in decision making styles to further enhance their organisational effectiveness. It is also recommended that more studies in the area of managerial decision making styles and other related decision making aspects be conducted in order to better understand the trend and pattern of leadership DMS in Malaysian institutions of higher education. Next, a study of deans from various types of public universities should also be considered. For instance, deans from the research, comprehensive and focused universities can be included in order to get a more comprehensive picture of the trend of managerial DMS among deans from public universities. Hence, findings can be generalized to a bigger population which represents deans in Malaysian public universities. Furthermore, the methodology of data collection and analysis could be enhanced using a mixed-method employing both quantitative and qualitative research instruments. Such a measure would not only help to triangulate findings but more importantly provide in depth understanding of the deans’ decision making styles. Hence, the richness of the data would further justify any consistency or inconsistency of the findings. Due to time constraints, this case study was confined only to deans. Therefore, it is recommended that future studies should include some form of data validation from subordinates such as deputy deans, heads of programme, coordinators and even lecturers. Lastly given enough resources particularly in terms of research grants, this study can be expanded to private universities in Malaysia. Perhaps, the current variable, related decision making areas and some other potential variables can be explored concurrently . Finally, it can be concluded that the exploration and identification of managerial decision styles are essential and valuable since thesey help to form and strengthe the n relationship of a manager to a group. Rowe and Boulgarides (1992) disclose that for 14

researchers, this is the platform to further chart a strategic training for managers towards organisational effectiveness.

References Abdulrahman Alqarni, (2003). The managerial decision styles of Florida’s State University libraries’ managers. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. The Florida State University. Retrieved July 1, 2007, from http:www.worldcat.org/title/managerial-decision-styles-of- floridas-stateuniversity-libraries-managers/oclc/54616665 Boulgarides, J. D. & Cohen, W. A. (2001). Leadership style vs. leadership tactics. The Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 6, (1), 59-73. Bowman, S. Y. (1992). Decision-making styles of a medical center's management group: A case study. Hospital Topics, 70, (3), 25-29. Fox, T. L. & Spence, J. W. (2005). The effect of decision styles on the use of a project management tool: An empirical laboratory study. The DATA BASE for Advanced in Information System, 36 (2), 28-42. Hammond, J. S. (1999). Smart choices. Boston: Harvard Business School Press Harrison, E. F. (1999). The Managerial Decision-Making Process. New York: Houghton Mifflin . Ismail Hussein Amzat (2010). Management and decision making styles and their relationship with academic job satisfaction in some Malaysian public universities. Doctoral Thesis, University of Malaya, 2010. Jacoby, J. M. (2006). Relationship between principals’ decision making styles and technology acceptance and use. Doctoral Thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 2006. Retrieved August 31, 2010 from http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-01022007223237/unrestricted/jacobyjm2_etdPitt2006.pdf Jones, J. (2005). Management Skills in Schools. London: Paul Chapman . Leonard, N. H., Scholl, R.W. & Kowalski, K. B. (1999). “Information processing style and decision making. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, (3), 407420. Lunenberg, F. C. and Ornstein, A. C., (2004). Educational administration. Concepts and practices. (4th ed.). Belmont USA: Thomson Wadsworth.

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Magoha, P. W. (2004). “A critique for the modernization of management in higher education institutions of developing nations”. World transactions on Engineering and Technology Education, 3,(1), 105-110. Nik Maheran Nik Muhammad, Filzah Md Isa, Siti Norezam Othman and Rosli Abdul Rahim. (2009). Decision making Quality of Higher Education Institution Leaders in Malaysia: Leadership Style, Decision Style, Managerial Process and Competitive Intensity Relationships. Research Report for the Akademi Kepimpinan Pengajian tinggi (AKEPT), Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi Malaysia. Retrieved November 30, 2010 from http://www.nikmaheran.com Parmjit, S., Sidhu, G. K., Chan Y. F., Hazadiah Mohd. Dahan, Habibah Ashari, Siti Korata Aini & Zalizan Mohd Jelas. (2009). Profiles of Deanship in Malaysian Public Universities. Asian Journal of University Education, 5 (2), 1-26. Rosidah binti Musa (2004). Modelling customer satisfaction and consequences in the direct Sales Industry: A Consumption System Approach. (Doctoral dissertation, Cardiff University, 2004). Rowe, A. J. and Mason, R. O. (1987). Managing with style: A guide to understanding, assessing, and improving decision making. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Rowe, A. J. and Mason, R. O. (1988). What’s your decision style? Working Woman, 13(12), 28-35. Rowe, A. J. & Boulgarides, J. D. (1992). Managerial decision making: A guide to successful business decisions. New York: Mc Millan. Rue, L. W. & Byars, L. L. (2000). Management, Skills and Application. (9th ed.). New York: Mc Graw Hill. Webster, C. (1997). Effects of researcher presence and appeal on response quality in hand-delivered, self administered surveys. Journal of Business Research, 38, 105-114. Wolverton, M., Gmelch, W., Montez, J. & Nies, C. (2001). The changing nature of the academic deanship. ERIC Digest. Retrieved November 29, 2010 from http://www.ericdigests. Org/2001-4/deanship.html. Zairi Mohamed (Ed.) (2009). Total transformational thinking in academic leadership A new DNA. Bradford: European Centre for Best Practice Management (ECBPM) Publishing House UK.

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Using Appreciative Pedagogy to Teach Literature to ESL Students Hung-Chang Liao Department of Health Services Administration, Chung-Shan Medical University; Department of Medical Education, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital No. 110, Sec. 1, Jian-Koa N. Road, Taichung (402), Taiwan Tel : +886-4-24730022 E-mail: [email protected] Ya-huei Wang (Corresponding author) Department of Applied Foreign Languages, Chung-Shan Medical University; Department of Medical Education, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital No. 110, Sec. 1, Jian-Koa N. Road, Taichung (402), Taiwan Tel : +886-4-24730022 E-mail: [email protected] Abstract This study explores how college literature instructors can use appreciative pedagogy in teaching students of English as a Second Language (ESL) how to appreciate works of literature. The study of literature can be used as a channel for college students to access a wealth of human experience and to develop their sensitivity, empathy, and compassion toward other human beings. However, most ESL students in Taiwan are used to following their teachers’ interpretations and lack the confidence or experience to use their hearts to appreciate literature works. Appreciative pedagogy can be used in teaching literature. Through using the steps of the Discovery-Dream-Design-Delivery cycle designed by Cooperrider and Whitney (1999) in the practice of appreciative pedagogy, students can form a positive attitude towards their characteristics, values, and past experiences, thereby developing their self-confidence and competencies in studying literature. The quantitative instruments used were an English reading proficiency test and a student satisfaction survey. A fourteen-week experiment was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of using appreciative pedagogy with ESL students studying literature. The research results revealed that students instructed with appreciative pedagogy had improved English reading proficiency and greater satisfaction with their class. Keywords: pedagogy, literature study, literature appreciation, English reading proficiency 1. Introduction The study of literature can be used as a channel for university students to access a wealth of human experience, developing sensitivity, empathy, and compassion toward other human beings in the process. As Eliot (1948) said, because one cannot meet as many people as one should, and we cannot know others as well as we know ourselves, by exploring the lives and inner worlds of a variety of individuals in novels or other works of literature, people’s imagination will be developed and their curiosity will be satisfied. Students can acquire many benefits through the integration of humanities and literature into the curricula. Students’ capacities for compassion and empathy will be enlarged after reading works of literature. By expanding their perception of self and

the world, they will be better prepared to cope with the society they live in. The other effect is that exposure to literature will develop students’ reading and communication skills. Moreover, through studying literature, students can find pleasure and a release from the rest of their academic workload (Stowe & Igo, 1996). Research has shown that people can learn more about humanities from literature than from science (Cawley, 1993; Chomsky, 1972; Hoshiko, 1985; Nussbaum, 1998; Pellegrino, 1981). While science endeavors to set up universal formulas, the plots in works of literature (novels and other works of fiction) are always unique, for each individual has a very different personal history. Serving as a complementary study of the humanities, studying literature can help foster human and humane understanding through developing skills of observation, diagnosis, insight, intuition, empathy, and self-reflection. Students with backgrounds in both humanities and sciences perform better in practice than those with backgrounds in science alone (Cawley, 1993; Chomsky, 1972). Viewed as a rich source of knowledge, literature can serve as a tool to teach and to understand different cultures and bring new insights into the world (Hoshiko, 1985). Through studying literature, students can recognize “the significance of symbol and language as the media linking human minds and personalities” (Pellegrino, 1981). Language serves as a vehicle through which people’s needs are expressed, and suggestions and advice conveyed. Moreover, through appreciating works of literature, students may be stimulated to consider new ways to solve problems, make decisions, and balance personal and professional conflicts; they can come to have a deeper understanding of the complexity of human experience, such as suffering, loss and bereavement. They can also develop their interpretive, critical, and analytical abilities by sharing their feelings about and observations of works of literature with others through dialogical interaction and critiques. Literature can be employed as a vehicle for expanding students’ understanding of the complexity of the lives they encounter. Through the discussion of and reflection on moral, philosophical, and social issues in literary texts, students can be exposed to problems they may encounter in their careers. By appreciating diverse points of view and realizing their responsibilities, they can develop their critical thinking ability to formulate, evaluate, and defend certain issues that may occur in real situations (Kopelman, 2003). If literature is a representation of human possibilities, the works of literature chosen for students will inevitably develop their sense of who they are going to be or whom they might be (Nussbaum, 1998). However, most ESL students in Taiwan are used to following teachers’ interpretations, lacking the confidence or experience of using their heart to appreciate literature works. Hence, this study uses appreciative pedagogy to develop students’ self-confidence and competencies in studying literature. 2. Appreciative Pedagogy In 2005, Chao and Wang proposed using appreciative pedagogy for the English instruction process, which was derived from Cooperrider and Whitney’s appreciative inquiry (1999). Appreciative inquiry is grounded on constructionism, which supposes that human beings construct their experience of reality by what they choose to notice and talk about (Mohr, Smith, & Watkins, 2000). Chao and Wang (2005) proposed that through the promotion of positive characteristics, bilingualism, empowerment, and dialogism in the cyclical Discovery-Dream-Design-Delivery process, the practice of appreciative pedagogy can enhance students’ English learning performance. Figure 1 shows the Framework of Appreciative Pedagogy. Figure 1. The Framework of Appreciative Pedagogy



Positive characteristics



Empowerment



Bilingualism



Dialogism

Chao and Wang’s appreciative pedagogy is a teaching strategy focused on identifying the best of “what is” in students, creating a mindset which enables students to use not only their minds and bodies but also their spirits to fully participate in the English learning process. In the discovery phase, both students and teachers should appreciate the best of what is in themselves and others, including positive characteristics, values, past experiences, etc. In the dream phase, they can challenge their status quo and dream or create a vision of their future or their peak moment, which could be their best English performance or something else they dream positively. When students have positive attitudes toward themselves and their visions, in the design phase, teachers can design suitable teaching strategies and curricula to create an optimal English learning environment. With teachers and students cooperating to achieve their peak performance in English studies, the delivery phase empowers students to continuously learn, adjust, and improve their learning process (Chao & Wang, 2005). To sum up, the basic assumptions of appreciative pedagogy are—to discover the best of what has been in ourselves and learning environment, to envision what competency level we would like to have and what we are going to be in the future, to figure out an optimal learning environment for knowledge acquisition, and to construct an optimal learning environment, and to be empowered to deliver a new positive vision or image in themselves. Hence, with the possibility-focused mindset, students equip themselves with confidence in their learning process. Appreciative pedagogy can also be used in studying literature through helping students identify the best of what they have and pursue the possibilities of what they can be, in order to arouse their appreciation of their characteristics, values, and past experiences, in turn building up their self-confidence. Instead of focusing on students’ deficiencies, appreciative pedagogy promotes working with students’ positive characteristics and competencies, by which students can develop their knowledge. While implementing appreciative pedagogy in the study of literature, the following four techniques should always be kept in mind: one’s positive characteristics, bilingualism, empowerment, and dialogism. Appreciative pedagogy insists that instead of focusing on students’ weaknesses or deficiencies, teachers can help students identify their positive characteristics and competencies, derived from their previous linguistic experience, prior knowledge, or cultural traditions. The practice of

appreciative pedagogy is guided by the assumption that students come with a rich array of positive characteristics, such as cultural traditions, past experience, native language skills, etc. Having identified their positive characteristics and competencies, students can build up their self-confidence and vision while appreciating or interpreting literature. Also, as Collier (1995) said, research has shown that the most efficient way to acquire second language literacy is through one’s mother tongue. When acquiring English, students can use their native linguistic skills to connect with past learning experiences, cultural background, and personal experiences, and will thus be empowered to actively engage in studying literature. Moreover, with the assistance of the students’ mother tongue, appreciative pedagogy also promotes using dialogue to negotiate conflicts and contested ideologies. Through negotiating or interacting with literature, students can achieve a reflective communication with their inner selves. To examine the feasibility of using appreciative pedagogy in teaching literature, the study tested the following two hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Students studying literature who are instructed with appreciative pedagogy will have a better English reading proficiency level that those not receiving the pedagogy. Hypothesis2: Students instructed with appreciative pedagogy will be more satisfied with the course than those not receiving the pedagogy. 3. Methodology In order to test the feasibility of using appreciative pedagogy in studying literature, two homogeneous and normally distributed classes were selected as the experimental group (38 students) and the control group (39 students). These participants were freshmen at one university in the central part of Taiwan. By flipping a coin, class B1 was chosen as the experimental group, while class B2 was the control group. The study lasted for fourteen weeks. The reading proficiency pre-test was used to evaluate students’ prerequisite knowledge or linguistic competency to comprehend the main ideas, details, inferences hidden in the literature works, and their individual ways to criticize and appreciate literature works based on their existing values or prior knowledge. The reading proficiency pre- and post-test contained twenty multiple-choice questions in each the vocabulary and reading comprehension sections. Every question was worth two points, totaling 40 points each for the vocabulary and reading comprehension sections. There were two questions in the essay section, with each question worth ten points, making it 20 points in total. The pretest results (see Table 1) revealed that there was no significant difference between the two groups; hence, it can be inferred that they were at the same English reading proficiency level. Table 1 Test Reading

Independent t-test results for the English reading proficiency pre-test Group Mean SD t p-value Experiment

59.40

12.38

Control

61.44

11.14

-0.76

0.45

Experimental group: N=38; control Group: N=39 Both groups received the same teaching material, assignments, and tests; the only difference between the experimental group and control group was that only the experimental group was taught with appreciative pedagogy. Unlike traditional pedagogies, which focus on students’ deficiencies and “finding and fixing” problems, the teacher in the experimental group worked with students’ positive characteristics, creating a bilingual and dialogical learning environment to empower them to pay attention to what worked for them in the learning process and build on those things. Through the cyclic discover-dream-design-delivery steps, the teacher helped students identify their strengths and competencies and explore their potential in order to

achieve their peak performance in appreciating literature. The teaching content is given in Table 2. Table 2. The Teaching Content Week Teaching Content

Week

Teaching Content

Week 1 “The Story of an Hour” (1894) Week 8 “Everyday Use” (1973) Week 2 “A Rose for Emily” (1930) Week 3 “A Rose for Emily” (1930) Week 4 “A Rose for Emily” (1930)

Week 9 “Everyday Use” (1973) Week 10 “The Necklace” (1884) Week 11 The Necklace” (1884)

Week 5 “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1891) Week 12 “The Open Boat” (1897) Week 6 “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1891) Week 13 “The Open Boat” (1897) Week 7 “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1891) Week 14 “The Open Boat” (1897) In the practice of appreciative pedagogy, the teacher in the literature study class served as a facilitator helping students, based on their values, characteristics, backgrounds, or prerequisite native linguistic competency, find the main ideas, details, images, inferences, or peak moments shown in the literature works. Moreover, through the application of positive characteristics, bilingualism, empowerment, and dialogism in the continuously recycled 4-D steps (shown in Figure 1) to the literature study class, the teacher helped students pay attention to the things that were working and built on them to maximize students’ learning outcome. For students coming to the class with different values, characteristics, and backgrounds, their interpretations toward literature novels or short stories would not be the same. However, in the appreciative pedagogical class, while respecting and appreciating the teacher’s and other students’ interpretations of the literature reading, they could collaborate with each other to envision and interpret the stories and plots of the literature works. Hence, their ways and skills of interpreting literature works would be expanded and sharpened. After the 14-week course, an English reading proficiency post-test and a satisfaction survey for the course were administered to students. The 34-item survey was based on a 5-point Likert scale, varying from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). A pilot study showed that the reliability coefficients for the categories in the satisfaction survey were 0.78 (instructional objective); 0.89 (instructional material/method); 0.82 (teacher’s qualities); 0.87 (class climate/environment); 0.78 (assessment); and 0.95 (overall). The quantitative results of both the English reading proficiency tests and the satisfaction survey for the course were examined by t-tests and compared using SPSS 10.0 (Statistical Packages for Social Science).

4. Results

To test Hypothesis 1, whether appreciative pedagogy has a significant effect on the reading proficiencies of college students studying literature, the results of the English achievement pre- and post-tests were examined via t-test. As mentioned above in Table 1, in the reading section, the experimental group scored 59.40 while the control group scored 61.44. The p-value was 0.45, larger than 0.05, which means that there was no significant difference between these two groups in the reading section before the course. In other words, these two groups were homogeneous in terms of English reading proficiency. However, there is a significant difference between the two groups in the English reading proficiency post-test (see Table 3): the experimental group scored 86.08, while the control group scored 72.44. The p-value is less than 0.01, smaller than 0.05. Obviously, after the course using the appreciative pedagogy, the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in reading proficiency. Table 3. Independent t-test Results for the English Reading Proficiency Post-Test Test Group Mean SD t p-value Reading

Experiment

86.08

9.30

Control

72.44

10.35

6.09

000**

Experimental group: N=38; control Group: N=39 ** P<0.01 To test Hypothesis 2, whether appreciative pedagogy has a significant effect on student satisfaction, the results of the student satisfaction survey for both the experimental group and control group were examined via t-test. Table 4 shows students’ satisfaction with the instructional objective: the mean of the experimental group is 12.97, while the mean of the control group is 10.49, slightly lower than its counterpart. The p-value is less than 0.01, smaller than 0.05, which indicates that there is a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in terms of satisfaction with the instructional objective. For the instructional material/method section, the mean of the experimental group is 59.83, while the mean of the control group is 52.51, significantly lower than its counterpart. The p-value is less than 0.01, smaller than 0.05, which indicates that there is a significant difference between these two groups in terms of satisfaction with the instructional material/method. For the teacher’s qualities, the mean of the experimental group is 22.76, while the mean of the control group is 19.49, significantly lower than its counterpart. The p-value is less than 0.01, smaller than 0.05, which indicates that there is a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in terms of the teacher’s qualities. For class climate and environment, the mean of the experimental group is 33.83, while the mean of the control group is 28.94, significantly lower than its counterpart. The p-value is less than 0.01, smaller than 0.05, which indicates that there is a significant difference between these two groups in terms of class climate and environment. For the assessment section, the mean of the experimental group is 19.21, while the mean of the control group is 15.22, lower than its counterpart. The p-value is less than 0.01, smaller than 0.05, which indicates that there is a significant difference between the experimental group and the control group in terms of assessment. As for the overall satisfaction in the course, the mean score of the experimental group is 148.60, while that of the control group is 126.65 (p