Understanding Student and Teacher Interactions in Korean High School Science Classrooms from a Structure and Agency Dialectic Perspective: Implications for Pedagogy and Research

Abstract

This study examines students classroom interaction patterns while engaging in science learning to better understand the phenomena of student silence in Korean classrooms. Conducted as a video-based ethnographic study, data collection took place over a 12-week period and included observations and video recordings of ten lessons in two 10th grade science classes taught by an experienced teacher. The video and audio recordings from lessons were edited and analyzed at the meso- and micro-levels to determine recurrent patterns in student and teacher practices. Short video clips were used during teacher and student interviews to stimulate participant recall about classroom interactions. Through survey responses from 60 students and interviews with 21 students, researchers identified various preferences for learning environment and patterns of verbal and non-verbal engagement with the teacher and among peers. Our analysis of observed and self-reported practices revealed coherences and contradictions in student and teacher beliefs regarding what it means to participate or to actively engage in class. Building from these findings, researchers applied sociocultural theory as a framework to identify structures at macro, meso, and micro levels, which serve to limit and/or afford students verbal and non-verbal participation in science. Intense emphasis on examination preparation, societal expectations regarding what it means to enact good teaching and learning practices, and the need to adhere to strict curriculum timelines are examples of factors that exist outside of the classroom, but which structure teacher and student practices at the micro (classroom) level. Such findings reinforce the need for researchers, educators, and policy makers to attend to overarching macro and meso level structures if engaging teachers and students in active, verbal and non-verbal participation patterns is a goal for Korean science classrooms. Finally, this research raises questions about role and impact of student silence on science teaching and learning in Korean contexts.