Teacher-Student Interaction Patterns within the Learning Environment of Mainstreamed Classrooms.

Two studies examined the interaction of regular classroom teachers with nonhandicapped high achievers, nonhandicapped low achievers, and mildly handicapped third and fourth graders. In both studies, teacher-student interaction was defined by using dependent measures derived from the Brophy-Good Teacher-Child Dyadic Interaction System. Multivariate and variate analysis of variance procedures demonstrated that, statistically, the groups were significantly different on 8 of 16 dependent measures in Study 1 and 7 of 16 measures in Study 2. Five of the differences found were the same for both studies. It was concluded that, although there is substantial evidence that teacher-student interaction varies among the student groups observed, there is no strong evidence that general preferential treatment (i.e., treatment likely to result in better educational gains or a more effective learning environment) is consistently provided to any single group of students. There was some evidence that mainstreamed handicapped children received a larger portion of the teacher's time; however, a larger percentage of these interactions concerned behavior rather than academics. Teaches provided larger percentages of neutral feedback in academic situations and disapproving feedback in behavioral situations to all student groups. Teachers engaged in academic interaction with all student groups an average of only 60 percent of the time. Results of both studies indicate a need for teachers in mainstreamed classrooms to devote more time to academic tasks, to provide more appropriate feedback to all students, and to use better classroom management techniques. (Author/CL)