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The same in German as in English? Investigating the subject-specificity of teaching quality

Wie in Deutsch, so in Englisch? Zur Fachspezifität von Unterrichtsqualität

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Abstract

Teaching quality often is assumed to be a personal and stable characteristic of teachers. Whether this is true has scarcely been investigated empirically. In this study the extent to which value-added scores of teachers teaching German and English as a foreign language (EFL) to the same class remain consistent across subjects was investigated. Then, the consistency of two teaching quality dimensions—classroom management and motivational support—across subjects was explored. A sample consisting of 25 classes with 548 students to whom German and EFL were taught by the same teacher was analyzed using multivariate multilevel models and generalizability theory. The results showed that the value-added scores were highly correlated across subjects. While there was hardly any subject-dependent variance in classroom management, there was substantial subject-dependent variance in motivational support. The results indicate that it is important to conduct further studies on the situational and contextual factors that might influence teaching quality to gain a more comprehensive picture regarding the consistency of teaching quality across various conditions.

Zusammenfassung

Unterrichtsqualität wird oft als stabiles Personenmerkmal von Lehrkräften interpretiert. Inwiefern dies angemessen ist, wurde bislang jedoch kaum empirisch überprüft. Im vorliegenden Beitrag steht die Stabilität von Unterrichtsqualität über Unterrichtsfächer im Fokus. Zum einen wurde untersucht, inwiefern Value-added-Werte für Lehrkräfte, die die Fächer Deutsch und Englisch in einer Klasse unterrichten, über diese Fächer stabil ausgeprägt sind und zum anderen, wie stabil zwei Basisdimensionen von Unterrichtsqualität (Klassenführung und unterstützendes Unterrichtsklima) über Fächer hinweg ausgeprägt sind. Es wurden Daten von 25 Klassen mit ihren 548 Schülerinnen und Schülern analysiert, die in den Fächern Deutsch und Englisch von derselben Lehrkraft unterrichtet wurden. Ausgewertet wurden die Daten mittels multivariaten Mehrebenenanalysen sowie Generalisierbarkeitsanalysen. Die Valued-added-Werte wiesen einen hohen Zusammenhang auf. Bei beiden untersuchten Unterrichtsqualitätsdimensionen überwog der fachübergreifende Anteil an Unterrichtsqualität, wobei für Klassenführung kaum fachspezifische Anteile, für das unterstützende Unterrichtsklima hingegen substanzielle fachspezifische Anteile gefunden wurden. Die Befunde weisen auf die Bedeutsamkeit weiterer Studien zum Einfluss situationaler und kontextueller Bedingungen auf Unterrichtsqualität hin, um einen umfassenderen Eindruck bezüglich der Variation von Unterrichtsqualität über verschiedene Bedingungen hinweg zu erhalten.

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Notes

  1. The third dimension, potential for cognitive activation, was not investigated, as the data analyzed in the present study did not contain such information.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF), Schlossstraße 29, 60486, Frankfurt a. Main, Germany

    Anna-Katharina Praetorius,  Svenja Vieluf &  Eckhard Klieme

  2. Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education, Olshausenstraße 62, 24118, Kiel, Germany

    Steffani Saß &  Andrea Bernholt

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  1. Anna-Katharina Praetorius
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  2. Svenja Vieluf
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  3. Steffani Saß
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  4. Andrea Bernholt
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  5. Eckhard Klieme
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Correspondence to Anna-Katharina Praetorius.

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Praetorius, AK., Vieluf, S., Saß, S. et al. The same in German as in English? Investigating the subject-specificity of teaching quality. Z Erziehungswiss 19, 191–209 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-015-0660-4

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