A study on how communication behaviors affect the production of an effective teacher (with special reference to primary teachers)

Abstract

This research paper focuses on identifying communication behaviors and strategies to develop communication skills in primary teachers, as they are the facilitators in the teaching-learning process. “Teachers' communication” is defined as transferring knowledge, attitudes, skills and talents from the teacher to the student. Communication behavior is something that one could see, and under this topic there are sub-communication behaviours. The aim of developing communication behaviour is to enhance teacher’s productivity, which also includes motivation, teacher-student relationship and time management. The new primary education curriculum attempts to impart skills and provide children with a meaningful primary education. The role of the primary teacher cannot be underestimated. Currently there are over 55,000 (55,712) primary teachers in grades 1-5 and more than seventeen hundred thousand (1,799,38) primary students receive their service (School Census 1998). Therefore, developing communication behaviours, and the productivity of primary teachers helps to solve many problems related to primary education and contributes directly to the formation of a successful student. The role of the teacher is to provide students with knowledge. However, communication behaviors associated with teaching-learning activities have not been identified so far. Though one could see satisfactory examination results, teacher’s role is being questioned today. Moreover, there are external factors such as unemployment, problems in productivity of human resources, corruption and violence. These factors indicate that the teacher’s role is not at a satisfactory level. Although training, career based courses and programs are implemented in Sri Lanka, there are no measures to enhance the teacher's communication skills. The vocational development courses are not up to the level to train teachers, which is a major challenge at present. The recruitment of untrained teachers also gives negative results. Therefore, the objectives of this dissertation are; to identify the strategies to develop communication behavior of the teachers, to inquire on how the communication behavior affects the student learning, to examine the communication behavior of teachers in learning-teaching process, to examine the need for communication practices to enhance professional productivity of the teachers to achieve national development goals. This research used 30 selected primary school teachers in the Rathnapura area, to investigate the changes in the field of primary education over the past ten years. Participant observations, questionnaires, and attitude scales revealed a wide range of information about the primary teacher's understanding on communication behavior and its use. Interviews were held with subject experts and that revealed that changes are needed from the bottom level.

The solutions such as incorporating vocational development courses, establishing a respectable teaching service, creating a team of communication behavior instructors, implementing primary syllabus reforms and overcoming common challenges can be cited. Professional ethics are to be followed in every profession and it is common to teachers too. Therefore , to give the maximum service to the students the teachers should be equipped with effective communication behaviours, as revealed in the present study.