Open AccessMEASURES FOR THE STUDY OF MATERNAL TEACHING STRATEGIES
Author(s) -
Laosa Luis M.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
ets research report series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.235
H-Index - 5
ISSN - 2330-8516
DOI - 10.1002/j.2333-8504.1980.tb01210.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , praise , construct (python library) , sociocultural evolution , affection , consistency (knowledge bases) , cognition , perception , social psychology , geometry , mathematics , neuroscience , sociology , computer science , anthropology , programming language
ABSTRACT A technique to measure maternal teaching strategies was developed for possible use in research and evaluation studies. Scores derived from the technique describe both quality and quantity of behaviors used by mothers to teach cognitive‐perceptual tasks to their own young children. The maternal teaching observation technique (MTOT) yields scores on the following teaching strategy dimensions: inquiry, directive, praise, negative verbal feedback or disapproval, modeling, visual cue, physical affection, positive physical control, and negative physical control. English and Spanish versions of the technique were developed. The technique was administered to 83 different mother‐child dyads of two sociocultural and language groups, Anglo‐American and Chicano. The tasks and procedures were sufficiently engaging and appealing, in terms of difficulty level and ability to elicit and maintain the subjects' attention, for mothers and their 5‐year‐old children in both groups. Interobserver reliabilities and parallel‐form consistency were adequate for both groups, indicating that each MTOT measure is at least a moderately stable attribute of maternal behavior. Group differences in intercorrelations suggest that construct invariance might not exist across sociocultural or language groups.