Article Critique: The Academic Lives of Neglected, Rejected, Popular, and Controversial Children

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Article Critique The Academic Lives of
Neglected, Rejected, Popular, and Controversial
Children

• Laura Embree Mark Fesko
• Nipissing University

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Introduction

• Study by Kathryn R. Wentzel Steven R. Asher
• Reported in Child Development, 1995.
• Study conducted on 423 U.S. middle class
  students, ages 11 to 13, with a range of ethnic
  backgrounds.

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Purpose of Study

• To examine academically relevant characteristics
  of different sociometric status groups.
• To learn about the academic orientations of
  behavioural subgroups of rejected children.

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What Is Sociometry?

• The word sociometry comes from the Latin
  socius, meaning social and the Latin metrum,
  meaning measure.
• Sociometry is a way of measuring the degree of
  relatedness among people.

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Measure Relatedness

• To measure relatedness among people can be useful
  not only in the assessment of behaviour within
  groups, but also for interventions to bring about
  positive change and for determining the extent of
  change.

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Sociometric Status Peer Acceptance

• Research has consistently shown that peer
  relationships are related to childrens academic
  lives at school.
• Elementary-aged children who are not accepted by
  their classmates tend to do less well
  academically than more popular children, and
  appear to be at risk of dropping out during the
  high school years.

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Neglected Controversial Children

• Neglected and controversial children have been
  studied less frequently.
• Evidence suggests that during early adolescence,
  neglected children tend to earn higher grades
  than those of average status peers.

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Student Classifications Defined

•     

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Study Expectations

• To find a relationship between sociometric status
  and academic success because
• Status can influence the desire to learn.
• A sense of belonging is important to motivation.
• Teacher acceptance can parallel peer perception.

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Academic Characteristics Studied

• Motivation level.
• Self-regulatory skills.
• Compliant behaviour.
• Relationships.
• Answers were ranked on a scale of 1 to 5 and
  each student was given an overall score.

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Neglected Group Results

• Higher levels of school motivation when compared
  to average children.
• Perceived by teachers to be more independent.
• Less impulsive, more appropriate classroom
  behaviour.
• Preferred more by teachers.

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Rejected Group Results

• Perceived by teachers to be less self-assured and
  to start fights more often than average status
  students.
• Preferred less by teachers and perceived by their
  classmates as not being good students.
• Often have more serious adjustment problems.

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Controversial Group Results

• Perceived by teachers to be less independent,
  less likely to follow rules, and more likely to
  start fights than average children.
• Preferred less by teachers than average students.

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Popular Group Results

• Perceived by teachers to be more helpful to
  others.
• They were more often nominated by their
  classmates as being good students.

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Aggressive-Rejected Results

• Reported being less interested in schoolwork.
• Perceived by teachers to be less independent and
  more impulsive learners.
• Perceived as being less considerate, less
  compliant, and more likely to start fights.
• Less likely to be preferred by teachers.

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Submissive-Rejected Results

• This group did not display any characteristics
  that were significantly different from those of
  average status students.

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Findings

• Wentzel and Asher propose that a teachers
  approval may be more important to a students
  academic motivation and success than that of a
  peer.
• A teachers acceptance in an inclusive
  environment for children to learn and belong can
  only provide positive results for students of all
  ages.

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Findings (cont.)

• School-based interventions to improve academic
  motivation might profit from a greater focus on
  developing positive student-teacher relationships
  as a way to offset the potentially negative
  motivational effects of being rejected by ones
  peers.

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Teaching Strategies. For
Improving Students Social Skills

• Begin formal and informal intervention as soon as
  possible.
• Help rejected students communicate with peers in
  an effective fashion.
• Help neglected children attract and sustain
  positive attention from peers.
• Provide formal social-skills training.
• Read and discuss literature about positive peer
  relationships.
• (Educational Psychology First Canadian
  Edition, 81)

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The End
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Teaching Strategies

• Begin formal and informal intervention as soon
  as possible.
•         Recognize that improving students
  social skills is easiest when children are 10
  years of age or younger.
•         Recognize that in adolescence, peer
  reputation is more fixed and peer groups have
  greater importance.

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Teaching Strategies

• Help rejected students communicate with peers
  in an effective fashion.
•         Provide students with empathy and
  active-listening training.
•         Coach students to refrain from
  dominating peer relations

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Teaching Strategies

• Help neglected children attract and sustain
  positive attention from peers.
•         Provide training with respect to
  question asking, listening in a warm and friendly
  manner, and relating to peers interests.
•         Facilitate entry into peer groups
  (teacher-assigned groups, randomly determined
  groups, recess buddies)

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Teaching Strategies

• Provide formal social-skills training.
•         Help students develop skills for
  initiating positive interactions with peers
  (asking about favourite activities, inviting
  others to participate)
•         Emphasize the importance of being nice,
  kind, complimentary, and considerate.
•         Help students demonstrate caring
  behaviours.

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Teaching Strategies

• Read and discuss literature about positive
  peer relationships.
•         Develop thematic units about friendship
  and positive relationships.
•         Have relevant literature available in
  the classroom.
•         Create or develop supportive games and
  activities.