Use of suggestion as a classroom learning strategy in China and Australia : an assessment scale with structural equation explanatory models in terms of stress, depression, learning styles and academic grades
Creators: name: Mou, Dai
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024

description: This study is innovative in that it draws together the concepts of suggestion from several cultural groups and develops an inventory to account for variations the occurrence of scale to studies the relatively new area of the effects of suggestion in classrooms and compares effect on personality and academic variables. As new ideas and knowledge become more widespread and accepted by the community and teaching profession, precision in the applications of suggestion in the classroom is being seen as more important. Although new to education, suggestion and similar variations has always been central to influencing behaviour and learning among pastoral, counseling and hypnotherapy fields. Teachers who had experience or influence from those fields or the ideas of Lozanov (1978) or accelerated learning groups were and are more the exception than the rule. However, as new ideas become more influential, the influence of suggestion in is becoming increasingly important in progressive, modern education. <br><br>A major goal of the study was to provide a valid instrument to compare Chinese and Australian differences and similarities in use of suggestion in learning. It was hoped that such a comparison would provide increased mutual understanding of values, strategies, practices and preferences by teachers and students. A second goal was to develop a causative model that explained the relationships between the measured variables of personality and learning behaviour and suggestion in teaching and learning.. A third aim was to make a comparison on effects and performance of suggestion in teaching and learning in Australian, Chinese and Australian accelerative learning classes. <br><br>This study examined differences between Australian and Chinese high school Science classrooms in their use of suggestion in teaching and learning. To ascertain the prevalence and types of suggestion in the classroom the 39-item suggestion in teaching and learning (STL) scale was developed and validated v in Year 7, 9, and 11 high school classes in China and Australia. The STL scale categorized suggestion into the following types or subscales: Selfsuggestion, metaphor, indirect non-verbal suggestion, general spoken suggestion, negative suggestion, intuitive suggestion, direct verbal suggestion, relaxation, and de-suggestion. The study involved surveying 344 participants (n=182 female, n=162 male) from four high schools in Australia and China. A further 374 participants (n=108 teachers, n=266 students) from six high schools were surveyed for selecting a Chinese sample in a pilot study. About 284 participants (China: 200 students; Australia: 84 students [includes 8 adults]) were observed for validation of the STL instrument. All subjects and classes were randomly selected and were surveyed and observed for the purpose of scale and model development. <br><br>The STL scale was found to be capable of distinguishing different types of suggestion within Chinese, Australian, and Australian Accelerative Learning classes. The STL scale was significant as a first scale to measure suggestion in teaching and learning in Australian and Chinese classrooms. Items in the scale were strongly and significantly correlated with other items within the subscales and with the overall scale. <br><br>Path analytic techniques were used to explain relationships between the STL scale, its subscales, nation, gender and high school students profiles on stress, depression, learning styles and academic grades. Limitations of the study included problems arising from language and cultural differences as well as newness of the scale and the field of study. Recommendations for further study included strengthening aspects of the scale with new items and further qualitative and quantitative studies on the uses of suggestion in academic learning and other forms of change in childhood and adolescence.