Measuring Time Spent on Teaching Native Language

Abstract

Three methods (mail survey, telephone survey, and keeping time) for measuring teaching time were compared. Sixth-grade teachers from 74 schools assessed time spent on teaching native language in an average school week. They used each of the three methods with a time lag of a few weeks. Total teaching time and the teaching time spent on language categories were measured; the main language categories were communication, reading, grammar, spelling, and writing. The analysis of the data showed that the means of the total score and of the main category scores for spelling and writing were about equal for each of the methods. Moreover, the rank order of the mean main category scores was identical for each of the methods. The correlations of the scores showed that the individual scores of the three methods did not sufficiently converge.