Journal of Educational Sciences > Volume 7, No. 2, 1995

Verbal Interaction Category Systems in Teaching Geography at Saudi Intermediate Schools and Their Relations to Students' Attitudes towards Geography / Soliman Mohammed Al-Jabr

This study aims to analyze the verbal interaction category systems in teaching geography at Saudi intermediate schools in order to define the predominate patterns and their relations to pupils' attitudes towards geography.
The researcher employed the Verbal Interaction Category Systems (VICS) prepared by Amidon and Hunter to analyze the verbal interaction behavior in 207 periods of teaching geography randomly chosen from nine preparatory schools in Riyadh city. The researcher also developed a scale consisting of 30 items to measure pupils' attitudes towards geography and applied it to 621 students.
The study reveals that the teacher dominates the verbal interaction behavior in geography classes. It also reveals that there are significant differences in the verbal interaction categories between trained and non-trained teachers as well as between long and short experienced teachers and among the three grades of the preparatory stage. The study also suggests that there is a significant relationship between verbal interaction category patterns and pupils' attitudes towards geography.
The study recommends that teachers should be trained to manage and analyze verbal interaction behavior in geography classes because of its importance in proving the teaching process.