The main purpose of the master's thesis was to research the teacher's perception of learned helplessness among students in the second educational cycle of elementary school. I researched which emotions and behaviors teachers observe in students of the second educational cycle who show signs of learned helplessness. In addition, I was interested in which strategies teachers use to prevent the occurrence of learned helplessness and which strategies to eliminate the occurrence of learned helplessness in students of the second educational cycle. I also researched whether the attitude of preventing learned helplessness or the elimination of learned helplessness is more common among teachers.
In the theoretical part, I presented learning motivation which I connected with attribution theory and self-image. In the process, I focused on the role of the teacher. Then, I defined the concept of learned helplessness, its consequences, and research beginnings more precisely. In more detail, I focused on the prevention and elimination of learned helplessness and the role of the teacher.
I conducted an empirical survey to verify the research questions. I used the quantitative research approach and the descriptive method of educational research. 81 teachers who teach in the 4th, the 5th, or the 6th grade of elementary school were included in the research.
The results of the research showed that teachers most often see fear and least often courage in students of the second educational cycle who show signs of learned helplessness. In addition, students who show signs of learned helplessness most often behave passively and least often persistently. I also found that teachers most often use the teacher's care and interest in students and the teacher's positive attitude as strategies to prevent learned helplessness, while learning the learning strategy is the least common. The obtained results also showed that to eliminate learned helplessness, teachers most often use the strategy of giving clear and specific feedback. The least often, they use the token reward system. One of the important findings of this research is that the use of a learned helplessness prevention attitude is more common than the use of a learned helplessness elimination attitude.
The results of the research will help teachers to understand and eliminate the phenomenon of learned helplessness in learning and teaching.
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