A STUDY IN COMMUNICATION BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS OF VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE AND SOCIO-ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED YOUTH BY THE USE OF SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL

THE STUDY ATTEMPTED (1) TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT SOCIOECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED PUPILS AND TWO OTHER SOCIOECONOMIC GROUPS OF PUPILS IN SECONDARY SCHOOL GRADES PLACED A SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT CONNOTATIVE MEANING ON SELECTED WORDS AND PHRASES WHICH ARE OF IMPORTANCE TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN AGRICULTURE, (2) TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT THE CONNOTATIVE MEANING WHICH THE AGRICULTURE TEACHERS OF THESE PUPILS PLACED ON THE WORDS AND PHRASES WAS MORE LIKE THAT OF THE HIGHER SOCIOECONOMIC PUPILS THAN THAT OF THE LOWER SOCIOECONOMIC PUPILS, AND (3) TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT TO WHICH TEACHERS RECOGNIZE ANY DIFFERENCE IN CONNOTATIVE MEANING FOR SELECTED WORDS AND PHRASES WHICH MAY EXIST AMONG THE VARIOUS CLASSIFICATIONS OF PUPILS. A STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLE OF 240 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COMPLETED A SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL INSTRUMENT. MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE WAS THE MAJOR STATISTICAL PROCEDURE EMPLOYED IN THE STUDY. AMONG OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS, IT WAS SUGGESTED THAT LOW-STATUS PUPILS VALUE LEADERSHIP MORE HIGHLY THAN DO HIGH-STATUS PUPILS AND SHOULD BE AFFORDED AN OPPORTUNITY TO ASSUME POSITIONS OF LEADERSHIP. (JM)