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The Reading Matrix

Vol. 5, No. 2, September 2005

A STUDY ON TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON STUDENTS

ATTITUDES
Fırat Açıkgöz
erciyes@hacettepe.edu.tr

Abstract
______________
Adequately defining the students’ perceptions about teachers has
been at the core of much research and controversy for many years.
The present study administered a questionnaire in the Turkish
mono-lingual setting and was done as an extension of earlier
studies to provide feedback to Turkish teachers. A total of 181 9,
10, 11 grade students attending four different state schools
answered a questionnaire and three open-ended questions aimed at
assessing their attitude toward their perceptions of teacher
characteristics (professional, pedagogical, and personal), as well as
learning. The results might illuminate the ways of reaching at a
better learning atmosphere through self-assured and self-esteemed
students.
_____________

Introduction

Classroom management is frequently conceptualized as a matter of control rather than

as a dimension of curriculum, instruction, and overall classroom climate (Duke, 1982). As
our greatest concern has been to try to avoid prescriptive behavior in its general sense
within classrooms, there is, in fact, a certain degree of tension and misattribution between
flexibility of control and prescriptive attitudes in the classroom atmosphere. Therefore, we
have to persuade ourselves that not everyone will express things in the same words or
perceive them in the same way, and that not everyone will move at the same rate or in the
same direction. Based on the findings of the research conducted by Borophy (1988a:1), it
is highly probable that teachers who approach classroom management, as a process of
establishing and maintaining effective learning environments, and as a multi-lateral
ambience, tend to be more successful than others who place more emphasis on their roles
as authority figures or disciplinarians since classrooms are composed of numerously
different personal views, characteristics, ethics and values.

In order to find a solid foundation for relationships, Buddhist psychology proposes that
we (in our case: teachers and students) need to consider what we most value in our
connection with someone we care about (Beck, 1993). What are the moments in a
relationship we most cherish in real life? Considering that the classroom setting is some
sort of a compact and miniaturized version of what we encounter in real lives of ours. It is
fair to say that students primarily need to be recognized in such a classroom setting too.
Otherwise, renewal and improvement would not come into being, especially when students
are aware of the particular ways of "wearing a mask" so as to avoid being hurt again
(Craig, 1994).
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The classroom climate influenced by the teacher has a major impact on pupils’
motivation and attitude towards learning, that is to say, for teachers, having been equipped
with pedagogical and professional characteristics would not be enough to establish a
positive, learnable, and teachable classroom climate. Specifically, the factors that best
facilitate student learning are considered to be the ones that are described as being
purposeful, task-oriented, relaxed, warm, supportive, and has a sense of order and humor in
an integrated sense (Kumaravadivelu, 1992). He also speaks positively of other factors
facilitating students learning in a positive manner such as; mutual respect and rapport etc.
all of which stem from conveying to pupils that you understand, share, and value their
feelings as individuals on a whole range of matters and experiences, academic, social and
personal. Such a climate fosters learning and motivation of students and their attitudes
toward learning process. Furthermore, Research indicates that certain personality
characteristics influence student evaluations of teachers. From the students' points of view,
teacher-expressive characteristics such as warmth, enthusiasm, and extroversion apparently
separate effective from ineffective teachers (Basow, 2000; Basow & Silberg, 1987; Best &
Addison, 2000; Bousfield, 1940; Cravens, 1996; Feldman, 1986; Guerrero & Miller, 1998;
Marsh & Roche, 1997; Radmacher & Martin, 2001)

Reasoning in this way, out of three generally accepted characteristics of teachers,

namely; professional, pedagogical, and personal, the last one of the three will illuminate, as
a neglected vision to follow the end product-shapeable students, the ways of reaching at a
better learning atmosphere as well as self-assured students. A combination of my
experiences and some other colleagues’ directed me to study what the teacher was like as
an individual and how influential it is over students’ attitudes towards learning and the
degree of their engagement with learning. The proposition in mind was that pupils' attitude
towards learning and being in a classroom was not just related to the technical or
pedagogical competence or the professional qualities of the teacher, but it was related, in
part, to what the teacher was like as a person. It is, in this paper, referred to as having a sort
of ‘rational human being' qualities.

The present study was designed to investigate students' self-reported beliefs with a
Data collection package (henceforth DCP) designed to assess students’ attitudes towards
teachers and learning. The study examined a questionnaire and three open-ended questions
included in the DCP concerning teacher characteristics, students’ beliefs about teachers’
attitudes, their self-reported practices, and the relations between their self-reported beliefs
about teachers’ attitudes.

METHOD

Participants

The participants were 181 (140 females; 40 males) high school pupils enrolled in 4
different state schools in two provinces of Turkey. The views of 181 pupils, 9, 10, and 11
graders of high schools have been surveyed through the DCP. Their ages ranged from 16 to
18 years old. Six schools were asked to participate in the study. Letters taken from the
Directorate of National Education and phone calls were used to encourage school
participation. Four schools out of six participated in the small scaled cross-school project.

Instruments
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The teacher questionnaire (henceforth TQ) was developed out of an existing literacy
survey (Zamorski, 2002; Haydn, 2002) in accordance with the needs of Turkish students.
TQ was translated into Turkish. The items on the TQ and other questions were intended to
sample students' beliefs and their self-reported practices towards their attitude to Teachers,
learning and being in a classroom as direct participants.

In addition to assessing students' beliefs, the TQ and other questions needed to have
information about school, age of pupils, gender and their ability level in classes, which was
achieved through collecting pre-data about students before implementing the data
collection package. (e.g., student grades, student participation during class-time). Prior to
distribution of the data collection package, five high school teachers reviewed the
instruments and offered suggestions about content and format. The survey was revised
accordingly. The DCP contains two sections: (a) TQ (b) Open-ended questions: what are
the things that most put you off being in the classroom/learning a subject?-What are the
things which most make you feel OK about being in the classroom/learning a subject? - Is
there any other comment you would like to make about teachers, lessons, and how you are
taught at school in general?

Procedures
The Directorate of National Education provided a contact list for English Division
classes of state schools. All participating students received a letter requesting their
cooperation prior to the administration. Because the TQ included students’ evaluation of
their teachers, the confidentiality of the responses was ensured. Data collection packages
were distributed to the teachers in 4 high schools and the administration process began in
the morning with a preliminary speech addressed to the participants and continued till the
lunch break, 22nd of May, 2004.

A list of 'teacher characteristics' was adapted and arranged, which was a mixture of:
technical/pedagogical capability, (e.g. "Explains things well", "Controls the class well"),
professional qualities (e.g. "Marks and returns your work promptly", "Always seems well
prepared"), and personal characteristics, which might also be defined as a teacher's 'style'
of teaching (e.g. "Is friendly", "Says hello or nods to you outside the lesson"). The pupils
were asked to circle the items on TQ. Students indicated the extent to which they agreed
or disagreed with the statement using a 4-point Likert-type scale. The scale was anchored
at one end by unimportant and at the other end by essential, meaning that a high score
indicated strong endorsement of the item. The guidance given to pupils during the
questionnaire can be seen in the Appendix I.

Data Analysis

In order to fulfill the stated goals of this study, the items were analyzed by using
factor analytic methods. The internal consistency reliability of the scale, assessed by
Cronbachα, was found to be 0.85. Given that Cronbach α is dependent upon the number of
a scale it contains, this reliability coefficient is highly acceptable (Backhouse, Dickins,
Rayner&Wood, 1982). At first hand, the responses given by the students to TQ were factor
analyzed and gathered under 3 subgroups (dimensions). Since factor analyzing the input
displayed that the items available in TQ were to be put into three subgroups namely,
pedagogical, personal, and professional, the specifically obtained factors (dimensions)
were named as the results displayed. The distributions of the scorings that students marked
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were taken into consideration as descriptive findings. Additionally, variance analysis was
used to test the gender and grade differences of students’ scorings. At the final stage,
subgroups obtained from factor analysis procedure were tested with Multi-Dimensional
Scaling method of SPSS. Apart from TQ, open-ended questions that revealed students
views were included in the analysis as a case study.

Results

The following are the statistically analyzed results of the TQ under the necessary headings:

Results of the pupil responses

Table 1: Descriptive Statistics
N Means Std. Dev.
Pedagogical 181 31,94 3,97
Personal 181 31,56 2,29
Professional 181 18,85 2,06
Total 181 82,34 7,87

As can be seen in Table 1, the mean scores of pedagogical and personal factors
obtained from 181 participating students’ seemed to be nearly the same, whereas the
professional mean scores were significantly lower than the other two factors.

Table 2: Results of Variance Analysis for Gender

Mean
Df F Sig.
Square
Pedagogical Between Groups 1 72,766
4,715 0,03*
Within Groups 179 15,433
Between Groups 1 28,150
Personal 5,522 0,02*
Within Groups 179 5,098
Between Groups 1 55,317
Professional 13,953 0,00*
Within Groups 179 3,965

Table 2 exhibits a striking discrepancy in terms of the subgroup mean scores of

students’ motivation and perceptions toward their teachers and learning, (α=0,05). This
discrepancy is available in Table 3.

Table 3: Descriptive Statistics for Gender

N Mean Std. Deviation
Female 139 32,28 3,46
Pedagogical
Male 40 30,75 5,27
Personal Female 140 31,77 1,9
Male 41 30,83 3,19
Professional Female 140 19,15 1,76
Male 41 17,83 2,64

*
Significant at the level of 0,05
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When the subgroup mean scores of female and male participants’ perceptions and
motivation toward their teachers and learning were taken into account, the female
participants did score significantly higher than the male participants in each of the
subgroups: pedagogical, personal, and professional.

Table: 4 Results of Variance Analysis for Grade

Mean
Df F Sig.
Square
Between Groups 2 314,715
Pedagogical 25,468 0,00
Within Groups 179 12,357
Between Groups 2 102,565
Personal 24,822 0,00
Within Groups 179 4,132
Between Groups 2 81,839
Professional 24,227 0,00
Within Groups 179 3,378

As seen in Table 4, there is discrepancy in subgroup mean scores of students’ when their
grades are taken into account. This discrepancy can be seen in Table 5.

Table: 5 Descriptive Statistics for Grade

Std.
N Mean
Deviation
9 27 35,88 1,0537
Pedagogical 10 82 32,83 2,0127
11 70 29,93 5,0009
9 27 33,18 1,0146
Personal 10 82 32,26 0,6804
11 70 30,30 3,0672
9 27 19,12 0,8575
Professional 10 82 19,71 0,6878
11 70 17,71 2,7562

Table 5 displays that the mean scores of students significantly lower down as their
grades go up. It is quite apparent that 9 graders scored higher than the other two grades.

Discussion

The combined student data from DCP indicated that pedagogical and personal scores of
students were the top rated findings. Contrary to the expectations, overall student responses to
the professional characteristics of teachers were significantly lower than the two other factors.
Discrepancies among the three subgroups might be attributable to the institutions' and
teachers’ different missions and purposes as well as students’ point of views. Additionally,
there are factors that may restrict the generalizability of these findings at first sight: the
majority of the sample consisted of female students, but a minority was male. Yet the general
atmosphere in Turkey proves that in English division classes these findings may represent
other counterparts since the male population in such classes is fairly low.
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Although the research reported here did not look directly at gender differences in student
perceptions of teachers’ characteristics, research by Smith and her associates (1994) did. They
found female students were more sensitive to the interpersonal characteristics of their
teachers. The findings obtained in this study confirmed the previous research in this respect,
whereas the findings of previous research conducted by Smith et al. (1994) asserted that Male
students were more sensitive to whether their professors were knowledgeable and had a good
sense of humor. Also, there is suggestion in the literature that female students tend to
emphasize interpersonal and social characteristics in teachers more than male students do
(Smith, Medendorp, Ranck, Morrison, and Kopfman, 1994). Further research is necessary to
determine how significant these gender differences are. If gender differences are significant
issues in students’ perception of their teachers, these styles may have to be tailored more
effectively along appropriate dimensions in schools that have different gender ratios to
produce more effective learning.

As well as differences between schools, subjects, and gender, in some cases there are
significant differences according to the age and grade of pupils- as they get older, different
things are important to them. Although 'dresses up smartly' is fairly constant between all
age groups, with other characteristics there is a much wider variation. For instance, 'is very
rarely absent from lessons' to 11 graders displays that it is not as much important as to 9
graders. This finding exhibits a great contradiction to the previous research. Similarly, the
item 'knows their subject really well' to 11 graders tends to ascend in year 10 ratings.
Perhaps, this much discrepancy between these three grades seems to bare a great
contradiction to the previously conducted studies, but we should make it clear that this
study was done in Turkish setting.

Results of the Open-Ended Questions

To Rallis (1994), open-ended questions allow the entire population of teachers in

schools to see and benefit from the results of the survey. What he did was to gather pertinent
information on students' perceptions of teachers' annoying teaching habits by simply asking
students to write them down anonymously on an index card. Similarly, I asked three open-
ended questions in order to illustrate the situation more concretely.

Question 1: What most puts you off being in a classroom/learning a school subject?

Pupils were asked to list the 2 factors that were most putting them off about being in a
classroom/learning a school subject. Only the first and most common factors that the pupils
noted were included.
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Male: Female:

Teachers not helping everybody equally. Boring teacher who is unfriendly. (Year 9).
(Year 11). Being under strict control. (Year 11).
The teacher. (Year 11). Boring lessons. (Year 11).
Can be boring. (Year 9). Teacher continuously talking. (Year 9).
Teachers. (Year 9). Working in silence. (Year 11).
Miserable teachers who don't want to be Being treated like babies. (Year 11).
there. (Year 11). Being bored/find subject boring. (Year 9).
Strict, unpleasant, teacher. (Year 11). A grumpy teacher. (Year 11).
Bad class atmosphere. (Year 9). Working in silence. (Year 11).
Teacher. (Year 9). The teacher being strict. (Year 11).
Sitting next to someone I don't know or If students wear uniforms - so should
like.(Year 10). teachers. (Year 11).
It's boring. (Year 10). Not liking the teacher. (Year 10).
Sitting next to people I don't like.(Year 10). Being silent. (Year 9).
Teachers I don't like. (Year 10). The teacher. (Year 10
A teacher in a bad mood. (Year 10). Not sitting with your friends. (Year 10).
Coldness. (Year 10). A really horrible teacher. (Year 9).
If the teacher's not nice. (Year 9). If it is boring. (Year 10).
Teachers. (Year 11). When teachers can't control the lesson. (Year
Teachers in school. (Year 10). 10).
If the teachers or lesson subject is boring. The teachers hardly ever there. (Year 9).
(Year 9). Bad teacher. (Year 10).
Strictness. (Year 10). A strict teacher who shouts if you get the
Not sitting next to a friend. (Year 10). answer wrong. (Year 9).
If the teacher is too strict. (Year 10). The teacher talking for the whole lesson.
Teacher not being kind. (Year 10). (Year 10).
Teachers not humorous. (Year 11).

Question 2: What makes you feel OK about being in a classroom/learning a subject?

Pupils were asked to list the 2 factors that were most putting them off about being in a
classroom/learning a school subject. I have just noted the first and most common factors
that the pupils noted.
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Male: Female:

Positive teacher. (Year 11). Good teacher. (Year 11).

If the teacher controls all the pupils. (Year 9). Co-operative class. (Year 9).
Fun and Humorous teacher. (Year 9). Friendly interesting teachers. (Year 11).
Fun work. (Year 11). Sitting next to friends. (Year 10).
A teacher that listens to you. (Year 9). Enjoyable to learn. (Year 9).
Mood of teacher. (Year 11). Not cold. (Year Having conversations with teacher. (Year 11).
10). Good/interesting teacher. (Year 9).
Nice quiet atmosphere. (Year 9). Nice quiet talking. (Year 11).
Friendly teacher. (Year 11). In trainers because my feet are comfy. (Year
Interesting subject. (Year 9). 11).
Happy, humorous, good teacher. (Year 11). Having a good interesting teacher. (Year
Sitting next to friends. (Year 11). 11).
Being with friends. (Year 10). You don't have to work in complete silence.
Nice teachers. (Year 10). (Year 9).
Relaxed environment. (Year 10). Getting on with the teacher. (Year 9).
People I do like. (Year 10). If I get on with the teacher. (Year 10).
Being active. (Year 9). Interesting teacher. (Year 10).
Warmth. (Year 10). Sitting where you want. (Year 9).
Fun. (Year 11). Be allowed to talk with your friends. (Year
Nice teacher. (Year 9). 10).
If I am among friends. (Year 9). A good, nice, happy teacher. (Year 10).
If the teacher isn't too strict. (Year 10). Knowing your friends are there. (Year 9).
Feeling secure with the teacher. (Year 10). Nice teacher. (Year 10).
Humor. (Year 10).
Humorous teacher who don’t lose control.
(Year 10).
Sitting with friends. (Year 9).

Question 3: Is there any other comment you would like to make about teachers,
lessons and how you are taught at school in general?

The percentage of students who answered this question was fairly low compared to the
former two questions although I stated “do not leave any out” at the beginning of the
questionnaire. There were a few indecent responses. But, it was apparent that for many,
school and learning is very enjoyable and worthwhile.

¾ "It is generally great fun, interesting"

¾ “I' m taught well and enjoy most lessons."
¾ "It's brilliant and fantastic"
¾ "I think it's the greatest thing."
¾ "The school is good. The teachers are nice."

There were a great number of pupils who wrote comments on their perceptions of
their teachers' quality of life and their ‘style’
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¾ "Teachers should try to be more relaxed and humorous."

¾ "Teachers are sad."
¾ "Teachers should relax more."
¾ "Teachers should have more off days."
¾ "Why are teachers so strange?"
¾ "Teachers should be friendlier." ( majority of the pupils)
¾ "Teachers shouldn't get so stressed."
¾ “Teachers should be paid more than they are now”
¾ “Teachers should have a sense of humor.”

Pupils had suggestions for things in general:

¾ “We are fed up with old teachers.”

¾ “There should be a teacher training course which teaches teachers to be nice
to us."
¾ "I think there should be younger teachers as they understand children more."
¾ "I think teachers should not shout and yell at us."
¾ "Some teachers lack expression and control so they can't control classes."
¾ "Teachers should be more interesting. They shouldn't walk around the class
on all the time."
¾ "Teachers could make learning more fun by making use of technology and
then it could be more enjoyable for us and them."
¾ “We want teachers who have a sense of humor and enough patience.”
¾ “We really want to be relaxed in a classroom atmosphere.”

Conclusion

For many years, educators and researchers have debated which teacher-specific
variables influence student motivation toward teachers and learning. A great deal of
suggestions in this field has been made so as to reach at better educational settings.
However, a cyclical process such as this, by nature, is to mean that findings of previous
research only pave the way for further research and findings and since it is a collaborative
process researchers are strictly attached to, the sole purpose turns out to generalize the
results and argue for new methodology and suggestions in the field, which is only possible
through a whole bunch of researchers’ points of views.

Since classroom learning climate is an interaction phenomenon, it is of great importance

that the developmental history of each member of the group, personality variables, cognitive
variables, gender and age, and other variables which would seem to interact with the
behaviors of the participants, including teachers, of a certain environment be taken into
account. The content of this study aimed to investigate how influential the characteristics of
teachers over students’ attitudes towards their teachers as well as learning. It is proposed in
this study that being fully equipped with pedagogical and professional characteristics would
not be adequate to establish a positive, learnable, and teachable classroom climate. Besides,
s/he should be aware of personal characteristics and how they are important to students if it is
the optimal educational atmosphere a teacher wants to keep up with.
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At the end of the analysis procedures, it was apparent that the participants of this study
including 181 students totally from 9, 10, and 11 grades highly agreed with the objectives
of this study. This study stemmed from a 'need' that although there were clearly 'subject'
factors involved, we should bear in mind that 'school' factors, and 'teaching methods'
factors and largely teachers’ ‘personal factors’ had an important influence on pupils'
attitude toward learning. Indeed, when you look at the data gathered through all the
sections, it is not difficult to conclude who the teacher is, and what they are like as a person
are one of the most essential determinants on attitudes to learning for many pupils, i.e. the
teacher as 'a rational human being', along with the teacher's technical or pedagogical
competence.

.
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References

Backhouse,J.K., Dickins,G.L., Rayner,S.E., &Wood, M.J. (1982). Choice of mathematics

for A level. Oxford, United Kingdom: University of Oxford, Department of Educational
Studies

Basow, S. A. (2000). Best and worst professors: Gender patterns in students' choices. Sex
Roles, 34, 407-417.

Basow, S. A., & Silberg, N. T. (1987). Student evaluations of college professors: Are
female and male professors rated differently? Journal of Educational Psychology, 79, 308-
314.

Beck, C. J. 1993. Nothing special: Living Zen. San Francisco: Harper-Collins.

Best, J. B., & Addison, W. E. (2000). A preliminary study of perceived warmth of

professor and student evaluations. Teaching of Psychology, 27, 60-62.

Bousfield, W. A. (1940). Students' ratings of qualities considered desirable in college

professors. School and Society, 51, 253-256.

Brophy, J. (1983). Effective classroom management. The School Administrator, 40(7),

33-36.

Cangelosi, J.S. (1988). Classroom Management Strategies.. New York: Longman, Inc.

Craig, R. 1994. The face we put on: Carl Jung for teachers. Clearing House 67(4): 189-91.

Cravens, T. F. (1996, March). Students' perceptions of the characteristics of teaching

excellence. Paper presented at the National Social Science Conference, Reno, NV.

Feldman, K. A. (1986). The perceived instructional effectiveness of college teachers as

related to their personality and attitudinal characteristics: A review and synthesis.
Research in Higher Education, 24, 139-213.

Guerrero, L. K., & Miller, T. (1998). Associations between nonverbal behaviors and
initial impressions of instructor competence and course content in videotaped distance
education courses. Communication Education, 47(1), 30-42.

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go there you are: Mindfulness meditations in

everyday life. New York: Hyperion.

Marsh, H. W., & Roche, L. A. (1997). Making students' evaluations of teaching

effectiveness effective: The critical issues of validity, bias, and utility. American
Psychologist, 52, 1187-1197.

Smith, S. W., Medendorp, C. L., Ranck, S., Morrison, K., & Kopfman J. (1994). The
prototypical features of the ideal professor from the female and male undergraduate
 114

perspective: The role of verbal and nonverbal communication. Journal on Excellence in

College Teaching, 5, 5-22.

Radmacher, S. A., & Martin, D. J. (2001). Identifying significant predictors of student

evaluations of faculty through hierarchical regression analysis. Journal of Psychology,
135, 259-268.

Rallis, H. (1994). Creating teaching and learning partnerships with students: Helping
faculty listen to student voices. To Improve the Academy, 13, 155-168.

Fırat Açıkgöz graduated from Hacettepe, Department of Translation and Interpretation in

2003. He has worked at several private founding language schools as an English teacher,
and is continuing his MA at Hacettepe University, Department of ELT where he is also
working as a research assistant. He is interested in special education, ELT research,
translation, material development and discourse. erciyes@hacettepe.edu.tr

Hacettepe Üniversitesi Beytepe kampüsü Yabancı Diller Eğitimi Bölümü İngiliz Dili
Eğitimi Anabilim Dalı 06532 Ankara/TÜRKİYE
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Appendix A

Instructions to the questionnaire

You will make us happier than ever before if you could answer the following
questions. We are trying to find out what makes pupils want to learn, and what puts
them off learning, which will, in the future, return to you as a beneficial feedback.

IT’S NOT A TEST. You don't need to write your name on it and nobody will ask
you what and why you write. It will take less than 10 minutes to complete and will
provide helpful information which we hope will help us enhance our lessons.

Please try to answer all of the questions and complete the questionnaire; and
don't leave any out.

Please be as frank as possible.