This chapter presents the literatures and studies reviewed by the
researchers which led to the conceptualization of the study.
Review of Related Literature
Teacher-student relationship
According to Martin and Collie, (2018) teacher-student relationships are an
important part of students’ interpersonal environment at school that impacts their
academic development. Student-teacher relationships are vital for students'
academic development and for their well-being (Hershkovitz & Baruch, 2013).
Positive relationships between teachers and students in the classroom are
fundamental to promoting student engagement, social-emotional development,
and academic growth. Teachers can build such relationships by establishing
personal interaction with their students, making sure their students feel cared for
and supported, establishing high opportunities for student success, and
providing positive guidance to ensure their students are meeting those
expectations (Gutierrez & Buckley, 2019).
An excellent and effective relationship is very essential in making a safe
atmosphere and it provides student courage and self-confidence to school
without discomfort and to be grateful to learn. Particularly, when students are
vulnerable to positive emotional encouragement, they are likely capable to
retake newly educated knowledge (Nielson & Lorber, cited by dos Reis da Luz, 2015). Teachers show a significant role in the course of students throughout the
schooling experience of the students (Gallagher, 2023). When teachers form
positive relationship with students, classrooms become supportive place in which
students can engage in academically and socially productive ways. Positive
teacher-student relationships are categorized as having the presence of
closeness, warmth, and positivity. Students who have positive interaction with
their teachers use them as a safe place from which they can explore the
classroom and school situation both academically and socially, to take on
academic tasks and work on social-emotional development (Gallagher, 2023).
Positive teacher-student relationship
According to Pervin, Ferdowsh and Munni (2021), by creating and
maintaining positive teacher-student relationships, a student become more
academically motivated and engaged and therefore successful. The importance
of teacher-student interactive relationships has been widely acknowledged in
research addressing kindergarten, primary and secondary education. A positive
and negative factor influence the abilities of a child to be motivated in school and
hold academic success.
However, to Varga (2017), improving relationships in schools between
teachers and students will have positive implications for all. Also, relationships
with students are the most significant source of enjoyment and motivation for
teachers. When teachers are motivated and sincerely care for their students,
they are more likely to think about their preparation and use strategies that
create a welcoming and enjoyable learning environment. He suggests that
students who feel wisdom of control and belonging achieve higher academically.
8 The best way to achieve this is by having positive interactions with students and
building and improving relationships. Positive relationships result in better
understandings for the students, a more productive learning environment, and
higher academic achievement.
Having an effective teacher-student relationship describes a reasonable
professional distance which does not appear to make a gap between the
students and teachers; there is a little conflicting on teacher-student relationship
as depicted by level of student discipline and attitude during the teachers’
instructional process. Teachers should always educate a perspective of a good
professional relationship with their students, and also with the students
behavioural and instructional interaction with the teachers should be educated in
schools by addressing policy gaps in the teaching environment (Baaf, 2020)
Teacher-student relationship is one of the elements that promote students
learning. Positive relationships make an agreeable environment or place.
Teachers’ positive interaction with the students aids to promote students’
academic growth. Teachers who punctuate a positive approach to the students
rather than negative approaches help the students to have a positive behaviour
(Agyekum, 2019).
In the process of teaching a teacher should have a short physical distance
and contact which is important for helping teachers to convey to students
interests, support and involvement. A traditional classroom with a demonstration
bench could hinder a good interaction and these way students can observe and
have contact with the teacher. It can also help to our a range sitting in such a
way that few as possible are sitting behind each other and so that the instructors
can go through or freely between the students (Wubbels & Brekelmans, 2012)
9 Negative teacher-student relationship
A negative teacher-student relationship may lead to stress, anxiety, and
aggression in students. Negative teacher-student relationships were predicted
by teacher stress. Implications for teacher support continuing education issues
and problems (Zhou, 2021).
According to Dhamayanthi (2021), negative student- teacher relationship
can lead to problematic behaviours, increase risk of high stress and even mental
health deterioration. Negative student-teacher relationship can involve into
behaviour problems, decreasing self-esteem and self-worth, and having a poor
healthy classroom atmosphere of the student and even on the teachers.
Teacher-student relationship affects the academic achievement of the
student
According to Agyekum (2019), teacher-student relationship has been
identified as an important factor that improves student learning and academic
outcome. Teachers play significant role in education by helping students to
achieve their goals. Positive teacher-student relationships help students to excel
in academics. It helps the students to maintain and improve their academic
achievements with the help of a good relationship with their teachers.
Negative teacher-student relationship promotes significant problems that
can affect the student to the highest level. Negative relationships hinder
students’ cognitive development and desire to participate in academic tasks and
routines. Negative effect to the teachers’ interactions with students, leading to
negative relationships being built, therefore interfering with the academic
achievement of the student (Woodis, 2019).
10 Teacher-student relationship during pandemic (Covid-19)
The student-teacher relationship has been consistently related to positive
and widespread outcomes, though its quality seems to be questioned in online
teaching, which in turn has had a negative impact on students and teachers’
welfare during school closures forced by the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the
many societal costs of the COVID-19 pandemic was school closures and the
consequent substitution between online and classroom teaching. Though a
public health necessity, online teaching took a tool on teachers’ mental health,
which showed increases in anxiety, exhaustion and burnout and intention to
leave the profession (Vagos & Carvalhais, 2022).
According to Depuydt (20210, online teaching and learning was an
unprecedented experience for most teachers and students; consequently, they
had limited, to no, experience with online learning platforms. This added
pressure, in addition to the other areas of life impacted by COVID-19, had
serious repercussions on teacher mental health that lead to anxiety and
depression.
Related Studies
According to the study of Martin and Collie (2018), Teacher–student
relationships and students’ engagement in high school: Does the number of
negative and positive relationships with teachers matter, they extended early
research in the teacher-student relationships by seeking the relative balance of
negative and positive teacher-student relationships in high school students’
academic (in each of English, mathematics, science, history, and geography
subjects). Also observed was the role of this relational balance in calculating
11 students’ school engagement (operationalized by academic participation,
enjoyment, and aspirations). Improving properties of positive teacher-student
relationships seem to offset the limiting properties of negative teacher-student
relationships. Furthermore, there is cumulative engagement yield through
increasing the number of positive teacher-student relationships on all students’
school subjects.
Moreover, Gablinske (2014) emphasized in her study, “A Case Study of
Student and Teacher Relationships and the Effects on Students Learning”, that
in beginning incorporating elements of teacher-student interactions into
instructional strategies the teacher must using a purposeful design on their
classroom and the teacher’s interactions with their students allowed to create a
learning environment that was meaningful to students as they worked on
instructional tasks.
In the work of Reis da Luz (2015) The Relationship between Teachers and
Students in the Classroom: Communicative Language Teaching Approach and
Cooperative Learning Strategy to Improve Learning teacher demands new
teaching methods, strategies, and activities, new goals, values and perspectives
in the classroom. Teacher-student relationships can be the key to whether
positive or negative motivations happening in students’ attitude toward learning.
Furthermore, Koca’s (2016) Motivation to Learn and Teacher–Student
Relationship identified that young children learn from everything they do. They
are naturally curious; they want to explore and discover. Children develop
attitudes about learning that will influence their school life. When the teachers
provide the right sort of support and encouragement, students will be more
12 creative, adventurous learners. Therefore, educators should emphasize the
importance of motivation to learn in the school and institutions.
In the study of Paschal and Nkulo (2020) Teacher-students relationships
and student's academic performance in public secondary school in major
District, Tanzania, it explored the influence of teacher-student relationship on
students’ academic performance, in their conductive survey, a total of 130
respondents, the result of this study indicated that teacher-student relationship is
a crucial determinant and catalyst to academic performance in Tanzania public
secondary school. This study identified among others that teacher-student
relationship helps student to feel cared for by the teacher, helps to students to
have freedom of expression in the classroom and help teacher and students to a
wide relationship.
Mucaj (2021) designed a study entitled: Influence of Teacher Student
Relationship on Academic Performance: the Case of Tirana, the way the teacher
manages the classroom, behaviour, approach to learning and studies effects the
status of teacher-student relationship. Gender is a significant element in
developing supportive relationships in the classroom, which influences the
students’ perspective of the relationship to their teachers. The classroom quality
is also an important external element where a healthy and peaceful classroom
can engage a positive influence and it motivates the student academic
achievement.
In the prior study entitled: The Role of Teacher-Student Relationship on
Performance in Mathematics of the Eleventh Graders in the Cape Coadt
Metropolis: Critical Friendship Perspective by Awoniyi and Butakor (2021),
shows that developmental context is very important to the academic outcomes of
13 the students. It also shows that the effect on students’ achievements and
learning the environment promotes learners to learn. Students become more
interested and energetic to participate when a good constructive and quality
teacher-student relationship is shown.
However, Varga (2017) The Effect of Teacher-Student Relationships on the
Academic Engagement of Students found that a lack of academic achievement
among secondary students is abundant. There are frequent reasons why
students may lose interest in school. Considering that students spend about
twenty-five percent of their waking hours in a classroom, it is critical that students
will not be willing to learn. This creates a conflict for both the teacher and the
student. Throughout an average school day, teachers frequently listen to
students complaining about an assignment, a class, or even to the teacher. If
students have positive interaction with their teachers, they will be more engaged
and more motivated throughout each of their classes.
14 Theoretical Framework
This study was anchored from Deci and Ryan (2015), the Self-
determination Theory (SDT). It is a motivational theory of personality, and social
developments that examines how social situations and individual differences
facilitate the diverse types of motivation, especially self-sufficient motivation and
controlled motivation, and in turn predict learning, performance, experience, and
psychological health.
Self-determination Theory is a method to human motivation and personality
that uses traditional empirical or observational methods while employing an
organismic meta theory that highlights the importance of humans evolved inner
resources for personality development and behavioural self-regulation (Ryan,
Kuhl, & Deci, 1997; Ryan, & Deci, 2000).
This theory helped determine the observational methods or practices that
can motivate a person to highlight its significance to evolve their personal and
behavioural development. It also emphasizes the importance of motivation to
improve the self-stem and encouragement of a person. It progresses the
learning and growth of the person to have its determination on a certain situation
(Patrick, & Williams, 2012).
According to Nonyelum, Ogugua & Abah (2022), self-determination theory is
a theory of human motivation and personal development which proposes that
people have a capability to become self-determined when their needs for
competence, relatedness and autonomy are fulfilled. Competence (need to be
effective in dealing with the environment) is a term emphasis to describe
someone who has low qualities to perform a given task or to describe the state
of having sufficient intellect, judgment, skill, or strength. Relatedness (need to
15 have close, affectionate relationships) is the ability to feel a sense of both
attachment to others and a sense of having its place amongst other people.
Relatedness involves feelings of closeness and be appropriate to a social group.
Autonomy (need to feel self-governing and independent) it involves self-initiation
and self-regulation of one's own behaviour.
In connection with student-teacher relationship, the self-determination
theory concept of relatedness is important. The students feel secured and have
a positive interaction with their teacher and it can be an act as a main point of
motivation for it enhances engagement and achievement of the students. For the
reason that teacher and student have their time spend over together in the
classroom, teachers have a considerable amount of power over their students.
Teacher should use this power to improve themselves, in the classroom, and
their students. Therefore, a better relationship in school between teacher and
student will have a positive implication for all involved. The relationship with
students is the most significant source of motivation for teachers. When teacher
is highly encouraged, motivated and sincerely care for their students, they are
more likely to think about using strategies that create a welcoming learning
environment which affects the students’ academic performance and
achievement (Nonyelum, Ogugua & Abah, 2022).
16 Conceptual Framework
Independent Variables Dependent Variable
Teacher-Student Relationship Academic Achievement
Figure1. A paradigm showing the relationship between teacher-student
