Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1Background of the Research
The past few decades has seen remarkable growth of the field of learningenvironments. The study on teacher-student relationship in classrooms is animportant part of research on learning environments and has been extensivelyconducted both in Western and Eastern countries (Fraser, 2005). In various studies,teacher-student relationship refers to interpersonal teacher behavior (ITB). Wubbelsand Levy (1993) affirmed the important role of teacher behavior especially from aninterpersonal perspective in the classroom environment and how ITB influencedstudents’ learning outcome. Observations of classroom management have alsorevealed that ITB is of significance in the learning environment and is stronglyrelated to students’ learning outcome.Many researchers have asserted that a teacher is a crucial element in thecreation and maintenance of a positive classroom climate, which is helpful forstudents’ learning (Brophy J & Good T, 1986) and their learning motivation (denBrok P, Levy J, Brekelmans M & Wubbels T.2005). ITB is of great importance forthe effective actualization of the methodological aspect which refers to the technicalstrategies teachers would take in teaching process, for example, the choice ofteaching materials, teaching methods and teaching strategies including motivationalones (Wubbels & Levy, 1993). Nowadays, great importance is attached to classroominteraction in the progress of teaching and learning. Through interaction, teachersand students can exchange ideas and emotions with each other. In communication,teachers develop relationships with their students. It is essential that teachersestablish harmonious relationships with their students which will ensureteaching-learning process more effective and efficient, while good teacher-studentrelationships need teachers take their behaviors, especially their interpersonal ones,seriously. Therefore, a successful teacher should not only provide effectiveinstruction but also pay attention to their interpersonal behavior.
……………
1.2Purpose and Significance of the Study
Learning environment is especially meaningful and important in EFL classroom.Good learning environment can help facilitate the progress of teaching and learningactivities. In order to improve students’ learning and foster their positive affect, it isextremely important for teachers to establish a favorable learning environment anddevelop good interpersonal relationships with students. As an important part of theresearch of learning environment, the study of ITB has been widely carried out both inWestern and Eastern countries. In the previous studies, Chinese researchers mainlymade a comparison of teachers and students perceptions of ITB or investigated therelationship between ITB and students’ learning outcome, including students’confidence and students’ achievement, in the EFL classroom. However, fewresearchers have put eyes on student’s self-esteem.No matter what courses teachers give, they should care about their students’self-esteem. The self-esteem in the EFL classroom should get more attention forteacher-student interaction is the central part of the EFL classroom and when studentsare trying to learn a second language, the self is vulnerable especially when they arerequired to express themselves with the target language. In reality, many languageteachers and researchers have acknowledged that affective factors play a veryimportant role in language learning and it is essential for teachers to pay muchattention to the emotional state of students. Students perceive their classroom as acaring community. Teachers, as facilitators, play a crucial role in this community.Their words and deeds that the students keep close eyes on may have a great influenceon students’ affect including students’ self-esteem.
…………
Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Self-esteem
Up to now, many language teachers and researchers have recognized the fact thataffective factors play a very important role in language learning and it is necessary forteachers to focus on the emotional states of learners. Many attempts have been made to define self-esteem. In his book TheAntecedents of Self-esteem, Stanley Coopersmith gave his understanding of theconcept of self-esteem:By self-esteem we refer to the evaluation which the inpidual makesand customarily maintains with regard to himself; it expresses anattitude of approval or disapproval, and indicates the extent to whichan inpidual believes himself to be capable, significant, successfuland worthy. In short, self-esteem is a personal judgment of worthinessthat is expressed in the attitudes that the inpidual holds towardshimself (Coopersmith 1967: 4-5, cited in Arnold 1999).
…………
2.2 Interpersonal Teacher Behavior (ITB)
The study on teacher-student relationships in classrooms is regarded within thescope of the field of learning environments which has been researched extensivelyboth in Western and Eastern countries (Fraser, 2002, 2005). Sometimes,teacher-students relationships can be used specifically to refer to ITB. As theinterpersonal aspect of teacher behavior, ITB relates to teachers’ interpersonal actionsin creating and maintaining a favorable classroom atmosphere which is of greatimportance for the effective actualization of the methodological aspect of teacherbehavior (Wubbels & Levy, 1993). The methodological aspect here means thetechnical strategies teachers would take in teaching process, for example, the choiceof teaching materials, teaching methods and teaching strategies including motivationalones.Describing and analyzing teaching in terms of ITB also provides a unique anglefor the research of teaching and classroom management (Gilbert, 1997; Emmer, 2001;Brophy, 2006). From this perspective, to understand a key role teacher plays inteaching is beneficial for us to get to know about the teacher’s classroom managementfor creating positive environments conducive to learning (Wubbels & Brekelmans &Brok, 2006).
……………
Chapter 3 Research Methodology ....24
3.1 Research Questions .....24
3.2 Subjects .....25
3.3 Instruments......25
3.3.1 Questionnaire .........25
3.3.2 Interview ....26
3.4 Data Collection .....26
3.5 Data Analysis ........27
Chapter 4 Results and Discussion.....29
4.1 Testing the QTI Sub-scales Reliability......29
4.2 Gender and Major Differences of Students’ Self-esteem .....30
4.3 Differences of Students’ Perception on Interpersonal.....31
4.4 Correlations between Students’ Self-esteem and Their Perception.......36
4.5 Discussion about Interview .....37
Chapter 5 Conclusion ......41
5.1 Major Findings......41
5.2 Implications.....42
5.3 Limitations ......44
5.4 Suggestions .....44
Chapter 4 Results and Discussion
4.1 Testing the QTI Sub-scales Reliability
Just as mentioned in Chapter two, the QTI has been widely used in manycountries throughout the world to assess student and teacher perceptions of ITB. A lotof studies have proved the validation and reliability of the QTI. The present studyemployed the Chinese version of the QTI which encompasses eight scales, namely,Leadership, Helpful/friendly, Understanding, Student Freedom, Uncertain,Dissatisfied, Admonishing and Strict behavior. Each of the eight sub-scales in QTIconsists of six items. To ensure the quality of QTI for the sample in the Chinesecontext, the reliability analysis was first processed about each of the eight sectors ofthe questionnaire. The reliability level of Cronbach alpha is shown in Table 4.1 through theanalysis for each of the sub-scales for student responses as a measure of internalconsistency with the Inpidual as the Unit of Analysis. The data in Table 4.1 suggestthat for the students’ responses the Cronbach alpha of most sectors were above .60ranging from 0.62 to 0.80 except the alpha reliability in Student Freedom scale. TheCronbach alpha of student freedom was only .54, below .60. As for this point, a mainreason was explored. The subjects in the present study were freshmen and few ofthem have been asked to fill in this kind of questionnaire relating to foreign languageteaching before. They did not get used to some items and their understandings of thesame item maybe vary from person to person. Although the Strict sector’s reliabilitycoefficient was relatively lower than others, on the whole, the reliability level alpha ofall sub-scales is in the acceptable range. Therefore, the QTI still has a satisfactoryreliability in the present study.
…………
Conclusion
The study sets out to explore whether there are any relationships between collegestudent’s self-esteem and their teacher’s behavior from a perspective of interpersonalteacher behavior. The results of the investigation indicate that students’ perception oftheir teacher’s interpersonal behavior is significantly associated with their self-esteem.In addition, the study finds there are some significant differences between Englishmajors and non-English majors in the way the students viewed their teacher from aninterpersonal perspective. Now the last chapter serves as a conclusion, mainlyconsisting of reporting the major findings and providing some pedagogicalimplications, pointing out the limitations, and finally offering some suggestions forfuture research.
……………
Reference (omitted)