Date of Graduation
2001
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
This study examined relationships among the way teachers communicate in the classroom, teachers temperaments, and perceptions of teachers by students. Specifically, the first goal was to determine to what extent a teacher's levels of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism can predict students perceptions of task attraction, immediacy, assertiveness, responsiveness, and credibility. The second goal was to determine the relationships between teacher temperament and teacher evaluations, affective learning, and cognitive learning. Self-report surveys of 52 teachers and 1242 students across seven disciplines at West Virginia University were collected. Instructors received measures of extraversion, neuroticism, and psychoticism. Teachers were asked to rate themselves on each item. Students received measures of task attraction, immediacy, assertiveness, responsiveness and credibility, or measures of affective learning, cognitive learning, and teacher evaluations. Students either reported perceptions of their teacher, or their attitudes toward the class. Results indicated a significant relationship between extraversion and student reports of assertiveness, caring, immediacy, and cognitive learning. Hence, teachers who reported themselves as more extraverted had students claim that those teachers were more assertive, caring, immediate, and learned more with that teacher than with an introverted instructor. There was also a significant relationship between teachers psychoticism and students trust. Teachers who self-reported a high level of psychoticism had students state that they trusted those teachers less than those teachers who recorded a low level of psychoticism. This study revealed several important trends as well, and speculative observations are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Valencic, Kristin Marie, "An investigation of teachers' temperament and students' perceptions of teachers: Communication behavior and students' attitudes toward teachers." (2001). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 9931.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/9931