Effective Teaching: Perceptions of Secondary Business Education Teachers

Abstract

s (PsychLIT). In addition, a manual search was conducted using the following sources: Encyclopedia of Education, Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Handbook of Research on Teaching, Business Education Index, Education Index and Teacher Effectiveness Bibliography. It should be noted that from the 1920's through the early 1970's, educational research was replete with teacher effectiveness studies. Interest in teacher effectiveness studies appears to have resurfaced in the mid-1980's and continues. Messenger (1979) surveyed 577 high school business students in California regarding their perceptions of and business teachers. The questionnaires were categorized into four areas: personal traits, teaching traits, teacher-student relationships, and grading assignments. These students determined that good teachers were those who had a sense of humor, made learning interesting, and were able to relate to students. They likewise determined that poor teachers were those who did not explain subject matter well and did not care about students. Wilkinson (1979) surveyed 517 high school business law students, from various high schools in Philadelphia, on effective and ineffective behaviors of secondary business law teachers. Analyzing the questionnaires using the chi-square test for independence, effective teachers were found to be the ones who organized and presented materials at paces appropriate for student learning, allowed for student participation, controlled classroom behavior problems, and listened to the opinions of students. Ineffective teachers were ones who only used the lecture method of teaching, did not provide sufficient guidance in terms of expected results, did not control classroom disruptions, and criticized and/or embarrassed students in class. Self-perceptions of faculty and teaching behaviors were the criteria used by Hyslop (1988) in his study of teacher effectiveness. Twenty-one business faculty, who had received teaching awards from 1982 to 1987 at Bowling Green State University, responded to questions regarding methodology and overall philosophy of teaching. Respondents' most common perceptions about effective teaching included: possessing high concern for students, possessing high expertise in the discipline, willingness to be flexible, projecting enthusiasm for teaching, and creating caring classroom environments. Choi (1988) also used teacher perceptions in his study of teacher effectiveness. He surveyed 465 secondary business teachers in New York State, excluding New York City. He asked them to rank the teaching competencies, identified by the National Business Education Association as effective, in order of perceived importance. Competencies in the management and instruction categories, which included being able to control classrooms and being able to give feedback, was ranked highly. The evaluation and student organization categories were ranked lowly. Brandenburg's (1985) approach differed. He studied the relationship between instructor communicator styles and teacher effectiveness. He defined teacher effectiveness as student attainment of instructional objectives as measured by subject matter mastery. Fifty-one College of Business faculty at two midwestern universities participated. One section of students for each faculty participant completed Norton's Communicator Style Questionnaire. The instructor communicator style friendly/animated was the only one found to have a relationship at the .05 level of significance with student attainment of instructional objectives. There is also precedent for looking to award recipients for characteristics of teacher effectiveness. Ahem (1969) surveyed 83 recipients of local and national Outstanding Teaching awards from New England institutions of higher education and determined that the majority of award winners chose teaching as a first career and continued to teach for the sheer joy of it. Kelly and Kelly (1982) conducted in-depth interviews with each of nine university professors who had won prestigious teaching effectiveness awards since 1972. It was determined from the interviews that these award winners stressed enthusiasm for teaching, commitment to students, thorough knowledge of subject matter, and maintaining a sense of humor.