Exploring Instructor Evaluation, Affective Learning and Teacher Credibility in International Classrooms

Abstract

In recent years the globalization trend in higher education has continued. This borderless educational world provides students opportunities to select and follow a study programme anywhere in the world. The resulting international classrooms create challenges and opportunities for international study programmes in preparing their diverse student populations for the demands posed by today’s fast-paced (business) environment. The teacher plays a pivotal role in accommodating the increasingly diverse student body and facilitating learning while being mindful of different learning styles, expectations and needs. Whereas initially the consequences of having an international classroom was taken for granted, higher education institutions have increasingly become aware that it involves more than offering the curriculum in English. In this study we explore the linkages between the student diversity, in terms of self-reported nationality, ethnicity and native language, affective learning and teacher credibility in the context of international classrooms. A key objective of this study was to check the reliability of the measurement items and scales for use in research pertaining to international classrooms. For this study, data was collected from 183 students following the International Business programme at an undergraduate level at one of the most international Universities of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. The study sample had students from 35 different countries with the Dutch (42%) and German (19%) students constituting the largest group. The sample was divided into two groups: those with the same ethnicity, nationality and native language as the teacher (student-teacher congruence), and those who were different (student-teacher incongruence). The results of this research suggest that the measurement tools for teacher credibility and affective learning are valid, whereas the tool for nonverbal immediacy did not prove reliable. In addition, the theory-driven hypotheses were not supported as no significant difference was found between the scores of affective learning and teacher credibility between the two different groups of students.