The association between EFL teachers’ interpersonal behavior and students’ achievement in English language: selected secondary schools in focus

Abstract

This study attempted to map EFL teachers’ interpersonal behavior as perceived by students, its relationship with the students’ English language achievement, and to examine if it could predict students’ English language achievement. The samples of the study were randomly selected 353 grade 9 students from Secondary schools in Ethiopia. Data Arba Minch and Chamo Preparatory and were collected through interpersonal behavior questionnaire and English language achievement test. In order to map teachers’ interpersonal behavior, mean and standard deviations of the QTI dimensions were used while multiple regression was used to examine the correlations between teachers’ interpersonal behavior and English language achievement test scores. Furthermore, multiple regression was used in order to examine the degree to which EFL teachers’ interpersonal behaviors predicted their students’ English language achievement score. The findings indicated that understanding was perceived as interpersonal behavior which occurred most often in English language classes followed by leadership, strict and student responsibility/freedom behaviors respectively. Divergently, uncertain behavior was found to be least perceived behavior. With respect to the major dimensions of interpersonal behavior, the result showed that teachers in the sample areas are less dominant but more cooperative over the communication process with their students. Concerning associations, this study found positive and significant correlations between students’ English language achievement and their teachers’ leadership and understanding behaviors. Regarding the dimensions, both proximity and influence were correlated positively and significantly with students’ English language achievement. It was also found that teachers’ interpersonal behavior all together explained 6.3% of the variances in the students’ English language achievement scores. Pertaining to the relative contribution of each independent variable, understanding, followed by leadership interpersonal behavior was found to be the most powerful and significant variable on the students’ English language achievement while dimension wise, only influence was determining students’ English language achievement significantly.Keywords: Interpersonal behavior, Perceived behavior, EFL teachers’, Communication process, Achievement