Comparing EFL Language Teachers and Students’ Perceptions of Teacher’s Interpersonal Behavior: A Case Study in an Online Iranian Context

Subject Areas : Journal of Studies in Learning and Teaching English

Emad  Omidpour ¹ (Department of Foreign Languages, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz Branch, Shiraz, Iran)
Mohammad  Bavali ² (Department of Foreign Languages, Shiraz branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran)
Fatemeh  Behjat ³ (Departmnet of English, Abadeh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abadeh, Iran.)

Received: 2024-03-07 Accepted : 2024-04-19 Published : 2024-06-26

Keywords: Language education, Online education, Students’ perceptions, Teachers’ interpersonal behavior, Teachers’ perceptions,

Abstract :

Teachers’ interpersonal behavior and the way it is perceived are considered to be determining factors in the quality of any educational context. However, due to the lack of face-to-face interactions in an online context, this issue is under question. Since this phenomenon has not been studied in an online environment, the primary objective of the present case study was to explore how experienced EFL teachers and their students perceived teacher interpersonal behavior in online classes and the extent to which the two groups’ perceptions either converged or diverged in six selected online classes in Shiraz, Iran. The samples of the study were six EFL teachers and their respective 106 language students. To gather the data, The Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) was administered to both groups to assess the eight scales of interpersonal behavior and dimensions. To analyze the data, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was employed to compare the two groups in terms of interpersonal behavior dimensions and scales. Accordingly, the results revealed that the EFL teachers and their students perceived the teachers to be moderately dominant and highly cooperative. There was a high level of convergence between the experienced teachers and their students’ perceptions of interpersonal behavior in terms of the Influence and Proximity dimensions. The Student Responsibility Freedom and Strict scales, however, were rated higher by teachers than their students. Following the findings, the present case study provides particular implications in the field of applied linguistics.

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