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Volume 4 Number 2, Summer 2007, Pages 1-142   


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English Teachers' Actual and Ideal Interpersonal Behavior and Students' Outcomes in Secondary Schools of Thailand

    Michael Wei and Arunee Onsawad


This study examined the relationship between English teachers' actual and ideal interpersonal behavior and students' outcomes (attitudes toward learning English and achievement in English) in the 11th grade in Thailand. The researchers were trying to reveal what an “ideal” teacher was like. Using a sample drawn with the stratified random sampling method, 291 students were asked to assess their perceptions of teachers' interpersonal behaviors on the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI), to rate their attitudes about English according to the Attitudes toward Learning English Questionnaire, and to take the Achievement Test from the National College Entrance Examination English Test. The results indicate that teachers' actual interpersonal behavior (Strictness) was significantly related to student attitudes at the .05 level. No other teachers' actual interpersonal behaviors (7 scales) were significantly related to students' outcomes (attitudes and achievement). Also, teachers' ideal interpersonal behaviors (8 scales) and students' outcomes (attitudes and achievement) were not significantly related. Students agreed that the ideal English teacher should be a strong leader, more understanding, more helpful and friendly, and give more responsibility and freedom to the students, and the ideal teacher should be less uncertain, less admonishing, less dissatisfied and less strict.

Keywords: teacher interaction, learner attitude, achievement test