Teacher Enthusiasm: Reviewing and Redefining a Complex Construct

The last review on teacher enthusiasm was 45 years ago, and teacher enthusiasm remains a compelling yet complex variable in the educational context. Since Rosenshine’s (School Review 78:499–514, 1970) review, the conceptualizations, definitions, methodology, and results have only become more scattered, and several related constructs have emerged that may or may not be synonymous with teacher enthusiasm. In this review, we delve into the past four decades of teacher enthusiasm research to provide a potential starting point for a new, consolidated direction in teacher enthusiasm research based on a proposed, holistic definition of enthusiasm which brings together research from the past and can fuel research for the future. We begin by reviewing definitions of teacher enthusiasm and related constructs and, thereafter, put forward a new and integrative definition of teacher enthusiasm that combines the two most prevalent conceptualizations of the construct, namely experienced enjoyment and expressive behavior. Bearing our proposed definition in mind, we go on to present numerous measures that assess teacher enthusiasm, detail research evidence related to its correlates, and finally derive several research implications that, when considered in future research, promise to advance the field.

[1]  Andreas Krapp,et al.  An educational–psychological conceptualisation of interest , 2007 .

[2]  W. L. Wyckoff.  The Effect of Stimulus Variation on Learning from Lecture , 1973 .

[3]  Allan Wigfield,et al.  Expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation: A developmental perspective , 1994 .

[4]  Carolyn M. Evertson,et al.  Relationships Between Classroom Behaviors and Student Outcomes in Junior High Mathematics and English Classes , 1980 .

[5]  Elisha Y. Babad.  Teachers’ Nonverbal Behavior and its Effects on Students , 2007 .

[6]  C. Midgley,et al.  How Teachers Establish Psychological Environments During the First Days of School: Associations With Avoidance in Mathematics. , 2003 .

[7]  Reinhard Pekrun,et al.  Teacher enthusiasm: Dimensionality and context specificity , 2011 .

[8]  Michalinos Zembylas.  INTERROGATING “TEACHER IDENTITY”: EMOTION, RESISTANCE, AND SELF‐FORMATION , 2003 .

[9]  H. G. Murray,et al.  Low-inference Teaching Behaviors and College Teaching Effectiveness: Recent Developments and Controversies , 2007 .

[10]  K. V. Stenlund.  Teacher Perceptions across Cultures: The Impact of Students on Teacher Enthusiasm and Discouragement in a Cross-Cultural Context. , 1995 .

[11]  S. Krauss,et al.  Cognitive Activation in the Mathematics Classroom and Professional Competence of Teachers , 2013 .

[12]  Daniel C. Feldman,et al.  The Dimensions, Antecedents, and Consequences of Emotional Labor , 1996 .

[13]  D. C. Burts,et al.  Effects of Teacher Enthusiasm on Three- and Four-Year-Old Children's Acquisition of Four Concepts , 1985 .

[14]  Kenneth A. Feldman,et al.  Effective college teaching from the students' and faculty's view: Matched or mismatched priorities? , 1988 .

[15]  D. Siedentop,et al.  Research on Teaching Physical Education: A Discussion with Larry Locke and Daryl Siedentop , 1982 .

[16]  Rosemary E. Sutton,et al.  Emotional transmission in the classroom : exploring the relationship between teacher and student enjoyment , 2009 .

[17]  Herbert W. Marsh,et al.  SEEQ: A Reliable, Valid, and Useful Instrument for Collecting Students' Evaluations of University Teaching. , 1982 .

[18]  K. Feldman.  Identifying Exemplary Teachers and Teaching: Evidence from Student Ratings 1 , 2007 .

[19]  A. Bandura.  Social cognitive theory: an agentic perspective. , 1999, Annual review of psychology.

[20]  J. Feldhusen,et al.  Another look at Dr. Fox: Effect of stated purpose for evaluation, lecturer expressiveness, and density of lecture content on student ratings. , 1979 .

[21]  Donna M. Shannon.  Effective teacher behaviors in higher education and in LIS education programs: a review of the literature , 1998 .

[22]  Joan M. Fayer,et al.  A cross‐cultural and multi‐behavioral analysis of the relationship between nonverbal immediacy and teacher evaluation , 1995 .

[23]  H. G. Murray,et al.  Low-inference classroom teaching behaviors and student ratings of college teaching effectiveness. , 1983 .

[24]  H. Walberg,et al.  Toward a Knowledge Base for School Learning , 1993 .

[25]  P. Bliese.  Within-group agreement, non-independence, and reliability: Implications for data aggregation and analysis. , 2000 .

[26]  Marcia Gentry,et al.  Student-Identified Exemplary Teachers: Insights From Talented Teachers , 2011 .

[27]  R. Vallerand,et al.  The role of passion for teaching in intrapersonal and interpersonal outcomes. , 2008 .

[28]  John Ranellucci,et al.  The importance of teachers' emotions and instructional behavior for their students' emotions – An experience sampling analysis ☆ , 2014 .

[29]  J. W. Cassidy,et al.  Demonstration and Recognition of High and Low Contrasts in Teacher Intensity , 1989 .

[30]  Herbert W. Marsh,et al.  The Use of Path Analysis to Estimate Teacher and Course Effects in Student Ratings of Instructional Effectiveness , 1982 .

[31]  Patricia Kearney,et al.  Clarifying the relationship between teacher nonverbal immediacy and student cognitive learning: Affective learning as the central causal mediator , 1996 .

[32]  Jürgen Baumert,et al.  Who is the expert? Construct and criteria validity of student and teacher ratings of instruction , 2007 .

[33]  R. Pekrun.  The Control-Value Theory of Achievement Emotions: Assumptions, Corollaries, and Implications for Educational Research and Practice , 2006 .

[34]  Lawrence R. Wheeless,et al.  A meta‐analytical review of the relationship between teacher immediacy and student learning , 2004 .

[35]  Toni M. Kempler,et al.  “What's Everybody So Excited About?”: The Effects of Teacher Enthusiasm on Student Intrinsic Motivation and Vitality , 2000 .

[36]  Diane M. Christophel.  The relationships among teacher immediacy behaviors, student motivation, and learning , 1990 .

[37]  Virginia P. Richmond,et al.  The Relationship Between Selected Immediacy Behaviors and Cognitive Learning , 1987 .

[38]  Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie,et al.  Characteristics of Effective Teachers: Perceptions of Preservice Teachers. , 1999 .

[39]  Geneviève A. Mageau,et al.  Les passions de l'ame: on obsessive and harmonious passion. , 2003, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[40]  Anne C. Frenzel,et al.  Development of Mathematics Interest in Adolescence: Influences of Gender, Family, and School Context , 2010 .

[41]  Oliver Lüdtke,et al.  How different mentoring approaches affect beginning teachers' development in the first years of practice , 2013 .

[42]  J. Mccroskey,et al.  Development of the nonverbal immediacy scale (NIS): Measures of self‐and other‐perceived nonverbal immediacy , 2003 .

[43]  John C. Davis,et al.  Some Effects of Teacher Enthusiasm on Student Achievement in Fourth Grade Social Studies , 2014 .

[44]  Herbert W. Marsh,et al.  Weighting for the right criteria in the Instructional Development and Effectiveness Assessment (IDEA) system: Global and specific ratings of teaching effectiveness and their relation to course objectives. , 1994 .

[45]  J. Cacioppo,et al.  Emotional Contagion: Current implications and suggestions for future research , 1993 .

[46]  Mareike Kunter.  Motivation as an Aspect of Professional Competence: Research Findings on Teacher Enthusiasm , 2013 .

[47]  John E. Ware,et al.  Discriminant Analysis of Student Ratings as a Means for Identifying Lecturers who Differ in Enthusiasm or Information-Giving , 1977 .

[48]  C. Day.  A Passion for Teaching , 2004 .

[49]  B. Rosenshine.  Enthusiastic Teaching: A Research Review , 1970, The School Review.

[50]  Eric M. Anderman,et al.  The classroom environment and students' reports of avoidance strategies in mathematics: A multimethod study. , 2002 .

[51]  N. Moulding.  Intelligent design: student perceptions of teaching and learning in large social work classes , 2010 .

[52]  Susan K. Lynn.  The Winding Path: Understanding the Career Cycle of Teachers , 2002 .

[53]  H. Marsh.  Students’ Evaluations of University Teaching: Dimensionality, Reliability, Validity, Potential Biases and Usefulness , 1984 .

[54]  S. Cobb,et al.  An Organizational Behavior Analysis of Teacher Attitudes about Teaching High School Economics , 1992 .

[55]  Frederick J. Brigham.  Teacher enthusiasm in learning disabilities classrooms: Effects on learning and behavior. , 1992 .

[56]  C. Mckinney,et al.  Two Studies of the Effects of Teacher Enthusiasm on the Social Studies Achievement of Seventh Grade Students , 1982 .

[57]  Jürgen Baumert,et al.  Students' and mathematics teachers' perceptions of teacher enthusiasm and instruction , 2008 .

[58]  M. Zeidner.  Test Anxiety in Educational Contexts: Concepts, Findings, and Future Directions , 2007 .

[59]  Thamar Voss,et al.  The relationship between quality of discourse during teacher induction classes and beginning teachers’ beliefs , 2015 .

[60]  Anja Philipp,et al.  Longitudinal effects of emotional labour on emotional exhaustion and dedication of teachers. , 2010, Journal of occupational health psychology.

[61]  Oliver Dickhäuser,et al.  Humor von Lehrkräften in der Schülerwahrnehmung: Abgrenzung von Lehrerenthusiasmus und Zusammenhänge mit Dimensionen des Unterrichts , 2013 .

[62]  Herbert J. Walberg,et al.  Effective Educational Practices. Educational Practices Series--3. , 2000 .

[63]  Meredith D. Gall,et al.  Effects of Teacher Enthusiasm Training on Student On-task Behavior and Achievement , 1983 .

[64]  Yvonne Anders,et al.  Should teachers be colorblind? How multicultural and egalitarian beliefs differentially relate to aspects of teachers' professional competence for teaching in diverse classrooms , 2015 .

[65]  Diane L. Schallert,et al.  Mediating effects of teacher enthusiasm and peer enthusiasm on students' interest in the college classroom , 2014 .

[66]  John M. Gottman,et al.  The Specific Affect Coding System (SPAFF). , 2007 .

[67]  Cynthia S. Carlisle,et al.  The Effects of Enthusiasm Training on Selected Teacher and Student Behaviors in Preservice Physical Education Teachers , 1985 .

[68]  James B. Lemert,et al.  DIMENSIONS FOR EVALUATING THE ACCEPTABILITY OF MESSAGE SOURCES , 1969 .

[69]  A. W. Hoy,et al.  Interested instructors: A composite portrait of individual differences and effectiveness , 2006 .

[70]  Rosemary E. Sutton.  Teachers' Emotions and Classroom Effectiveness: Implications from Recent Research. , 2005 .

[71]  Jürgen Baumert,et al.  Professional Competence of Teachers: Effects on Instructional Quality and Student Development , 2013 .

[72]  Rosemary E. Sutton.  Emotional regulation goals and strategies of teachers , 2004 .

[73]  R. Perry.  Instructor expressiveness: Implications for improving teaching , 1985 .

[74]  T. Seidel,et al.  Teaching Effectiveness Research in the Past Decade: The Role of Theory and Research Design in Disentangling Meta-Analysis Results , 2007 .

[75]  Thomas J. Shuell,et al.  Teaching and learning in a classroom context. , 1996 .

[76]  Cayla R. Teal,et al.  The Dimensions of Students’ Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness , 1999 .

[77]  Eyal Péer,et al.  The Doctor Fox Research (1973) Rerevisited: "Educational Seduction" Ruled Out , 2014 .

[78]  Reed G. Williams,et al.  An Extended Visit with Dr. Fox: Validity of Student Satisfaction with Instruction Ratings after Repeated Exposures To A Lecturer , 1977 .

[79]  Reed G. Williams,et al.  Validity of student ratings of instruction under different incentive conditions: A further study of the Dr. Fox effect. , 1976 .

[80]  J. Brophy.  Teacher behavior and student achievement , 1984 .

[81]  Timothy P. Mottet,et al.  Relationships between teacher nonverbal immediacy, student emotional response, and perceived student learning , 2002 .

[82]  B. Streeter.  The Effects of Training Experienced Teachers in Enthusiasm on Students' Attitudes toward Reading. , 1986 .

[83]  John W. McCutcheon,et al.  Verbal versus Nonverbal Cues in Evaluations of Teaching. , 1994 .

[84]  J. Eccles,et al.  Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. , 2002, Annual review of psychology.

[85]  Ulrich Trautwein,et al.  Reliability and agreement of student ratings of the classroom environment: A reanalysis of TIMSS data , 2007 .

[86]  J. Ware,et al.  Effects of expressiveness, content coverage, and incentive on multidimensional student rating scales: new interpretations of the Dr. Fox effect , 1982 .

[87]  A. Game,et al.  The teacher’s enthusiasm , 2006 .

[88]  Raymond P. Perry,et al.  The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education: An Evidence-Based Perspective , 2007 .

[89]  Anne C. Frenzel,et al.  Antecedents and Effects of Teachers’ Emotional Experiences: An Integrated Perspective and Empirical Test , 2009 .

[90]  Δημήτριος Κ. Μαυροσκούφης.  Effective Educational Practices , 2003 .

[91]  Paul L. Witt,et al.  Instructor Credibility as a Mediator of Instructor Communication and Students' Intent to Persist in College , 2011 .

[92]  Thomas Goetz,et al.  Feeling and showing: A new conceptualization of dispositional teacher enthusiasm and its relation to students' interest , 2014 .

[93]  M. Collins.  Effects of Enthusiasm Training on Preservice Elementary Teachers , 1978 .

[94]  R G Williams,et al.  The Dr. Fox effect: a study of lecturer effectiveness and ratings of instruction. , 1975, Journal of medical education.

[95]  Rosemary E. Sutton,et al.  Teachers' Emotions and Teaching: A Review of the Literature and Directions for Future Research , 2003 .