Teacher Behavior Dimensions, Course Characteristics, and Student Evaluations of Teachers

Investigations of teacher behavior have not yet discovered a stable and consistent set of behavioral dimensions, patterns, or styles to relate to the effective promotion of learning. While certain similarities and convergences can be found in some of the recent research in this area (as discussed by Solomon, Bezdek, and Rosenberg, 1963; and Ryans, 1963), inconclusive or contradictory results are still more typical. Further efforts to establish the identification of significant categories of teacher behavior, or behavioral qualities, are very much needed. The present study represents such an effort. It is a continuation of a previous study which related teacher behavior to learning outcomes (Solomon, Bezdek, and Rosenberg, 1963). In the earlier study, eight factors of teacher behavior were related to two measures of learning, and to students' evaluations of their teachers. The major results of the study showed "clear and expressive" teacher behavior related to student gains in factual knowledge; "energetic" and "flamboyant" teacher behavior related to student gains in comprehension; and "clear, expressive" and "warm" teacher behavior related to positive student evaluations. While the results of the prior study were clear and unambiguous, limitations of the sample (24 teachers of a single evening-college credit course), raised questions about the generality of the findings. The present study constitutes a partial replication, aimed primarily at determining whether the same factors of teacher behavior would emerge under different conditions, with simpler measurement techniques, and with a different and larger sample.