Teacher wellbeing as the predictor of teacherstudent interpersonal relationships in EFL classrooms
Author
Kansu, Güleyse
Advisor
Ortaçtepe, Deniz
Date
2018-06Publisher
Bilkent University
Language
English
Type
ThesisItem Usage Stats
302
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Abstract
This study aimed to explore the impacts of teacher wellbeing on teacherstudent
relationships. In this respect, the study investigated how the wellbeing of
Turkish teachers is reflected in their verbal immediacy behavior while interacting
with learners and the classroom climate in relation to the verbal immediacy in
tertiary level language classrooms in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting.
Five themes were focused on in terms teacher verbal immediacy behavior: sharing
personal examples and experiences, asking questions, use of humor, praise, and
criticism. The researcher collected data through a questionnaire, classroom
observation, interviews, and an inventory. Teacher Wellbeing Questionnaire adapted
from Collie, Shapka, Perry & Martin (2015) was conducted with 43 teachers and the
researcher selected four teachers who scored highest and four teachers who scored
lowest to observe their lessons. A Verbal Immediacy Framework was developed
based on Gorham‘s (1988) Verbal Immediacy Items to be used during observation.
After the observations, the students of eight participant teachers were asked to
complete a Classroom Climate Inventory (CCI) adapted from Fraser, Treagust, and Dennis (1986) and Mcber (2000). Finally, follow-up interviews were conducted with
the eight participant teachers in order to supplement the data gathered from the
classroom observations and CCI. Data obtained through three instruments were
triangulated. The qualitative data collected from classroom observations and
interviews were analyzed according to Braun and Clarke‘s (2006) thematic analysis
whereas the data coming from CCI were analyzed quantitatively using SPSS.
The findings revealed differences between two groups of teachers in three of
the pre-determined aspects of verbal immediacy and classroom climate. The data
analysis indicated that teachers who are at a more positive wellbeing level tend to use
more personal examples and experiences, use more humor, and praise their students
more frequently while interacting with their students in the classroom compared to
those with negative wellbeing. However, there was no significant difference between
the numbers and types of the open questions asked by the two groups of teachers and
the criticism used by participants.
These findings helped draw the conclusion that teacher wellbeing has a role
in establishing immediacy, which leads to a positive or negative influence on
interpersonal relationships between teachers and students as well as the classroom
climate. Therefore, the study implied that the wellbeing of language teachers can be
considered as the predictor of interpersonal relationships between teachers and
language learners in EFL classrooms.
Keywords
Teacher WellbeingTeacher Verbal Immediacy
Classroom Climate
Teacher-Student Interpersonal Relationships