The relationship between university lecturers' behaviour and students' motivation

Abstract

Many studies reported that the way in which lecturers behave with the college-going students affects those students' overall development. Unfortunately, most of the studies related to the influence of lecturers' behaviour on students' development were conducted either in developed or developing countries. There were very limited studies focusing on the influence of lecturers' behaviour on students' development, conducted in developing countries, particularly a country which experienced prolonged war and instability. This quantitative study fulfilled this gap by examining the perceptions of lecturers on the relationship between the lecturer's behaviour and student's motivation. A 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire was delivered to all lecturers in Takhar University, a very small university in Afghanistan. From a total of 180 questionnaires delivered, only 151 completed and usable questionnaires were returned for further analysis. The data were analysed using the SPSS. The analysis of data indicated that regardless of education levels and the country's rate of development and stability, lecturers' perceptions have a significant influence on lecturers' behaviour and students' motivation. The findings also revealed that the different age categories of the lecturers and their behaviours influenced tertiary education students' motivation differently. It can be concluded that higher education administrators must focus their attention on ensuring that the institutions hire lecturers from different age categories and outstanding behaviour to better influence students' motivation.