The Qualities of the Good English Teacher as Perceived by Saudi and Yemeni College Students of English

Abstract

This paper is about a study on the qualities of the good English teacher as perceived by Saudi and Yemeni college students of English. The researcher (teacher) selected the samples purposively from students of English in both countries. He collected Data by asking the students an open-ended question to list the qualities of the good English teacher. The study tried to answer five questions related to: 1) the general qualities of the good English teacher, 2) qualities that are specific only to English, 3) gender differences, 4) level of students' differences, and finally 5) differences regarding contexts (Saudi vs Yemeni). The researcher categorized the findings categorized under four main groups: English proficiency, pedagogical knowledge, socio-affective skills and organization and communication. Though there was disagreement among the groups for the priority of the four categories, it was the socio-affective category which was characteristic of all the different samples with preponderance towards the Yemeni samples. Qualities under the socio-affective category are that the good English teacher is patient, relaxed, good tempered, fair, helpful, encouraging, respectful, kind, loving and caring. It was also found that there were eight qualities that were English specific. No major differences regarding gender were found. Differences related to level were also limited. There were some differences between the Yemeni and Saudi samples. The Saudis, for example, wanted more translation in class; they wanted teacher to give simple tests and assignments and they want him/her to give them chance to talk to him/her.