Favorable and Unfavorable Characteristics of EFL Teachers Perceived by University Students of Thailand

Abstract

Teachers play pivotal roles in EFL classrooms. Characteristics of EFL teachers may affect students' attitudes and motivations to language learning. The effective/good characteristics of the EFL teachers perceived by the students have been extensively investigated by the previous research works. However, the perceptions of the students from different backgrounds to EFL teachers may vary in different learning settings. In addition, the research works on both favorable and unfavorable characteristics of EFL teachers are comparatively scarce. This study aimed to investigate the favorable and unfavorable characteristics of the EFL teachers perceived by Thai university students. The data were collected from 6o students at Vongchavalitkul University. Open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used as the main instruments for data collection. Useful information about EFL teachers' personal trait-related characteristics and classroom teaching-related characteristics emerged from the data. The information is very useful and beneficial for the EFL teachers to reflect their personal characteristics and reconsider their classroom teaching, which may be very helpful for them to do some adjustment and preparation in their teaching to achieve better education results. NR - 16 PU - CANADIAN CENTER SCIENCE & EDUCATION PI - TORONTO PA - 1120 FINCH AVE W, STE 701-309, TORONTO, ON M3J 3H7, CANADA