The interplay of teacher success, credibility, and stroke with respect to EFL students' willingness to attend classes

Abstract

Given the significance of teacher characteristics in student motivation for class attendance, the present paper aimed to investigate the roles of teacher success, credibility, and stroke in students'Willingness to Attend Classes (WTAC). To this aim, a total number of 276 undergraduate students majoring in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and English Language and Literature completed four scales: Characteristics of Successful EFL Teachers Questionnaire (Moafian & Pishghadam, 2008), Teacher Credibility Scale (McCroskey & Teven, 1999), Student Stroke Scale (Pishghadam & Khajavi, 2014), and WTAC Scale (Rajabnejad, Pishghadam, & Saboori, 2017). For data analysis, Pearson multiple correlation coefficients and path analysis were employed. The results of correlational analyses revealed a significantly positive correlation, first, between teacher success and students' WTAC, secondly, between teacher credibility and students' WTAC, and thirdly, between teacher stroke and students' WTAC. Furthermore, the results of path analysis indicated that students'WTAC was significantly predicted by teacher success, credibility, and stroke. At the end, the results were discussed in light of previous findings, and potential conclusions were made in the EFL context accordingly.