Characteristics and Methods of Effective Teachers: A Qualitative Study of Students’ Perspective

Abstract

The objective of present study aims to analyze the perspectives of the university student about preferred effective teaching approaches. Qualitative description is the research design selected for sampling, data collection techniques and analysis procedures. A purposeful sample of twenty students by using convenient sampling technique was employed (16 males; 4females). Contextual setting of the study was provided by the universities located in Islamabad, Pakistan. Qualitative software NVIVO 10 was used for data analysis. The analyses of word frequency report and word tree are made to gain in-depth understanding about effective teaching. The qualitative model of the study leads to the conclusion that there are two main categories of effective style of teaching i.e. characteristics and methods. Findings of the study suggest that there are different factors perceived by the university students about the effective teaching. Theoretically, the study contributes to the styles and characteristics based literature in general and to the literature particularly on the relationships between styles of effective teaching and students" learning particularly. Particular implications on the basis of qualitative source findings will be discussed in the context of students preferred teaching approaches, teachers" teaching style and university administrators and personal management.