Qualities of the good language teacher as perceived by prospective teachers of English in the Arab World

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the qualities of the good language teacher as perceived by student teachers of English in the Arab World. In Fall 2006, a questionnaire including 69 qualities of the good language teacher representing three dimensions (knowledge, teaching skills and personality) was developed, validated and administered to 273 prospective teachers of English in three countries of the Arab world (Egypt, Oman and Saudi Arabia). ANOVA test results indicated that there were statistically significant differences between the three groups as to the perception of theses qualities. There were statistically significant differences in the perception of the qualities between the male subjects and the female subjects in favour of females. It was concluded that (1) both the Saudi and Egyptian prospective teachers of English have similar views for the knowledge, and personality dimensions, whereas they have different views as to the teaching skills dimension, (2) both the Saudi students and the Omani students have different iiviews as to the qualities of the good language teacher, whereas the Egyptian students and the Omani students have the same views, and (3) the views of the female students as to the qualities of the good language teacher are different from the views of the male students. Accordingly, it was i recommended that two further studies are needed: (1) a l study to identify the qualities of the good language teacher using a large sample from different universities of the Arab World, and (2) an ethnographic study to investigate qualitatively and thoroughly what makes a good language teacher.

The Effective 21st-century Pedagogical Competence as Perceived by Pre-service English Teachers

“…This is considered beneficial as the participants conceived that appropriate and effective utilization of technology will obviously ease teachers to qualify the students with skills to confront their future lives. However, this finding is contrastive to Abu-Rahma's (2008) which mentioned that utilizing the latest technology in teaching is moderately important. With respect to this finding, he further visualized that it might be due to the participants' belief that language teachers can effectively teach without having any sophisticated educational technology.…”

What Makes an Effective EFL Teacher From Saudi Preuniversity Students’ Perspective

“…Research on effective EFL teachers has revealed a number of qualities that contribute to students’ language learning success. These qualities have mostly revolved around a number of categories: personality, language knowledge, teaching methods, organization and communication skills, and socioaffective skills (Abu-Rahmah, 2008; Al-Mahrooqi et al, 2015; Baytur & Razi, 2015; Brosh, 1996; Febriyanti, 2018; Gabrielatos, 2002; Park & Lee, 2006; Salahshour & Hajizadeh, 2013; Taqi et al, 2015; Wichadee, 2010). In addition, having reviewed literature on the effectiveness of EFL teachers, Al-Seghayer (2017) summarized those qualities into five main categories: cognitive knowledge, content knowledge, language proficiency, personality traits, and other related key variables that can be achieved through a number of channels, including initiatives and training programs and support and professional development opportunities.…”

“…The gender has been correlated with students’ and teachers’ choices of EFL teacher effectiveness and various findings have been revealed. Some studies reported differences in the choices of respondents attributed to genders (Abu-Rahmah, 2008; Chen & Lin, 2009; Ramazani, 2014; Taqi et al, 2015). However, some other studies showed that the genders did not have any effect on the respondents’ choices regarding the qualities of effective EFL teacher (Nghia, 2015; Wichadee, 2010).…”

“…Abu-Rahmah’s (2008) examination of 273 EFL male and female teachers’ qualities of good EFL teachers in three Arab countries (Oman, Egypt, & Saudi Arabia) using a quantitative questionnaire revealed significant differences attributed to genders in favor of female participants who valued almost all the qualities of a good EFL teacher in terms of personality, methodology, and language. Although there was a census on the qualities of a good EFL teacher among the respondents, the findings cannot be generalized because no randomization was used in the selection of the sample and no female students from Saudi Arabia participated.…”

“…The phenomenon of good attributes that EFL teachers should possess has been attracting the researchers’ attention for the last two decades. A very limited number of studies on the aspect of “a good EFL teacher” has been conducted in the Middle East region (Abu-Rahmah, 2008; Al-Mahrooqi et al, 2015). The need for this study stems from the huge diversity of EFL teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.…”