Pupil Perception of Teacher Effectiveness and Affective Disposition in Primary School Classrooms in Botswana

Abstract

Teacher effectiveness, in the eyes of learners, in the classroom is to a large extent determined by the atmosphere created by teachers’ classroom behavior especially the degree to which a teacher ‘carries the class along’ during lesson. Children are leading the way in demanding accountability from teachers and one important expectation is a classroom which is psychologically conducive for learning. Such classroom tends to induce from the learners desirable affective behaviors that are conducive for teaching and learning. This study aims at finding the relationship among pupil- perceived teacher effectiveness and their own level of exhibition of desirable related behavior in their classrooms. Survey data was collected from 472 learners taken from 29 primary schools drawn through stratified random sampling method from urban private schools and rural remote areas in Botswana. The relationship between pupil's perceived teacher effectiveness factors and their own affective disposition in the classrooms were found using Pearson correlation analysis. The results showed that generally pupil’s perceived level of their teachers effectiveness in terms of classroom assessment behavior, teaching strategy, provision of feedback and their overall effectiveness in teaching English language have significant influence on their interest in the following key areas; subject of study (e.g., English Language) , classroom environment, perceived level difficulty of learning English, preference for group work in the class and general attitude towards the going-ons in the class. The findings were discussed and related recommendations made.