Abstract
The aim of this descriptive study is to identify Arab tertiary students’ perceptions of the qualities and practices of teachers whom they judge to be effective. The data was collected from 136 Arab freshman students attending the intensive English program in the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to prepare them for their career programs. A content analysis of the data revealed a set of perceived characteristics and practices that were ranked according to their frequency rate. These results show that although teachers’ ability to teach and help students understand are seen to be essential, certain human aspects of teachers and their attitudes toward their students are seen as crucial for judging their effectiveness. These Arab students considered the human element of their teachers as a very important component of their effectiveness.
Citation
Saafin, S. (2008), "Arab Tertiary Students’ Perceptions of Effective Teachers", Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, Vol. 5 No. 2, pp. 2-12. https://doi.org/10.18538/lthe.v5.n2.02
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008 Saleh Saafin
License
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
Acknowledgements
Publisher's note: The Publisher would like to inform the reader that the article “Arab Tertiary Students’ Perceptions of Effective Teachers ” has changed pagination. Previous pagination was pp. 1-11. The updated pagination for the article is now pp. 2-12. The Publisher apologises for any inconvenience caused.