4.2.3. Analysis of answers to each question
4.2.3.2. Question 9: About teachers’ management of classes and subjects
10.9 6 1.4 9.4 16.4 4.3
15.2 39.6 35.5 21.2
30.7 52.2
49.6
36.5
59 55.1 52.9
28.3 18.2
57.5
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Q9.1 Q9.2 Q9.3 Q9.4 Q9.5 Q9.6
Strongly disagree Disagree Accept Agree Totally agree
Figure 4.3. Frequencies of answers to Question 9.1 to 9.6
Below are the statistics of mean, mode, standard deviation, minimum and maximum of answers to Question 9.
N Mean
Valid Missing Value Rank Mode S.D. Minimum Maximum
Q9.1 139 1 4.576 1 5.0 .5245 3.0 5.0
Q9.2 138 2 4.457 3 5.0 .6631 3.0 5.0
Q9.3 140 0 4.364 4 5.0 .7511 3.0 5.0
Q9.4 138 2 4.043 5 4.0 .7818 2.0 5.0
Q9.5 137 3 3.752 6 4.0 .8810 2.0 5.0
Q9.6 134 6 4.515 2 5.0 .6099 3.0 5.0
Notes: Score scale: (1) Totally agree, (2) Agree, (3) Accept, (4) Disagree, (9) Strongly disagree. (See the questions in Appendix 2)
Table 4.9. Summary of statistics from Question 9
With rather high consensus, almost all students say “no” to the three phenomena mentioned in question 9.1, 9.2, and 9.3, which are the lack of clarity in the subject’s outlining and objectives, materials, and evaluation criteria. Although it sounds a little strange when a teacher does not inform students with this kind of information, it still sometimes happens, according to students’ responses to Questionnaire 1. Through questionnaire 2, most students agree with student 44 that
“the teacher’s guidance should be clear,” while only very few students hold a resigned attitude like student 62 when he guesses “maybe the teacher thinks it is not necessary.”
Although it sounds a little strange when a teacher does not inform students with this information about textbook and materials, it still sometimes happens, according to students’ responses to Questionnaire 1. This lack of information causes confusion in students’ minds and makes it difficult for them to self-study. A small number of students had a resigned opinion about this, “Maybe the teacher thinks that it is not necessary” (Student 62), or “It depends on the subject, because in some subjects, the teacher cannot teach with only one textbook” (Student 141). However, the statistics have shown that 90.6 % of the participants disagree with the lack of instructions about textbook and reference materials. Some suggestions to this issue are, “The teacher should be specific.” (Student 44), and, “We are new students and we need teachers’ clear instructions” (Student 81).
Related to the matter mentioned in question 9.3, grades are not only a scale for students to measure their progress, but also an indicator that will introduce graduates to employers. The vagueness in evaluation criteria or a total lack of score scale has been strongly objected to by more than half of all the participants. Student 127 inserted that “Students need to know clearly about this”, while student 85 explained the result of the lack of criteria as “Students will not know how to try.”
The mean value of answer at 4.364 is meaningful in reminding teachers to set a clear scale for assessment right at the beginning of any subject’s course.
Question 9.5 and 9.6 are related to the teacher’s requirements for students. In general, too high criteria in classroom activities and in exams are not favored by students.
For the high criteria in everyday class, students can accept them as a means to encourage students to strive, but as student 78 recommend, “teachers should not pose too much pressure”. Possibly because of the difference amongst students’
levels of English proficiency and learning conditions, their feelings when considering this phenomenon are slightly different. An enthusiastic student (Student 121) consider this “a chance for students to confront challenges”. But many other comments reveal a cautious attitude, such as “It is good if the requirements match the learning content.” However, some students panic at the perspective of being confronted with too high requirements. Their answers are, “I hope I never have to meet too high requirements,” (Student 85), or simply “Impossible” (Student 86).
Anyway, the percentage of students who “disagree” or “strongly disagree” with
“too high requirements” (67.8%) suggests that teachers can set out reasonably high requirements for students to reach, but not “too” high demands.
Additionally, the exam questions that are too difficult and unrelated to the lessons taught in the class are resolutely opposed to, with the most common score of 5 (Strongly disagree). As for this phenomenon, student 38 made a lively and somewhat humorous comment, “That will give students death!” Regretfully, in reality, some teachers can be absent-minded or in a hurry when preparing final test questions and the results are irrelevant tests.
As for the amount of knowledge imparted in the class (question 9.5), most students share the opinion that it would be boring and ineffective if “the teacher only teaches the lessons in the textbook, without extension.” However, 4.3% of the participants want the teacher to teach only the lessons in coursebooks, because as student 85 admits, “I’m afraid that even when we only teach and study carefully in the coursebook, I’m hardly able to absorb fully.” In this reality, teachers should
consider a flexible combination of textbooks’ lesson and supplemental knowledge and activities. “The teacher should have some expansion from the coursebooks; but they must be suitable to students’ levels” (Student 128).