A semantic differential study of teacher characteristics : the perception of teacher characteristics of students and professional educators from among Americans in American-sponsored schools overseas, non-Americans in American sponsored schools overseas and Americans in schools in the United States

Purpose The major purpose of this research study was to determine if Americans and non-Americans, professional educators and students, view selected teacher characteristics differently. A secondary purpose of this study was to substantiate the grouping of teacher characteristics into three domains. Procedures Professional educators and students participating in this study were selected at random from seven American-sponsored schools in Near East/South Asia and one school district in the United States. These participants were administered a semantic differential instrument. The nine concepts in the semantic differential were teacher characteristics categorized as personal, professional, and instructional. The data from the semantic differential were subjected to a principle components analysis. The three resulting factors were called evaluative, activity, and potency. Factor scores were obtained on each teacher characteristic on each of the three factors. Testing the Hypotheses Factor scores were utilized in analysis of variance procedures to test the following null hypotheses with respect to each of the factors (evaluative, activity, and potency). H[lowered o]l: There will be no significant difference between professionals and students, status, in the meanings attached to teacher characteristics. H[lowered o]2: There will be no significant difference among groups in the meanings attached to teacher characteristics. H[lowered o]3: There will be no significant interaction between status and groups in the meanings attached to teacher characteristics. H[lowered o]4: There will be no significant difference in the meanings attached to the areas of teacher characteristics. H[lowered o]5: There will be no significant interaction between characteristics and status in the meanings attached to teacher characteristics. H[lowered o]6: There will be no significant interaction between characteristics and groups in the meanings attached to teacher characteristics. H[lowered o]7: There will be no significant interaction between characteristics, status, and groups in the meanings attached to teacher characteristics. Findings and Conclusions The hypothesis of no difference between areas of characteristics was rejected at the .001 level on each of the three factors. The hypothesis of no difference between professionals and students was rejected at the .001 level on the activity factor and at the .05 level on the potency factor. The F-ratio for this hypothesis on the evaluative factor was less than the value required for rejection of the null hypothesis. The hypothesis of no interaction between areas of characteristics and status was rejected at the .025 level on the evaluative factor and at the .01 level on the potency factor. The hypothesis of no interaction between areas of characteristics and groups was rejected at the .05 level on the evaluative factor and was not rejected on the activity or potency factors. The analysis of variance data from each of the factors on the remaining hypotheses produced F-ratio values which were in each case, less than the value required for rejection of the null hypotheses. Three basic conclusions were drawn from testing the hypotheses in this study. 1. Students tend to attach different meanings to teacher characteristics than do professional educators. 2. Americans in schools in the United States, Americans in American-sponsored schools, and non-Americans in American-sponsored schools tend to view teacher characteristics differently. 3. The division of teacher characteristics into personal, professional, and instructional areas does represent three domains of teacher characteristics.