| dc.description.abstract | This paper reports on the findings from an investigation conducted in the Arab Gulf region into student and faculty perceptions of effective and ineffective teaching practices at the university level. Samples were drawn from both genders in two dissimilar academic programs: the university preparatory intensive English program (IEP) and the mainstream science program. Specifically, this study focuses on the characteristics of effective and ineffective teaching from the point of view of four population groups: English students, English faculty, science students and science faculty. The method of enquiry made use of both interviews and a questionnaire. Means, ranking, and standard deviation followed by other analyses indicated that there was a high degree of similarity between students and faculty with respect to the perceived attributes of effective and ineffective teaching. It appears that the effective teacher is the mirror image of the ineffective by being imbued with a generous dose of personality traits in addition to skills. Both faculty and students in this research conducted in the Gulf depicted the excellent university professor as someone who: (1) is respectful, (2) makes classes interesting, (3) is fair in evaluating, (4) cares about students’ success, (5) shows a love for their subject, (6) is friendly, (7) encourages questions and discussion, (8) is always well prepared and organized, and (9) makes difficult subjects easy to learn. Findings of students’ and faculty’s perspectives suggest that effective teaching is the blending of both personality and ability factors. The key factor, however, remains the teacher’s personality. | en_GB |
