Characteristics of an Effective Arabic Language Teacher: A comparative Study

Abstract

This study aimed at identifying the characteristics of an
effective Arabic language teacher as perceived by Arabic language
teachers and high school students in Jordan, and whether there
would be statistical significant differences in their evaluations of these
characteristics. To achieve the aims of the study, an effective Arabic
language teachers characteristics questionnaire was developed. The
questionnaire consisted of (65) likert-type items distributed on four
domains: Language mastery & knowledge, instructional skills,
communication & socio-affective skills, and personal characteristics.
The sample of the study consisted of (121) Arabic language teachers,
and (437) high school students. The participants were selected using
stratified random sampling method from the schools of 3rd Irbid
district directorate of education in the 2nd semester in 2010 / 2011.
The results of the study revealed that participants of the study highly
evaluated all the listed characteristics of effective Arabic language
teachers, and there were statistical significant differences between
teachers’, and students, evaluations of the instructional skills,
language mastery & knowledge domains, the instrument as a whole
in favor of the teachers, and on personal characteristics and
communication & socio-affective domains in favor of the students.