College Students on College Teaching: A Case Analysis of a Teaching - Learning Exchange Process

College Students on College Teaching: A Case Analysis of a Teaching - Learning Exchange Process

Ervin, Kovacevic

Designed to teach rhetorical reading and advanced academic writing, Freshman English II (ENG102) is a required course for all International University of Sarajevo (IUS) students, regardless of the program they are enrolled in. During this course, students were required to write a research paper for which they had to explore the concept of ‘Teaching Style’, come up with effective teaching criteria, observe the teaching actions of a Freshman English teacher, and define the effective and ineffective ones calling on the referred literature and their own intellectual reasoning. More than a hundred students revealed that they are intellectually excited and pleased by the teaching actions displaying teacher – centered style (i.e. Expert, Formal Authority, and Personal Model), while they are, however, extremely appreciative of and motivated by artful teaching performance, teaching behaviors which project high interpersonal rapport, and learner – centered teaching approach. For the purpose of reaching more valid and reliable conclusions, the remarks were complemented with the results obtained through a formal survey assessing teaching performance at the end of every semester. Consequently, it might be inferred that in order to meet the needs of IUS Freshman English student profiles, a teacher should be able to deliberately apply teaching techniques associated with every and any style; a style driven by both andragogical and pedagogical reasoning.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2012-05

798