Effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. Students’ perspectives

This study aimed at exploring effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students’ perspectives.  It also aimed at determining the role of the study variables (gender, accumulative average in BA and the school stage where they teach) in effective teaching from the same perspectives. To achieve these aims, the researchers used structured questionnaire of 21 items which were distributed among 30 TEFL majors (14 males and 16 females) that shape the sample of the study which was chosen randomly from all the MA TEFL majors. The study occurs during the first semester of the academic year 2014 – 2015. Respondents' results indicate a moderate degree of effective teaching from An Najah National University M.A. TEFL students’ perspective with a percentage of 71.5%. Staff members who are imaginative, can do wonders in the English class whose ideas break monotony and make students participate lively in the class are considered the best. They can also teach any language skills interestingly and effectively as they can develop students' creative self-expression. Based on these major findings, the researchers recommended the use of pedagogies that promote thinking and analytical skills and invite students to participate. Other comparative studies in more than one university along with considering other variables that are not included or considered by this research are also recommended. 
 
 Key words: Effective teaching, University M.A. students’ perspectives.


INTRODUCTION AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Teaching is a complex craft. In some ways, it is impossible to capture in a page or two the sophistication of what good teachers do. Yet nothing is more fundamental to achieving our goal of success for every student than high quality teaching. That is why Classroom first places the teacher at the centre of improvement efforts (Cruz et al., 2014).
Effective teachers appear again and again to display certain characteristics, while ineffective teachers tend to make the same mistakes repeatedly. Below is a look at some of the things more effective teachers tend to do right and less effective teachers tend to do wrong. Effective teachers strive to motivate and engage all their students in learning rather than simply accepting that some students cannot be engaged and are destined to do poorly. Teachers collected complete information *Corresponding author. E-mail: ahmedawad_amin@yahoo.com Tel: 0097259900644 Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License about each student so that teachers could recognize their strengths and weakness (Cruz et al., 2014). They believe every student is capable of achieving success at school and they do all they can to find ways of making each student successful.
Effective teachers have high expectations of students in terms of both their standard of learning and their behavior, and they help their students meet those expectations. They also have high expectations of themselves and their own learning. Therefore, this study sought to examine effective teaching from An Najah National University M.A. students" perspective. Raymond (2008) concluded that both faculty and students in the Gulf stated effective university professor as a person who: (1) is appreciative, (2) makes classes interesting, (3) is fair (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) simplifies their materials. 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.
Recent findings shed light on two characteristics of good teachers: their personality and their ability. However, more attention has been paid to teachers" practices and opinions than on students" views (Beishuizen et al., 2001;Sojka et al., 2002).

Statement of the problem
Despite years of investment in the Palestinian strategic plan of 2008 to 2012 for education, studies show that students in the Palestinian territories are doing increasingly poorly either in universities or in the marketplace. As a result, and to a great extent, the problem lies in the quality of teaching, not in the quantity; this underachievement problem is increasing in the context of English language teaching for non-native students who need more efforts to implement a standard success. Hence this study will try to examine effective teaching from An Najah National University M.A. students' perspective

Purpose of the study
This study aims to achieve the following objectives: 1-To determine effective teaching from An Najah National University M.A. students' perspective. 2-To find out if there are any significant differences in effective teaching from An Najah National University M.A. students' perspective due to the study variables (gender, cumulative average and the school stage where they teach).

Questions of the study
This study seeks to answer the following questions: 1-What are the principles of effective teaching from An Najah National University M.A. students' perspective? 2-Are there statistical differences at (α <= 0.05) in effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students' Perspective due to gender? 3-Are there statistical differences at (α <= 0.05) in effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students' perspective due to cumulative average? 4-Are there statistical differences at (α <= 0.05) in effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students' perspective due to the school stage where they teach?

Effective teaching
A teaching approach comprises the principles and methods used for instruction. Commonly used teaching methods may include class participation, demonstration, recitation, memorization, or combinations of these. The choice of an appropriate teaching method depends largely on the information or skill that is being taught, and it may also be influenced by the aptitude and enthusiasm of the students.

Effective teacher
From the personality perspective, an effective college level teacher is one who demonstrates "… closeness, warmth, and enthusiasm (immediacy) perceived physical and psychological closeness of the teacher to the student …" Walls et al., 2002:40). From the ability perspective, the crucial factors of the effective teacher are being skilled, knowledgeable and experienced (Beishuizen et al., 2001). Effective teachers know how to create an effective learning environment by being organized, prepared, and clear .

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
An effective teacher is the one who is enthusiastic to teach: The single most important quality that every teacher should possess is a love and passion for teaching young people. Unfortunately, there are teachers who do not love what they do. There are too many discouraging factors associated with teaching that is difficult enough on a teacher who absolutely loves what they do, much less on one who does not have the drive, passion, or enthusiasm for it (Bulger et al., 2002;Moore, 2005).

An effective teacher demonstrates a caring attitude:
Taking the time to get to know a student on a personal level takes a lot of time and dedication. There is also a line that no teacher wants to cross where their relationship becomes too personal. Elite teachers know how to balance this without crossing that line and once a student believes the teacher truly cares for them, then there is no limit to what that student can achieve. The best teachers work hard to figure out how to relate to each of their students. Common interest can be hard to find, but exceptional teachers will find a way to connect with their students even if they have to fake it (Saafin, 2005).
An effective teacher is willing to think outside the box: What makes teaching so exciting is that students learn differently, and we have to find and utilize different strategies and differentiated learning to reach every student. What works for one student will not work for every student. Teachers have to be willing to be creative and adaptive in their lessons, thinking outside the box on a continual basis (Saafin, 2005).

An effective teacher is an excellent communicator:
To be the best possible teacher must be an effective communicator. However, in this area teachers are not just limited to being a skilled communicator to their students although that is a must. They must also be a strong communicator with parents of their students as well as your faculty/staff team within in their building (Cruz et al., 2014).

An effective teacher is proactive rather than reactive:
This can be one of most difficult aspects for a teacher to conquer. Intense planning and organization can ultimately make your job all the more less difficult. Teachers who plan ahead, looking for aspects that they might have issues with, and proactively looking for solutions to solve those problems will have less stress on them, than those teachers who wait until a problem arises and then tries to address it. Being proactive does not replace being adaptive. No matter how well you plan, there will be surprises. However, being proactive can cut down on these surprises tremendously, thus making you more effective overall (Anderson, 2004;McBer, 2000;Borich, 2000;Hobson and Talbot, 2001).
An effective teacher strives to be better: A teacher who has grown complacent in what they do is the most ineffective kind of teacher. Any teacher who is not looking for new and better teaching strategies is not being an effective teacher. No matter how long you have taught, you should always want to grow as a teacher. Every year there is new research, new technology, and new educational tools that could make you a better teacher.
Seek out professional development opportunities and try to apply something new to your class every year.

An effective teacher uses a variety of media in their lessons:
Like it or not we are in the 21st century, and this generation of students was born in the digital age. These students have been bombarded by technological advances unlike any other generation. They have embraced it, and if we as teachers do not, then we are falling behind. This is not to say that we should eliminate textbooks and worksheets completely, but effective teachers are not afraid to implement other forms of media within their lessons.
An effective teacher challenges their students: The most effective teachers are often the ones that many students think are the most difficult. This is because they challenge their students and push them harder than the average teacher does. These are the teachers who are often students" least favorite teachers at the time, but then later on in life they are the ones that we all remember and want to thank, because of how well they prepared us for life after our time with them. Being an effective teacher does not mean you are easy. It means that you challenge every one of your students and maximize your time with them so that they learn more than they ever thought they could learn (Chambers and Schmitt, 2002).

Previous studies
According to Anderson (2004), McBer (2000), Borich (2000) and Chen and Hoshower (2003), an effective teacher is one who possesses competence in organizational skills such as systematizing materials in logical sequence with a high degree of clarity and presenting those materials in structured, step-by-step procedures.
Khan and Mustafa (2014)"s study examined Teaching Reading in EFL and ESL contexts which has been challenging not only for the non-native factors but also for various inherent systemic issues. Significant among these issues are the ineffective use of existing materials, lack of material adaptation and obliviousness of the teaching process towards aims and objectives of the course and lessons because teaching is often mistaken as the completion of the course texts. The study seeks to analyze and reach on some suggestions in the light of afore said aspects of the teaching of Tapestry Series(Reading) 1-3 in Department of English, King Khalid University, Abha,Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Scanlan and Lopez (2012) conducted qualitative study and highlighted the redefinition of roles played by secondary-level, mainstream content-area teachers involved in an English as a Second Language (ESL) professional development (PD) program. The researchers examined how the practice of becoming an emerging leader in ESL, a new discipline for many teachers, was impacted by participation in an intensive 18 month ESL PD program. Specifically, this case study focused on the participants" ability to translate newly acquired multicultural competence, second language acquisition, and ESL teaching strategies into training sessions for their content-area colleagues. The reflective statements from teacher participants following the delivery of what is termed "turnaround training" revealed that the teachers experienced changes in professional self-concept both as teacher leaders and as advocates for English Language Learners (ELLs). This shift of teacher as leader benefits both teacher and student, according to Barth (2011) as teacher leaders experience less isolation, have more professional satisfaction for improving their schools and increased reflection about their practice. This work found that through PD, teachers" roles shifted from not just content expert but also to ELL expert and, indeed, advocate of ESL students. Scanlan and Lopez (2012)"s study discussed what teachers do and how students" performances intersect, making teachers a critical factor for determining student success. When teachers use effective practices, they maximize the probability that students will be actively engaged in instruction. Students" engagement is one of the most well-established predictors of achievement; when students are more engaged in academic instruction, they tend to have greater academic and social success. This article aims to review empirical literature in support of three evidence-based practices for maximizing student success. These practices include modeling desired academic and social behavior, providing opportunities to respond to curricular content, and providing academic and behavioral feedback. This study is in accordance with Reezgit and Creemers (2005).

Study design
This study uses a cross-sectional design, based on questionnaires. The study design involves observation of a representative sample of students of English language. It employs descriptive and inferential design. The primary goal is to try to provide a comprehensive description as possible, whereas the cross sectional is focused on individuals at fixed events during life.

Population and sample of the study
This study was conducted with all English Department M.A. students of An-Najah National University to measure their opinion about effective teaching. Table 1 shows the numbers and distribution of the study sample. A representative stratified sample of (n=03 ) was selected.

Instrumentation
After conducting an extensive literature review on a Effective

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Teaching From An Najah National University M.A. Students Perspective, data were collected via a structured questionnaire which consisted of (24) items in three parts, organized to measure Effective Teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students' perspective, A-First: it informed the respondent of the objectives and the importance of the study, and assured them that the data collected was for scientific purposes only. B-Second: it collected demographic information. C-Third: this was devised to collect information on Effective Teaching from An Najah National University M.A. Students' Perspective

Reliability of the Instrument
To determine the reliability of three sub-questionnaires, alpha formula was used; the range of reliability was 0.90 which is suitable for conducting such a study.

Validity of the instrument
The questionnaire was reviewed by a group of experts in the field of scientific research. They deleted and rephrased some items until the study instrument reached its final form.

Statistical analysis
The Statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 17 was used for data analysis. Various statistical tests and procedures were used including (means, frequencies, standard deviation, cross-tabulation, t-test for independent samples, ANOVA, , post hoc Scheffe's test). P-value of less than or equal to 0.05 was used to test the significance in testing the study hypothesis.

Ethical issues
This study is conducted on human subjects, and to assure that the ethical issues were taken into consideration, permission to conduct this study was obtained; in addition, respondents were informed about the purpose of the study before the interview. They were told that their participation was voluntary, any information obtained would be confidential and would be used for scientific research purposes only.

Results related to the first question "What is effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students' perspective?
To answer the study questions, mean, standard deviation, and percentages of each item, domain and total score of effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students' perspective are computed. The study adopted a five-point scale in which the length of cells was determined through calculating the range of the scale (5-1=4) and divided on the highest value of the scale to determine the cell length, (5\4=0.8) then added to the lowest value in the scale to determine the lowest value of scale (1+0.8=1.8) ( Table 2). For data analysis, the researchers used the following percentages: More than 84% is very high degree of self-learning effect. 68.1-84% is a high degree. 52.1 -68% is a moderate degree. 36 -52% is a low degree. Less than 03% is a very low degree.
As shown in Table 3, the item "Invite students to look for information in diverse sources" gets rank one with its mean value (4.07) with a percentage of 81.40% and standard deviation of 1.05. This is in accordance with Siraj-Blatchford, (2010) ;Shirbagi, (2007) and Kimberly (2013) who stated that the main goal of teachers should be to create an environment that invites students to think deeply about the material, to share their ideas, and thus to promote learning. Also, the item "Intervention during action consists of sharing experiences" gets rank two with its mean value (3.93) with a percentage of 78.60% and standard deviation of 1.14. This finding is similar with Grzega, (2005a) and Grzega, and Marion (2007) who over-stressed learning by teaching where students take the teacher's role and teach their peers. This method is very effective when done correctly. Having students teach sections of the class as a group or as individuals is a great way to get the students to really study out the topic and understand it so as to teach it to their peers. By having them participate in the teaching process it also builds self-confidence, self-efficacy, and strengthens students" speaking and communication skills. Students will not only learn their given topic, but they will gain experience that could be very valuable for life. As shown also in Table 3, the item "Select proposals that take into account what the student know and what they wish to know. "gets the least rank with its mean value (2.80) with a percentage of 56% and standard deviation of 1.42. Also, the item" grant more responsibility and control" gets the following rank with its mean value (3.17) with a percentage of 63.40% and standard deviation of 1.44. The mean for the whole sample of the study was 3.58 with a percentage of 71.60%; and it meets the estimation of Likert scale of high score. Respondents' results indicate a moderate degree of effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students" perspective with a percentage of 71.5%.

Results of the second question" Are there statistical differences at (α <= 0.05) in effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students' perspective due to gender?
The researchers used independent-sample t-test to compare effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. male and female respondents' perspective. Table 4 shows the result.
As shown in Table 4, the means of scores of effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. male students' perspective were 3.57 and the means for the females were 3.58. These results of the t-test revealed that there was no significant difference in the scores for males and females on the respondents" total score. Results of the third question" Are there statistical differences at (α <= 0.05) in effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students' perspective due to cumulative average in B.A?
The researchers used ANOVA test to compare Effective Teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. Students' Perspective. Table 5 shows the result.
There are no statistically significant differences in means that at p value = (0.05) in Effective Teaching from An Najah National University M.A. Students' Perspective due to cumulative average in B.A. As shown in Tables 4 and 5, the means of scores of effective teaching and the results of the ANOVA revealed a non-significant effect due to cumulative average in B.A. (f =1.83, p = 0.18).
Results of the fourth question" Are there statistical differences at (α <= 0.05) in effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students' perspective due to the school stage where they teach? Tables 6 and 7 show the result. The means of scores of effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students' due to stage showed no statistical significant effect and so did the results of the ANOVA test (f =2.21, p = 0.11).

DISCUSSION
The literature review supports the view that students' opinions of teaching effectiveness are a valid, increasingly exploited, and acceptable source of information in determining instructional performance. Furthermore, it validates the use of classification by personality and ability as a commonly accepted method for examining effective teaching characteristics since respondents tend to categorize effective teaching using these two dimensions, and that the personality measures are the higher ranked of the two categories. In addition, throughout the literature it has been noted not only that similarities in perceptions of effective teaching do exist between students and faculty, but also that some differences persist based upon factors such as student age, status and gender. Important personality traits used to describe effective teaching are the following: is enthusiastic towards teaching the subject, is available to students, respects and is friendly to students, is open to students" ideas and opinions, stimulates interest in the topic, is sensitive and concerned with students" progress and is objective in evaluating students.
Predominant ability attributes used to describe effective teachers are being well prepared and organized, possessing subject knowledge, being able to explain difficult subjects using simple terms, and encouraging students to think critically. Some argue that "personality" traits are innate, such as those found in leaders and effective teachers, but would also acknowledge that these traits can be learned and refined through teacher training programs, professional development and continuous life-long learning.
The findings of this study support the results of previous studies on teaching effectiveness which demonstrate that many traits or practices are common, regardless of culture, age, and/or academic discipline. It also supports the literature findings of relatively high correlations between students and faculty in what they appreciate in teachers and that student opinions are of value. In other words, the participating students and faculty each appear to have an image in mind of what ideal instructors are like and how they conduct themselves and what they do both in the classroom and outside, which differentiates them from ineffective instructors.

Conclusion
Respondents' results indicate a moderate degree of effective teaching from An-Najah National University M.A. students" perspective with a percentage of 71.5%. A teacher who is imaginative can do wonders in the English class. Their new ideas break monotony and make students take lively participation in the class. Teachers who are imaginative can teach any language skill interestingly and effectively. They can develop students' creative self-expression. Teachers who are imaginative explore and create new things. These principles of good practice serve as a practical lens for educationalist to evaluate the teachers' effect on the students' learning outcome. Using the principles as a general framework for the evaluation gave us insights into important aspects of effective teaching and learning. The researcher agrees with what Siegel (1975) posited that the purpose of education is to "like the world through knowing it." Teachers in New York found that student performance improved when this principle was employed in their teaching methods

RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the results of the study, the following suggestions are recommended by the researcher to the teachers, parents, stakeholders and further research to fill other gaps in the domain of remedial education, 1-Teachers should use multiple approaches and methods of teaching which are relevant to all learners' needs. 2-They should take into consideration the emotional, social and cultural factors of all learners. 3-They should integrate technology in remedial classes such as audio and video materials; in addition to conveying teaching aids. 4-They should put extra efforts on motivating low achievers for learning and attending remedial classes since most of those students have no desire to learn. 5-Faculties of education in local universities should consider all the social, professional and personal factors that can help in producing better graduates.