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Discussion
From the students’ journals and questionnaires that I distributed to some writing course teachers, I found various answers that I could categorize into six big themes; they are
teachers’ appearance, direct feedback, ways of delivering materials, formality in teaching, and teachers’ sense of humor.
A. The importance of teachers’ appearance
Given the question “What kind of teacher do you like? Do you notice their physical appearance? Their face? Their beauty handsomeness dresses costumes?”, my students
gave various answers. There were nine students who assertively mentioned that physical appearance does not matter at all. Student F, Student W, Student H, Student M, Student I,
Student P, Student G, Student C, and Student S had a similar view on teachers’ physical appearance. For them, there are things which are much more important than appearance, like
the teachers’ ability to deliver materials clearly, teachers’ understanding to the students, or their character. Student I, for example, stated, “Rather than noticing the appearances, I prefer
to observe the teacher’s behavior; how they speak, answer, or even pronounce words.” Some other students mentioned that proper dress was necessary. Student N, for
example, admitted that for her, teachers’ beauty or handsomeness was not important at all, but getting dressed properly and neatly was. In line with Student N was Student E. She
noticed teachers’ physical appearance, and she liked teachers who wore casual clothes. Student U also stated a similar thing, that he noticed teachers’ appearance. Besides those
three students, Student R, Student O, Student A, and Student J also adored teachers with clean and neat outfit. Student D even stated that she liked teachers with good performance
and neat and fragrant clothes. These students paid attention to their teachers’ appearance. The two lecturers shared a similar idea. For them, physical appearance was not a
priority, though they admitted that some students did choose a class because of the teacher’s beauty or handsomeness. Teacher B stated, “Beauty is not important because when you are
teaching, you sell your knowledge and not your face. Moreover, everyone will have different standard of beauty or handsomeness.”
B. The importance of direct correction and feedback
The second question that I addressed is “Do you like teachers who are frank and tell you all your errors and mistakes?” Various answers came. I would like to group students’
answers in this section into three: students who liked direct feedback given frankly and immediately; the second is a group of students who liked direct feedback, but with some
conditions, and the last group is students who disliked or disagreed with direct feedback.
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Students who belonged to the first group were Student F, Student M, Student P, Student O, Student A, Student C, Student S, and Student D. To clarify this, I took a statement
from Student M, who favored direct feedback: Honestly, I like teachers who are frank that tell my errors and
mistake because it’s very useful to improve my skills. If the teacher tells me all my errors and mistake I will correct my work and also I
do not repeat my mistake but if the teachers do not tell about my mistake, I will probably be doing the same mistakes again and again
because I did not know where my mistake and errors.
The second group is students who agreed with direct and immediate feedback, but with certain conditions. The conditions centered on how the feedback was given: the right
timing, politeness in giving the feedback, and whether the teacher gave it in public or not. Those who belonged to this group are Student W, Student H, Student N, Student I, Student P,
Student E, Student G, and Student U. In general, these students did not mind receiving direct and immediate feedback from
their “frank” teachers, but they demanded that the feedback be given not in front of other friends, given politely, and in the right time. Here is a statement from Student W: “I like
teachers who always tell the truth and I will appreciate them if they tell all my errors and mistakes not in front of the classroom. Because I feel bad when a teacher correct or tell a
student’s errors and mistakes in front of the class.” The last group consists of students who detested direct or prompt feedback from their
teachers. They are Student L and Student J. For Student J, this can cause embarrassment when a teacher said to her, “You are wrong” Student L had a somewhat different opinion.
Direct feedback given by frank teachers could be a sign of unwillingness to encourage students and could be used as a means of emotional release:
“To be honest, i dislike this kind of teacher that is, teachers who are frank and speak honestly of the students’ errors or mistakes. They
seem to unwilling to encourage their students to improve their skills. Instead of teaching students by encouraging them gently, some
teachers may release their emotion through revealing students’ mistakes” Student L’s statement
The two lecturers had different opinions on this. Teacher A mentioned that teachers should be frank in a good and positive way, so students will not feel
discouraged when finding their mistakes. In contrast, Teacher B thought that it is not necessary to tell students all their errors and mistakes. – PPT sampai sini -
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C. Teachers’ ways of delivering materials
