Investigating the Relationship between Characteristics of a Good Teacher and Academic Engagement with Mediation of Academic Buoyancy of Graduate Students

Abstract

Background and Objective: One of the major education quality indicators is students’ academic engagement, which could be influenced by students academic buoyancy and effective teacher features. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between effective teacher features and academic engagement mediated by academic buoyancy of post-graduate students at Sistan and Baluchestan University. Materials and Methods: This research is applied in terms of objective and a structural equation-based correlational study in terms of research method. Using stratified random sampling method and according to Cochran’s sampling formula, 341 postgraduate students were included in the study and filled in three questionnaires of effective teacher features, academic engagement, and academic buoyancy. Correlation coefficient of the structural equation model was used to analyze the data. SPSS software version 16 and LISREL software were used to run the analyses. Results: There were significant correlation coefficients between the effective teacher features and academic engagement (r = 0.56, p <0.001), effective teacher features and academic buoyancy (r = .328 p <0.001), academic buoyancy and academic engagement (r=0.486, p <001). The direct effects of the effective teacher features on academic engagement (t =8.02, β = 0.98), effective teacher features on academic buoyancy (t =4.23, β =0.45) and academic buoyancy on academic engagement (t =4.43, β = 0.45) were significant. The indirect effect of the effective teacher features on academic engagement with regard to the mediating role of academic buoyancy (β = 0.157) was also significant. Conclusion: University professors can enhance the academic buoyancy and academic engagement of their students through employing cultural-educational, training, research and service-executive indicators. D ow nl oa de d fr om z um s. ac .ir a t 0 :2 4 IR S T o n S at ur da y N ov em be r 9t h 20 19 Relationship between Characteristics of a Good Teacher and Academic Engagement 54 Journal of Medical Education Development, Vol 12, No 33 Spring, 2019 Introduction Academic Engagement is of interest to scholars and teachers as an academic predictor of learning outcomes such as dropout or graduation (2), and learning and academic achievement (3) because of its comprehensiveness in describing students’ motives and learning in educational centers (1). Academic engagement is the quality of an effort that learners spend on purposeful educational activities to directly reach the desired outcomes (4). Academic engagement is a multidimensional structure that incorporates behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and agency dimensions (5). Behavioral engagement is a visible behavior in dealing with assignments and encompasses components such as attempts to carry out assignments, continue assignments, and ask for help from others while doing them. Behavioral engagement is defined as participation in class, attention and effort (6). Emotional engagement encompasses students emotions and attitudes towards academic assignments, their relationships with teachers, peers, and staff, their beliefs about education, attachment and affiliation to educational institution, level of interest, happiness as well as fatigue and anxiety experienced during activities (7). Cognitive engagement involves issues such as goal setting and the use of deep cognitive processing strategies (8). Cognitive engagement also includes a variety of processing processes that are used for learning, consisting of Cognitive and metacognitive strategies (9). These three aspects of academic engagement indicate how students behave, feel, and think (10). Agentic engagement or agency refers to the extent the students are involved in the education process. This means that students provide some conditions in the classroom through questioning and expressing their preferences so that the instructor knows what they want and what they need. In this kind of engagement, the focus is on the process through which learners intentionally and somehow actively try to learn something and make learning conditions more personal and productive (11). The findings indicate that higher educational engagement is associated with higher scores, better behaviors, higher self-esteem, and more adaptation in the educational settings and is an important factor in improving educational dissatisfaction, preventing learners fatigue, and increasing learners’ motivation and participation in academic affairs (12). D ow nl oa de d fr om z um s. ac .ir a t 0 :2 4 IR S T o n S at ur da y N ov em be r 9t h 20 19 55 Ghanaatii & Nastiezaie Journal of Medical Education Development, Vol 12, No 33 Spring, 2019 Academic buoyancy is one of the factors contributing to students’ academic engagement, which is used to understand how learners are struggling to deal with academic problems (13). In their daily life, students face a variety of challenges, barriers, and special pressures such as poor grades, stresses, and self-confidence threats as a result of decreased performance, motivation, and interaction (14). Educational challenges provide students with psychological stress and affect the learners’ ability to learn and, sometimes, adapt to other students (15). Academic buoyancy is one of the most important factors affecting adaptation to the educational threats, obstacles, pressures and difficulties (16). Academic buoyancy refers to the positive, constructive, and adaptive responses to all kinds of challenges and obstacles experienced in the ongoing educational fields (17). The buoyancy is the energy originated from a person, which is taken from internal sources not from individuals’ threat in the environment. In other words, the buoyancy is a feeling of vitality but neither incitement nor compulsion (18). The research has indicated that academic buoyancy leads to significant motivational outcomes such as greater persistence, adaptation to challenges and academic pressures, lower anxiety and better performance, increased academic achievement, well-being and academic performance, and increased mental health, physical health, and positive emotions. University teachers can be considered as one of the factors influencing students’ academic achievement and academic buoyancy. During an educational process, the teachers provide a set of learning opportunities for students and thus play an important role in reaching academic achievement and educational goals (20). Professors should meet some indicators in order to be involved in their students’ academic engagement and academic success. Some of these indicators include students perception of teaching effectiveness, facilitated learning, effective communication, clarity of course components, course evaluation and feedback (21), having skills for asking questions, clear communication, course organization, effective feedback, starting course with a review and terminating them with a summary, and applicability in all learning situations (22). According to the standards of the Islamic Republic of Iran, instructors must possess the following competencies: having knowledge and skills in understanding a learner s learning status and stages, identifying the common and unique learning methods, benefiting from specialized D ow nl oa de d fr om z um s. ac .ir a t 0 :2 4 IR S T o n S at ur da y N ov em be r 9t h 20 19 Relationship between Characteristics of a Good Teacher and Academic Engagement 56 Journal of Medical Education Development, Vol 12, No 33 Spring, 2019 and interdisciplinary knowledge, especially in the fields of psychology and sociology, observing the learning differences, creating a supportive environment, attracting learners’ spontaneous and maximum participation, employing diverse, attractive, and efficient testing and assessment methods guaranteeing learning and academic achievement, and providing appropriate feedback and goal, and being accountable for learners’ learning progress (23). Despite the importance of academic engagement and academic buoyancy in successful tackling with challenging educational period and their positive psychological and social outcomes, a review of studies conducted in Iran reveal a few studies in the field of academic engagement and academic buoyancy so that this subject needs to be researched in different educational groups. Students from different universities and higher education institutions should not only be engaged in assignments, but also feel a sense of buoyancy in the face of educational threats and pressures. Universities and higher education institutions should provide the society with graduate students with scientific and practical potentials to deliver quality services to clients; therefore, students academic engagement and buoyancy as important predictors of academic performance among students should be of great significance. Moreover, instructors at universities and higher education institutions should meet the efficient teacher features to educate committed and capable students. Hence this study aimed to investigate the relationship between efficient teacher features and academic engagement with regard to the mediating role of the postgraduates’ academic buoyancy. The research hypotheses are as follows: Hypothesis 1: There is a relationship between efficient teacher features and university students’ academic engagement. Hypothesis 2: There is a relationship between efficient teacher features and university students’ academic buoyancy. Hypothesis 3: There is a relationship between university students’ academic buoyancy and academic engagement. Hypothesis 4: There is a relationship between efficient teacher features and university students’ academic engagement with regard to the mediating role of academic buoyancy. Materials and Methods This research is applied in terms of objective and a structural equation-based correlational study in terms of research D ow nl oa de d fr om z um s. ac .ir a t 0 :2 4 IR S T o