Teachers Matter: Expectation Effects in Foreign Language Classrooms at University

Abstract

The current research explored normative teacher expectation effects in first-year foreign language classrooms in tertiary settings. Mixed methodology was adopted in this research to survey 4,617 first-year undergraduate students (116 classes) and their 50 teachers from 2 universities in China. Teacher expectations, student prior achievement, and achievement at the end of the school year were collected. Teacher interviews and student focus groups were conducted. Groups of teachers who held normatively high or low expectations for all students in multiple classes, despite similar student distribution and similar student prior achievement for each class, were identified at the beginning of the school year. At the end of the school year, the overall student achievement was found to vary in line with teachers’ normative expectations. Further findings indicated that teachers with different normative expectations differed in their instructional practice and in the type of classroom climate they created. The students were able to perceive their teachers’ expectations and they reacted to them in ways that depended on whether their teachers’ expectations were high or low. Differing instructional practices and classroom climates in the different teacher expectation groups seemed to result in differing learning opportunities and experiences for students, which suggested possible mechanisms for normative teacher expectation effects. In addition, results showed that classroom climate factors moderated normative teacher expectation effects, and teacher expectation groups also played a part in the moderation effects of classroom climate factors. The findings indicate that teacher beliefs and practices played a more decisive role in forming expectations and generating expectancy effects than students did. A model is proposed which suggests that teachers’ normative expectations can have effects on instructional practice, classroom climate, learning opportunities and experiences, and student academic outcomes. Implications for teacher professional development and educational practice are also discussed.