¶ … teacher perceives a student has strong impact on the latter's learning, interest and accomplishment (Hattie & Timperley, 2007 as qtd in Thomas et al., 2012). A social cognitive theory framework demonstrates this strong influence. Psychologist Albert Bandura identified social persuasions as one of the major sources of self-efficacy, or one's self-confidence to accomplish a task. Students with higher self-efficacy have been observed to achieve more than others academically and persistently. Positive perception or feedback from the teacher, therefore, raises a student's level of self-efficacy while a negative or critical perception discourages it. Teacher feedback of positive, ability-focused and effort-focused are associated with higher academic accomplishment in Mathematics. Studies also show that positive feedback from the teacher is evenly distributed between boys and girls in the area of Mathematics. But, in general, boys receive more negative feedback than girls (Burnett, 2002 as qtd in Thomas et al.).
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Perceived Teacher Caring
A study linked the construct of "perceived caring" in a teacher to a sense of goodwill by the student (Teves & McCroskey, 1996). It is also interpreted as a perception of credibility. It all means that a student who perceives his teacher as caring of him will perceive her and the course more positively and will tend to learn more from it. The study was conducted with 235 volunteer students in a Communications class at an Eastern university. Competence and trustworthiness were measured. The results implied that a student's perception of caring in his teacher was connected to or influenced his own positive perception of her and the subject and his perception of his own learning (Teves & McCroskey).
Teacher Student Relationship Inventory
Another study was conducted wherein 84 teachers rated 500 American high school student (Suldo et al., 2011). Instrumental help, satisfaction and conflict emerged as factors in students' ratings of their relationships with their teachers. The study found no connection...
Rather, it correlated the students' psychological with academic achievement. Instrumental help also correlated with symptoms of psychopathology. The study concluded that how American adolescents rated their teachers was particularly relevant and associated with their academic standing and psych0logical condition (Suldo et al.).
The Personal Value of Feedback to Students
Although feedback is a valuable indicator of learning, not many studies have directly addressed what students think about it (Rowe, 2011). A study explored the issue as part of a bigger research, which looked into the reasons for the reported low feedback ratings in the higher education institutions. The study used quantitative data on students' perception and preferences for feedback as well as questions on what they considered important and how to improve the feedback they were getting. The study concluded that students are inclined to succeed in a learning environment where their social needs are filled and where they feel they are cared for. This means that the importance, which students attach to feedback, reflects the teacher's response and perception of them as persons. It also emphasized the importance of equally considering both positive and negative feedback (Rowe).
Learning and Student-Teacher Relationship
Even the scanty studies on this relationship, observation and experience provide evidence on the connection between a positive relationship and a student's favorable academic performance and social behavior (Kaufman & Sandilos, 2015). Teachers have reported that students who developed closeness with them were less tardy, had fewer absences, and were more cooperative, diligent and self-directed in their learning. These teachers also used more learner-centered practices raised their students' motivation level better than those who less engaged in these practices. These practices included a display of sensitivity to individual differences among the students, included them…
