Teacher Perceptions of Student Affect

Abstract

A content analysis was performed on a sample of written descriptions of classroom events provided by 84 elementary school teachers in which they focused on the affective or noncognitive behavior of students. The analysis indicated that (a) students’ interpersonal adjustment is of greater concern to teachers than their intrapersonal adjustment; (b) the individual is not necessarily the preferred unit in teachers’ descriptions of student affect; (c) groups and individuals are talked about differently; and (d) teacher perceptions of student affect are related to background factors such as grade level taught.