The development of a questionnaire to describe science teacher communication behavior in Taiwan and Australia

Teachers contribute enormously to a positive social climate in science clas ses, particularly through their communication with students. This article d escribes the development and validation of a questionnaire, the Teacher Com munication Behavior Questionnaire (TCBQ) (see pp. 723-726), which assesses student perceptions of the fallowing five important teacher behaviors: Chal lenging, Encouragement and Praise, Non-Verbal Support, Understanding and Fr iendly, and Controlling. The TCBQ was administered to 1202 students from 30 classes in Taiwan and to 301 students from 12 classes in Australia. The re liability and factorial validity of the TCBQ were found to be satisfactory for both the Taiwanese and Australian data. To further validate the questio nnaire and understand the differences in teacher behavior according to the perceptions of students from the two countries, a qualitative approach was used. Students were interviewed (two from each of five classes) in both Tai wan and Australia. The interview questions focused on these students' respo nses to selected questionnaire items. The results obtained from the intervi ews supported and helped explain the quantitative results. In an applicatio n of the TCBQ in both countries, students' perceptions on four of the scale s of the TCBQ were associated with their attitudes to their science classes . (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons. Inc.