RELATIONSHIPS IN TEACHER CLARITY BETWEEN STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS AND OBSERVERS' RATINGS

Teacher clarity has been studied from two distinct perspectives: students' perceptions and observers' ratings. This study compared a factor analysis of 50 observations of 41 different teachers with factors identified by other researchers using students' perceptions. Three of the five major factors were similar: assessment of student learning, use of examples, and organization of information. To determine whether students and observers agree on the clarity of specific teachers, a study was made of 9 teachers, each teaching two classes. Students' perceptions of clarity were not strongly related to any of the observers' ratings. Results suggested that students' perceptions should not be used in isolation to evaluate teacher clarity.