Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Abstract
This study investigated how subject interest is related to components of instruction, the nature of the subject and/or student factors. Students (N=524) from over 30 technical and further education colleges completed a survey on aspects of teaching and their interest in a subject. Student ratings of the 12 components of instruction and subject interest were uniformly positive. The overall average of the 12 questions on different aspects of teaching was 3.3 (ratings ranged from I to 4). This correlated 0.46 with the rating of subject interest. There was no significant effect of age, gender, being in the first or later years of a course or whether attending full time or part time on the level of interest in the subject. A significantly high and positive correlation with the level of subject interest was observed for those subjects which were rated highly in terms of preparing people for a career (r= 0.55; p <.0.01). The most important instructional factors were: the ability to explain concepts clearly, helping students to understand and demonstrating the relevance of the subject.
Recommended Citation
Athanasou, J. A., & Petoumenos, K. (1998). Which components of instruction influence student interest?. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 23(2). https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.1998v23n2.5