Qualities of an Ideal Language Teacher: A Gender-Based Investigation

Abstract

Teachers influence to a large extent, the attitudes learners of a language have towards a target language. The question is thus asked, What do the language students want to see in their teachers?, what personality traits and professional qualities would endear teachers of languages to the their students? and how would these qualities be determined or influenced by the gender of selected respondents?. This study aims at identifying the qualities of an ideal language teacher as perceived by language undergraduates students at the Lagos State University. Selected respondents answered to a 42-item Likert-scale questionnaire concerning their perceived notion of qualities or personality traits of a successful language teacher. Independent sample t-test was used to calculate and identify any gender-based differences. Recommendations was made along the need to enhance the inherent personality traits and professional qualities of language teachers, explore the optimum potentials in order to maximize students language learning potentials.