Influences of Teacher Delivery, Student Engagement, and Observation Focus on Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Teaching Effectiveness

The purpose of this study was to examine how teacher delivery, student engagement, and observation focus influenced preservice teachers’ ratings of teaching effectiveness. Participants (N = 84 preservice teachers) viewed short teaching excerpts of orchestral and choral rehearsals wherein the teacher displayed either high or low teacher delivery, the students displayed high or low student engagement, and the camera was focused on either the teacher or the students. Participants were asked to rate the overall effectiveness of the lesson on a 7-point Likert-type scale. Results indicated that lessons with high teacher delivery and high student engagement, with a view of the teacher, were rated as most effective, and lessons with low teacher delivery and low student engagement, with a view of the students, were rated as least effective. There were significant main effects for observation focus, teacher delivery, and student engagement, and significant two-way interactions between each of the variables.