Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire (TCBQ)

Abstract

The Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire (TCBQ) is a specialized instrument designed to measure students’ perceptions of their teacher’s communication and interaction styles within the classroom environment. Developed primarily for use in science education settings, the TCBQ assesses five distinct dimensions of teacher behavior: Challenging, Encouragement and Praise, Non-Verbal Support, Understanding and Friendly, and Controlling. By quantifying these behaviors from the student perspective, the scale allows researchers to investigate the influence of teacher communication on student outcomes, including cognitive gains and attitudinal development. The scale comprises 40 items and utilizes a 5-point Likert scale response format.

Keywords

Teacher communication, student-teacher interaction, classroom climate, science education, psychological scale, communication behavior, reliability, validity.

Authors

Hsiao-Ching She, Darrell Fisher

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire (TCBQ) is to provide a reliable and valid measure of how students perceive the communication behaviors of their teachers. This instrument was developed to systematically analyze the complex dynamics of student-teacher interaction, particularly focusing on how various communication styles—ranging from supportive and encouraging to challenging and controlling—affect the learning process.

The TCBQ is instrumental in educational research for linking specific pedagogical and interpersonal behaviors of teachers to measurable student outcomes. By clearly delineating five key behavioral dimensions, the scale enables educators and researchers to identify communication strengths and weaknesses, offering a foundation for professional development and curriculum improvement, especially in contexts demanding high levels of student engagement, such as science and mathematics classrooms.

Construct

The TCBQ measures the psychological construct of perceived teacher communication behavior, conceptualized as a multidimensional construct encompassing both supportive/positive and authoritative/controlling interactions. The scale is structured around five empirically derived factors:

• Challenging: Measures the extent to which a teacher stimulates higher-order thinking through questioning, requiring students to analyze, integrate, and apply learned information.
• Encouragement and Praise: Assesses behaviors related to fostering discussion, valuing student opinions, and providing positive reinforcement for participation and questioning.
• Non-Verbal Support: Captures the teacher’s use of non-spoken cues (such as nodding, facial expressions, and eye contact) to convey understanding, support, and enthusiasm.
• Understanding and Friendly: Focuses on the interpersonal warmth and accessibility of the teacher, including patience, approachability, trust, and willingness to re-explain concepts.
• Controlling: Measures the degree to which a teacher enforces strict behavioral standards, demands obedience to instructions, and insists on following specific rules and procedures.

Validity

Evidence for the validity of the TCBQ has been established through extensive psychometric testing, particularly concerning its construct validity. Initial development studies by She and Fisher (2000) utilized factor analysis to confirm the underlying five-factor structure, demonstrating that the items reliably group into the intended subscales.

Further validation studies have successfully applied the TCBQ across diverse cultural and educational contexts, including Taiwan, Australia, and Brazil (Matos et al., 2014). The consistent replication of the five-factor model across these populations supports the cross-cultural generalizability of the instrument. Importantly, research has shown that TCBQ scores are significantly associated with relevant educational outcomes, demonstrating criterion-related validity by linking positive communication behaviors (e.g., Challenging, Encouragement) to improved student cognitive and attitudinal results in science classes.

Reliability

The TCBQ demonstrates robust internal consistency, indicating high reliability across its five subscales. Reliability estimates, typically measured using Cronbach’s alpha, consistently meet or exceed acceptable standards for psychological research instruments.

Across various studies utilizing the TCBQ, the Cronbach’s alpha values for the subscales generally fall within the following ranges, illustrating strong internal consistency:

• Challenging: Reported alphas range from .70 to .88.
• Encouragement and Praise: Reported alphas range from .77 to .91.
• Non-Verbal Support: Reported alphas range from .86 to .93.
• Understanding and Friendly: Reported alphas range from .86 to .94.
• Controlling: Reported alphas range from .76 to .87.

These high coefficients confirm that the items within each dimension measure a coherent aspect of teacher communication behavior.

Factor Analysis

The development of the TCBQ relied heavily on exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to establish its dimensional structure. The analysis consistently revealed five distinct factors, confirming the theoretical model proposed by the developers: Challenging, Encouragement and Praise, Non-Verbal Support, Understanding and Friendly, and Controlling.

In the study by Matos, Leite, Brown, and Cirino (2014), which analyzed the factorial structure with Brazilian high school science students, the five-factor model showed a good fit to the data, reinforcing the structural integrity of the instrument outside of its original testing environments (Taiwan and Australia). This structural stability across different samples supports the TCBQ’s utility as a robust measure of distinct components of teacher interaction.

Instrument

Test Type: Student Perception Questionnaire (Self-report concerning teacher behavior)

Format: 40 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale.

Language Available: English, Chinese (original development), Portuguese (validated version).

Population Group: Secondary School Students (Junior High and High School).

Age Group: Typically adolescents (around 7th grade to 12th grade).

Population Details: Originally validated using students in science classrooms in Taiwan and Australia. Later validated in Brazilian high school settings.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate the frequency with which their teacher exhibits the described behaviors using the following scale: 1=almost never, 2=seldom, 3=sometimes, 4=often, and 5=very often.

Keywords

Educational psychology, classroom interaction, student outcomes, instructional communication, pedagogical methods, psychometrics, survey instrument.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source content.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source content.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Test Year: Developed and validated primarily between 1999 and 2000.

Permissions and Fee: The instrument and its use are detailed in the referenced academic papers. Users should consult the original authors or publishing journals regarding specific permissions and licensing fees for commercial or large-scale academic use.

Reference’s

The instrument can be found in the following documents. The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/ptp/v30n2/12.pdf. A full text version is also available here: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED430031.pdf.

• She, H. C. (1998). Interaction between different gender students and their teacher in junior high school biology classes. Journal of Proceedings of the National Science Council, Part D: Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education, 8, 16–21.
• She, H. C. (1999). Students’ knowledge construction in small groups in the 7th grade biology laboratory: Verbal communication and physical engagement. International Journal of Science Education, 21(10), 1051–1066.
• She, H. C. (2000). The interplay of a biology teacher’s beliefs, teaching practices and gender-based student-teacher classroom interaction. Educational Research, 42(1), 100-111.
• She, H. C. & Fisher, D. (2000). The Development and Application of the Teacher Communication Behaviour Questionnaire in Taiwan Science Classrooms. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (Montreal, Quebec, Canada, April 19-23, 1999).
• She, H. C. & Fisher, D. (2000). The development of a questionnaire to describe science teacher communication behavior in Taiwan and Australia. Science Education, 84(6), 706-726.
• She, H. C., & Fisher, D. (2002). Teacher communication behavior and its association with students’ cognitive and attitudinal outcomes in science in Taiwan. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 39(1), 63-78.
• Matos, D. A. S., Leite, W. L., Brown, G. T. L., Cirino, S. D. (2014). An Analysis of the Factorial Structure of the Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire with Brazilian High School Science Students. Psicologia: Teoria e Pesquisa. 30(2), 223-234.

Items of the Teacher Communication Behavior Questionnaire (TCBQ)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Challenging

1. This teacher asks questions that require me to provide steps or ways of solving problems.
2. This teacher asks questions that make me think hard about things that I have learned in class.
3. This teacher asks questions that require me to carefully analyze information in order to answer.
4. This teacher asks questions that require me to use a judgment to answer.
5. This teacher asks questions that require me to apply what I have learned in class in order to answer.
6. This teacher asks questions that require me to integrate information that I have learned.
7. This teacher asks questions that require me to understand what I have learned in class in order to answer.
8. This teacher asks questions that require me to give explanations in my own words.

Encouragement and Praise

9. This teacher asks for my opinions during discussions.
10. This teacher encourages me to discuss the answers to questions.
11. This teacher encourages me to discuss my ideas with other students.
12. This teacher encourages me to express my opinions about a topic.
13. This teacher praises me for asking a good question.
14. This teacher praises my answers.
15. This teacher uses my ideas as part of the lesson.
16. This teacher uses my answer as part of the explanation of the lesson.

Non-Verbal Support

17. This teacher nods his/her head to show his/her understanding of my opinion.
18. This teacher nods his/her head to show support while I am struggling to answer a question.
19. Without speaking, this teacher indicates support for me through his/her facial expression.
20. Without speaking, this teacher supports me when I have a problem through his/her facial expression.
21. Without speaking, this teacher shows he/she understands my opinion through his/her facial expression.
22. Without speaking, this teacher shows his/her enthusiasm about my answer through his/her facial expression.
23. Without speaking, this teacher shows his/her enthusiasm about my question through his/her facial expression.
24. Without speaking, this teacher shows his/her support through his/her eyes.

Understanding and Friendly

25. This teacher trusts me.
26. This teacher is willing to explain things to me again.
27. If I have something to say, this teacher will listen.
28. This teacher realizes when I do not understand.
29. This teacher is patient with me.
30. This teacher is friendly to me.
31. This teacher is someone I can depend on.
32. This teacher cares about me.

Controlling

33. This teacher’s standards of behavior are very high.
34. This teacher expects me to obey his/her instructions.
35. This teacher insists that I follow his/her rules.
36. This teacher insists that I do everything(s) he/she tells me to do.
37. This teacher demands that I do exactly as I am told.
38. This teacher does not allow me to do things differently from what he/she expect.
39. This teacher makes very clear to me the standard of behavior expected of all students in this class.
40. This teacher demands that I listen to instructions.