Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching

CTE Newsletter - Nov/Dec 2003 (Vol 16, No 2)

Searching the Stacks: Is Enthusiasm Necessary?

This article is the result of CTE Associate Director Susan Yager's search through the CTE Library's bookshelves as she sought the answer to the question, Is teaching with enthusiasm the same as teaching well? Most of the sources, and all of the books, mentioned below can be found in the CTE's library, [which is located in 3024 Morrill Hall]. Feel free to search our library online or contact Keren Zuniga (!kzuniga@mail.adp.iastate.edu) for more information.

Is teaching with enthusiasm- that is, teaching with a great deal of energy and verve- the same as teaching well? I would be happy to think so; I would probably score well if there were ever a scale of instructor effervescence. And it seems to me, as well, that there is an intuitive connection: we often speak of an instructor, as we might of a hobbyist, as having "an infectious enthusiasm." But many instructors would no doubt be extremely reluctant to equate the two - especially those of us who are somewhat introverted, or who interpret enthusiasm as something incompatible with teaching a serious subject. Many common expressions disparage too great a degree of enthusiasm in the classroom: "a dog-and-pony show," "teaching to the evaluation," "edu-tainment" are just a few. Yet some experts think that enthusiasm is correlated with, if not itself a cause of, good teaching.

McKeachie.s Teaching Tips, a valuable handbook of advice

For example, Wilbert McKeachie's Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research, and Theory for College and University Teachers, a mainstay of advice for college teachers, suggests that enthusiasm is important, especially in lecturing:

Research on student ratings of teaching as well as on student learning indicates that the enthusiasm of the lecturer is an important factor in effecting student learning and motivation.
... Clearly some people are more enthusiastic and expressive than others, but you can develop in this area just as in others. Try to put into each lecture something you are really excited about. (11th edition, p. 53)

Other observers of teaching find that "outstanding teachers share a contagious enthusiasm for the subjects they teach" (John K. Roth, Inspiring Teaching, p. 226); that "effective teaching" requires both "enthusiasm for the subject and enthusiasm for teaching" (John Centra et al., A Guide to Evaluating Teaching for Promotion and Tenure, p. 8); and that "expressiveness" (of which enthusiasm is one component) "has long been regarded as an essential ingredient of lecturing" (G. Brown and M. Atkins, Effective Teaching in Higher Education, p. 15).

But it is important not to go overboard, so to speak, on enthusiasm. Experts caution that enthusiasm about the subject matter cannot be used as a measure of merit in teaching. Research also indicates that students are "not easily fooled" by an instructor's classroom demeanor, and will not simply equate enthusiasm (or humor or friendliness) with excellent teaching (L. Aleamoni, Techniques for Evaluating and Improving Instruction, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 31, p. 27).

One of many NDTL issues that can be found in the CTE Library

Harry Murray, an educator and researcher, has found the trait of "enthusiasm/expressiveness" to be one dimension of effective teaching, but he also identified "clarity of explanation" and "rapport/interaction" as predictors. Murray and other researchers have found that specific behaviors, including moving or walking around among students, gesturing, and making eye contact - fairly easy things to do - are among the components that make up "enthusiasm." He also found that other specific and simple actions, such as repeating difficult ideas, using a variety of examples, and defining new terms, are markers of effective teaching. (Some of his work is summarized by Michael Theall in M. Svinicki's Teaching and Learning on the Edge of the Millennium: Building on What We Have Learned, New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 80, pp. 31-32.)

As Centra points out (in Aleamoni, p. 50), enthusiasm is likely to be one element when faculty, students, and administrators are asked to list the characteristics of good teachers. He adds, however, that "people sometimes conclude that a good teacher has to be good in everything on that list ... not taking into account that there are different teaching styles. A good teacher certainly has some of the characteristics on the list," but very few "would exhibit every one of them." Instead, Centra argues that "good teaching occurs when the instructor uses a method that is best suited to his or her abilities and also best suited to accomplishing what the course should accomplish" (p. 50).

Good teaching, according to this rummage through the research in the CTE library, encompasses a range of habits, tendencies, and strategies, and no single instructor can try to practice them all. But using clear definitions and concrete examples, displaying interest, promoting respect, and even using gestures and movement are all elements of "enthusiasm" that can play a role in engaging students in their learning.