Teachers who antagonize students by criticising their contributions, belittling them, or showing favoritism can damage student’s test scores and learning potential, according to a study by researchers from West Virginia University (WVU).

“We conducted this study because almost all of the empirical evidence that instructor misbehaviors impedes student learning has been correlational research determined by survey data,” said Alan Goodboy, WVU professor of communication studies and lead researcher in the study.

“We wanted to conduct a randomized experiment to go beyond correlational evidence, and instead, make causal claims that instructor antagonism causes students to learn less.”

To conduct the study, the researchers split almost 500 students into two groups. Both groups watched a video of a lecture, but one group watched a standard lesson, without antagonism, and the other group watched a video with teacher antagonism present.

After the video lectures, both groups had to answer a series of questions regarding their opinion of the lecture, before taking a multiple choice test.

When comparing the test scores, students in the standard group scored 5 percent higher than those who experienced the lesson with antagonism from the teacher.

Additionally, students who experienced antagonism disliked what they were learning, were less likely to put as much effort into learning, and would not take any future courses taught by the hostile teacher.

“The main finding of this study was when an instructor antagonizes students while teaching, they dislike learning the course content, and consequently score worse on a quiz,” said Goodboy.

“Even slight antagonism, coupled with otherwise effective teaching, can demotivate students from being engaged and hinder their learning opportunities. So even one bad day of teaching can ruin a student’s perception of the teacher and create an unnecessary roadblock to learning for the rest of the term,” he said in a statement.

This study shows that teachers must be constantly aware of their attitude and method of relaying information.

“The implications of these findings are that instructors must be mindful of their communication in the classroom as they might deliver the same exact information in a lecture, but students will learn less if they are treated in ways that put them down or belittle them,” said Goodboy.

“From these findings, we can learn about how to avoid types of communication during teaching that will compromise students’ feelings about their coursework and potentially stifle their desire to learn,” he continued.