International Journal of Education 
Vol. 9 No. 2, Februari 2017, pp. 89-96 

©2017 Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia 
doi: dx.doi.org/10.17509/ije.v9i2.5462  

 

 

 
89 

CONSTRUCTING TEACHER’S SELF-ASSESSMENT OF RAPPORT BUILDING  

IN EFL CLASSROOM 
 

Muhamad Nova 
English Education Department, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia 

mohnova@student.upi.edu 
 

First draft received: 4 November 2016  Final proof received: 18 February 2017 
 

 
Abstract 

 
A good education is not only about academics, but also the positive social interaction in classroom. 
Therefore, there is a need to build rapport in classroom interaction. In building rapport, EFL teachers 
need to conduct several activities, and through self-assessment, teachers can monitor and evaluate 
their own teaching for professional development. However, self-assessment instrument for building 
rapport has not been developed yet by any researchers. To fill the needs, this study is established to 
construct a self-assessment for teacher in building rapport in EFL classroom. By applying design 
research from a curriculum perspective, the results revealed a self-assessment instrument of 
maintaining rapport for EFL teacher. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α = .928) of this instrument 
indicated high reliability and the instrument can be considered a reliable instrument to be used for the 
study sample. EFL teachers can do self-monitoring and self-evaluation on their rapport building in 
classroom interaction. Additionally, further research in investigating the effect of using this instrument in 
assessing teacher’s quality is required. 
 
Keywords: rapport; rapport in EFL classroom; teacher’s self-assessment; teacher development 
 

 
To cite this paper (in APA style): 
Nova, M. (2017). Constructing teacher’s self-assessment of rapport building in EFL classroom. 

International Journal of Education, 9(2), 89-96. doi: dx.doi.org/10.17509/ije.v9i2.5462  
 

 
 

A good education is not only about academics, 
but also the positive development in social interaction 
(Bruney, 2012) since teaching is essentially a process 
of interaction between teacher and students in a 
social setting (Çakir, 2010). Establishing a good 
communication between teacher and students is a 
step of successful teaching and learning (Barmaki, 
2014), and therefore maintaining the teacher-student 
relationship is a concern in classroom to foster 
positive development on students learning in 
classroom (Bruney, 2012; Nguyen, 2007; Pianta, 
Hamre, & Allen, 2012). This teacher and students’ 
relationship is defined as a rapport in which there is a 
positive, enjoyable, and respectful relationship 
(Harmer, 2007a; 2007b) and includes harmonious 
interaction and communication between teacher and 
students (Bernieri, 1998) in building trust and 
respects that leads the students to feel capable, 
competent, and creative in learning (Brown, 2001). 

The language learning process in the classroom 
can be facilitated through teacher and students’ 
interaction. In Nguyen’s study (2007), it is revealed 
that EFL teacher can use target language in giving 
instruction and guidance to the students and the 
students learn the target language and use the target 
language to communicate with the teacher. As the 
goal of language learning is to use language (Burns, 
& Richards, 2012; Johnson, 2001) and to create and 
maintain social interaction (Nguyen, 2007), building 
rapport can be an effective way in communicating 
with students in target language to encourage them in 
learning (Swenson, 2010; Webb & Barett, 2014). 
Therefore, the relationship between teacher and 
students can be categorized as a crucial factor in the 

process of the acquisition of a second language for 
the students (Sánchez et al., 2013) since the target 
language is seldom used outside the classroom, and 
the only input and language use is in classroom 
interaction especially in teacher-student interaction 
(Suryati, 2015). As a result, a positive relationship 
between teacher and students is needed to build a 
good language learning environment in the 
classroom.  

One way to maintain the teacher-students 
relationship is through having positive interaction 
between teacher and students. Interaction between 
the teacher and the students determines the success 
of teaching and learning activity (Bruney, 2012). 
Good classroom interaction is categorized as an 
important factor in student learning and enhancing 
effective teaching and learning activity (Özer, Atik, 
Şad, & Kiş, 2015; Swenson, 2010; Webb & Barett, 
2014). It gives positive impact on teacher’s 
effectiveness and students’ learning (Pianta et al., 
2012; Sánchez, González, & Martínez, 2013; 
Swenson, 2010). Bruney’s study (2012) reveals the 
presence of the classroom interaction in the 
classroom affects the students’ view of teacher’s 
performance in arranging activity and establishing 
any activities in classroom will not be effective if the 
relationship between the teacher and the students is 
not established well. Positive classroom interaction 
makes the students gain higher achievement 
(Nguyen, 2007) and create positive attitude from the 
students toward the learning activity (Pianta et al., 
2012). Another study, conducted by Sánchez et al. 
(2013), reveals a positive teacher-student relationship 
influences students’ motivation in learning in which 

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Nova, M. 
Constructing teacher’s self-assessment of rapport building in EFL classroom 

 

 
90 

students feel more confident and comfortable to 
approach teacher and share personal and academic 
issues. If the students feel they have a good 
relationship with the teacher, they will feel 
comfortable and motivated to pay attention to the 
teacher (Pianta et al., 2012; Sánchez et al., 2013). It 
has been shown by studies that positive rapport 
between teacher and students brings positive impact 
to teaching and learning activity. 

Related research of strategies in maintaining the 
teacher-students’ rapport has also been conducted by 
Bruney (2012) who investigated the process of the 
teacher-student relationship influencing the 
development of trust and emotional intelligence in the 
elementary classroom. Through conducting interview 
with two experienced teachers in the Greater Toronto 
Area, this study revealed that the presence of the 
teacher in the classroom affects the students’ view of 
teacher’s performance. This study also suggested 3 
effective strategies in maintaining the teacher-
students relationship, by (1) sharing personal 
feelings; (2) seeking help for the students; and (3) 
storytelling. 

Similar research was also conducted by Pianta 
et al. (2012). They conducted a study on investigating 
the concept of interactions and engagement and how 
to improve teacher-student interactions. Their study 
revealed four concepts in maintaining teacher-student 
relationships and interactions: (1) evaluating 
background knowledge and cognitions of interactions; 
(2) establishing ongoing relational supports; (3) giving 
regular individual feedback; and (4) being focus in 
changing interactions. 

Another study was also conducted by Sánchez 
et al. (2013). Their study investigated the impact of 
teacher-students relationship on EFL learning.  This 
study revealed information about the issues involved 
in building a positive teacher-student relationship, and 
its influence on students’ motivation. This study 
advises that the teacher needs to build trust to make 
students feel more confident and comfortable to 
approach the teacher and share personal and 
academic issues. 

In fact, building rapport is not an easy task for 
EFL teacher to be established in teaching and 
learning activity (Gebhard, 2009; Webb & Barett, 
2014). Even though it will be automatically maintained 
after some periods of time (Swenson, 2010), 
especially in face-to-face meeting (Coutrim, 2016; 
Murphy & Manzanares, 2012), mostly EFL teachers 
still face many difficulties in maintaining the rapport. 
Gebhard (2009) exposed the teacher’s problem in 
managing classroom interaction. In his book, 
Gebhard (2009) mentioned 3 problems faced by 
English teacher in classroom interaction; (1) the 
teacher feels having not enough time to talk with the 
students since the teacher mostly cannot manage the 
time well; (2) the teacher faces limited English 
speaker students so that the interaction does not run 
well; and (3) the teacher cannot remember students’ 
name and remembering name is the problem faced 
by almost all teachers who manage big classroom.  

In order to build the rapport, a teacher may 
provide himself or herself with self-assessment. Many 
researchers believed that self-assessment raises 
learners’ awareness to do self-monitoring to their 
progress (e.g. Baniabdelrahman, 2010; Butler & Lee, 
2010; Egodawatte, 2010; Harris, 1997; Kato, 2009; 

Meihami & Razmjoo, 2016; Srimavin & Darasawang, 
2004), to be self-motivated (Butler & Lee, 2010; Ross, 
2006; Srimavin & Darasawang, 2004), and to be self-
directed in learning (Butler & Lee, 2010; Harris, 1997; 
Kato, 2009), and it is also applicable for teacher’s 
professional development (Airasian & Gullickson, 
1994; Ross & Bruce, 2007). Teachers mostly act 
without being aware of why they do what they have 
been doing in classroom (Çimer, Çimer, & Vekli, 
2013), and self-assessment can help the teacher 
becomes aware of the needs in establishing teaching 
and learning activity and help them to improve their 
performance in teaching (Avalos, 2011; Montgomery 
& Baker, 2007; Ross & Bruce, 2007). By doing self-
assessment in teaching, teachers can do self-
reflection to analyze the classroom situation and take 
more responsibility for their future actions in class 
(Airasian & Gullickson, 1994). Providing necessary 
support, such as self-assessment, for the teachers 
may be enough to keep them motivated in teaching 
(Lumpe, Haney, & Czerniak, 2000).  

However, a self-assessment instrument for 
building rapport has not been developed yet by any 
researchers. To fill this gap, this study is established 
to construct a self-assessment for teacher in building 
rapport in EFL classroom. EFL teachers can do self-
reflection and self-evaluation on their teaching 
through the instrument developed and find ways to 
enhance positive rapport to foster positive learning 
environment. 

 
 

LITERATURE REVIEW 

In building a rapport, a teacher needs to concern two 
factors influencing the rapport development. One 
factor influencing rapport the most is respect. 
Respect is a vital factor in dealing with any kind of 
problem behavior that appears in classroom (Harmer, 
2007a; 2007b). Any problem behavior may appear 
because of the unrealistic learning goal set in the 
classroom which can be too difficult or too easy for 
the students. Being realistic with the learning goal is a 
way to give respect to the students who have different 
levels in learning and language acquisition (Scott & 
Ytreberg (2000). Brown (2001) added that giving 
respect to their ideas is also necessary to maintain 
good rapport. It includes the attitude of the teacher in 
responding the students’ talk. The way of teacher talk 
to students influences the respect of students 
(Harmer, 2007a; 2007b). One example of teacher talk 
commonly happened in classroom is in giving 
feedback. Teacher needs to consider correcting the 
mistakes carefully without losing any positive effort 
from the students (Paul, 2006) since not all students 
are happy to be corrected, but some of them need 
more support and positive reinforcement (Harmer, 
2007a; 2007b). Therefore, positive feedback which 
motivates the students without making them feel 
down is needed to be enhanced in classroom (Paul, 
2006). Besides teacher talk, another aspect needed 
to be recognized is teacher’s gestures. Gesture, 
expression, and mime should be appropriate with the 
language use in classroom (Harmer, 2007a; 2007b). 
Eye contact needed to show interest and attention 
toward students’ talk (Levine & Adelman, 1982) and 
giving smile build a positive atmosphere around 
classroom (Paul, 2006). Therefore, a teacher who 
gives respect to students will show positive attitude 



Nova, M. 
Constructing teacher’s self-assessment of rapport building in EFL classroom 

 

 
91 

towards them and be respectful in handling any 
problems in classroom (Harmer, 2007a; 2007b). 

Another factor gives big influence to rapport 
development is fairness. Scott & Ytreberg (2000) 
stated that being fair is also necessary in building 
relationship with the students since the students can 
sense the unfairness from the teacher. Since they are 
learning a language, they need to have equal chance 
to practice their language and to be assist by the 
teacher (Harmer, 2007a; 2007b) whether they are 
active or inactive learner, and good or bad learner 
(Paul, 2006). It is necessary for the teacher to give a 
fair attention to each student in the classroom, not 
only focusing on the bad one, but also concern with 
the good one (Paul, 2006). Treating the students 
equally is helpful in establishing and maintaining 
rapport (Harmer, 2007a; 2007b).  

To maintain the rapport, the EFL teacher needs 
to find appropriate strategies to be implemented in 
the classroom. Some strategies in maintaining 
teacher-students rapport has been developed by 
experts. Brown (2001) recommends 7 activities to 
teacher in establishing the teacher-students’ 
relationship by (1) showing interest in each student as 
a person; (2) giving feedback on each person’s 
progress; (3) openly soliciting students’ ideas and 
feelings; (4) valuing and respecting what students 
think and say; (5) laughing with them and not at them; 
(6) working with them as a team and not against 
them; and (7) developing a genuine sense of 
vicarious joy when they learn something or otherwise 
succeed (pp. 203). 

Additional activities in building rapport are also 
promoted by Harmer (2007a; 2007b). He promotes 4 
activities the teacher can use to foster the relationship 
between the teacher and the students and also 
develop a successful classroom interaction by (1) 
recognizing the students’ name, character, and 
background; (2) listening properly to the students as 
an individual; (3) having respect to the students; and 
(4) being equal and fair in treating and giving 
attention to the students (pp. 113-115). 

 
 

METHOD 

This study was a Design Research study. van den 
Akker (1999) mentioned the aim of Design Research 
is “not to elaborate and implement the complete 
interventions, but to come to (successive) prototypes 
that increasingly meet the innovative aspirations and 
requirements” (p. 7). The aim of Design Research 
can be specified in two more specific goals: (1) 
providing ideas (suggestions, directions) for 
optimizing the quality of the product to be developed; 
and (2) generating, articulating and testing design 
principles (van den Akker, 1999, p. 5). Since its 
purpose is not to elaborate and implement the 
product, the process of Development Research is 
often cyclic or spiral, including analysis, design, 
evaluation and revision activities, until a satisfying 
balance between ideals and realization has been 
achieved (van den Akker, 1999). To fulfill the principle 
of Design Research, a design research guideline from 
curriculum perspective from McKenney, Nieveen & 
van den Akker (2006) was applied. This guideline 
provides 5 steps in conducting design research from 
curriculum perspective, including (1) Explicit 
conceptual framework, (2) Congruent study design, 

(3) Triangulation, (4) Inductive and deductive data 
analysis, and (5) Full description. 

In conducting the study, there were two main 
participants involved: expert judges and EFL 
teachers. Two Expert judges from the expertise of 
English language teaching and assessment were 
selected to participate in validity testing. 57 EFL 
teachers who came from different educational 
institutions were randomly selected and contacted to 
participate in reliability testing, with the following 
distributions of school levels: junior high school 
(31.58%), senior high school (43.86%), and 
vocational school (24.56%), and consisted of 12 
males and 45 females. 

 
 

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 
Explicit conceptual framework 

Based on the related studies and literature mentioned 
in the previous section, it is recommended that EFL 
teacher should build the rapport in teaching and 
learning activities which can create effective learning 
activity (Bruney, 2012; Özer et al., 2015; Pianta et al., 
2012; Sánchez et al., 2013; Swenson, 2010; Webb & 
Barett, 2014), gain students’ interest in being involved 
in learning (Pianta et al., 2012; Sánchez et al., 2013; 
Swenson, 2010; Webb & Barett, 2014), and motivate 
the students to be confident and brave to use English 
(Nguyen, 2007; Pianta et al., 2012; Sánchez et al., 
2013; Suryati, 2015). Therefore, there is a need to 
enhance rapport building in classroom. 

A draft of building rapport principles in EFL 
classroom was proposed based on the related 
studies and literature. The draft consisted of 11 
principles in building rapport; (1) recognizing students 
(Harmer, 2007a; 2007b); (2) working cooperatively 
(Brown, 2001); (3) building trust (Bruney, 2012; 
Sánchez et al., 2013); (4) being fair and equal 
(Bruney, 2012; Harmer, 2007a; 2007b; Scott & 
Ytreberg, 2000); (5) sharing idea (Brown, 2001); (6) 
sharing feeling (Bruney, 2012); (7) sharing 
experience (Bruney, 2012); (8) sharing humor 
(Brown, 2001); (9) listening properly (Brown, 2001; 
Harmer, 2007a; 2007b; Pianta et al., 2012); (10) 
expressing non-verbal communication (Brown, 2001; 
Levine & Adelman, 1982; Paul, 2006); and (11) giving 
feedback (Brown, 2001; Harmer, 2007a; 2007b; 
Pianta et al., 2012). 

 
Congruent study design 

The idea of enhancing teacher’s self-assessment was 
promoted since self-assessment is also applicable for 
teacher’s development (Ross & Bruce, 2007). Self-
assessment can help the teacher become aware of 
the needs in establishing teaching and learning 
activity and help them improve their performance in 
teaching (Avalos, 2011; Montgomery & Baker, 2007; 
Ross & Bruce, 2007). By doing self-assessment in 
teaching, teacher can do self-reflection to analyze the 
classroom situation and take more responsibility for 
their future actions in class (Airasian & Gullickson, 
1994). Self-assessment also contributes to teachers’ 
beliefs about their ability to improve students’ 
learning, and the teacher becomes more confident 
about their future performance since they believe that 
through their own actions they have helped students 
in learning (Ross & Bruce, 2007). Providing 
necessary support, such as self-assessment, for the 



Nova, M. 
Constructing teacher’s self-assessment of rapport building in EFL classroom 

 

 
92 

teacher may be enough to keep them motivated in 
teaching (Lumpe, Haney, & Czerniak, 2000). 
Therefore, a self-assessment in building rapport can 
be a solution for teacher to develop their quality in 
teaching and create an effective learning activity. 

An instrument used for a teacher’s self-
assessment in building rapport was developed based 
on the conceptual framework of principles of rapport 
building in classroom. From the 11 principles of 
building rapport, 35 items were constructed; 3 items 
for each principle, except for being fair and equal 
(consisted of 5 items), sharing humor (consisted of 2 
items), and giving feedback (consisted of 4 items). A 
4-point Likert scale was used to respond to each item 
of the instrument; strongly disagree (=1), disagree 
(=2), agree (=3), and strongly agree (=4). Oscarson 
(1997, in Butler & Lee, 2010) mentioned that if the 
items of questionnaire are constructed in 
respondents’ first language, the respondents can 
more accurately self-assess their performance 
compared to when the items are delivered in their 
target language. Therefore, the questionnaire survey 
was constructed in Bahasa Indonesia since this study 
investigated Indonesian EFL teachers.  

 
Triangulation 

Triangulation is used to test the instruments’ validity 
and reliability. For instrument’s validity, the instrument 
was delivered to the experts and was assessed by 
the experts to find the content validity, construct 
validity, and face validity. Comments were given and 
the instrument was then revised. The revised version 
of the instrument was then distributed to EFL 
teachers for reliability test. Instrument’s reliability was 
tested by 57 EFL teachers from various institutions. 
The EFL teachers were required to complete the 
survey in approximately 10-15 minutes. Besides, a 
simple interview was also conducted to investigate 
whether the activities provided in questionnaire 
survey are essential in building rapport. 

 
Inductive and deductive data analysis 

All collected data were then analyzed through SPSS 
19.0. The reliability analysis was conducted, and the 
overall Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the instrument 
was .928. Because it was higher than .8 (the rational 
goal of internal consistency) (Gliem & Gliem, 2003), 
the instrument can be considered as a reliable 
instrument to be used for study sample. 

 
Full description 

An instrument of teacher’s self-assessment of rapport 
building has been developed. It consists of 11 
sections which represent the eleven principles of 
rapport building and 35 statements. The complete 
self-assessment instrument can be seen in Appendix 
1. 

The first section is recognizing students. Three 
statements are included in this section which indicate 
teacher’s awareness in recognizing students through 
three ways, by (1) greeting them, (2) calling them with 
their name, and (3) knowing their ability. Allday and 
Pakurar (2007) revealed that greeting the students at 
the door of classroom, with their name and praise 
them, increases student on-task behavior. It shows 
that greeting students give positive effect on their 
learning. Besides greeting, recognizing their names is 
also necessary to establish good rapport with 

students since it makes them feel pleased (Harmer, 
2007a; 2007b). It is fundamental to develop a positive 
sense of community in the classroom and it gives an 
impression that the teacher cares about their success 
and develops a sense of trust (Glenz, 2014). Harmer 
(2007a; 2007b) also mentioned that by “knowing their 
names is also about knowing about students” (p. 26; 
p. 114). Therefore, there is a need to know their 
ability in order to set the learning outcome based on 
their knowledge (Harmer, 2007a) and awareness 
about students’ characteristic and ability (Manning, 
2006). 

The second section is working cooperatively. 
Three statements are included in this section, which 
indicate teacher’s awareness of having 
cooperativeness with the students. Brown (2001) 
mentioned one way to connect positive rapport in the 
classroom is by working with the students as a team, 
and not against them. Teamwork creates positive 
relationships which are necessary for knowledge 
sharing and effective discussion (Georgiadou, Siakas, 
& Berki, 2006). Working cooperatively with students 
as a team makes the students tend to be less 
disruptive behavior in class, be more positive, have 
supportive relationships, and have more positive 
attitudes toward learning activity (Felder & Brent, 
2007). The interaction between teacher and students 
will raise students’ effort (Davis, 1999) and foster their 
engagement in learning (Brank & Wylie, 2013).  

The third section is building trust. Three 
statements are included in this section, which indicate 
teacher’s awareness of having trust on their students. 
The trust between teacher and students is essential 
as a fundamental concept of effective learning (Özer 
et al., 2015). Trusting the student makes student feel 
more confident and comfortable to approach the 
teacher and share personal and academic issues with 
the teacher (Sánchez et al., 2013; Bruney, 2012). 
Having trust in the classroom creates a safe 
environment for learning in which “students can grow 
and learn and develop personally, socially, 
emotionally, and academically under the direction of 
their teacher” (Bruney, 2012, p. 48) and the teacher 
can “spend less time with classroom management 
issues” (Bruney, 2012, p. 33).  

The fourth section is being fair and equal. Five 
statements are included in this section, which indicate 
teacher’s awareness of being equal and fair in 
treating their students in classroom. Scott & Ytreberg 
(2000) stated that being fair is also necessary in 
building relationship with the students since the 
students can sense the unfairness from the teacher. 
Since they are learning a language, they need to 
have equal chances to practice their language and to 
be assist by the teacher (Harmer, 2007a; 2007b), 
whether they are active or inactive learners, and good 
or bad learners (Paul, 2006). It is necessary for the 
teacher to give a fair attention to each student in the 
classroom, not only focusing on the bad ones, but 
also concern with the good ones (Paul, 2006). 
Treating the students equally is helpful in establishing 
and maintaining rapport (Harmer, 2007a; 2007b), and 
it contributes to enhance a balance amount of 
interaction between students and the teacher in 
classroom (Sánchez et al., 2013). 

The fifth section is sharing idea. Three 
statements are included in this section, which indicate 
a teacher’s awareness of sharing their idea with 



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93 

his/her students and vice versa. By asking for 
students’ ideas and thoughts and also providing 
opportunities for students to share their idea (Pianta 
et al., 2012), the students can express their ideas and 
opinions (Sánchez et al., 2013), and the teacher 
should help the students to elaborate their ideas more 
(Suryati, 2015). 

The sixth section is sharing feeling. Three 
statements are included in this section, which indicate 
teachers’ awareness of sharing their feeling with their 
students and vice versa. Sharing feeling with students 
encourages the students to trust and learn from the 
teacher (Bruney, 2012), and they will feel more 
confident and comfortable to approach the teacher 
and share personal and academic issues with the 
teacher (Sánchez et al., 2013; Bruney, 2012). 
Furthermore, when a student shares his or her 
feelings, it makes a positive perspective toward the 
teacher (Wrenn & Wrenn, 2009) and their feelings 
and opinions should be valued (Bruney, 2012). 

The seventh section is sharing experience. 
Three statements are included in this section, which 
indicate teachers’ awareness of sharing their 
experience with their students and vice versa.  
Sharing experiences with students increases 
students’ interest in the relevance of the material into 
real life contexts (Wrenn & Wrenn, 2009). Gordon 
(2009 in Wrenn & Wrenn, 2009) suggested that 
“teachers should promote experiences that require 
students to become active learners” (p. 260). Sharing 
experience may promote awareness of learning 
responsibility (Tinto, 2003), in which experience 
shared should be followed by reflection on previous 
learning to transform the students’ previous 
understanding into some applicable manners (Wrenn 
& Wrenn, 2009) for further learning. 

The eighth section is sharing humor. Two 
statements are included in this section, which indicate 
teachers’ awareness of sharing humor and laugh with 
their students in classroom. Humor can be used for 
reducing stress (MacAdam, 1985; Steele, 1998), 
relieving monotonous and boredom classroom, 
helping students stay tuned in learning, keeping their 
attention, and building their confidence (Lovorn, 
2008), which unlocks social barriers between teacher 
and student (MacAdam, 1985) and creates a more 
positive classroom environment (Steele, 1998). When 
students laugh, “They experience pleasure with a 
sense of openness to discussion and interaction” 
(Lovorn, 2008, p. 2). Therefore, humor can be used 
as an effective way to deal with any difficult situations 
in classroom (Lovorn, 2008) and establish a positive 
climate in classrooms (Steele, 1998). 

The ninth section is listening properly. Three 
statements are included in this section, which indicate 
teachers’ awareness of listening to their students 
properly and intensively. The teacher needs to listen 
properly to the students as an individual to make a 
reflection on the way of hs/her teaching, whether the 
technique is being liked by the students, any activities 
motivate the students to learn, or the students’ 
reaction on the teacher’s teaching style (Harmer, 
2007a; 2007b). The importance of listening and 
paying attention to students’ explanations contributes 
to build an equal communication between teacher 
and the students (Sánchez et al., 2013). 

The tenth section is expressing non-verbal 
communication. Three statements are included in this 

section, which indicate teachers’ awareness of 
expressing their non-verbal communication to their 
students. Nonverbal communication, including facial 
expression, eye contact, tone of voice, body postures, 
and gestures (Ozieblo, 2013; Stamatis, 2011), is 
often used for gaining attention (Geng, 2011) and 
emphasizing the meaning of words in utterance 
(Harmer, 2007b; Levine & Adelman, 1982) in face-to-
face interactions (Ozieblo, 2013). To be successful in 
communication, especially in teaching, teacher needs 
to be able in using not only the verbal communication 
but also in non-verbal communication (Behjat, Bayat, 
& Kargar, 2014), such as having eye contact to gain 
students’ attention and positive attitude toward 
teacher, giving smile to affect students’ positive 
perception of the teacher (Beebe, 1980), or using 
facial expression to express certain emotion and 
feeling (Ozieblo, 2013). 

The eleventh section is giving feedback. Four 
statements are included in this section, which indicate 
teachers’ awareness of providing feedback on 
students’ performance in classroom. Feedback can 
be used to raise students’ awareness of their errors 
(Abdollahifam, 2014; Kazemipour, 2014; Maarof, 
Yamat, & Li, 2011). Feedback plays an important role 
in motivating students for further learning, which 
informs them about their learning progress and their 
improvement for the weaknesses (Abdollahifam, 
2014; Alavi & Kaivanpanah, 2007; Maarof et al., 
2011; Tran, 2007). Therefore, the teacher needs to 
ensure that the students receive “immediate, 
unambiguous, and meaningful feedback” (Davis, 
1999, p. 2) which is positive and motivates the 
students (Paul, 2006) and does not hurt students’ 
feeling (Abdollahifam, 2014). 

 
 
CONCLUSION 

Teacher’s self-assessment of rapport building can be 
used as an instrument in assessing EFL teacher’s 
development and professionalism, especially in 
building and maintaining rapport in EFL classroom. 
By using the instrument, the EFL teachers can do 
self-reflection and self-evaluation on their teaching 
and finds ways to enhance positive rapport to foster 
positive learning environment. Besides, it can also be 
used as an awareness tool for the teacher on 
conducting teaching and learning activity which 
maintains rapport in the classroom. 

Nevertheless, this study has some limitations 
which can affect the effectiveness of the use of the 
instrument. First, the small amount of sample may be 
a consideration in instrument’s reliability. Therefore, a 
bigger amount of sample is needed to test the 
validaty and reliability of the instrument in assessing 
teacher in rapport building in EFL classroom. Second, 
the sample of study taken was from Indonesia. 
Different strategies and techniques in building 
relationship with students used by EFL teacher may 
influence the result of applicability of this instrument. 
Different cultures and different perspectives in using 
non-verbal communication can affect the teaching 
and learning process. Therefore, reliability of 
instrument in other cultures is needed to validate the 
instrument to be widely used in EFL teaching and 
learning classroom. Further research is also needed 
to be conducted on the effectiveness of implementing 
teacher’s self-assessment in rapport building to 



Nova, M. 
Constructing teacher’s self-assessment of rapport building in EFL classroom 

 

 
94 

evaluate whether the instrument is considered a 
useful strategy for promoting rapport building. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

The research is funded by Indonesia Endowment 
Fund (LPDP). 

 
 

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