Students’ and Teachers’ Thinking Styles and Preferred Teacher Interpersonal Behavior

In the learning environment, teacher–student interaction plays a major role in influencing the cognitive and affective development of students. Teacher–student interaction is also an important parameter of educational quality. Teachers’ and students’ preferences of teacher interpersonal behavior are linked to their individual characteristics and styles. The author examined students’ and teachers’ thinking styles and their preferences for teacher–student interpersonal behaviors. A total of 325 students and 146 teachers from 2 secondary schools were involved in this study. The results show that there were divergences between students’ and teachers’ thinking styles and their preferences of teacher interpersonal behavior. Convergences between students and teachers were also found, as both had preferences for cooperative teacher interpersonal behavior.