THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DESCRIPTORS OF AEROBIC DANCE INSTRUCTORS AND STUDENT REENROLLMENT IN AEROBIC DANCE CLASSES (TEACHER BEHAVIOR, CHARACTERISTICS, SUCCESS, EFFECTIVE TEACHING)

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between each of six descriptors of aerobic dance instructors and student reenrollment in aerobic dance classes. The descriptors are: presentational skills, interest in and concern for students, enthusiasm, sense of humor, class management, and appearance. The study hypothesis proposed that a significant relationship exists between student reenrollment percentage and each descriptor. It was treated operationally as two sets of six hypotheses, one set dealing with the six descriptors in terms of investigator observations and the other student evaluations. The study population consisted of 30 aerobic dance instructors in Jacki Sorensen's Aerobic Dancing, Inc. and 346 reenrolled students in their classes. The two instruments used for the study were the Adapted Teacher Observation List (ATOL) and the Aerobic Dance Student Form (ADSF). The ATOL consisted of 21 items defining the six descriptors, with three response alternatives (frequently, sometimes and never) for use in recording observations of instructor teaching behavior. Two observations were made of each of the 30 instructors. A numerical value was assigned to each observation and a mean score for each descriptor was calculated; the mean score and reenrollment percentage were the data for the oneway analysis of variance, the statistic chosen to test the first set of six hypotheses. The Pearson product-moment correlation was used to test the second set of six hypotheses, student reenrollment percentage and a mean student-ranking on the ADSF of the six descriptors were the data for the test. The level set for statistical significance for both tests was 0.05. Of the six aerobic dance instructor descriptors, one, "appearance," was found to bear a significant relationship with student reenrollment percentage. This led the investigator to conclude that factors other than instructor characteristics, such as time or location of instructor, may exert the deciding influence on a student's decision to reenroll in an aerobic dance class. In addition, because reenrollment percentage was significant when correlated with only one descriptor, it may be that reenrollment is not a valid indicator of effective teaching or perhaps the reenrollment effect occurs at random.