Role of Teachers on Developing Social Skills of Students: A Study on Private Universities in Bangladesh

Abstract

Social skills are one of the professional qualities which are important for achieving success in professional life. A university teacher plays a vital role in a student’s life for developing his/her social skills. This paper demonstrates how teachers can influence their students to develop their social skills in tertiary level. The study was done on the students of private universities of Bangladesh. Now university classrooms are not confined to lectures. The traditional lecture-mode classroom has been transformed to interactive-mode classroom. According to Beachum & Dentith (2004), now teachers have expanded their view beyond traditional classroom boundaries (Angelle, 2007). Teachers are now using collaborative and cooperative teaching techniques to develop the social skills of university students. To conduct this research both qualitative and quantitative research methods were applied. Vygotsky’s (1978) social interaction theory was applied for the theoretical framework. To get the reliable data, the researcher went to five private universities of Bangladesh for class observation and teachers’ and students’ interview. This study found that teachers play an effective role to enhance the societal skills of a student in tertiary level. From the findings it could be recommended that teacher teaching strategies, guidance, motivation and counseling can develop students’ social and professional skills.