Perceptions of Teacher–Student Relationship Dimensions and Their Association with English Learning among Form 3 ESL Learners in Malaysia

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-662-3_3How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Teacher-student relationships; key dimension; ESL learners; English learning

Abstract

Strong relationships between teachers and students are essential because they foster a supportive learning environment where students are acknowledged and understood. These relationships are often linked to improved academic outcomes and emotional well-being, yet their direct influence on ESL students’ perception of English learning remains underexplored. Most existing research focuses on general educational settings or tertiary students, with limited studies examining how teacher-student relationships shape English learning among secondary school ESL learners in Malaysian contexts. This study examined the impact of five key dimensions of teacher-student relationships—trust, empathy, feedback, availability, and encouragement—on Form 3 ESL learners at Sekolah Menengah Imtiaz Besut. Grounded in Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory and Self Determination Theory, the research employed a structured 15-item questionnaire distributed to 108 students. Descriptive statistical analysis revealed that students highly value trust and feedback from their teachers, perceiving these as the most influential factors in their English learning experience. All five dimensions showed strong positive perceptions, indicating that relational support makes a significant contribution to learners’ motivation, engagement, confidence and participation in using English. In essence, the key dimensions highlight how students perceive the teacher-student relationship and how these perceptions influence their English learning. This highlights the need for teachers to prioritise relational strategies to support ESL learners’ language development. Establishing empathetic, supportive, and responsive teacher-student interactions can enhance class room participation and overall English proficiency in diverse secondary school settings.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Raja Rosemawati binti Raja Abdullah
AU  - Ika Dylaila binti Ahmadul Amin Nazlee
AU  - Fazilah binti Jaafar
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/14
TI  - Perceptions of Teacher–Student Relationship Dimensions and Their Association with English Learning among Form 3 ESL Learners in Malaysia
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Cross- Disciplinary Academic Research 2025 - Track 3 Advances in Humanities, Education, Teaching, Learning & Arts (ICAR-T3 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 20
EP  - 33
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-662-3_3
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-662-3_3
ID  - Abdullah2026
ER  -