Author(s)

Alexandra Bekiari, Katerina Balla

Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Science, University of Thessaly, Thessaly, Greece.

Focusing on argumentativeness, leadership and personal orientations, this study aims at: a) investigating the differences concerning gender and class, b) examining the relation between perceived instructors’ argumentativeness, teaching leadership style and students’ goal orientations, c) investigating the influence of instructors’ argumentativeness on their leadership style and students’ goal orientations in physical education context and d) proposing a students’ and instructors’ typology. The sample consisted of 260 students (127 males, 133 females) aged 10 - 12 years old (M = 11.2, SD = 0.67) from primary public schools who completed three types of questionnaires during physical education classes. The results supported the internal consistency of the instruments. According to the results of the study, statistically significant differences were observed in students’ ego orientation between the genders and the classes of the students. Correlational analysis indicated that perceived instructors’ argumentativeness was positively related to democratic teaching leadership style, students’ task orientations and was negatively related to autocratic teaching leadership style, students’ ego orientations. The results of regression analysis revealed that perceived instructors’ argumentativeness could significantly predict the variables of teaching leadership style and students’ goal orientations. Four behavioral types are revealed: 1) “learning by democracy and arguing”, 2) “just democracy and arguing”, 3) “just ego without learning” and 4) “learning by arguing”.

Argumentativeness, Leadership Style, Personal Orientations, Typology, Physical Education

Bekiari, A. and Balla, K. (2017) Instructors and Students Relations: Argumentativeness, Leadership and Goal Orientations. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 5, 128-143. doi: 10.4236/jss.2017.57009.