The Relationship between Teachers’ Discipline Strategies and Students’ Affection toward Teachers and their Attitudes toward Learning in Elementary Schools

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between teachers’ disciplinary strategies, on the one hand, and students’ affection toward teachers and their attitudes toward learning, on the other hand. To pursue this goal, a correlational design was employed. The statistical population of this study consisted of all second-grade students in the public elementary schools in District 15 of Tehran. Of these students, 391 were selected using cluster sampling and were asked to fill out the following three questionnaires: A 24-item Disciplinary Strategy Questionnaire, An Attitude-Toward-Learning Questionnaire, and An Affection-Toward-Teacher Questionnaire. According to the research findings, the use of punishment and aggression strategy by teachers had a negative relationship with students’ attitudes to learning. Furthermore, the results showed that the use of disciplinary strategies of discussion, reward, and involvement in decision- making had a positive relationship with students’ affection toward teachers. Also, the results of regression analysis revealed that the use of disciplinary strategies by teachers predicted students’ affection toward the teacher and their attitude to learning. Based on these results, students who face teachers’ punitive and aggressive strategies in the classroom do not like their teachers and are not interested in learning the lesson. On the other hand, students who experience positive and collaborative disciplinary strategies tend to like their teachers more and have a positive attitude toward learning. This issue highlights the necessity of rethinking the educational practice of disciplinary strategies adopted by elementary school teachers.