Halo Effect

Purpose: Teachers, like other human beings are affected by the fallacy of ‘Halo Effect’. Regarding their role in teaching and training students, this study tried to investigate the halo effect in relation to appearance, gender, and proficiency of teachers. Methodology: In order to perform such an evaluation, this study used 350 males and female EFL students and 53 males and female EFL teachers of universities and institutes of Karaj. Three questionnaires (appearance, gender, and proficiency questionnaires) were designed and evaluated. The questionnaires were distributed among students and after the students answered them the questionnaires were gathered. Findings: The results of this study showed that proficiency was the most important feature for both male and female students. The second important feature for students was teacher's appearance. Gender was the least important feature of a teacher for students. The students think of the proficiency as the most important factor. According to the results of data analysis of students' final marks in real situation (classroom environment), the most important factor affecting the achievement of students in a positive way was appearance of a teacher. Thus, appearance of a teacher can cause halo effect. Teachers and educational system can benefit from the results of this study. Conclusion: Teachers should be sensitive to proficiency and appearance in order to be better teachers, and educational system can understand strengths and weaknesses of the process of hiring teachers regarding appearance and proficiency.

This study applied multi-faceted Rasch measurement to investigate the halo effect in the performance-based assessment of writing across rubric criteria. Five raters who had received specialized training applied a four-criteria rating rubric to analytically rate writing scripts on two argumentative topics. Facets, a Rasch computer program, was utilized to pinpoint the halo effect by analyzing rater and rubric criteria interactions. After examining the appropriateness of the rubric in terms of functionality, the results showed that except for one rater, the raters did not exhibit any sign of the halo effect across rubric criteria. Generally, the severity hierarchies for raters and difficulty levels for rubric criteria suggested that raters’ training and their perceptions of the importance of criteria were associated with their manifestation of the halo effect. Pedagogically, through a detailed facet analysis of interactions between raters and rubric criteria, rater trainers may better realize how to design effective training programs to minimize raters’ variance including the halo effect and improve the overall objectivity of human rating.