Abstract
The present article aims to find out which behavioral characteristics are associated with "outstanding" Japanese language teachers by students of Japanese language both at secondary schools and universities. A questionnaire consisting of 37 items, modified from past studies, was employed, and administered to 280 high school students and 222 university students. The data were subjected to statistical testing by means of factor analysis and structural equation modeling. It was predicted that there would be some difference between high school students and university students in how they felt about "outstanding" teachers, but it was found there was no significant difference between them. There was a statistically significant difference among the three groups according to the duration of their Japanese study. Concerning the former, the factors which students evaluated high were factors HI ('facilitating the classroom atmosphere') and VI ('Japanese language ability and cultural knowledge'). The latter were grouped into two: those factors for which the evaluation progressed from high to low (Factor I ('teaching skill')) and those that experienced a continual decline year by year (factors II ('specialist knowledge and cultural level'), IV ('concern for learners and professionalism as a teacher') and V ('teaching experience and qualifications')).
