In the words of his students, Chang is a strict teacher who is "helpful to students but rarely gives high grades and frankly criticizes papers that aren't well written--unlike most American professors, who add a few words of encouragement like 'interesting.'"
在學生口中，張光直是「對學生很有幫助，但給分通常不高，直言批評寫得不好的報告，不像一般美國教授還會說點『有些意思』（interesting）之類鼓勵辭句」的嚴師。