Showing papers in "Communication Education in 2009"
TL;DR: In this paper, a meta-analysis of 51 studies examining the associations among teacher credibility, teacher behaviors, and student outcomes is presented. But, the results highlight the unique contributions of perceived caring to the teacher credibility construct, as well as the meaningful role that teacher credibility plays in student outcomes.
Abstract: This meta-analysis reviews the findings of 51 studies (N = 14,378) examining the associations among teacher credibility, teacher behaviors, and student outcomes. When all three dimensions of credibility are considered collectively (i.e., competence, trustworthiness, and caring), the cumulative evidence indicates a moderate, meaningful relationship between teacher credibility and overall outcomes (r=.448). Similar overall effect sizes were observed for competence (r=.481), trustworthiness (r=.477), and caring (r=.554), though the overall effect size for caring was greater in magnitude than that obtained for credibility measured as a single factor (r=.294). On average, higher correlations were observed when researchers measured all three dimensions of credibility (r=.518) than when they only measured competence and character (r=.256). Collectively, the results highlight the unique contributions of perceived caring to the teacher credibility construct, as well as the meaningful role that teacher credibility ...
148 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined the role of student characteristics (temperament and learner orientation) on empowerment along with the impact of instructor communication behavior (nonverbal immediacy and clarity) and found that teacher clarity was the primary predictor of student empowerment and learning.
Abstract: Empowered learners are more motivated to perform classroom tasks, and they feel more competent in the classroom, find the required tasks more meaningful, and feel they have an impact on their learning process Previous work has concluded that empowerment is primarily influenced by teacher behavior, which is not consistent with contemporary research on achievement motivation The focus of the present study was to examine the role of student characteristics (temperament and learner orientation) on empowerment along with the impact of instructor communication behavior (nonverbal immediacy and clarity) Interpretation of results via the motivation model revealed teacher clarity to be the primary predictor of student empowerment and learning Student temperament and learner orientation had little impact On empowerment
140 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors developed and validated a global measure of student communication satisfaction with an instructor, which was correlated positively with attributional confidence for the instructor, affect for the course and instructor, and the relational, functional, participatory, and sycophancy motives.
Abstract: Four studies (N = 639) were conducted to develop and validate a global measure of student communication satisfaction with an instructor. In study one, participants were 155 students who reported on an instructor from their smallest class during the semester. Participants completed the Student Communication Satisfaction Scale (SCSS), the Interpersonal Communication Satisfaction Inventory, and the Conversational Appropriateness Scale. Results indicated that the SCSS is unidimensional, has initial concurrent validity, and is internally reliable. In study two, participants were 161 students who completed the SCSS, Attributional Confidence Scale, Revised Affective Learning Measure, and Student Motives for Communicating Scale in an attempt to establish additional concurrent validity. The SCSS was correlated positively with attributional confidence for the instructor, affect for the course and instructor, and the relational, functional, participatory, and sycophancy motives, while excuse-making was correlated ne...
95 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, two models of instructor credibility as a potential mediator of instructors' prosocial communication behaviors (e.g., confirmation, clarity, and nonverbal immediacy) and students' learning outcomes were tested.
Abstract: This study tested two models of instructor credibility as a potential mediator of instructors’ prosocial communication behaviors (e.g., confirmation, clarity, and nonverbal immediacy) and students’ learning outcomes. Participants included 1,416 undergraduate students from four different institutions across the United States. Results of structural equation modeling provided greater support for the partial mediation model, whereby credibility partially mediated the effects of teacher confirmation and clarity on learning outcomes, though it fully mediated the effects of nonverbal immediacy. When combined, students’ perceptions of all three prosocial behaviors accounted for 66% and 57% of the variance in credibility and learning outcomes, respectively. Among the more important implications of this research is the finding that confirming behaviors and clarity have both direct and indirect effects on student learning.
85 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the ways in which privacy rules are developed and boundaries are coordinated within the student-teacher relationship using Petronio's Communication Privacy Management theory as a framework.
Abstract: This study examines the ways in which privacy rules are developed and boundaries are coordinated within the student–teacher relationship using Petronio's Communication Privacy Management theory as a framework. Forty-one college instructors described the specific criteria they use to develop privacy rules and the conditions under which boundaries become permeable surrounding the private information they shared with their students. Findings suggest that rules were created based on content and relational motivations and contextual factors. Teachers also assessed the risks and benefits to such disclosures and enacted various avoidant strategies to prevent sanctions, damage to their credibility, and to maintain student comfort. Privacy boundaries became permeable based on the relationship with the student and shared experiences. Interestingly, tensions arose for some teachers as they worked to negotiate the desire to remain true to their personal identities and maintain the expectations of their teaching role.
80 citations
TL;DR: The authors compared instruments commonly used to assess perceived learning (learning loss measure) and performed learning (course grades) with an additional approach to cognitive learning assessment known as confidence testing and found that confidence testing scores are significantly associated with both course grades and perceived learning.
Abstract: There is much disagreement among instructional communication scholars concerning the appropriate means to measure cognitive learning. Significant differences have emerged between studies that rely on perceptual versus performance measures of learning and the issue has been the subject of much recent debate in research on teacher immediacy. The present study sought to compare instruments commonly used to assess perceived learning (learning loss measure) and performed learning (course grades) with an additional approach to cognitive learning assessment known as confidence testing. All of these measures were compared with student perceptions of teacher immediacy. Results indicate that confidence testing scores are significantly associated with both course grades and perceived learning. Implications for research involving cognitive learning are discussed.
79 citations
TL;DR: This paper used interaction adaptation theory (IAT) to inform and frame the impact of using overly casual email messages with instructors and found that instructors are bothered more than students by overly casual emails.
Abstract: Out-of-classroom communication (OCC) in the form of email has increased considerably in the past few years. This study uses Interaction Adaptation Theory (IAT) to inform and frame the impact of using overly casual email messages with instructors. Study one used an experimental method to determine that message quality (casual vs. formal messages) accounted for between 48% and 64% of the variance explained in affect toward the student, student credibility, and message attitude. Message quality also significantly impacted on an instructor's willingness to comply with a simple request for a face-to-face meeting. Study two further examined these findings using a comparative analysis of both instructors and students. Findings reveal that instructors are bothered more than students by overly casual email messages. Instructors attribute students’ use of overly casual emails more heavily to training issues, while students attribute this to technology use. Two specific email violations that bother instructors more ...
71 citations
TL;DR: The authors compared the effectiveness of two versions of a media literacy intervention over time, and found that when the children participated in a cognitive activity after receiving the intervention, they experienced an immediate reduction in willingness to use aggression after exposure to violent media.
Abstract: This study advances research on media literacy by comparing the effectiveness of two versions of a media literacy intervention over time. Participants (156 children in 4th or 5th grade) were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups or a control group. Both treatment groups were exposed to an instructional intervention designed to reduce the negative effects of media violence. One of the groups was given an additional cognitive activity immediately following the instructional intervention. Participants in all 3 groups had their aggressive tendencies measured at 4 points in time. Results indicate that when the children participated in a cognitive activity after receiving the media literacy intervention, they experienced an immediate reduction in willingness to use aggression after exposure to violent media. However, the same media literacy intervention without the cognitive activity led to an increase in willingness to use aggression. Our longitudinal results indicate that children receiving an inte...
69 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the definitions and research on bullying and compare them with the definition of "trolling" and "bullying", and provide educators with pragmatic considerations to assist them in identifying the differences between bullying and teasing behaviors so that any intervention program chosen for their edu...
Abstract: In recent years, the research on teasing and bullying has grown dramatically and is coupled with a rise in the development of intervention programs targeted to teachers, principals, and parents. Ultimately the goal of these programs is to reduce or eliminate teasing and bullying within school settings. The aim of this project is to clarify how teasing and bullying are interrelated, but can be two very distinct acts with different motivations, goals, and outcomes, in order to provide researchers and educators with a better grasp of the differences between the two. To accomplish these goals, this paper examines the definitions and research on bullying. Next, teasing is described, analyzed and contrasted with bullying to provide educators a way to differentiate between the two different behaviors. Finally, this work seeks to provide educators with pragmatic considerations to assist them in identifying the differences between bullying and teasing behaviors so that any intervention program chosen for their edu...
69 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated how face-threat mitigation that students received from their teachers during feedback influenced students' judgments about the quality and usefulness of the feedback their instructors provided and their perceptions of those instructors' credibility.
Abstract: Successfully evaluating students’ work challenges teachers to achieve both corrective task and identity-protection goals in interaction. This study investigated how face-threat mitigation that students received from their teachers during feedback influenced students’ judgments about the quality and usefulness of the feedback their instructors provided and their perceptions of those instructors’ credibility. Public-speaking students (N=356) at three universities were surveyed about their instructors’ feedback regarding their first graded speech that term. Multiple regression analyses showed that receiving attentive facework during instructional feedback predicted students’ perceptions that feedback was fair and useful. Skilled instructional facework also predicted students’ less defensive responses to criticism and their higher credibility ratings of their instructors. Findings support attentive instructional facework as a communication mechanism whose skillful use aids feedback's reception and integration...
67 citations
TL;DR: Communication-across-the-curriculum (CXC) programs provide assistance to other disciplines on the teaching and learning of communication, meeting an increasingly important need for students not only to be content specialists, but also coherent communicators as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Communication-across-the-curriculum (CXC) programs provide assistance to other disciplines on the teaching and learning of communication—meeting an increasingly important need for students not only to be content specialists, but also coherent communicators. Research emerging from this initiative details programmatic challenges and emphases, but also provides insight into the unique interdisciplinary issues involved with teaching communication in other disciplinary cultures. Through a systematic thematic analysis, this review provides a synopsis of CXC scholarship over the past 25 years—highlighting three distinct eras of CXC scholarship that illustrate differing approaches to negotiating the mission of interdisciplinary change: cross-curricular proactiveness, cross-curricular skepticism, and cross-curricular curiosity. Over this time period researchers in this scholarly discussion have engaged in work that has produced detailed program descriptions and assessment, transferable instructional resources, and...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used factor analytic procedures to classify student perceptions of feedback, including feedback utility, sensitivity, confidentiality, and retention, and the results of correlation analyses provided initial evidence of concurrent and discriminant validity for the new scale.
Abstract: Theoretical perspectives on the efficacy of instructional feedback suggest that there should be significant variation in students’ perceptions of and responses to feedback messages. Yet, little effort has been made to either uncover the perceptual dimensions by which students evaluate feedback, or to measure students’ perceptions of feedback. The present project sought to accomplish these tasks by using factor analytic procedures to classify student perceptions of feedback. The results of Study One produced a pilot inventory that included four dimensions: feedback utility, sensitivity, confidentiality, and retention. In Study Two, a confirmatory factor analysis supported the four-factor solution, and the results of correlation analyses provided initial evidence of concurrent and discriminant validity for the new scale. Theoretically, the results extend feedback intervention theory. Pragmatically, the results offer a new measure useful for understanding students’ predispositions toward instructional feedback.
TL;DR: The Student Academic Support Scale (SASS) as discussed by the authors was developed as a method of assessing the frequency, importance, and mode of communicating academic support among college students, and it has been shown that students often view communication with peers as their primary source of academic support.
Abstract: Research suggests that student academic support plays a vital role at the college level as students often view communication with peers as their primary source of academic support (Thompson, 2008). This research advances the Student Academic Support Scale (SASS) as a method of assessing the frequency, importance, and mode of communicating academic support among college students. Study one details scale development procedures, presents the results of factor analysis, and advances the SASS. Study two examines the frequency and importance of specific supportive behaviors and explores the modes commonly used by students to communicate academic support. Implications for teachers, scholars, and university administrators are discussed.
TL;DR: The authors investigate teacher-student interaction using a relational frame (i.e., describing the student-teacher dynamic as inherently relational) and focus on turning points and their potential outcomes in studentteacher relationships.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher–student interaction using a relational frame (i.e., describing the student–teacher dynamic as inherently relational). Specifically, we focus on turning points and their potential outcomes in student–teacher relationships. Students who were able to identify a relational turning point event with a college teacher (n = 394) completed open- and closed-ended survey questions about the event, its outcomes, and their learning and motivation. Analysis of participants’ responses yielded six meta-level categories of turning point events, most of which were positively valenced: instrumental, personal, rhetorical, ridicule/discipline, locational, and other person. Our analysis also yielded 11 categories of outcomes of relational turning point events. Two of these—changes in willingness to approach the teacher/seek help and changes in perceptions of their relationship with the teacher—were common to personal turning point events. Students who reported positive instr...
TL;DR: This article examined the effect of repeated exposure to audiences as a strategy for creating habituation during public speaking performances in the basic communication course and found that repeated exposure can increase confidence in novice speakers.
Abstract: Increased public speaking confidence is often cited as a major benefit for undergraduates taking the basic communication course. Several scholars have reported that the state anxiety of novice speakers declines progressively during performance, a phenomenon called within-session habituation. However, the contributions of these short-term reductions in fear to the development of confidence from one speech to the next, or between-sessions habituation, remain unknown. The current study examines brief repeated exposure to audiences as a strategy for creating habituation during public speaking performances in the basic course. One hundred forty undergraduate students enrolled in a required speech performance course participated in a quasi-experimental study in which course lab sections served as intact groups. Results were generally consistent with Foa's emotional processing theory. Implications for basic course pedagogy and suggestions for future research in this area are advanced.
TL;DR: The authors found that college instructors view interactional justice as the most important fairness component and their use of power and antisocial behavior alteration techniques (BATs) plays a role in these fairness judgments, accounting for a significant amount of variance in procedural and interactional fairness.
Abstract: A growing body of research indicates that classroom justice concerns are important to students. When students perceive their instructors are not concerned about justice, they report a host of negative outcomes. Due to the importance of justice assigned to students, the present study sought to understand how instructors view justice. Results indicated that college instructors view interactional justice as the most important fairness component. Their use of power and antisocial behavior alteration techniques (BATs) plays a role in these fairness judgments, accounting for a significant amount of variance in procedural and interactional justice. However, power and antisocial BATs use appear to play little role in instructors' concerns over distributive justice. Results, limitations, and future research are discussed.
TL;DR: The authors analyzed current course offerings in communication department curricula in a random sample of 148 four-year colleges and universities, and compared these data with results from earlier studies to identify current curriculum trends within the communication discipline, and contrasted these findings with employer demands for communication skills to meet workplace competencies.
Abstract: Many communication scholars recognize the need to regularly explore current communication curriculum and to evaluate its contribution to meeting the needs of students and the demands of the workplace. However, within the communication discipline, current curricular decisions are based on studies conducted nearly a decade ago. This study (a) analyzes current course offerings in communication department curricula in a random sample of 148 four-year colleges and universities, (b) contrasts these data with results from earlier studies to identify current curriculum trends within the communication discipline, and (c) contrasts these findings with employer demands for communication skills to meet workplace competencies. Ultimately, this paper identifies specific curriculum shifts and offers suggestions about specific course offerings to provide some guidance in curriculum development.
TL;DR: This paper examined the extent to which trait anxiety and physiological reactivity predicted anxiety during a public-speaking presentation and found that trait anxiety was associated with 73.3% of anxious arousal.
Abstract: With the goal of identifying the characteristics or traits students bring to the classroom that predispose them to panic when faced with the threat of presenting in front of an audience, this study introduced a subtype of public-speaking state anxiety—anxious arousal. Specifically, this study examined the extent to which trait anxiety and physiological reactivity predicted anxious arousal during a public-speaking presentation. When combined with trait anxiety, physiological reactivity accounted for 73.3% of anxious arousal. Suggestions for pedagogical and therapeutic practice are included.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine student motivation and find that similar patterns are present in the classroom, and that psychological growth factors serve as motivators, while pain avoidance factors are hygiene factors, neutral when present, but de-motivating when absent.
Abstract: This study seeks to begin answering two simple questions: “What motivates our students?” and its corollary, “What prevents our students from being motivated?” The motivation-hygiene theory (F. Herzberg, Work and the nature of man, World Publishing, Cleveland, OH, 1966), a well-tested theory from organizational psychology, holds that people's motivation stems from two sources: the desire to grow psychologically and the desire to avoid pain or unpleasantness. Previous research shows psychological growth factors serve as motivators, while pain avoidance factors serve as hygiene factors, neutral when present, but de-motivating when absent. Using this theory as a lens, the current study examines student motivation and finds that similar patterns are present in the classroom.
TL;DR: The authors compared Korean students in South Korea and US students in the US regarding their perceptions of instructor decision authority and verbal and nonverbal immediacy and found that Korean students reported higher instructor decision authorities and lower levels of instructor verbal immediacy in Korean classrooms than in US classrooms.
Abstract: This study compared Korean students in South Korea and Korean students in the US regarding their perceptions of instructor decision authority and verbal and nonverbal immediacy. Korean students reported higher instructor decision authority and lower levels of instructor verbal and nonverbal immediacy in Korean classrooms than in US classrooms. Verbal immediacy was positively related to the satisfaction of Korean students in the US, whereas it was not significantly related to the satisfaction of Korean students in Korea. Korean students studying in the US indicated lower satisfaction when their perceived levels of instructor decision authority were lower than their expected levels of instructor decision authority, compared to when their perceived levels were higher than their expected levels.
TL;DR: This paper explored the effectiveness of communication training for clergy, working to create an outcome assessment model for such endeavors, and found that training has an impact on the transformative quality of sermon communication.
Abstract: This study explored the effectiveness of communication training for clergy, working to create an outcomes assessment model for such endeavors. Clergy-participants (N=46) completed an extensive training process designed to increase the transformative quality of their sermon communication. Training outcomes were assessed with a prepost test design, using listener feedback (N=7,564) and expert evaluation. Results suggest that communication training has an impact on the transformative quality of sermon communication. This exploration also reveals a need for further investigation of (1) communication training outcomes assessment and (2) the communicative goal of public speaking in the church context.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the relationship between intercollegiate forensics competitors' organizational identification and organizational culture and found that male competitors identify with forensics programs more than female competitors do.
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between intercollegiate forensics competitors’ organizational identification and organizational culture. Through a survey analysis of 314 intercollegiate forensics students, this study reports three major findings. First, this study found male competitors identify with forensics programs more than female competitors do. Second, this study found African-American competitors identify with their programs more than other ethnicities do. Third, the correlation between organizational identification and organizational cultural understanding is multidimensional with positive and negative correlations between organizational identification and different factors of organizational culture. The nature of forensics and team social support are discussed as reasons for student identification.
TL;DR: This paper found that students are more concerned about ethical breaches in journalism than in academics, and that the ethics gap increases among students near graduation who had higher levels of concern and suggested harsher penalties for unethical journalistic behavior, as did students with experience in student media or internships.
Abstract: Survey data on mass communication students' perceptions of plagiarism and fabrication indicate an ethics gap in which students are more concerned about ethical breaches in journalism than in academics. Further analyses found that the ethics gap increases among students near graduation who had higher levels of concern and suggested harsher penalties for unethical journalistic behavior, as did students with experience in student media or internships, specifically journalistic ones. Results from the study reported here demonstrate that applied media experiences and coursework are crucial in developing future journalists' perceptions of fundamental ethical behavior.
TL;DR: This paper examined the associations between students' self-reported verbal aggressiveness and argumentativeness and their perceptions of student BATs (Golish, 1999) as appropriate and effective as well as how likely they were to use each BAT.
Abstract: This study examined the associations between students’ self-reported verbal aggressiveness and argumentativeness and their perceptions of student BATs (Golish, 1999) as appropriate and effective as well as how likely they were to use each BAT. Participants were 187 undergraduate students enrolled in communication courses at a large Mid-Atlantic university. Students’ verbal aggressiveness appears to influence their perceptions of BATs use as appropriate (6 of the 19 possible associations were significant) and effective (5 of the 19 possible associations were significant). Fewer associations found between students’ argumentativeness and perceptions of BATs use as effective (1 of the 19 possible) indicate argumentativeness exerts less influence on students’ perceptions. Together, students’ verbal aggressiveness and perceptions of BATs use as appropriate and effective were significant predictors of students’ likelihood to use prosocial and antisocial BATs. Student argumentativeness did not contribute to stude...
TL;DR: The authors identified communicative elements in the researcher-institutional review board (IRB) relationship and their impact on researchers' attitudes toward IRBs and compliance with IRB submission processes.
Abstract: The researcher–Institutional Review Board (IRB) relationship is a critical element in a faculty member's role in knowledge generation and dissemination. The nature of this relationship has considerable implications for data gathering in the research process, as well as in the mentoring and instruction of graduate and undergraduate students as researchers. This study identifies communicative elements in the researcher–IRB relationship and their impact on researchers’ attitudes toward IRBs and compliance with IRB submission processes. Implications of the findings are discussed with respect to scholars’ interactions with the regulatory agency, conducting research, and the education and training of students.