Joan O'Mara

Students’ Predispositions and Orientations toward Communication and Perceptions of Instructor Reciprocity and Learning

This study examined whether college students’ communication avoidance and socio-communicative orientation were related to perceptions of instructors’ immediacy, socio-communication style, satisfaction with instructors and learning. Students high in communication apprehension and/or less immediate perceived their instructors as less immediate and less assertive/responsive. Moreover, those who were more apprehensive and/or less immediate reported less satisfaction with instructors and felt that they learned less. Students’ assertiveness and responsiveness correlated positively with perceptions of instructors’ immediacy and assertiveness/responsiveness, affect for instructors, and classroom learning.