Marian L. Houser

The Teacher-Student Relationship as an Interpersonal Relationship.

Communication skills, as defined by Burleson and Samter (1990), were examined in the teacher‐student relationship. Three questions guided this investigation: (a) with regard to effective teaching, what are students’ perceptions of the importance of communication skills and immediacy behaviors? (b) what is the relationship between students’ perceptions of teachers’ use of communication skills, immediacy behaviors, motivation and learning? and (c) do male and female students differ in their perceptions of communication skill and immediacy behaviors in regard to importance, motivation, and learning? Two studies were conducted. Study one found that students reported referential skill, ego support, and conflict management as being most important to effective teaching. Study two found referential skill, ego support, and immediacy to have a strong relationship with student learning and motivation. Some sex differences also were found and explored in both study one and two.

The Role of Student Characteristics and Teacher Behaviors in Students’ Learner Empowerment

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.

The revised learning indicators scale

The measurement of learning, particularly cognitive learning, has been problematic in instructional communication research. In an effort to address some of the methodological problems, Frymier, Shulman, and Houser (1996) developed a learning indicators scale. Several of the items in this scale involved communication behaviors. In this study it was hypothesized that students with a predisposition to avoid communication would score low on such a scale because of their avoidance of communication, confounding the learning indicators scale with communication apprehension. The learning indicators scale was revised to eliminate the communication based items. The revised scale was uncorrelated with communication apprehension as predicted, and positively correlated with learner empowerment, nonverbal immediacy, affective learning, state motivation, and grades.

R U Able to Meat Me: The Impact of Students' Overly Casual Email Messages to Instructors.

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 instructors 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 than students are emails not signed by the message sender and messages that include shortcuts like “RU” instead of “are you”. Finally, it appears that instructor generational differences have little impact on these descriptive findings.

Are We Violating Their Expectations? Instructor Communication Expectations of Traditional and Nontraditional Students

For years, researchers have been telling teachers how to communicate with students. Advising them to be immediate, clear and engage in affinity-seeking behaviors has been based on traditional undergraduate student responses. Adult education scholars recognize age and experience create unique expectations for instructors and the learning environment. Utilizing Expectancy Violations Theory, an investigation of traditional and nontraditional students’ prescriptive expectations and experiences with instructor nonverbal immediacy, verbal immediacy, affinity seeking, and clarity behaviors reveals that differences exist and expectations are violated. Nontraditional students’ expectations for affinity seeking were positively violated, traditional students’ expectations for verbal immediacy were negatively violated, and expectations for instructor clarity behaviors were negatively violated for both groups.

Instructional Communication Predictors of Ninth-Grade Students’ Affective Learning in Math and Science

The purpose of this study was to examine how students’ perceptions of their teachers’ instructional communication behaviors were related to their affective learning in math and science. A survey was used to collect perceptions from 497 ninth-grade students. The following conclusions were yielded from the data: (1) students’ perceptions of their math and science teachers’ use of clarity and content relevance behaviors, rather than their teachers’ use of nonverbal immediacy and disconfirmation behaviors, predicted students’ desire to pursue additional study in math and science as well as consider careers in the fields of math and science; (2) students did not perceive meaningful differences in their affective learning between math/science and nonmath/science courses; and (3) students perceived minimal differences between their math/science and nonmath/science teachers’ use of instructional communication behaviors.

Dating in the fast lane: How communication predicts speed-dating success

Speed-dating has become a popular way to initiate relationships; however, little scholarly research has focused on these events. This research is designed to investigate positive and negative predictors of possible relationships by focusing on decisions to engage in future dates. Interpersonal attraction, homophily, and nonverbal immediacy have been linked to the predicted outcome value (POV) of relationships during initial encounters. This study investigates how these variables influence date decisions in a six minute speed-dating experience. Results indicate interpersonal attraction and nonverbal immediacy significantly predict POV but not future date decisions. Moreover, men reported higher levels of homophily and interpersonal attraction than women. Differential elements of speed-dating as an initial interaction context and the relevance of demographics are discussed.

The Cyber Factor: An Analysis of Relational Maintenance Through the Use of Computer-Mediated Communication

This study extends prior research on interpersonal communication and computer-mediated communication (CMC) to examine relational maintenance behaviors via multiple modes of CMC. As relationships are cultivated via mediated channels, this study explores whether men and women utilize maintenance strategies in differential relationships. Participants (N = 157) responded to a 40-item survey using an adaptation of Stafford and Canarys (1991) relational maintenance typology. Results suggest that, although use of maintenance behaviors has remained consistent with the advent of new technology, specific modes are utilized for different strategies. In addition, openness and assurances are utilized more by spouses and significant/romantic others, and women use more strategies to maintain their relationships through CMC than men, regardless of the type of relationship maintained.

Does making content relevant make a difference in learning

Instructors consistently search for methods to enhance students’ motivation and learning. Immediacy and relevance have been linked to increased motivation in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to extend research by Frymier and Shulman (1995) that found immediacy and relevance to be associated with one another. A 2 (high and low immediacy) x 2 (high and low relevance) experimental design was used to investigate the interaction between immediacy and relevance and their impact on motivation and learning. Results indicated that immediacy had a significant impact on motivation and learning, while relevance did not. The manipulation of relevance was problematic and is discussed extensively.

Investigating a New Education Frontier: Instructor Communication Behavior in CD-ROM Texts—Do Traditionally Positive Behaviors Translate into This New Environment?

The non-interactive video learning environment, or CD-ROM texts, that feature video instructors delivering course material are becoming increasingly popular in institutions of higher education. Instructor nonverbal immediacy and humor have been proven to enhance instructor credibility and motivate student learning in the traditional and distance learning classrooms. Framed by the media naturalness hypothesis, this experimental study investigated the effects (instructor credibility, student motivation, and learning) of these behaviors when mediated. Results indicate that nonverbal immediacy and humor do not have a significant effect on student learning in virtual instruction but do have a significant effect on student motivation and perceptions of instructor credibility. Highly immediate and highly humorous instructors appear to be more motivating and credible, with nonverbal immediacy having the greatest impact.