Paul D. Turman

Becoming a family: developmental processes represented in blended family discourse

We adopted a process-focus in order to gain a deeper understanding of how (step) blended family members experiencing different developmental pathways discursively represented their processes of becoming a family. Using a qualitative/interpretive method, we analyzed 980 pages of interview transcripts with stepparents and stepchildren. We studied the first four years of family development, using the five developmental pathways developed by Baxter, Braithwaite, and Nicholson (1999). Three salient issues identified in the family experiences were boundary management, solidarity, and adaptation. While the negotiation of these issues varied across the five trajectories, there were commonalities across family experiences that helped determine whether families had a successful experience of becoming a family. Implications for blended family researchers and practitioners are also discussed.

Student Perceptions of Teacher Power as a Function of Perceived Teacher Confirmation

This study explored the associations among perceived teacher confirmation behaviors (i.e., demonstrating interest, responding to questions, and teaching style) and student perceptions of teacher power use (i.e., coercive, reward, expert, legitimate, and referent power). Participants included 656 students from two Midwestern universities. Results revealed that perceived teacher confirmation accounts for 20% of the variance in student perceptions of teacher power. Further, perceived teacher confirmation behaviors were more closely associated with student perceptions of teacher pro-social power use than with anti-social power use. Specifically, post hoc analyses revealed that perceived confirmation behaviors are more closely associated with student ratings of expert and reward power than ratings of referent and coercive power.

Communication in the Community of Sport: The Process of Enacting, (Re)Producing, Consuming, and Organizing Sport

The community of sport is a pervasive, influential, complex, and restricted community comprised not only of participants such as coaches, athletes, and referees, but also of spectators at both live and mediated sporting events. Additionally, sports media, amateur and professional sports organizations, sport governing bodies, and fan clubs occupy terrain in the community of sport. We maintain that membership and participation in the community of sport are communicatively accomplished and maintained and that communication functions to constitute and give meaning to the experience of sport. For this reason we assert that the community of sport represents a communicatively rich locale that warrants the attention of communication scholars. Accordingly, we set out to explore the intersection of communication and sport within this chapter. Drawing on literature from the field of communication studies as well as from associated fields we discuss how members in the community of sport communicatively enact, (re)produce, consume, and organize sport. In each of these respective areas we discuss and

Learner Empowerment and Teacher Evaluations as Functions of Teacher Power Use in the College Classroom.

This study tested two theoretical models of learner empowerment as a potential mediator of teacher power use and students’ ratings of instruction. Participants included 1,416 undergraduate students from four different institutions in the United States. Results of structural equation modeling provided more support for the partial mediation model than for the full mediation model, though in the final structural model, learner empowerment failed to mediate the influence of teacher power use on students’ ratings of instruction. Instead, referent, reward, and legitimate power accounted for 66% of the variance in learner empowerment, while referent, expert, and coercive power accounted for 80% of the variance in teacher evaluations. Referent power emerged as the only form of power that predicted both empowerment and evaluations.

Instructor Credibility as a Mediator of Instructors’ Prosocial Communication Behaviors and Students’ Learning Outcomes

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.

Perceived Understanding as a Mediator of Perceived Teacher Confirmation and Students' Ratings of Instruction.

This study tested two theoretical models of perceived understanding as a potential mediator of perceived teacher confirmation and students’ ratings of instruction. Participants included 651 undergraduate students who completed survey measures. Results of structural equation modeling provided greater support for the confirmation process model, whereby students’ perceived understanding partially mediated the effects of perceived teacher confirmation on both teacher credibility and evaluations. Further, perceived teacher confirmation accounted for 64% of the variance in perceived understanding, and both confirmation and understanding accounted for 70% and 72% of the variances in teacher evaluations and credibility, respectively. Among the more important implications of this research is the finding that confirming behaviors have both direct and indirect effects on students’ ratings of instruction.

Reconsidering the Measurement of Teacher Power Use in the College Classroom.

Three studies were conducted to (a) re-examine the internal properties of Roachs Power Base Measure (PBM), (b) test the PBM for measurement invariance across different samples, and (c) develop an alternative measure of observable teacher behaviors that communicate power in the classroom. Results of Studies 1 and 2 provide some support for the PBM, as confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesized item loadings for each dimension and demonstrated strong metric invariance. Aggregate scores for each dimension of the PBM, however, produced poor model fit when hypothesized to represent the latent construct of teacher power. Results of Study 3 yielded a new measure of teacher power, the Teacher Power Use Scale. Validity estimates for both measures are offered, and theoretical implications are discussed.

New avenues for instructional communication research: Relationships among coaches’ leadership behaviors and athletes’ affective learning

This study explored the relationships among coaches’ leadership behaviors and student athletes’ affective learning. Participants included 124 student athletes from 17 high school wrestling teams who completed measures of both their coaches’ leadership behaviors and their own affective learning for sport Results indicated that all five coaching leadership behaviors were associated with athletes’ affective learning, though positive feedback, social support, and training and instruction leadership behaviors were more closely associated with athletes’ affective learning than democratic or autocratic leadership. Likewise, multiple regression analyses revealed that coaches’ leadership behaviors accounted for 41% of the shared variance in affective learning, though positive feedback and autocratic leadership emerged as the only significant predictors of athletes’ affective learning. Finally, a post hoc analysis revealed an interaction effect of autocratic and positive feedback leadership, such that autocratic leadership increased athletes’ affective learning in the presence of moderate to high levels of positive feedback.

The influence of instructional technology use on students’ affect: Do course designs and biological sex make a difference?

This study examined the impact that instructional technology use, course design, and instructor and student sex differences have on students’ initial perceptions of affect toward the course and the instructor. Participants included 864 students who were randomly assigned to read one of 16 scenarios that manipulated the amount of instructional technology use across two types of courses with either male or female instructors. A factorial analysis of variance revealed a significant main effect for technology use on students’ initial affect, as well as a significant two‐way interaction effect of technology use by student sex. Planned cell comparisons revealed that technology use has primarily a curvilinear effect, whereby students in the minimal and moderate technology use conditions reported higher levels of initial affect than students in the no technology and complete technology conditions. For the two‐way interaction effect, planned cell comparisons revealed that female students reported higher levels of affect as the amount of technology use increased from minimal to moderate amounts of use, whereas male students reported lower levels of affect across the same two conditions. Overall, the results highlight the importance of using instructional technology within a framework of pedagogical methods designed to achieve specific instructional objectives.

The Influence of Athlete Sex, Context, and Performance on High School Basketball Coaches’ Use of Regret Messages During Competition

This study examined video footage (i.e., pregame, halftime, and postgame) of high school basketball coaches’ interactions with their male and female athletes during competition, focusing on coaches’ use of various regret messages. Participants included 20 high school basketball coaches who were found to use a combination of regret messages: individual performance, accountability, social significance, collective failure, regret reduction, and future regret. Results indicated that girls’ and boys’ coaches did not vary in the frequency for any of the six regret message types. However, significant differences did emerge for five of the six regret types based on the context for coaches’ comments, and for regret reduction when team success was considered.