Zachary W. Goldman

What do college students want? A prioritization of instructional behaviors and characteristics

ABSTRACT Guided by Rhetorical and Relational Goals Theory, this study examined college students’ preferences for effective teaching behaviors and characteristics. Students (n = 209) articulated qualities in their ideal instructor by prioritizing 10 instructional behaviors and characteristics from the rhetorical and relational traditions (assertive, responsive, clear, relevant, competent, trustworthy, caring, immediate, humorous, disclosure). When forced to prioritize, students preferred teacher clarity, competence, and relevance from their instructors, while self-disclosure and immediacy were considered to be luxury behaviors rather than necessities. Lastly, academic entitlement significantly influenced students’ prioritization of effective instructional behaviors.

College student misbehaviors: an exploration of instructor perceptions

ABSTRACT Student incivilities such as challenging, dissent, and excuse making have been examined by a variety of disciplines. However, the more encompassing idea of student misbehaviors has been somewhat understudied within instructional communication. The current study inductively arrived at a set of 12 distinct college student misbehaviors identified by collegiate instructors, which are relevant to the contemporary college classroom. When examined through the lens of instructional communication and student development frameworks, the researchers concluded that mindfulness of these misbehaviors might afford instructors the ability to enhance student success.

Students’ Experiences of Bullying in High School and Their Adjustment and Motivation During the First Semester of College

Bullying is a highly destructive communicative behavior. The purpose of this study was to determine if high school victimization experiences from bullying influence college students’ first-semester transition experiences. College students (N = 149) completed a questionnaire during their first month in school measuring their retrospective bullying experiences in high school (relational-verbal bullying, cyberbullying, physical bullying, culture-based bullying), their current motivation for attending college (intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, amotivation), and their first-semester adjustment (academic adjustment, social adjustment, personal-emotional adjustment, institutional attachment). Results revealed negative relationships between first-semester students’ reports of high school victimization and their current motivation to attend and adjustment to their first month of college. These findings suggest that even though the college experience may be a new start for some students, victimization experiences during high school have a lingering effect on first-semester students’ academic and social transitions to college.

College Students’ Psychological Needs and Intrinsic Motivation to Learn: An Examination of Self-Determination Theory

Over the last several decades, instructional communication scholars have studied and measured student motivation as an important learning outcome. Unfortunately, this research has lacked theoretical guidance and has treated student motivation as a construct that varies only in quantity, ignoring existing theory that suggests student motivation is best understood as a construct that differs in quality (i.e., intrinsic motivation). To create two new measures that incorporate theoretical explanations of student motivation, three studies (N = 1,067) were undertaken using self-determination theory (SDT) to operationalize students’ intrinsic motivation as a product of basic psychological need satisfaction. In the first two studies, the Student Psychological Needs Scale and the Intrinsic Motivation to Learn Scale were developed and validated. In the third study, parallel mediation analyses supported SDT’s prediction that the fulfillment of students’ psychological needs (i.e., autonomy, competence, relatedness) would mediate the relationship between personalized education practices and intrinsic motivation to learn.

A Meta-Analytical Review of Students’ Out-of-Class Communication and Learning Effects

A random-effects meta-analysis (N = 7,113) was conducted examining the relationships between students’ out-of-class communication (OCC) and learning outcomes. The findings revealed positive summary effects for OCC on affective learning (k = 7, N = 1478, r = 0.321, p < 0.001) and perceived cognitive learning (k = 11, N = 5635, r = 0.261, p < 0.001). Several moderators were identified, indicating the association between OCC and cognitive learning varied systematically because of the measurement instruments used to operationalize OCC and learning and because of interdisciplinary treatments of the constructs. Recommendations are made for future researchers including the need for a theoretical explanation of the OCC-learning relationship.

The Dyadic Effects of Relationship Uncertainty on Negative Relational Maintenance

This study examined the dyadic effects of relationship uncertainty and the use of negative relational maintenance behaviors. Romantic couples (N = 227 dyads) completed a survey assessing their current relationship uncertainty (i.e., definition, mutuality, behavioral, future) and their use of negative behaviors to maintain their relationship (i.e., jealousy induction, avoidance, spying, infidelity, destructive conflict, allowing control). Multilevel modeling was used to calculate actor-partner interdependence models. Actor effects were revealed between relationship uncertainty and negative relational maintenance. Results also revealed some partner effects. However, nine of these effects were moderated with significant actor-by-partner interactions, indicating that actors and partners with low relationship uncertainty use less negative maintenance in their relationships.

Attachment and Negative Relational Maintenance: Dyadic Comparisons Using an Actor-Partner Interdependence Model

This study used attachment theory to examine romantic partners’ use of negative behaviors to maintain their relationships. Romantic couples (N = 227 dyads) completed self-reports of their attachment styles and use of negative relational maintenance behaviors. Actor-partner interdependence models provided dyadic results: (a) having a secure attachment produced inverse actor effects for all negative maintenance behaviors except avoidance, and inverse partner effects for allowing control and infidelity; (b) having a preoccupied or a fearful attachment produced positive actor effects for all negative maintenance behaviors and positive partner effects for allowing control; and (c) having a dismissive attachment produced positive actor effects for jealousy induction, avoidance, infidelity, and destructive conflict, and positive partner effects for jealousy induction, spying, and allowing control.

A Preliminary Study of Racialized Brawn and Brain Framing Effects

Extant research has established that racially based brawn and brain frames are common within sports media. Framing theory suggests that these brawn and brain frames should influence audience members’ behaviors and attitudes, but little empirical evidence to support this notion exists. This study used a quasi-experimental design (Frame x Athlete Race) to understand how exposure to sports news articles that emphasize the physical or mental attributes of White and Black athletes may result in audiences’ subsequent observable behaviors or character judgments toward athletes. Results indicated that frames influenced audiences’ behaviors in a simulated environment and attitudes regarding athletes’ mental abilities, whereas athlete race influenced audiences’ attitudes of athletes’ physical abilities. These findings support sports scholars’ assertions about framing effects and underscore the potential dangers of current sports media trends.

Communicating Competently in Graduate School: A Conditional Process Analysis Using Self-Regulation

Communication skills are necessary to succeed in graduate school. Building from the theory of self-regulation, this study investigated the effects of communication competence on one aspect of graduate students’ success (i.e., learning). Moderated mediation was hypothesized to exist within the communication competence–learning relationship. Graduate students (N = 184) from across the United States completed a self-report questionnaire and the results of a conditional process analysis revealed the effect of communication competence on learning was mediated by graduate students’ question-asking; yet, this indirect relationship was moderated by self-efficacy with highly efficacious students being more likely to derive the intended academic benefits.

A Conditional Process Analysis of the Teacher Confirmation–Student Learning Relationship

Students enter college with varying degrees of academic self-efficacy, which influences how they respond to effective teaching behaviors. Teacher confirmation is one behavior that has received increased attention because it is thought to indirectly enhance students’ learning by reducing their receiver apprehension in the classroom. Findings from 208 college students supported the hypothesized indirect effects between teacher confirmation and students’ perceived learning through reduced receiver apprehension, but conditional process analyses revealed these indirect effects were moderated by students’ academic self-efficacy. These findings suggest the effectiveness of teacher confirmation behaviors varies among students, with those who lack academic self-efficacy deriving fewer of the intended educational benefits.