Instructional Immediacy Online (original) (raw)
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A 2 x 2 experiment was conducted in which instructor nonverbal immediacy and verbal immediacy were manipulated in a college classroom to examine causal links with cognitive and affective learning outcomes. Previous criticisms concerning immediacy and learning research were considered and multiple operationalizations of cognitive learning (i.e., recall, learning loss, learning indicators) and affective outcomes (i.e., affective learning, state motivation, student satisfaction) were investigated in light of these criticisms. Students in the high nonverbal/high verbal immediacy condition performed significantly better on a recall test, accounting for 8% of the variance. However, no differences in perceived learning outcomes (i.e., learning loss, learning indicators, affective learning, state motivation, student satisfaction) were observed as a result of nonverbal or verbal immediacy manipulation. Additionally, all perceived learning outcomes were correlated with one another while recall scores were uncorrelated.
This study tries to find out the effects of university instructors’ nonverbal immediacy skills on the student perception of cognitive learning by using the “Nonverbal Immediacy Scale for Observers” (NIS-O) developed by Richmond, McCroskey and Johnson in 2003. The present study is the first use of 26-item NIS-O instrument in cross-cultural literature examining the relationship of “instructors’ nonverbal immediacy behaviors” and “student perception of cognitive learning”, which makes its findings rather important for the cross-cultural nonverbal immediacy literature. The survey was conducted with the participation of fourth year undergraduate business administration students from Turkey, USA, and China. Findings of the study showed that outstanding instructors in classroom teaching are rather competent in nonverbal immediacy skills. While American and Turkish instructors appeared to be immediate at the same level, Chinese instructors exhibited relatively low scores on immediacy scale. Findings also showed a statistically significant and positive correlation
The Impact of Relevance and Teacher Immediacy on Cognitive and Affective Learning
Hooker is an Assistant Professor and Communication as Critical Inquiry (Com 110) Co-Director in the School of Communication. His responsibilities include preparing new graduate teaching assistants to deliver the Com 110 course and teaching classes in quantitative research methods and assessment. He has published on such topics as the utility of instructional discussion in the classroom, cognitive learning measurement, and assignment evaluation fidelity. His research interests include instructional communication, communication education, graduate teaching assistant training, the role of communication technologies in the teacher-student relationship, and assessment. Gone are the days when students were viewed as a vessel to be filled with knowledge that an instructor could pour into them. In an increasingly faster paced and socially networked society, students are used to expressing their voice more frequently and with more people than ever before, and that expression extends into the classroom. If students do not perceive that their instructor is trying to convey their voice back to them through the presentation of content, they have many other communication outlets to turn to, even during class, with laptop computers, iPads, and cell phones that are purportedly being used to take notes. Teachers have used multiple strategies in order to engage students and attempt to make connections between the course material and students' lives. Two methods that have been previously researched but are still not fully understood are the use of immediacy and relevancy in an attempt to increase student learning. Immediacy can be defined as the physical and psychological distance between communicators and relevancy can be defined as value seen in a topic by a receiver of communication. The current study is an attempt to shed new light on how these techniques may or may not help students learn by engaging them in the course. Review of Literature Learning Effective teachers are most easily identified by the amount of cognitive learning they produce in students, according to Bloom (1956). Cognitive learning covers a breadth of knowledge acquisition including memorization of facts as well as applying those facts in problem-solving and higher order thinking (Bloom, Englehart, Furst, Hill, & Krathwohl, 1956). While cognitive learning deals largely with logic, Bloom (1956) also identified a type of learning more related to pathos, affective learning. Students' emotional approach to the learning process includes their feelings, values, attitudes, and motivations (Bloom, 1956). Whereas cognitive learning can be evaluated objectively through identification of correct or incorrect answers, affective learning has no similar low-inference, demonstrative response indicating increase in ability. Obviously, cognitive learning deals with acquisition of knowledge that is then demonstrated in some fashion; affective learning is not gauged in the same way and, in order to measure it performatively, it would require a number of high-inference items such as quality of work and demonstration of valuing work done in class by extending it outside of class. In the current study, affective learning is operationalized through a self-report of attitudes about students' own emotional approaches to learning. This study was an experimental investigation into the impact of lecture topic relevancy and teacher immediacy on students' cognitive and affective learning. Students at Illinois State University (ISU) were recruited from multiple sections of Communication 110, a course required of all first-year students. Therefore, a variety of majors were included. The results revealed that students learned more with a highly relevant lecture topic. Students also learned more with a highly immediate instructor. There was no interaction between immediacy and relevance, contradicting previous research that suggested an overlap between the two. Pedagogical implications of the findings are discussed.
NONVERBAL IMMEDIACY IN THE CLASSROOM
This project explores the use of nonverbal communication in the learning setting. We examine the relationship between the use of nonverbal communication and the willingness of audience members to participate in discussions outside the speaking setting. It has been hypothesized that the willingness of the student to discuss things with a teacher can help improve the ability of that student to perform in the academic setting. In this research we demonstrate that the use of nonverbally immediate behaviors can increase the willingness of audience members to engage in contact outside of the speaking setting.
Using student reports to measure immediacy: Is it a valid methodology?
Communication Research Reports, 1995
Teacher immediacy has been a widely studied construct with the overall finding that being immediate is good. Verbal and nonverbal immediacy has been associated with increased motivation to study and learning. The most common methodology used to measure teacher immediacy has been student reports. An underlying assumption of this methodology is that students are able to objectively observe and report the behaviors performed by their instructor. The validity of this methodology has never been examined. The purpose of this study is to examine a variety of individual differences that may influence how students report their instructors' immediacy behaviors. Results from four studies are presented. The general conclusion drawn from these studies is that the individual differences examined do not influence the reporting of immediacy, providing support for the use of this methodology.
CULTURAL ASPECTS OF IMMEDIACY IN AN ASIAN CLASSROOM CONTEXT
Among the various factors affecting students' learning, immediacy is probably the one that has been most studied over the last four decades. Immediacy, a term coined by Mehrabian (1967), refers to verbal and nonverbal behaviours used by interlocutors to decrease physical and physiological distance between them, thus creating affinity, liking and affect. However, a number of questions arise as to the suitability of the various immediacy scales and their cultural significance in a non U.S. context, such as Hong Kong. Furthermore we were interested in possible differences in teachers' perception based on students' motivation. This paper presents the first part of an immediacy study, based on students of the Department of English of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (looking into mapping patterns of behaviours that increase immediacy). The results indicate that Hong Kong students prefer the holistic approach of the Chinese traditional teacher, a teacher who goes beyond just teaching in class, and that nonverbal actions are not high in their list of preferred behaviours in teachers, such as gestures, walking around the classroom or standing close to students (unlike what has been observed among U.S. students).
Immediacy and Learning: A Motivational Explanation
Within the framework of motivational theory, a study investigated how teachers' use of immediacy behaviors impacted students' learning. Two competing explanations for the immediacy-learning relationship (the motivation model and the attention model) were tested using path analyses with panel data collected over the period of one semester. A total of 178 undergraduate students reported on 105 male instructors, 67 female instructors, and 6 instructors of unidentified gender. Participants reported on classes in 45 different departments at a mid-sized eastern university. Support was found for the motivation model explanation of the immediacy-learning relationship. Findings suggest that, using J. M. Keller's model of motivation (in which motivation requires four conditions: interest, relevance, expectancy, and satisfaction), teacher immediacy may have a positive impact on students' motivation to study because it addresses at least three of the four conditions of motivatio...
1992
Teacher immediacy has surfaced as an important instructional communication variable, yet little is known about how it functions to effect learning. To offer an explanation as to how teacher immediacy facilitates learning, a study investigated implicit communication theory. Subjects consisted of 625 undergraduate students who completed questionnaires later subjected to regression analyses. As in previous research, teacher verbal and nonverbal immediacy effected cognitive and affective learning. Findings indicate that implicit communication theory helps explain why learning occurs. Specifically, the dimensions of pleasure and arousal accounted for over half of learning variance. Further, implicit communication theory is significantly related to teacher immediacy. Results suggest that the integration of implicit communication theory with learning in general and specific instructional variables such as teacher immediacy is appropriate and fruitful. Nine tables of data are included; 103 refeences are attached.) (Author) EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER IERICI fecnus document nee been reproduced is Wived from the Person Of organization originating it C" Mini) changes have bean made to improve reprOduCtiOn quality Point!' Of view Of OPMIOn$ stated.n INS docu menu do nOt necessarily represent Official OERI position of policy