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In this study, we examined the extent to which perceptions of instructors' communication characteristics positively impacted students' intentions to persist in college until graduation. For the 621 participants currently enrolled in college, receiver apprehension (RA) was inversely associated with intent to persist, while perceptions of both instructor credibility and nonverbal immediacy were positively associated with intent to persist. Moreover, both credibility and immediacy interacted to moderate the negative effects of RA on attitudes about persistence. Hierarchical regression analysis produced three significant two-way interactions between RA and immediacy, RA and credibility, and immediacy and credibility. The model accounted for 30% of the total variance in students' intent to persist. Theoretical and pedagogical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During feedback interventions (FIs), instructors may feel torn between directing students’ learning or maintaining productive rapport with them. Existing research suggests how instructional communication can achieve both outcomes. This study examined how students’ motivation to learn and perceptions of fairness were enhanced or eroded via particular instructional behaviors. Actual face-threat mitigation (FTM) tactics and teacher nonverbal immediacy (TNI) cues were manipulated in differing combinations to manage an FI situation, with varying effects on the outcome variables. Multivariate analysis detected main effects and a significant interaction effect between FTM and TNI regarding students’ motivation to learn, but main effects only for their perceptions of interactional fairness. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed in light of self-determination, facework, approach-avoidance, and feedback intervention theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tested two theoretical models of instructor credibility as a potential mediator between instructors' classroom communication behaviors (nonverbal immediacy, enthusiasm, and homophily) and students' intentions to persist in college. Participants included 570 undergraduate students from three institutions in the South-Central United States. Results of structural equation modeling provided greater support for the partial mediation model, in which nonverbal immediacy had both direct and indirect effects on students' intent to persist, though instructor enthusiasm and homophily were fully mediated by credibility. Overall, students' perceptions of these three instructor behaviors accounted for 56% of the variance in credibility and 43% of the variance in intent to persist. Furthermore, this model proved to be invariant across ethnic groups (Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic), suggesting that these instructor communication behaviors may contribute to positive outcomes for virtually all students, regardless of ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instructors routinely provide feedback for students concerning the work the students produce as part of a classroom course. Although such information is required of instructors and expected by students, the communication of feedback creates a potentially face-threatening interaction in which the student's self-esteem may be diminished and/or the instructor-student relationship may be strained. This study investigated a video instructor's attempts to mitigate such face threats by using sensitive verbal strategies combined with nonverbal immediacy cues. A 2 x 2 experimental design allowed manipulation of these two variables in higher and lower combinations and subsequent detection of a significant interaction effect between them. In the presence of higher face-threat mitigation cues and higher nonverbal immediacy cues, students attributed greater credibility to the video instructor and evaluated the instructor more highly. These findings are interpreted in light of approach-avoidance theory, which posits that people draw near to others whom they like and avoid those they dislike. Implications for classroom instructors are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This meta-analysis reviews the findings of 51 studies (N = 14,378) examining the associations among teacher credibility, teacher behaviors, and student outcomes. When all three dimensions of credibility are considered collectively (i.e., competence, trustworthiness, and caring), the cumulative evidence indicates a moderate, meaningful relationship between teacher credibility and overall outcomes (r=.448). Similar overall effect sizes were observed for competence (r=.481), trustworthiness (r=.477), and caring (r=.554), though the overall effect size for caring was greater in magnitude than that obtained for credibility measured as a single factor (r=.294). On average, higher correlations were observed when researchers measured all three dimensions of credibility (r=.518) than when they only measured competence and character (r=.256). Collectively, the results highlight the unique contributions of perceived caring to the teacher credibility construct, as well as the meaningful role that teacher credibility plays in facilitating student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This meta-analysis reviews the findings of 56 studies (n=19,745) examining the associations among family communication patterns (i.e., conversation and conformity orientations) and information-processing, behavioral, and psychosocial outcomes. When both conversation and conformity orientations are considered collectively, the cumulative evidence indicates a small, but meaningful relationship between family communication patterns and overall outcomes (r=.285). Similar overall effect sizes were observed for conversation (r=.262) and conformity orientations (r=.253), though the average effect size for conversation orientation and psychosocial outcomes (r=.460) was greater in magnitude than those obtained for information processing (r=.238) or behavioral outcomes (r=.276). Slightly larger effect sizes were observed when researchers used the Revised Family Communication Patterns scale (r=.332) as compared with the Family Communication Patterns scale (r=.261), though this difference in magnitude was statistically non-significant. Collectively, the results suggest that family communication patterns have a meaningful association with a variety of cognitive activities and relational behaviors, as well as individual well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the expanding role and significance of communication fidelity theory within a bimodal communication event framework comprising both basic communication fidelity and listening fidelity. First, a discussion of communication fidelity situates the concept in relation to corollary theoretical constructs, and an argument is made for the essential, inherent presence of fidelity throughout the scholarly examination of human communication phenomena. Next appears an explication of four propositional statements supported by an ongoing program of empirical research, followed by a discussion of measurement considerations. A research agenda is then proposed that suggests various lines of future inquiry that could integrate this concept and measurement system into a variety of research programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three studies were conducted to (a) re-examine the internal properties of Roach's 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation included two studies relating anticipatory public speaking anxiety to the nature of the speech assignment. Based on uncertainty reduction theory, which suggests that communicators are less comfortable in unfamiliar or unpredictable contexts, two hypotheses were advanced on the presumption that various types of assignments in a speech performance course do not produce the same levels of anticipatory anxiety. The hypotheses were supported in both trait and state anxiety studies, where certain differences in narrowband anticipatory speech anxiety were detected among different types of informative speeches: impromptu, extemporaneous, and manuscript reading. These findings extend the tenets of uncertainty reduction theory to the public speaking context and suggest implications for both therapeutic intervention and pedagogical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationship between public speaking anxiety and physiological stress indicators at four different milestones or stages in the delivery of a public speech. Specifically, public speakers' gastrointestinal body sensations were compared at different times and across different levels of psychological trait anxiety. Results indicated significant differences in both the magnitude and the patterns of somatic responses between high- and low-trait-anxiety groupings. First, as the groups of speakers moved from anticipation to confrontation, their somatic responses changed in opposite directions. Subsequently, high-anxiety speakers reported a significant increase in stress symptoms immediately after the speech had ended, indicating anxious remorse or fear of negative evaluation. These findings provided important new information about speech anxiety patients, particularly as they differ in high- and low-anxiety speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the interaction effect of nonverbal immediacy and expected instructional technology use on students’ initial reports of instructor credibility. Participants included 549 college students who were randomly assigned to one of eight scenarios depicting first-day class sessions across four levels of technology use and two levels of nonverbal immediacy. A 4×2 factorial MANOVA revealed a significant multivariate interaction effect for instructor credibility, as well as significant multivariate main effects for both expected technology use and nonverbal immediacy. Univariate procedures revealed that the interaction effect and both main effects were significant for all three dimensions of instructor credibility. Finally, planned cell comparisons revealed different trends among dimensions of credibility for highly immediate vs. nonimmediate instructors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report uses meta-analysis to derive correlations between the variables of teacher immediacy, cognitive learning, and affective learning. A model was constructed such that the perception of teacher immediacy, a behavior, generates an intermediate outcome of affect, a motivation, which in turn increases cognitive learning outcome. The data across all the included investigations are consistent with that model. The results suggest that high levels of teacher immediacy function as a means of increasing the motivation of a student to learn, and that such motivation increases the cognitive mastery of material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the extent to which teacher nonverbal immediacy moderates the effects of different levels of instructional technology use on students' initial perceptions of affect for the course and instructor. Participants included 549 college students who were randomly assigned to one of eight scenarios depicting first-day class sessions across four levels of technology use (none, minimal, moderate, complete) and two levels of teacher nonverbal immediacy (highly immediate, nonimmediate). A 4 × 2 factorial ANOVA produced a significant two-way interaction effect, as well as significant main effects for both instructional technology use and nonverbal immediacy on students' affect. Planned cell comparisons revealed that the use of instructional technology has primarily a curvilinear effect, though the effect was somewhat different for immediate and nonimmediate teachers. Post hoc comparisons of the curvilinear effect sizes across immediacy conditions confirmed that the curvilinear effect of technology use on students' affect for highly immediate teachers was greater than the effect for nonimmediate teachers. Overall, the results highlight the importance of considering those instructor behaviors that moderate the influence of instructional technology in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editorial policy of the journal "Communication Education" is detailed.

This study examined the relationships among a public speaker's body sensations, state of mind, and anticipatory public speaking state anxiety. A negative relationship was found to exist between speaker state of mind and anticipatory public speaking anxiety, and a positive relationship was found between speaker body sensations and anticipatory public speaking anxiety. Moreover, speaker state of mind and body sensations combined to predict anticipatory public speaking anxiety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]