The Influence of Instructor-Student Rapport on Instructors’ Professional and Organizational Outcomes

Students and teachers have relational goals and needs, yet little research has examined the relational goals of instructors and how achieving those goals may affect instructor outcomes. This study examined instructors’ perspectives on instructor-student rapport. Results revealed that instructors who build rapport with students are likely to experience teaching satisfaction, affective commitment to the institution, and enhanced teaching efficacy. However, instructor-student rapport was not related to instructor morale. The findings in this study highlight the importance of positive instructor-student relationships in the classroom and the implications for both instructors and administrators.     

Exploring Pedagogical and Emotional Response in Higher Education Classrooms During the Boston Marathon Bombing Crisis

Using qualitative interviews, the study explored pedagogy and emotional responses of undergraduate and graduate teaching faculty during and after the Boston Marathon bombing crisis. The study interviewed nine undergraduate and graduate faculty members who were teaching across six Boston area universities and colleges when the Boston Marathon crisis occurred. Results found instructors felt a responsibility to emotionally respond to students during the crisis by acknowledging the crisis and highlighting resources in the classroom. The study further found that instructors often maintain curricular structure and invoke the crisis as a teaching tool to manage the classroom dynamic post-crisis. Limitations, directions for future research, and practical applications are discussed.     

Using Relevant Humor to Moderate Inappropriate Conversations: Maintaining Student Communication Satisfaction in the Classroom

This study assessed students’ (N=195) perceptions of instructors’ relevant humor and inappropriate conversations in the classroom and used expectancy violation theory (EVT) as a lens to position instructor relevant humor as a moderator between instructors’ inappropriate conversations and student communication satisfaction. Results showed a positive association between students’ perceptions of instructors’ use of relevant humor and student communication satisfaction, and in contrast, a negative relationship between perceptions of instructors’ inappropriate conversations and student communication satisfaction. Consistent with the tenets of EVT, results also indicated that instructors who use relevant humor in the classroom may overcome students’ negative perceptions of inappropriate conversations and maintain student communication satisfaction.     

The Relationship between Student Perceptions of Instructor Power and Classroom Justice This manuscript was presented as part of the Top Paper Panel to the Instructional Practices Interest Group of the Eastern Communication Association at its annual meeting in Pittsburgh, 2005.

The study investigated the relationships between student perceptions of instructor power and classroom justice. Partial correlations controlling for student grade expectations indicated that student perceptions of their instructors’ use of coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert power were related to perceptions of fairness in the classroom. Student perceptions of instructor use of reward power were not related to perceptions of any type of classroom justice.     

Surprise,Hurt, and Anger as Emotional Responses to Expectancy Violations Following Feedback Messages

ABSTRACT

Using expectancy violations theory, this study examined how the communication of unexpected feedback messages evoke emotional responses. A convenience sample (N = 309) reported instances of unexpected feedback within the last month. Results showed that receipt of the feedback message types were considered moderate-to-high violations. Violation expectedness and valence were negatively associated with the emotional responses, but violation importance was positively associated with the emotional responses. Finally, hurt and anger (but not surprise) were positively linked to perceptions of relational damage between the message sender and receiver. Taken together, our study demonstrates that expectancy violations are connected to emotions and relational outcomes.     

Instructional Feedback II: How Do Instructor Immediacy Cues and Facework Tactics Interact to Predict Student Motivation and Fairness Perceptions?

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.     

Instructors' and Students' Perspectives of Student Nagging: Frequency,Appropriateness, and Effectiveness

Nagging is a persistent tactic students use to persuade instructors. The purpose of this study was to compare student (n = 280) and instructor (n = 97) perceptions of student nagging in the classroom, and to examine the relationship between student nagging and instructor satisfaction. Results show that instructors perceive students as using four nagging strategies with significantly greater frequency than students do. In addition, students perceive all seven nagging strategies to be significantly more effective and appropriate than instructors. Finally, there is a significant relationship between particular nagging strategies and instructor satisfaction.     

Swearing by Peers in the Work Setting: Expectancy Violation Valence,Perceptions of Message,and Perceptions of Speaker

Swearing is a frequent language form in a number of contexts, including the work setting. This investigation extends research on expectancy violations theory as an explanation for how people perceive swearing by examining violation valence. Study 1 concludes that violation valence is positively related to perceptions of message appropriateness and effectiveness and to perceptions of the speaker. Study 2 replicates these findings using a national sample. These results provide support for the role of expectancy violations in swearing and show that swearing is not always perceived as negative in work settings.     

The Cognitive Learning Measure: A Three-Study Examination of Validity

Instructional communication scholars have long been interested in creating and testing alternative approaches to measuring cognitive learning. One of the existing measures, the Cognitive Learning Measure (Frisby & Martin, 2010), has not yet been fully validated. This series of three studies examined the factorial and concurrent validity of the scale. Results revealed that a three-factor measurement model was a better fit to the data than the original unidimensional factor model. Concurrent validity was established with respect to student motives, affective learning, student interest, classroom participation, and out-of-class communication with their instructors. The measure is discussed as a viable option for both operationalization of cognitive learning and as a complement to other learning tests.     

Students' Perceptions of Classroom Group Work as a Function of Group Member Selection

Course: Small Group Communication

The purpose of this assessment was to examine whether differences exist between students who self-select their classroom work group members and students who are randomly assigned to their classroom work groups in terms of their use of organizational citizenship behaviors with their work group members; their commitment to, trust in, and relational satisfaction with their work groups; and their self-reports of affective learning and cognitive learning. Participants were 126 students enrolled in a small group communication course. While students who self-select their group members and students who are randomly assigned to their groups do not differ in their use of organizational citizenship behaviors with their classroom work group members, students who self-select their classroom work group members do report higher levels of commitment, trust, and relational satisfaction, as well as more affective learning and more cognitive learning, than students who are randomly assigned to classroom work groups.     

Cognitive and emotional dimensions of perceived risk characteristics,genre-specific media effects,and risk perceptions: the case of H1N1 influenza in South Korea

This study explicates the mechanism underlying the process through which news and entertainment media shape people's personal- and societal-level risk perceptions. It combines the psychometric paradigm with the impersonal- and differential-impact hypotheses, highlighting the roles that cognitive and emotional dimensions of risk characteristics play in risk perceptions. Analysis of an online survey among 384 adults from the general population of South Korea in the context of H1N1 flu yields three major findings: (1) exposure to news media is positively correlated with the cognitive dimension of risk characteristics, while exposure to entertainment media is positively correlated with both the cognitive and the emotional dimensions of risk characteristics; (2) the emotional but not the cognitive dimension of risk characteristics is positively related to both personal- and societal-level risk perceptions; and (3) exposure to entertainment media affects personal-level risk perceptions – not directly but indirectly through the emotional dimension of risk characteristics. Theoretically, this study expands the impersonal- and differential-impact hypotheses by explicating their underlying mechanisms and incorporating arguments from the psychometric paradigm. It also adds new knowledge to the psychometric paradigm by highlighting the differential roles of the cognitive and emotional dimensions of people's perceived risk characteristics in risk perceptions. For risk communicators, this study highlights the importance of using entertainment media for shaping risk perceptions and educating the public about risk issues.     

Understanding the Role of Instructor Rapport in the College Classroom

ABSTRACT

This study examined the discriminant validity between rapport and immediacy and tested a model using instructor rapport as the mediator between immediacy and learning. Participants (N = 146) completed measures of nonverbal immediacy, instructor rapport, perceived cognitive learning, and anticipated final course grade. Results revealed that immediacy and rapport were two distinct constructs. In testing the model, the enjoyable interaction dimension of instructor rapport mediated the relationship between immediacy and perceived learning but not anticipated final grades. The personal connection dimension of rapport mediated the relationship between immediacy and both perceived learning and anticipated final grade. These results explore the mechanism through which immediacy may lead to cognitive learning.     

Assessing the Effects of Instructor Enthusiasm on Classroom Engagement,Learning Goal Orientation,and Academic Self-Efficacy

Enthusiasm is widely regarded as one of the most essential and desirable qualities and characteristics of effective teachers. This study is designed to assess the effects of teacher enthusiasm on student classroom engagement, learning goal orientation, and academic self-efficacy. Participants include 165 college students enrolled in basic communication classes. Results indicate that teacher enthusiasm is an effective predictor of student behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement, intrinsic goal orientation, and academic self-efficacy, but it is not a significant predictor of extrinsic goal orientation. Consequently, this study demonstrates the power of teacher enthusiasm in predicting and shaping students' behavior in the classroom.     

Planning Improves Vocal Fluency and the Appearance of Concern When Communicating Emotional Support

Emotional support is often conveyed to people with cancer; however, not all support messages are effective, leading some potential supporters to fear appearing incompetent when communicating support. Additionally, nonverbal behaviors, such as vocal fluency, pitch variety, eye contact, and conveying concern, have previously been associated with support recipients’ outcomes and perceptions of speaker competence. This experiment determines whether these nonverbal behaviors can be increased through message planning. Participants were randomly assigned to either a planning condition or a distraction task condition before recording emotional support messages for a friend hypothetically diagnosed with cancer. Results showed that planners spoke with significantly more vocal fluency and conveyed significantly more nonverbal concern than nonplanners. Planners also used more eye contact and pitch variety than nonplanners, but these differences were not statistically significant. Results suggest that planning may improve some nonverbal aspects of communicating support, which may in turn improve perceptions of supporters’ competence.     

Student perceptions of instructor verbal aggressiveness: The influence of student verbal aggressiveness and self‐esteem

This study explored the effects of student levels of trait verbal aggressiveness (VA) and self‐esteem on student perceptions of instructor verbal aggressiveness in the college classroom. Participants included 228 undergraduate students who completed a series of instruments measuring self‐reported levels of VA and self‐esteem, as well as instructor levels of VA in the classroom. Results indicated that students who reported moderate to high levels of trait VA rated their instructors as being more verbally aggressive than those students who reported low levels of trait VA. Likewise, students who reported low to moderate levels of self‐esteem rated their instructors as being more verbally aggressive than those students who reported high levels of self‐esteem. When combined, student VA and self‐esteem accounted for 7% of the shared variance in student perceptions of instructor VA.     

硕士研究生网络学术信息查寻行为中的情绪作用机制

[目的/意义] 探析硕士研究生网络学术信息查寻行为中的情绪作用机制，以深化信息查寻行为中情绪问题的研究。[方法/过程] 通过半结构化访谈法，收集网络环境下25位硕士研究生学术信息查寻活动的相关数据，使用三级编码对质性数据进行分析，提炼其信息查寻行为中的情绪特征与行为特征。[结果/结论] 硕士研究生在网络学术信息查寻行为过程中会产生不同类型的情绪效价和情绪唤醒度，前者包括积极情绪、中性情绪和消极情绪，后者包括高唤醒度、中唤醒度和低唤醒度；情绪效价与情绪唤醒度将引发不同类型的积极行为与消极行为。     

Creating an Emotional Intelligence Community of Practice: A Case Study for Academic Libraries

Abstract

Using Etienne Wenger’s concept of a community of practice, UH Libraries’ Liaison Services Department developed departmental members’ emotional intelligence. The social learning structure of the community of practice mirrors the emotional intelligence learning model theorized by Daniel Goleman. This case study demonstrates how this approach can benefit a unit within an academic library. Using a community of practice approach to build a space for social learning creates an environment in which library workers are able to learn and practice the skills of emotional intelligence among their colleagues and within the context of the norms and values of the work environment.     

Emotional labor in librarianship: A research agenda

Many occupations, including librarianship, require emotional labor, which can be defined as the awareness of the emotional expressions required of a job, and the strategies used to express those emotions. To date, little research has examined emotional labor in library work, even though strong evidence exists to suggest emotional labor is a key component of many library jobs. Research on emotional labor shows that there can be positive and negative effects on individuals such as job satisfaction and job burnout. Research also shows that the negative outcomes from emotional labor may be buffered to some extent by factors such as support from the organization, or job autonomy. Individual differences such as personality traits and attitudes toward customers also impact the effects of emotional labor on employees. Because emotional labor is a critical issue in library work, and because evidence suggests positive outcomes can be fostered, there is a need to study how emotional labor is carried out in libraries, and to identify management techniques for emotional labor that will yield positive outcomes for both employees and organizations. Empirical research on emotional labor is reviewed, and a research agenda for exploration of this important construct in the field of librarianship is presented.     

Architects,Renovators, Builders,and Fragmenters: A Model for First Year Students' Self-perceptions and Perceptions of Information Literacy

The transition from high school to college is fraught with academic, social, and emotional changes for first-year students. This year long qualitative study uses cognitive dissonance theory to examine first-year students' changing perceptions of their information literacy competencies throughout their freshman year. Through the examination of students' self-reflections and semi-structured interviews, the study produced cognitive dissonance in students, revealed four information literacy journeys, demonstrated the shifting of students' definitions of research, and shed light on the emotional labor involved in college-level research. Implications for information literacy instruction and future research are discussed.     

Integrating Information Literacy and Evidence-Based Medicine Content within a New School of Medicine Curriculum: Process and Outcome

This column describes a process for integrating information literacy (IL) and evidence-based medicine (EBM) content within a new school of medicine curriculum. The project was a collaborative effort among health sciences librarians, curriculum deans, directors, and faculty. The health sciences librarians became members of the curriculum committees, developed a successful proposal for IL and EBM content within the curriculum, and were invited to become course instructors for Analytics in Medicine. As course instructors, the librarians worked with the other faculty instructors to design and deliver active learning class sessions based on a flipped classroom approach using a proprietary Information Mastery curriculum. Results of this collaboration may add to the knowledge base of attitudes and skills needed to practice as full faculty partners in curricular design and instruction.