Instructor Humor as a Moderator of Instructors’ Inappropriate Conversations and Instructional Dissent

This study (N?=?326) was conducted to examine the associations among instructor humor, inappropriate conversations, and instructional dissent. First, results showed students are more likely to employ rhetorical dissent when they perceive their instructors as humorous in the classroom. Second, using expectancy violations theory as a guide, results also indicated that students’ perceptions of instructor-relevant humor moderated the relationships between enactment of inappropriate conversations and students’ expressive and vengeful dissent. These findings support the importance of employing relevant humor in course instruction, especially when instructors engage in inappropriate conversations in the college classroom.     

Drunk and Alone in a K‐Mart Parking Lot: The Pedagogy of Simulations and Contemporary Attitudes Toward Drinking and Driving

This article introduces readers to the philosophy and design of team-based learning (TBL), a method developed by Dr. Larry Michaelsen that was influenced by literature in organizational psychology and pedagogy documenting what actually motivates adults to learn and how they master higher order learning skills. We describe how TBL was implemented in several criminal justice courses and illustrate how this method has drastically reduced student apathy, increased attendance, improved performance, and eliminated frustration for both instructors and students. Additionally, we reflect on how this method has reshaped our roles as educators.     

Part-time academics’ perception of their role and academic development: a case study from Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Employing part-time and casual academics is now a widely accepted practice in higher education globally. We explored the issue of the identity of part-time academics in Indonesian higher education through interviews with 14 part-time and 11 full-time academics. Both groups identified more strongly with their teaching roles than with other roles. However, they differed in their perceptions of opportunities to enact their chosen academic roles and of the kind of academic development they needed. The current standardised model of academic development needs to be rethought to offer more flexibility and to invite departments’ participation in the development of their academics.     

An Examination of Perceived Therapeutic Bond as a Mediator of Psychological Outcomes

The client's perception of the therapy relationship is an essential component of modern theoretical orientations. To date, there is a lack of quantitative research examining how the therapeutic bond affects therapy outcomes in college counseling. This study used path analysis to examine longitudinal therapy outcomes with 423 college students. Having a stronger therapeutic bond predicted decreased symptoms of depression, social anxiety, and academic distress. Findings support continued attention to developing a working relationship.     

The fluency principle: Why foreign accent strength negatively biases language attitudes

Two experiments tested the prediction that heavy foreign-accented speakers are evaluated more negatively than mild foreign-accented speakers because the former are perceived as more prototypical (i.e., representative) of their respective group and their speech disrupts listeners’ processing fluency (i.e., is more difficult to process). Participants listened to a mild or heavy Punjabi- (Study 1) or Mandarin-accented (Study 2) speaker. Compared to the mild-accented speaker, the heavy-accented speaker in both studies was attributed less status (but not solidarity), was perceived as more prototypical of their respective group, disrupted listeners’ processing fluency, and elicited a more negative affective reaction. The negative effects of accent strength on status were mediated by processing fluency and sequentially by processing fluency and affect, but not by prototypicality. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications are discussed.     

Chronemics in Instructor–Student E-Mail Communication: An Experimental Examination of Student Evaluations of Instructor Response Speeds

Text-based computer-mediated communication (e.g., e-mail) lacks nonverbal cues afforded by traditional face-to-face interaction in the classroom. A lack of cues may cause students to place increased importance on elements that are still present, such as how long it takes an instructor to respond to a message. This study experimentally explored how instructor e-mail response speed and message content interact to influence student perceptions of instructor interpersonal attraction and credibility. Results (N = 385) suggested that the quicker an instructor responds to a student e-mail message, the more positively s/he is evaluated in terms of social attractiveness, task attractiveness, competence, character, and caring. However, the content of the message did not significantly influence student perceptions of the instructor. These findings offer practical implications for instructor e-mail communication in the classroom and extend what is known about chronemics in computer-mediated communication to the instructional setting.     

Predictors of Self-Reported Likelihood of Working with Older Adults

This study examined the self-reported likelihood of working with older adults in a future career among 237 college undergraduates at a midsized Midwestern university. Although aging anxiety was not significantly related to likelihood of working with older adults, those students who had a greater level of death anxiety were less likely than other students to report a future likelihood of working with older adults. In addition, quality relationships with unrelated older adults were positively correlated with likelihood of working with older adults. Recommendations for future research and ideas for attracting college students to gerontology as a career are discussed.     

Effects of Accent Strength Expectancy Violations on Language Attitudes

This study examined how violations of listeners’ expectancies of the strength of speakers’ foreign accents influence evaluations of foreign-accented speakers. Participants (N = 275) listened to a male or female speaker reading a short passage in Spanish-accented English. Compared to participants whose expectancies about the strength of speakers’ foreign accents were confirmed, listeners whose expectancies were negatively violated reported a more negative affective reaction and attributed less status to the speaker. Affect partially mediated the effect of negative expectancy violations on ratings of status. Participants whose expectancies were positively violated did not differ from those whose expectancies were confirmed on any dependent measures.     

PRESENTATION OF THE ELDERLY IN THE SUNDAY NEWS

To determine the amount of newsspace devoted to articles about aging and the elderly 254 Sunday issues of 22 daily newspapers in 3 circulation groups published in 1983 were examined. A content analysis of the age‐related articles was also done. A total average of .87% of the news‐space was allocated to aging. This figure varied only slightly with circulation size, the ratio of elderly residents in the areas, or with the independence or affiliation of the newspapers. There were, however, differences among individual papers in space allocation. More articles were event—rather than issue—oriented. Metropolitan papers published significantly more issue articles than did papers in the lower circulation groups. Metropolitan papers significantly more often depicted the elderly in active rather than passive roles, whereas the opposite was true for papers in the lowest circulation group. Males were predominantly the subjects of articles in all papers. Recommendations for further study and implications for educational gerontologists are discussed.