The Impact of Teacher Immediacy on Students' Motivation over the Course of a Semester.

A study investigated the impact of teachers' use of immediacy behaviors on students' reported motivation to study over the course of a semester. The state and trait motivation of 178 undergraduate students (enrolled in communication courses at a mid-sized eastern university) to study for a class was measured at three points during the semester. Reports of teachers' use of verbal and nonverbal immediacy were collected at two points in a semester. Support was found for the hypothesis that not all students would respond similarly to a teacher low in immediacy. Students beginning the semester with either low or moderate state motivation to study were found to have increased levels of motivation later in the semester when exposed to a highly immediate teacher. Students beginning the semester with high motivation maintained high motivation regardless of the level of immediacy they reported their teacher's having. (Nine tables of data are included. Contains 22 references.) (Author/RS) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** The Impact of Teacher Immediacy on Students' Motivation Over the Course of a Semester Ann Bainbridge Frymier Ann Bainbridge Frymier (Ed.D., West Virginia University, 1992) is an Assistant Professor at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. Correspondence can be addressed to Ann Bainbridge Frymier, 160 Bachelor Hall, Speech Communication, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, or telephoned at (513) 529-7171. Paper presented at the 1993 Instructional Development Division of the Speech Communicatin Association, Miami, FL. Running head: IMMEDIACY AND MOTIVATION U.S. DEPARVIENT Of EDUCATION 04Nce 4 Educanonal ROIMIIMh and Imp. Oyefnitrit EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) k'Ulm document ha Won reproduced as received from the porson Or ofilantzahOn originating 0 0 Minor changes have been mad* to improve reproduction ;lush! ), Points of vet* or opinions stated in this docu . ment do not necessarily represent olficist OERI position or policy 2 "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BBEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOL ACES INFORMATION CENTER (ER)C)" Immediacy and Motivation Abstract This study investigated the impact of teachers' use of immediacy behaviors on students' reported motivation to study over the course of a semester. Students' state and trait motivation to study for a class was measured at three points during a semester. Reports of teachers' use of verbal and nonverbal immediacy were collected at two points in a semester. It was hypothesized that not all students would respond similarly to a teacher low in immediacy. Support was found for this hypothesis. Students beginning the semester with either low or moderate state motivation to study were found to have increased levels of motivation later in the semester when exposed to a highly immediate teacher. Students beginning the semester with high motivation maintained high motivation regardless of the level of immediacy they reported their teacher of having.This study investigated the impact of teachers' use of immediacy behaviors on students' reported motivation to study over the course of a semester. Students' state and trait motivation to study for a class was measured at three points during a semester. Reports of teachers' use of verbal and nonverbal immediacy were collected at two points in a semester. It was hypothesized that not all students would respond similarly to a teacher low in immediacy. Support was found for this hypothesis. Students beginning the semester with either low or moderate state motivation to study were found to have increased levels of motivation later in the semester when exposed to a highly immediate teacher. Students beginning the semester with high motivation maintained high motivation regardless of the level of immediacy they reported their teacher of having. Teacher immediacy has been a heavily researched construct in recent years, with results indicating that communication of immediacy has a positive influence on students. Verbal and nonverbal immediacy have been associated with increased affective learning (Andersen, 1979), perceived cognitive learning (Gorham, 1988; Richmond, Gorham, & McCroskey, 1987), and motivation (Christophel, 1990; Richmond, 1990). An implicit assumption of this previous research has been that all students equally benefit from immediacy. Frymier (1993) found that students appeared to respond to an immediate teacher differently depending on their level of communication apprehension. Students with moderate and high levels of communication apprehension appeared to benefit more from having a highly immediate teacher, where low apprehensives had high motivation regardless of the level of immediacy they reported their teacher as having. Some students may benefit more from an immediate teacher than other students. An objective of the present research was to investigate the differential impact of teacher immediacy on students' motivation to study over the course of a semester. Immediacy Immediacy was conceptualized by Mehrabian (1971) as communication behaviors that enhance physical and psychological closeness with another. Nonverbal immediacy has been operationalized as behaviors such as eye contact, smiling, positive use of gestures, vocal variety, forward body leans, and a relaxed Immediacy and Motivation body position. Verbal immediacy has been operationalized as verbal behaviors such as use of personal examples, using "we" and "our," using students first names, and using humor in class. Gorham (1988) determined that both verbal and nonverbal immediacy contributed to students' perceptions of teacher immediacy, and was associated with students' affective and cognitive learning. Andersen (1979) first investigated teacher nonverbal immediacy in the classroom and found that teacher immediacy was positively related to students' affective learning, but teacher immediacy was not associated with cognitive learning as measured by performance on a multiple choice test. Andersen also demonstrated that students were as accurate in assessing teachers' immediacy behaviors as were trained observers. Although Andersen did not find a relationship between teacher immediacy and cognitive learning, Kelley and Gorham (1988) demonstrated such a relationship in a controlled setting where affect for the instructor was minimized. Additional support for the immediacy-cognitive learning relationship was provided by Richmond et al. (1987) who were able to discriminate high learners from low learners using student reports of teacher immediacy. Student motivation to study was introduced simultaneously by Christophel (1990) and Richmond (1990) as a possible mediating variable between teacher immediacy and student learning. Richmond (1990) found immediacy to be positively associated with motivation and motivation to be positively associated with