Co-constructing Student Involvement: An Examination of Teacher Confirmation and Student-to-Student Connectedness in the College Classroom

In order for students to succeed academically instructors must foster a supportive and connected learning environment. Importantly, not only do instructors need to connect with students, they also need to allow students the opportunity to connect with one another. Following that framework, aligned with the Dimensions of Learning model, we examined teacher confirmation behaviors and student-to-student connectedness as predictors of students' willingness to talk in class and preparedness for class (e.g., reading assigned chapters). Results found student-to-student connectedness mediated the relationships between teacher confirmation behaviors and in-class student involvement. Thus, this co-constructed, positive classroom climate nurtures student involvement. Student-to-student connectedness also served as a stronger predictor of student involvement than class size. Regardless of class size, student-to-student connectedness is an important classroom resource that instructors need to tap into as they try to engage their students.

[1]  P. Kearney,et al.  College students' attributions of teacher misbehaviors , 2004 .

[2]  P. Pintrich.  A Motivational Science Perspective on the Role of Student Motivation in Learning and Teaching Contexts. , 2003 .

[3]  Kathleen Ellis.  Perceived Teacher Confirmation: The Development and Validation of an Instrument and Two Studies of the Relationship to Cognitive and Affective Learning. , 2000 .

[4]  S. Myers,et al.  The Relationship Between Perceived Instructor Aggressive Communication and College Student Involvement , 2007 .

[5]  Vincent Tinto.  Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research , 1975 .

[6]  How people disqualify: Experimental studies of spontaneous written disqualification , 1986 .

[7]  P. Palmer,et al.  To know as we are known : education as a spiritual journey , 1993 .

[8]  B. Everitt,et al.  Applied Multivariate Data Analysis. , 1993 .

[9]  Jordan Soliz,et al.  Perceived Understanding as a Mediator of Perceived Teacher Confirmation and Students’ Ratings of Instruction , 2006 .

[10]  S. Chatman.  Lower-Division Class size at U.S. Postsecondary Institutions , 1996 .

[11]  A. Mukherjee,et al.  Improving Undergraduate Student Involvement in Management Science and Business Writing Courses Using the Seven Principles in Action , 1998 .

[12]  Jean J. Endo,et al.  The effect of student-faculty interaction on students' educational outcomes , 1981 .

[13]  M. Buber.  The William Alanson White Memorial Lectures, Fourth Series , 1957 .

[14]  Jon A. Hess,et al.  Are Student Self-Reports a Valid Method for Measuring Teacher Nonverbal Immediacy? , 2005 .

[15]  Joseph B. Berger,et al.  REVISING TINTO'S INTERACTIONALIST THEORY OF STUDENT DEPARTURE THROUGH THEORY ELABORATION: Examining the Role of Organizational Attributes in the Persistence Process , 1998 .

[16]  Ann L. Darling,et al.  Problems of understanding in classrooms: Students' use of clarifying tactics , 1990 .

[17]  R. Wade,et al.  Teacher education students' views on class discussion: Implications for fostering critical reflection , 1994 .

[18]  Maureen E. Wilson,et al.  The Sociology of the Classroom and Its Influence on Student Learning , 2002 .

[19]  D. Johnson.  Connected Classroom Climate: A Validity Study , 2009 .

[20]  Nancy D. Bell,et al.  Microteaching: What is it that is going on here? , 2007 .

[21]  Jon A. Hess,et al.  Is teacher immediacy actually related to student cognitive learning? , 2001 .

[22]  George D. Kuh,et al.  How to Help Students Achieve. , 2007 .

[23]  W. McKeachie,et al.  The Making of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire , 2005 .

[24]  J. Mccroskey,et al.  The interrelationship of student ratings of instructors' immediacy, verbal aggressiveness, homophily, and interpersonal attraction , 1999 .

[25]  Elizabeth J. Whitt,et al.  Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter , 2012 .

[26]  S. Myers.  The relationship between perceived instructor credibility and college student in‐class and out‐of‐class communication , 2004 .

[27]  Robert D. McPhee,et al.  Commonality Analysis: A Method for Decomposing Explained Variance in Multiple Regression Analyses. , 1979 .

[28]  Joseph B. Berger,et al.  A Modified Model of College Student Persistence: Exploring the Relationship Between Astin's Theory of Involvement and Tinto's Theory of Student Departure , 1997 .

[29]  A. Astin.  What matters in college? : four critical years revisited , 1994 .

[30]  Anna Fyrenius,et al.  Lectures in problem-based learning—Why, when and how? An example of interactive lecturing that stimulates meaningful learning , 2005, Medical teacher.

[31]  A. Bruckman,et al.  The Bystander Effect: A Lens for Understanding Patterns of Participation , 2004 .

[32]  樊希强,et al.  Cooperative Learning , 2020, Teaching High School Physics.

[33]  Kathleen Ellis.  The impact of perceived teacher confirmation on receiver apprehension, motivation, and learning , 2004 .

[34]  Ken Petress,et al.  An Operational Definition of Class Participation , 2006 .

[35]  M. Neer,et al.  Apprehensives’ perception of classroom factors influencing their class participation , 1989 .

[36]  Connie R. Wanberg,et al.  Predictors and outcomes of proactivity in the socialization process. , 2000, The Journal of applied psychology.

[37]  P. Kearney,et al.  College teacher misbehaviors: What students don't like about what teachers say and do , 1991 .

[38]  R. Marzano.  A Different Kind of Classroom: Teaching with Dimensions of Learning. , 1992 .

[39]  K. E. Coffield.  Student Apathy: A Comparative Study , 1981 .

[40]  Rebecca B. Rubin,et al.  Effects of Instruction on Communication Apprehension and Communication Competence , 1997 .

[41]  Jay R. Howard,et al.  Student Participation and Instructor Gender in the Mixed Age College Classroom , 1998 .

[42]  K. Menzel,et al.  The impact of gender and immediacy on willingness to talk and perceived learning , 1999 .

[43]  Graham Gibbs,et al.  Class size and student performance: 1984–94 , 1996 .

[44]  A. Astin.  Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. , 1999 .

[45]  J. Gorham.  The relationship between verbal teacher immediacy behaviors and student learning , 1988 .

[46]  R. Weaver,et al.  Classroom Organization and Participation: College Students' Perceptions , 2005 .

[47]  Donald P. Cushman,et al.  The development of interpersonal communication theory , 1974 .

[48]  S. Bingham,et al.  Communication and connectedness in the classroom: Development of the connected classroom climate inventory , 2004 .

[49]  Vincent Tinto,et al.  Classrooms as Communities: Exploring the Educational Character of Student Persistence. , 1997 .

[50]  Eric R. Ziegel,et al.  Applied Multivariate Data Analysis , 2002, Technometrics.

[51]  Robert R. Weaver,et al.  Classroom Organization and Participation: College Students' Perceptions , 2005 .

[52]  Kenneth N. Cissna,et al.  Patterns of Interactional Confirmation and Disconfirmation , 1981 .

[53]  P. Fassinger,et al.  Professors' and Students' Perceptions of Why Students Participate in Class. , 1996 .

[54]  P. Fassinger.  Classes Are Groups: Thinking Sociologically about Teaching , 1997 .

[55]  Virginia P. Richmond,et al.  Power in the classroom VI: Verbal control strategies, nonverbal immediacy and affective learning , 1986 .

[56]  Scott A. Myers,et al.  Verbal aggression in the college classroom: Perceived instructor use and student affective learning , 1999 .

[57]  Guoping Jiang,et al.  The Uses of the University , 2003 .

[58]  Narissra Maria Punyanunt-Carter,et al.  Advisor–Advisee Communication Two: The Influence of Verbal Aggression and Humor Assessment on Advisee Perceptions of Advisor Credibility and Affective Learning , 2005 .

[59]  C. Colbeck,et al.  Learning Professional Confidence: Linking Teaching Practices, Students' Self-Perceptions, and Gender , 2000 .

[60]  D. Pepler,et al.  Wounding Words: Maternal Verbal Aggression and Children's Adjustment , 2006, Journal of Family Violence.

[61]  Marian L. Houser,et al.  The teacher‐student relationship as an interpersonal relationship , 2000 .

[62]  Kenneth N. Cissna,et al.  Speech communication antecedents of perceived confirmation , 1979 .

[63]  Paul Schrodt,et al.  Student Perceptions of Teacher Power as a Function of Perceived Teacher Confirmation , 2006 .

[64]  Mary Stuart Hunter,et al.  Fostering Student Learning and Success through First-Year Programs , 2006 .

[65]  P. Pintrich.  A Manual for the Use of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). , 1991 .