Communication expectations for college instructors : do traditional and nontraditional students want the same things?

For over 20 years the instructional literature has suggested communication techniques and methods to instructors that enhance motivation and learning among traditional college students in their classrooms. However, the face of undergraduate students today is changing, and the nontraditional students entering colleges cannot be overlooked if instructors hope to serve every student. Thus, this study investigated the extent to which traditional and nontraditional students differ with respect to demographic characteristics and learning orientations and expectations of instructor communication behaviors as well as to see how those expectations affected their classroom motivation and learning. The investigation utilized Expectancy Violations Theory (Burgoon, 1978) as a basis for understanding student responses to instructor communication in the classroom. To determine whether age and life experience impacts the expectations students have of their instructors’ communication behaviors, 327 traditional and nontraditional undergraduate students from a four-year southeastern research university were surveyed. An instrument was developed to measure and compare expectations and experiences of the following instructor communication behaviors: nonverbal immediacy, verbal immediacy, clarity, affmity-seeking, student-centeredness, and instructor-centeredness.