Teacher Immediacy

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the topic of teacher immediacy, the communication behaviors that enhance physical and psychological closeness with another. It assesses three different studies that have been done on teacher immediacy behaviors and relates the information to teacher effectiveness in the classroom. It discusses how immediacy is important for teachers and communication scholars to understand since a teacher's use of verbal and non-verbal immediacy behaviors increases students' motivation and causes students to think more highly of him or her. It looks at how the conclusions that can be drawn from such studies hold many implications for teachers and those interested in speech communication behavior as well as how teachers should consciously be aware of their immediacy behavior and should use them frequently and positively.

From the Paper:

"All three studies tested immediacy in similar manners. They all used undergraduate students from different colleges and universities. They ranged in number of students from 178 to 319. In order to measure the immediacy behaviors, all studies used the Immediacy Behavior Scale developed by Gorham and Richmond in 1987. This scale lists both verbal and nonverbal immediacy behaviors and has students rate the frequency of their use on a scale of 0 (never) to 4 (very often). What is also interesting, is that all studies followed the same pattern of surveying students."

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