Power in the classroom VI: Verbal control strategies, nonverbal immediacy and affective learning

Abstract

This investigation is the sixth in a series of projects designed to programmatically examine teacher power in the classroom. Recognizing that nonverbal behaviors typically provide the framework for interpreting verbal messages, this project proposed and sequentially tested a heuristic model of student affective learning as a function of behavior alteration techniques and teacher nonverbal immediacy. Employing a two‐study correlational design, the model was tested in five stages across secondary and college students. Results supported the proposed positive relationships among teachers’ use of. behavior alteration techniques, immediacy and student affect for both studies. Teachers’ selective use of verbal control strategies in the classroom was shown to be indirectly related to affective learning as a function of students’ perceptions of teacher immediacy. Interpretations focus on the model, previous power in the classroom studies, and the design of future studies in this program.