A meta‐analytical review of the relationship between teacher immediacy and student learning

Abstract

This meta‐analysis reviews the findings of 81 studies (N=24,474) examining the relationship between teachers' verbal or nonverbal immediacy (or both) and students' learning outcomes. The cumulative evidence indicates meaningful correlations between teachers' nonverbal immediacy and student reports of perceived learning (r=.51) and affective learning (r=.49), but only a slight correlation with students' performance on cognitive learning measures (r=.17). Teachers' verbal immediacy was found to correlate with students' perceived learning (r=.49) and affective learning (r=.49), but again the relationship with performed cognitive learning was notably smaller (r=.06). Average effect sizes were generally smaller in experimental research designs than in survey‐type research, and generally larger when verbal/nonverbal immediacy was measured as a single construct. The cumulative results of this meta‐analysis confirm that teacher immediacy has a substantial relationship with certain attitudes and perceptions of students in relation to their learning, but a modest relationship with cognitive learning performance.