Immediacy and out-of-class communication: A cross-cultural comparison

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to extend out-of-class communication (OCC) research by comparing OCC frequency, content, and satisfaction, and examining the influence of instructor immediacy on OCC in Chinese and US college classrooms. The survey of relevant literature suggests this study represents the first direct empirical cross-cultural comparison of OCC, which reports five major findings: (a) Chinese students engage in more OCC than US students; (b) Chinese OCC is more personal problem oriented, but US OCC focuses on coursework; (c) US students have a significantly higher OCC satisfaction than Chinese counterparts; (d) Chinese and US students differ in OCC forms. Chinese students visit instructors’ office more often, but US students email their instructors more; (e) US instructor immediacy is not correlated significantly with OCC frequency and satisfaction, whereas Chinese instructor verbal immediacy is correlated significantly with OCC frequency and satisfaction. Chinese nonverbal immediacy is associated significantly with OCC frequency, but not with OCC satisfaction.