Qualitative Study Explains Japanese Students’ Reactions to American Instructors’ Immediacy: Effects of Cross-Cultural Classroom Communication

Abstract

Immediacy is the closeness expressed by communicators, which is often observed in teachers who are trying to engage students. U.S. studies have concluded that immediacy has positive effects on college students’ learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of American faculty's immediacy on Japanese undergraduates in a U.S. distance-education program. This study examined written comments and focus group discussions. The results revealed that students in early courses were shocked by the abundance of nonverbal immediacy but embraced verbal immediacy enthusiastically. In contrast, the students in the final term on the U.S. campus were found to be struggling to be more responsive to instructors’ verbal immediacy but frustrated with their own limited ability to speak up and ask questions.