The Relationships Between Student Responsive Behaviors, Student Socio-Communicative Style, and Instructors’ Subjective and Objective Assessments of Student Work

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether instructor perceptions of student responsive behaviors and student socio-communicative style were related to instructors’ subjective (speech presentation) and objective (multiple-choice exam) assessments of student work. The results suggest that student nonverbal and verbal responsive behaviors positively influence instructor assessments of student speech grades accounting for 8% and 11% of the variance, respectively. Instructor perceptions of student socio-communicative style were unrelated to instructor assessments of student speech grades. Neither student responsive behaviors nor student socio-communicative style were related to how well students scored on a cognitive-based, multiple-choice exam assessing public speaking knowledge.