The Importance Of Instructional Communication

To date, the majority of instructional communication research has been done in the United States, which largely represents the Anglo culture (McCroskey & McCroskey, 2006). Studies show instructional behavior is effective in raising students’ perceived cognitive learning and motivation in the US (Ellis, 2000). However, whether these teaching behaviors can be transferred from the US to other cultures is unclear. Several teaching behaviors studied in instructional communication lead to different results based on cultural contexts (Zhang & Oetzel, 2006). Teacher confirmation is an instructional behavior that helps students’ perceived learning in the classroom (Ellis, 2000). Goodboy and Myers (2008) affirmed a positive relationship between

Student motivation as an educational context has been studied extensively. Student motivation is the internal intention that drives students to gain knowledge and skills in the classroom (Brophy, 1987). Student motivation is defined as a students’ desire to attend in the learning process, also the reason why they feel involved or uninvolved in academic learning. A person is intrinsically motivated, which means he or she feels satisfaction or enjoyment when participating. On the contrary, extrinsically motivated people participate in a task aiming to achieve a reward instead of only finishing the task. Extrinsic motivation is kind of motivation induced by punishments from the failure of task or rewards from the success in task (Lin, McKeachie, & Kim

According to the Learning Cubic Model (Boisot & Fiol, 1987), which depicts teaching styles with three dimensions (conceptual versus practical, individual versus collective, and under instruction versus via self-study), the typical Chinese teaching-learning pattern fits the conceptual-individual-under instruction style. It shows that Chinese students are accustomed to and prefer the way of studying as separate individuals under the detailed instruction of their teachers focusing mainly on theoretical topics. They expect and are expected to listen to, to take notes of, and to copy what their instructors say and write. The concepts of high power distance and filial piety affect the interaction between teachers and students. Chinese teachers have the authority and they deserve respect from students. Instructors are treated as authority figures second to students’ parents and their authority is not challenged (Siu, 1992). The principle of filial piety teaches students to keep silent and be passiveness in front of authority figures (Ho, 1996). “Chinese instructors demand silence in class; no questions” (Alon & McIntyre, 2005, p. 200). The collectivistic societal orientation is also a typical feature of Chinese education and it affects educational practices. Collective cultures typically prefer a high-context form of communication that emphasizes