Instructor Clarity, Humor, Immediacy, and Student Learning: Replication and Extension

2018/05/14 by Michelle T. Violanti, Stephanie Kelly, Stephanie E. Kelly +3
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Communication in Education and Healthcare #Humor Studies and Applications #Online and Blended Learning

paper · doi:10.1080/10510974.2018.1466718

openalex publication_date 2018/05/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

This study replicates and extends three widely cited instructional communication research studies regarding instructor clarity, humor, immediacy, and students’ learning: Richmond, Gorham, and McCroskey (1987), Wanzer and Frymier (1999), and Chesebro and McCroskey (2001). Students across four diverse institutions of higher education (N = 1,109) completed survey measures. Replication results suggest that findings from the original studies (clarity, humor, immediacy, and student learning) persist, and extension results, exploring verbal immediacy and perceived immediacy, reveal statistically significant correlations with the original studies’ variables. However, results of the replication and extension reveal measurement validity uncertainties that require further investigation.

Citations

• Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach.

Related

• Teaching and Learning with Humor
• Ethnicity and Gender: An Examination of Its Impact on Instructor Credibility in the University Classroom
• Perceived Teacher Credibility and Student Learning: Development of a Multicultural Model
• Measuring Five Accountable Talk Moves to Improve Instruction at Scale
• Helping Students to Become Effective Learners: Early Evidence on Embedding Learning Skills Instruction in Content Coursework