The Impact of Gender, Nativeness, and Subject Matter on the English as a Second Language University Students’ Perception of Instructor Credibility and Engagement: A Qualitative Study

In instructional contexts, instructor credibility or ethos is deemed to play a paramount role in teacher–student interaction and relationships. Much effort has been devoted to instructor credibility conceptualization, measurement, and its association with other instructional variables of interest in dominantly quantitative inquiries. However, little research has been undertaken in second-language education in which communication is both a means and an end. This qualitative research set out to explore the perception of the students of instructor credibility in the context of higher English education and how gender, nativeness, and subject matter might impact their perceptions. It also aimed to study how instructor credibility could, in turn, influence the engagement and success of the students. Thirteen senior students of English as a foreign language from a university in Iran participated in this study. They were given a scenario about their prospective professors for two courses of “Research Methodology” and “Essay Writing.” The professors included four native English- and Persian-speaking male and female PhD holders. The participants were, then, interviewed about their perceptions of instructor credibility, their choices of instructors, and how they would affect their engagement. The data were recorded, transcribed, and recursively analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis. While instructor credibility is commonly characterized as a three-dimensional construct, involving competence, character, and caring, the data analysis generated a new component of performance concerned with the effectiveness of classroom knowledge presentation and activity organization. Caring also emerged as a constituent of a more inclusive component of rapport. Interestingly, albeit they viewed native English professors as generally more competent due to their nativeness, they perceived non-native professors as more credible for both courses, mainly because of their rapport building and familiarity with the needs and challenges of the students. Most of the participants also viewed male professors as more competent and communicative for both courses. The participants also tended to argue that perceived instructor credibility would encourage them to put in more effort in their academic undertakings and to engage in class activities. This would ultimately enhance their academic achievements and success. The paper discusses the findings and implications for second-language instructor credibility conceptualization and practice.

Student Evaluations of Instructor Email Response Speed as Chronemic Expectancy Violations

Instructional communication researchers have begun exploring the effects of instructor email response speed on student evaluations of their instructor. To date, researchers have concluded that faster response times result in more favorable evaluations. To extend this line of research, this experiment explores student evaluations of instructor response speed through the lens of expectancy violations theory, arguing that eliciting positive evaluations is not just about responding quickly, but rather, responding more quickly than students expect. Results indicated that positive violations of instructor email response speed are evaluated more favorably than negative chronemic violations in terms of instructor credibility and relational closeness. These findings contribute practical implications for instructors inundated with email exchanges with students and offer theoretical nuance to the study of chronemics in instructor-student email communication.

Development of Telepresence Teaching Robots With Social Capabilities

A telepresence robot is a device that allows people to participate in video conferences on a moveable platform from a remote location. The users can remotely control the robot’s motion and interact with each other through a video screen. Such systems, which were originally designed to promote social interaction between people, have become popular in various application areas such as office environments, health care, independent living for the elderly, and distance learning. Although there is ample published empirical work surrounding the use of telepresence and computer-mediated communication in education, few studies have examined telepresence robots in the classroom. Although some studies have indicated positive learning experiences and outcomes in education facilitated by telepresence robots, further research is needed to better identify the possible effects such approaches have on student learning and perceptions of instructor credibility. In order to maximize the students’ learning outcomes, it is very important to improve the usability of the telepresence robot platform for both the instructors and the students. In addition, the instructor credibility is also crucial to the overall learning experience. In the research presented here, an innovative remote teaching platform, which includes features of telepresence robots and social robots (which are autonomous robots that interact and communicate with humans by following social behaviors and rules associated with their roles), is developed. It is believed that telepresence robots equipped with the capabilities provided by social robots can improve the credibility of the instructor and the usability of the education platform, both of which contribute to the students’ overall learning outcomes.