Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Communication Studies

Committee Chair

Scott A. Myers.

Committee Co-Chair

Melanie Booth-Butterfield

Committee Member

James C. McCorskey

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among instructors' message variables and students' learning orientation (LO), grade orientation (GO), and affective learning. Participants were 193 students (109 men, 83 women) enrolled in introductory communication courses at a large eastern university. Participants completed the Revised Self-Disclosure scale (Wheeless, 1978), the Humor Orientation scale (Booth-Butterfield & Booth-Butterfield, 1991), a narrative scale created for this study, the LOGO II scale (Milton, Pollio, & Eison, 1986) and the Instructional Affect Assessment Instrument (IAAI) (McCroskey, 1994). Results indicated instructors' message variables were not significantly related to students LO/GO, no significant differences among the four categories of LO/GO, and when controlling for LO/GO, few significant relationships were obtained between instructors' message variables and affective learning. Future research should examine if instructors' own learning orientation or grade orientation influences how LO/GO students perform in their course.

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