Interpersonal Teaching Style and Student Impression and formation

This article is from College Teaching Spring 2009. The premise of the article is that learning is a social process and the interpersonal skills of the instructor play a role in student learning. The basis for the article was a study that was conducted using 85 undergraduate students. Two different styles of instructors were video taped and students had to give their impressions on the instructors based solely on their demeanor. There were two styles of instructors; authoritative and authoritarian. An authoritarian instructor was described as appearing stiff, rarely making eye contact with students and has a general air of condensation. On the other hand the authoritative instructor is described as more at ease with the material and more comfortable with the students.
In making the video, the script remained constant but what changed was the eye contact that the instructor made with the students, verbal and vocal characteristics and mannerisms. The “authoritarian” instructor was stern, frowned, made little eye contact and tapped his pen on the podium. The authoritative instructor used a soft, varied tone of voice, smiled and made frequent eye contact. The “control” instructor read the material devoid of any emotion or character.
The results of the study rated the authoritative instructor more positively than the authoritarian instructor viewing the authoritative instructor as likely to be fair, accepting and calm. The students also thought that the authoritative instructor would be more likely to trust the student, have high expectations, be interested in the student and be available for help.
The study was conducted to gage immediate impressions that students have of their teachers. What we see is that from a short period of exposure the students were able to create an impression about an instructor that would most likely have an effect on their learning. Based on the results of the study it is possible that although an instructor may be well versed in the subject matter if the instructor conveys has high demands of the students and is stiff and condescending, this demeanor may have a negative impact on learning. The study also suggested that more research should be done on this phenomenon since these impressions may also lead to a self fulfilling prophecy in a students learning.