Date Approved

2019

Degree Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department or School

Communication, Media and Theatre Arts

Committee Member

Nick Romerhausen, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Tsai-Shan Shen, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Dennis O’Grady, Ph.D.

Abstract

This study examines communication as instructional classroom practice and considers its increased inclusion in teacher preparation programs. While widely recognized as an important aspect of most university degree programs, communication pedagogy is often overlooked in schools of education curricula. Data collected from six current teachers suggest that the teachers demonstrated a value for instructional communication in three distinct ways that can all be attributed to their interaction with their students and classrooms. The teachers in this study demonstrated this through their building of rapport with their students, their strategies for both avoiding and resolving conflict within the classroom, and their use of a variety of classroom management techniques. Findings from this study suggest that greater focus on instructional communication techniques should be placed within all undergraduate teacher education courses as additional preparation and that knowledge of instructional communication can be critical to teachers beginning their careers in the classroom.

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