Formative Assessment and Feedback with Teacher Immediacy Behaviors in an E-Text-Based Context - E-Infrastructures and Technologies for Lifelong Learning - page 356

FEEDBACK WITH HIGH TEACHER
IMMEDIACY CUES TO POSITIVE
AFFECT FOR LEARNING TO
LIFELONG LEARNING

Mehrabian, 1971, 1981; Ni & Aust, 2008). Affec-
tive learning is about students' attitudes, beliefs,
and values toward subject matters (Kearney,
1994; McCroskey, Richmond, & McCroskey,
2006). It is of emotional responses toward course
content, a course instructor, or a learning envi-
ronment (Andersen, 1979; Witt, Wheeless, &
Allen, 2004). In other words, affect for learning
is concerned with a feeling or an emotional state
of acceptance or rejection (Krathwohl, Bloom, &
Masia, 1964 in Mottet et al., 2007). It impacts a
student's learning (Rodriguez, Plax, & Kearney,
1996; Salovey & Sluyter, 1997) and affects his or
her motivation to learn (Christensen & Menzel,
1998; Frymier & Houser, 2000).
Students' affective learning is the result of the
communicative interaction between an instructor
and students. Rodriguez et al. (1996) interpreted
that student affect for learning was the central
causal mediator between teacher immediacy
behaviors and students' cognitive learning. When
students have positive affect for learning, it is
probable that they are able to internalize their
learning, recall information easily (Kelley &
Gorham, 1988), and transfer what they have
learned from the classroom to their personal
and work lives. These learners also tend to seek
and acquire knowledge continuously outside
the formal structure of a course (Krathwohl et
al., 1964 in Mottet et al., 2007). They can thus
become self-motivated, self-regulated, self-man-
agement, and self-monitoring, which are some
of the fundamental components to sustain their
desire to learn throughout lives (Bolhuis, 2002;
Duffy & Holmboe, 2006; Krathworhl et al., in
Mottet et al.; Nicol & Mcfarlane-Dick, 2006).
The aforementioned analysis has clearly illus-
trated the intimate association between formative
feedback with the use of teacher immediacy cues
and students' affect for learning, which leads
to students' possible sense of lifelong learning.

There are two dimensions in terms of teacher
immediacy behaviors: verbal and nonverbal im-
mediacy behaviors. Verbal immediacy is primar-
ily concerned with ways an instructor talks and
lectures in the traditional classroom. In contrast,
nonverbal immediacy involves behaviors that are
only observable to receivers or communicators.
Utilizing these immediacy behaviors allow stu-
dents to feel close to their instructor (Andersen &
Andersen, 1982) and to perceive their instructor
to be competent, knowledgeable, and trustworthy
(Christophel, 1990).
Mottet, Parker-Raley, Beebe, and Cunning-
ham (2007) examined how instructor nonverbal
immediacy (e.g., relational messages or relational
immediacy) and his or her course-load demands
(e.g. task messages) affected student perceptions
of their positive affective learning. According
to Mottet et al., the purpose of verbal messages
is to convey the content of messages relating
to tasks or “the task dimension of communica-
tion” while nonverbal messages are intended to
convey the emotional meanings in messages or
“the relational dimension of communication” (p.
149).This study concluded that highly immediate
instructors were those who were highly relation-
ally skilled, who were able to cultivate students'
positive affect for learning even though there
might be more workload than those who were
not highly immediate although the workload
demand was low.
Apparently, there is a close link between
teacher immediacy behaviors and students' af-
fect for learning (Chesebro & McCroskey, 2001;
Christophel, 1990; Christophel & Gorham, 1995;
Fredericksen, Pickett, Shea, Pelz, & Swan, 2000;
Frymier & Hourser, 2000; Mottet et al., 2007;