Students' perceptions of learner empowerment and involvement as functions of students' expectations of instructional technology use and nonverbal immediacy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the interaction effect of nonverbal immediacy and expected instructional technology use on students? perceptions of learner empowerment and student involvement, and (2) to test learner empowerment as a potential mediator of perceived instructional technology use and nonverbal immediacy on student involvement. Participants included 264 college students who were randomly assigned to one of eight scenarios depicting first-day class sessions manipulating expected technology use across four levels (none, minimal, moderate, and complete use) and instructor nonverbal immediacy across two levels (high vs. low). Contrary to what was hypothesized, the results failed to replicate the interaction effects of expected technology use and nonverbal immediacy cues found in previous research. Instead, the results revealed only significant main effects for nonverbal immediacy cues on students? perceptions of learner empowerment and student involvement. The results of an analysis of covariance, however, revealed that learner empowerment fully mediates the association between an instructor?s nonverbal immediacy cues and student involvement. A significant two-way interaction effect of perceived technology use and nonverbal immediacy on student involvement after controlling for the effect of learner empowerment also emerged, revealing a pattern of moderated mediation. Collectively, the results extend instructional communication theory by identifying learner empowerment as a key construct that facilitates the association between teacher nonverbal immediacy and student involvement in the course.