Establishing Rapport in Higher Education Classrooms

Authors

  • Joshua Fitzgerald Illinois State University
  • John Hooker Illinois State University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11575/ajer.v68i3.72342

Abstract

Teacher-student rapport has been discussed in previous research, but the communicative behaviors that foster it have yet to be identified. The current study looked at several teacher communicative behaviors to determine which are the best predictors of rapport building. The results suggest that students feel rapport is most influenced by a socially supportive teacher. Using humor and demonstrating homophily aid in building rapport as well. These findings suggest that teachers should strive to be socially supportive, humorous, and perceived as similar to students. However, nonverbal immediacy was not found to be a significant indicator of rapport. Studies have indicated that immediacy is an important characteristic for teachers to have, but these findings do not indicate that this characteristic has a positive influence on rapport building between teachers and students. In addition, teacher clarity was found to reduce rapport. This finding is interesting because instructors are taught to be clear, but this characteristic appears to have a negative effect on rapport built between teachers and students.

Keywords: rapport, social support, homophily, teacher clarity, humor, immediacy

Si des recherches antérieures ont abordé le rapport enseignant-étudiant, elles n’ont pas encore identifié les comportements communicatifs qui le favorisent. La présente étude s'est penchée sur plusieurs comportements communicatifs de l'enseignant afin de déterminer lesquels sont les meilleurs prédicteurs de l'établissement d'un rapport. Les résultats indiquent que les étudiants estiment que le rapport est le plus influencé par un enseignant qui les soutient socialement. Le recours à l'humour et la démonstration de l'homophilie aident également à établir un rapport. Ces résultats suggèrent que les enseignants devraient s'efforcer d'apporter un soutien social, d’avoir de l’humour et d’être perçus comme semblables aux étudiants. Cependant, l'immédiateté non verbale ne s'est pas avérée être un indicateur significatif du rapport. Des études ont indiqué que l'immédiateté est une caractéristique importante pour les enseignants, mais ces résultats n'indiquent pas que cette caractéristique a une influence positive sur l'établissement de rapports entre les enseignants et les étudiants. De plus, on a constaté que la clarté de l'enseignant réduisait le rapport. Ce résultat est intéressant car on apprend aux enseignants à être clairs, mais cette caractéristique semble avoir un effet négatif sur les rapports établis entre les enseignants et les étudiants.

Mots clés : rapport, soutien social, homophilie, clarté de l'enseignant, humour, immédiateté

Author Biographies

Joshua Fitzgerald, Illinois State University

Josh Fitzgerald is a Doctoral Candidate at Illinois State University. His research focus is communication education and more specifically, he is interested in the teacher-student relationship and how educators can foster rapport between themselves and their students in online classroom settings. He hopes to finish his dissertation in the Summer of 2022.

John Hooker, Illinois State University

John F. Hooker is an Associate Professor of Communication at Illinois State University. His research focuses on communication education, assessment and training new instructors.

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Published

2022-10-07

How to Cite

Fitzgerald, J., & Hooker, J. (2022). Establishing Rapport in Higher Education Classrooms. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 68(3), 357–371. https://doi.org/10.11575/ajer.v68i3.72342

Issue

Vol. 68 No. 3 (2022): Fall

Section

ARTICLES

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