TITLE The Relationship between Instructor Behaviors and Student Perceptions of Control in the Classroom. PUB DATE [87]

Employing learned helplessness theory as a trait orientation, a study examined the interrelationships existing between instructor classroom behaviors, student perceptions of control, and student behavioral responses in the college classroom. Subjects, 317 male and female undergraduate students who were enrolled in communication courses at West Virginia University, over a two day period, evaluated the class immediately preceding their communication class by completing a two-item measure of perceived control and a 24-item multidimensional-multiattributional causality scale (MMCS) measure of achievement-related attributions. State measures included the modified Behavioral Indicants of Immediacy (BII) scale, teacher communication style (TCS), measures of teacher classroom learning aids, and learning (affective, cognitive, and motivational) measures. Results indicated that student perceptions of state control in th