DEVELOPMENT OF A PERCEIVED COMMUNICATION EFFECTIVENESS SCALE FOR GRADUATE TEACHING ASSISTANTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA

The purpose of this study was to develop a scale for assessing perceived communication effectiveness of Graduate Teaching Assistants at the University of Nebraska. Recent reports indicate that increasing numbers of Graduate Teaching Assistants have difficulties communicating their subjects to classes. Recent research indicates that the good teacher is a good talker. In order to aid Graduate Teaching Assistants improve, an instrument was developed from undergraduate and graduate student input to assess student perceptions of Graduate Teaching Assistant communication effectiveness. The instrument developed in the first part of the study was then used to assess the communication effectiveness of sixty Graduate Teaching Assistants at the University of Nebraska. These Graduate Teaching Assistants represented four colleges and eighteen departments. The data were factor analyzed to determine the elements of the communication effectiveness construct, and to determine the influence of each factor on overall perceptions of communication effectiveness. Results indicate that three factors contribute significantly to student perceptions of teacher communication effectiveness--Organizational Stability, Instructional Adaptability, and Interpersonal Inflexibility. Additionally, analysis of teacher, student, and contextual demographic data indicate three major findings: (1) female instructors are not rated on their organizational structure as highly as male instructors are, and female students tend to base their instructor ratings more on instructional adaptability and interpersonal inflexibility than do male students. (2) The lower the course level, the lower a teacher\u27s ratings on Organizational Stability and Instructional Adaptability. (3) Credit hours in Speech Communication, and to a lesser extent subject and course level, predict Organizational Stability, Instructional Adaptability, and Interpersonal Inflexibility. Any number of reasons can be posited for Graduate Teaching Assistants not receiving high communication effectiveness ratings. One of the most plausible is that they generally lack the experience that comes from being in the classroom and experiencing the teacher-student process. Some practical experiences can be provided for Graduate Teaching Assistants through communication skills workshops designed to allow the Graduate Teaching Assistants to experience the classroom situation in a non-threatening atmosphere with others who also need to become more effective communicators