The Effects of Non-verbal and Verbal Teacher Immediacy on Student Motivation

Student motivation is a crucial aspect of student success, but what affects student motivation? The purpose of this meta-analysis is to determine if teacher immediacy affects student motivation. Using PsychInfo and EPSB, we located 15 studies that measured teacher immediacy and motivation. The overall weighted average effect size between teacher immediacy and motivation is d = 0.52. We examined two moderator variables: type of immediacy (non-verbal vs. verbal) and type of motivation (state vs. trait). We found that verbal immediacy had a larger effect on trait motivation compared state motivation (d = 0.89 vs. d = 0.37), and non-verbal immediacy also had a larger effect on trait motivation than state motivation (d = 0.56 vs. d = 0.34). The results suggest that students who receive non-verbal immediacy, as well as verbal immediacy from their teacher, are likely to have a higher state as well as trait motivation level