Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Debbie K. Mercer / Fostering student engagement in classes aligns with requirements from the latest national college English curriculum issued in 2015 in China. However, abundant research has identified that both intrinsic and extrinsic obstacles impede the creation of an authentic student-centered learning environment. Meanwhile, limited research studies have evaluated instructors’ perspectives toward student engagement at the undergraduate level embedded in the Chinese examination-oriented educational system. Therefore, this qualitative study investigated four English instructors’ experiences in student engagement and relationship building with their students in postsecondary English classes. This study was confined to English education to non-English major students in the context of Chinese higher education. Research questions were answered through a multiple case study approach guided by Self-Determination Theory, emphasizing the uniqueness of each participant’s experiences and construction of meaning. Triangulation, participants’ member check, and peer debriefing achieved the trustworthiness and rigor of the findings of this study. Results indicate that the four participants appreciated student engagement and confirmed including group class activities and fostering rapport with students as effective ways to increase student engagement. Accordingly, participants viewed themselves as organizers, facilitators, counselors, and resources. Instructors’ beliefs and students’ motivation in English teaching and learning influenced the level of student engagement. Participants struggled with constraints from large class sizes, limited pedagogical knowledge, and shortage of educational technology support. On this basis, a reformation in English curriculum and teacher credentialing is recommended to enhance student engagement. For future studies, empirical research should examine the correlational relationship between engaged pedagogies and academic performance. Further exploration of student engagement from the student perspective is also recommended to identify the most engaging pedagogical practices.

This thesis examined the instructor-student relationship through an interpersonal communication perspective. The current thesis took a two-step process to first derive participant-generated responses concerning undergraduate student maintenance behaviors and second to construct and validate a scale concerning those behaviors. Of additional interest was to explore reasons as to why students aim to maintain these relationships. A 16-item measure titled the Student Relational Maintenance Scale was created and consists of making connections, advice seeking, etiquette, and attendance behaviors. Additionally, results revealed that both professional and personal reasons motivated students to build these relationships. Making connections, advice seeking, etiquette, and attendance behaviors were positively related to students having professional goals; advice seeking, etiquette, and attendance were positively related to students having personal goals. The results of this thesis provided further insight into how and why undergraduate college students build positive interpersonal connections with their instructors.

Adjusting one’s communication is a fundamental requirement for human interaction (Gasiorek, 2016a). Individuals adapt communication behavior according to the circumstances surrounding the situation, resulting in different patterns and forms of speech relative to spouses, family members, coworkers, or friends. Yet, researchers in instructional communication have not yet substantially applied adjustment as a theoretical lens for understanding instructor-student classroom interactions (Gasiorek & Giles, 2012; Soliz & Giles, 2014; Soliz & Bergquist, 2016). Apart from overlooking this useful theoretical approach, instructional communication scholarship can also be improved by accounting for 1) shifting group identities in higher education that change how instructors and students communicate, 2) incomplete conceptualizations of student perceptions in existing research, and 3) a consistent lack of concern for the hierarchical structure of educational data. This dissertation seeks to resolve these limitations through an application of one of the most prominent theories of adjustment: communication accommodation theory (CAT; Giles, 1973; Giles, Willemyns, Gallois, & Anderson, 2007a). The research specifically extends the CAT framework to an instructional setting by investigating how student perceptions of instructor nonaccommodation across several modes of communication (i.e., nonverbal, linguistic/verbal, content, support) influence information processing ability, relationships with instructors, and beliefs about instructors. Data were collected from 573 undergraduate students across 38 sections of a basic communication course (BCC). Students completed an online questionnaire assessing perceptions of the appropriateness of their instructor’s behavior (i.e., nonaccommodation), extraneous load, communication satisfaction, instructor-student rapport, instructor credibility, and instructor communication competence. The results first forward a nuanced measure for assessing nonaccommodation in a manner consistent with the theoretical propositions of CAT. Second, a series of analyses using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM; Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002) showed significant associations between perceptions of nonaccommodation across modes and students’ reported classroom outcomes. Interestingly, several of the individual, direct relationships disappeared when multiple modes of nonaccommodation were considered simultaneously, introducing the possibility that individuals may prioritize the appropriateness of certain behaviors within context. The data hierarchy (i.e., students enrolled in course sections) did exert some influence on the relationships between variables, yet the majority of variance accounted for across models occurred at the student level. Implications of the results related to both theory and practice within the basic communication course are presented in the discussion.