Internet Learning Volume 4, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 98

Internet Learning Journal – Volume 4, Issue 1 – Spring 2015
boom and the expansion” (as cited in He, 2004, p. 86). The study did not involve analysis of
the stages. The stages affirm that terms are created and used to a higher or lesser degree. The
online education textbooks represent a vehicle of communication that can disseminate
immediacy best practice knowledge through common immediacy terminology.
Definition of Terms
The study involved teacher immediacy terminology. A terminology scale and the
Coding Book of Definitions included definitions of the terms. The term immediacy relates to
teacher behaviors, not student behaviors, and from its roots in 1971, immediacy itself was
defined as the psychological closeness a communicator (sender) conveys between him- or
herself and the recipient of the message (Mehrabian, 1971; 2007). The study included a
focus on instructor-to-learner immediacy and involved a content analysis of the prominence
of online teacher immediacy terminology conveyed in popular, independently authored
online teaching textbooks.
The bulk of teacher immediacy research entailed verbal (Carrell & Menzel, 2001;
Swan & Richardson, 2003) and nonverbal (Freitas & Myers, 1998; Rocca, 2004) instructor
behaviors. While some forms of online instruction can allow for verbal exchanges, most
communication in the online asynchronous and synchronous classrooms is non-verbal
dependent on written postings and exchanges.
However, body language has little influence in the asynchronous and synchronous
classes offered by many colleges and universities because students do not see the instructor.
Consequently, for nonverbal teacher immediacy, assessing online body language is not easy;
rather, written transactions between instructor and student are the primary focus. Conaway
et al. (2005) claimed, “Strategies for increasing immediacy online include writing in a
conversational tone, using students’ names in the postings, and including personal notes in
the group feedback” (p. 32).
Building a successful social learning rapport in the online distance learning (ODL)
environment between instructor and student is an on-going process in the online classroom.
The timeliness and frequency of written communications typically determine teacher
immediacy. Even more important is the degree to which communications foster student
psychological comfort. Easton and Katt (2005) stated, “Several factors such as teacher
immediacy, interaction, and psychological comfort have been identified as influencing
collaborative learning” (p. 179).
To ensure that teacher immediacy in the online classroom can radiate from written
communications, “instructors need to be aware of the impact that their immediacy behaviors
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