The Effects of an Instructor's Use of Hesitation Forms on Student Ratings of Quality, Recommendations to Hire, and Lecture Listening

Authors

Craig E. Johnson, George Fox UniversityFollow
Larry Vinson, McNeese State University
Michael Hackman, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Tom Hardin, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1989

Abstract

This study examined the impact of instructor use of hesitation forms ("uh," "ah," "um," and "well") in an initial encounter with the students on three measures of teaching effectiveness: students ratings of teacher quality, student recommendations to hire, and lecture listening. The instruction of any amount of hesitant speech significantly lowered instructor effectiveness as measured by each dependent variable. Generally, the use of higher frequencies of hesitation forms was more damaging than the use of lower frequencies. The findings of this study suggest that the use of other forms of powerless language may also detract from the teacher effectiveness.

Comments

Originally published in The Journal of the International Listening Association, 3, 32-43.

http://www.listen.org/IJL_TF

Recommended Citation

Johnson, Craig E.; Vinson, Larry; Hackman, Michael; and Hardin, Tom, "The Effects of an Instructor's Use of Hesitation Forms on Student Ratings of Quality, Recommendations to Hire, and Lecture Listening" (1989). Faculty Publications - College of Business. 55.
https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/gfsb/55