Instructor immediacy is an essential characteristic of effective instructors. Although instructional communication has done extensive research on the impact of immediacy behaviors on students, there is little available research observing immediacy behaviors as predictors of motivation on engineering students. As a result, this study examined the impact of engineering instructors’ use of immediacy behaviors on engineering students’ motivation. The results indicated that verbal immediacy predicted engineering student motivation. The thematic analysis revealed that when students perceived their instructors as helpful, students’ motivation to learn and ask more questions increased. The thematic analysis also observed that when instructors seemed unapproachable, students were less likely to engage with them. These findings present valuable insight for engineering educators on how their immediacy behaviors can both positively and negative affect student motivation and possible retention.
","abstract_html":"<p>Instructor immediacy is an essential characteristic of effective instructors. Although instructional communication has done extensive research on the impact of immediacy behaviors on students, there is little available research observing immediacy behaviors as predictors of motivation on engineering students. As a result, this study examined the impact of engineering instructors’ use of immediacy behaviors on engineering students’ motivation. The results indicated that verbal immediacy predicted engineering student motivation. The thematic analysis revealed that when students perceived their instructors as helpful, students’ motivation to learn and ask more questions increased. The thematic analysis also observed that when instructors seemed unapproachable, students were less likely to engage with them. These findings present valuable insight for engineering educators on how their immediacy behaviors can both positively and negative affect student motivation and possible retention.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Barahona Guerrero, Andrea N."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Thesis - Open Access","degree_discipline":"Communication Studies and Theatre","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Joshua Westwick"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2017-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:28:43Z","subjects":["engineering education","engineering students","immediacy","instructional communication","motivation","self-determination","Communication","Education"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/1212","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Joshua Westwick"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Barahona Guerrero, Andrea N."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2017-05-11T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Communication Studies and Theatre"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis - Open Access"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["engineering education","engineering students","immediacy","instructional communication","motivation","self-determination","Communication","Education"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/1212"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Instructor immediacy is an essential characteristic of effective instructors. Although instructional communication has done extensive research on the impact of immediacy behaviors on students, there is little available research observing immediacy behaviors as predictors of motivation on engineering students. As a result, this study examined the impact of engineering instructors’ use of immediacy behaviors on engineering students’ motivation. The results indicated that verbal immediacy predicted engineering student motivation. The thematic analysis revealed that when students perceived their instructors as helpful, students’ motivation to learn and ask more questions increased. The thematic analysis also observed that when instructors seemed unapproachable, students were less likely to engage with them. These findings present valuable insight for engineering educators on how their immediacy behaviors can both positively and negative affect student motivation and possible retention.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Exploring the Relationship Between Immediacy Behaviors and Student Motivation in Engineering Classrooms: Immediacy as a Cause of Motivation"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Joshua Westwick"],"dc:creator":["Barahona Guerrero, Andrea N."],"dc:date.available":["2017-05-11T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Instructor immediacy is an essential characteristic of effective instructors. Although instructional communication has done extensive research on the impact of immediacy behaviors on students, there is little available research observing immediacy behaviors as predictors of motivation on engineering students. As a result, this study examined the impact of engineering instructors’ use of immediacy behaviors on engineering students’ motivation. The results indicated that verbal immediacy predicted engineering student motivation. The thematic analysis revealed that when students perceived their instructors as helpful, students’ motivation to learn and ask more questions increased. The thematic analysis also observed that when instructors seemed unapproachable, students were less likely to engage with them. These findings present valuable insight for engineering educators on how their immediacy behaviors can both positively and negative affect student motivation and possible retention.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/1212"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["engineering education","engineering students","immediacy","instructional communication","motivation","self-determination","Communication","Education"],"dc:title":["Exploring the Relationship Between Immediacy Behaviors and Student Motivation in Engineering Classrooms: Immediacy as a Cause of Motivation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Communication Studies and Theatre"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis - Open Access"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:28:43Z"}