First Advisor

Susan B. Poulsen

Term of Graduation

Spring 2000

Date of Publication

2000

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.) in Speech Communication

Department

Speech Communication

Language

English

Subjects

Self-disclosure -- Case studies, Students, Foreign -- Attitudes, Teacher-student relationships, Intercultural communication, Interpersonal relations

DOI

10.15760/etd.3547

Physical Description

1 online resource (vii, 158 pages)

Abstract

Self-disclosure as an interpersonal concept was developed almost 40 years ago with the work of Sydney Jourard (1964). Although the original definition included nonverbal forms of communication, the concept has evolved since then into an 'intentional act of sending verbal information about one's self (Collins & Miller, 1994; Cozby, 1972; Wheeless, 1976; Wheeless & Grotz, 1977). In contrast, the present study broadened the definition for self-disclosure to include nonverbal behaviors and took a new methodological approach to understanding the effects that self-disclosure can have for international students in the communication classroom context.

Teacher self-disclosure from the perspectives of international students is an unexplored area and therefore a phenomenological, qualitative case study approach utilizing both focus groups and individual interviews was most appropriate given the purpose and population. Schutz's (1932/1967) social phenomenology and Philipsen's (1982) case study provided the theoretical framework, while Seidman (1998), Luborsky (1994) and Lofland and Lofland (1995) were combined methods used for data collection and subsequent analysis.

Based on analysis of the data, this study revealed findings significant to understanding self-disclosure in terms a receiver model for communication. Whereas research in self-disclosure has primarily relied on a sender-centered model of communication, a receiver-centered model was more appropriate for understanding international students' perspectives. Distinctive nonverbal features considered by participants as sources of information about the teacher included time, silence, space and distance, and body behavior. International students of this study seemed to be using both verbal and nonverbal behavior as information regarding the teacher.

Understanding the impact that teacher nonverbal behavior has on the relationship, more specifically the learning experience of international students, has the potential to maximize learning outcomes in the communication classroom for all students. This thesis proposes a more complete definition for self-disclosure, one that includes nonverbal behaviors as sources of information about the teacher. Based on a composite of the a priori and data-driven definitions in this study, a working definition was created for future explorations of self-disclosure.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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Comments

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Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40248

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