Components of Students' Grade Expectations for Public Speaking Assignments

Abstract

Although previous research has linked students' expected grades to numerous pedagogical variables, this factor has been all but ignored by instructional communication scholars. In the present study, 315 undergraduates were presented with grading scenarios representing differing combinations of course rigor, teacher immediacy, and student self-efficacy. For each scenario, students estimated the numerical grades they would expect to receive on basic course speaking assignments. Componential analysis (Kenny, 1994) was used to decompose expected speech scores into perceiver, target, and the unique reactions of individual respondents, which respectively accounted for 20.4%, 60.2%, and 19.4% of the variable of interest. Within the target effect, student perceptions of how they had prepared and performed in classroom speaking situations represented the largest single variance subcomponent (31.4%), followed by perceptions of course rigor (23.3%) and teacher immediacy (5.5%). Recommendations for future research and instructional practice are advanced.

Student optimism – Grading of an experiential learning project

“…Similarly, Larseingue, Sawyer and Finn (2012) found out that in speech courses, which are experiential in nature, three components affected grade expectation of undergraduate students. Firstly, the course rigour -the perceived toughness of a course; secondly, teacher communication behaviour and thirdly, perceiver effecthow one perceives one's own strengths and weaknesses.…”

Student Optimism – Grading of an Experiential Learning Project

“…Even though an experiential project is a time related and time-consuming activity, yet scoring a high grade on a project is based upon many things and does not always correlate with the time spent on the project at hand. Similarly, Larseingue, Sawyer and Finn (2012) found out that in speech courses, which are experiential in nature, three components affected grade expectation of undergraduate students. Firstly, the course rigour -the perceived toughness of a course; secondly, teacher communication behaviour and thirdly, perceiver effecthow one perceives one's own strengths and weaknesses.…”

“…Since an experiential project at a university level is usually of one to two weeks, therefore the grading is also longitudinal and continuous. Students thus at the beginning of a course have high hopes and believe to score good grades in it (Khachikiana, Guillaumea, & Phama, 2011;Larseingue, Sawyer, & Finn, 2012). This expectation of scoring a good grade increases in an experiential setting as the students think that since they neither cram nor practice, therefore they will attain high grades.…”