Literature Review on Communication Problems between Students and Lecturers

Communication problem among students and lecturer has become a cause for considerable concern in the higher educational level during the last few years. There are many barriers to good communication in students and lecturer conversation, including students’ anxiety and fear, lecturers’ burden of work and fear of litigation.

The study of conversation structure between student and lecturer is important because good conversation can establish and maintain relationship, and to exchange information (Neu, 1988). Conversation analysts believe that conversation is a highly organized activity whose structure may best be understood by recourse to the notion of “rule”. ( McLaughlin 1984 as cited in Neu 1988).

2.1 Conversation.

Conversation, whether face-to-face or online, takes place in five steps: opening, feedforward, business, feedback, and closing (De Vito, 2011).

2.1.1 Opening

The first step in conversation is the opening, which usually involves some kind of greeting: “Hi”, “How are you?” “Hello, this is Joe” (De Vito, 2011). In face- to-face conversation, greetings can be verbal or nonverbal but usually both (Krivonos & Knapp, 1975) however, in email, the greeting is verbal with perhaps and emoticon or two thrown in as cited in De Vito (2011).

2.1.2 Feedforward

Feedforward is information you provide before sending tour primary messages (Richard 1951) as cited in de Vito (2011). It reveals something about the message to come and includes for example, the preface or table of contents of a book, the opening paragraph of the chapter, movie previews, magazine covers, and introduction to public speech. Feedforward can be both verbal (“Wait until you hear this one”) and nonverbal (a prolonged pause). Phatic communication or small talk is another type of feedforward.

2.1.3 Business

Business is the substance and focus of the conversation. It is a good term because it emphasizes that most conversations are directed at achieving some goal. Normally people converse to meet the general purpose of interpersonal communication: to learn, relate, influence, play or help.

2.1.4 Feedback

Feedback can be defined as the reverse of the second because it reflects back on the conversation. Normally, it is done in face-to-face conversation and in response to previous email. The other half of the feedback equation is the person receiving the feedback (Robbins & Hunsanker, 2006) as cited in De Vito (2011).

2.1.5 Closing

Closing is the opposite of opening, the good bye (Knapp, Hart, Friedrich, & Shulman, 1973; Knapp & Vangelisti, 2009). ‘OK’ and ‘all right’ is often used in pre-closing. Then, the closing usually made up with ‘bye bye’ and ‘goodbye.’ In Paltridge (2006), end of the conversation. Besides that, the closing also may be preceded by a number of pre-sequences, such as the making of an arrangement, referring back to something previously said in the conversation, the initiation of a new topic, good wishes, a restatement of a reason for calling (Platridge, 2006). The closing may be verbal or nonverbal just like the opening but usually the combination of both. Besides that, the closing signals the intention to end access and some degree of supportiveness, such as expressing one’s pleasure in the interaction. It may also summarize the interaction.

2.2 Principles of Conversation

According to De Vito (2011), there are three important principles that will provide further perspectives on conversation: (1) turn-taking, (2) dialogue, and (3) immediacy.

2.2.1 Turn-taking

The basic rule in English conversation is that one person speaks at a time, after which they may nominate another speaker, or another speaker may take up the turn without being nominated (Sacks et al 1974; Sacks 2004) as cited in Paltridge (2006). There are several ways in which one’s can signal the end of a turn. Completion of syntactic unit, the use of falling intonation, pausing, signal such as ‘mmm’ or ‘anyway’, body contact, body position, and movement and voice pitch to name a few. A speaker may also use overlap as a strategy for taking a turn, as well as to prevent someone else from taking the turn. Besides, turn taking varies according to particular situations. Turn taking may also depends on factors such as the topic of the conversation, whether the interaction is relatively co-operative, how well the speakers know each other, and the relationship between, and relative status of, the speakers (Burns & Joyce, 1997) as cited in Paltridge (2006).

2.2.2 Dialogue

The Oxford English Dictionary defines dialogue as “the conversation written for and spoken by actors on a stage” or “a conversation carried on between two or more persons”. It is a verbal exchange of ideas between people and as such fits the standard vision of how dialogue would function in the classroom (Davis 2007).

2.2.3 Immediacy

Immediacy is the creation of closeness, a sense of togetherness, of oneness, between speaker and listener (De Vito, 2011). Immediacy strategies are often used to make someone like us. In addition, there is considerable evidence to show that immediacy behaviours are effective in teaching and in health care (Richmond, Smith, Heisel, & Mc Croskey, 2001; Richmond, McCroskey, & Hickson, 2008) as cited in De Vito (2011). According to De Vito (2011), immediacy can be use with both verbal and non verbal messages:

Self disclose: reveal something significant about yourself.

Refer to the other person’s good qualities, say dependability, intelligence character: for example, “You’re always so reliable.”

Express your positive view of the other person and your relationship: for example, “I’m glad you’re my roommate; you know everyone.”

Talk about commonalities, things you and the other person have done together or share.

Demonstrate your responsiveness by giving feedback cues that indicate you want to listen more and you’re interested: for example, “And what else happened?”

Expressed psychological closeness and openness by, for example, maintaining physical closeness and arranging your bodies exclude third parties.

Maintain appropriate eye contact and limit looking around at others.

Smile and express your interest in the other person.

Focus on the other person’s remark