Open research questions in Communication in Education and Healthcare

What the literature leaves open

• Our results create a foundation that future work can build on to explore how themes generalize or vary across different student populations. Kroeper et al. (2022a) established a model that could be followed. They used the social classification paradigm with a larger student sample to test if instructor behaviors consistently convey the same instructor mindset.

  Characterizing the Content and Mechanisms of Instructor Messages that Communicate Instructor Beliefs About Ability to Undergraduates · 2026 · DOI

• Future research should focus on exploring what factors are associated with resilience in this high-stress role, both in terms of screening for features that may make individuals less vulnerable but also what can be learned from resilient individuals to influence wellbeing policy more widely.

  Content Moderator Mental Health and Associations with Coping Styles: Replication and Extension of Previous Studies · 2025 · DOI

• With the swift update and iteration of ICT, whether the extent of impact of ICT on teacher–student rapport will surpass teacher verbal immediacy in the future is a research direction that warrants further investigation.

  Correlation Among Teacher ICT Teaching, Teacher Immediacy Behaviors, Teacher–Student Rapport, and Student Engagement in Smart Classroom Teaching · 2024 · DOI

• Future research could examine these student groups, include faculty members’ perspectives, and compare communication across academic disciplines, year levels, and institutional contexts.

  Student–Faculty Communication in Higher Education: Approachability, Academic Distance, and Student Hesitation · 2026 · DOI

• Future research should examine whether revised item wording or alternative modeling strategies yield a cleaner factorial structure. One limitation identified post hoc was the presence of a duplicated item.

  Course-Bound and Beyond-Course Interaction in Higher Education: Exploring the Latent Structure of a Perception Scale · 2026 · DOI

• This study seeks to confirm previous findings reporting that perceived teachers’ behaviours could be correlated to learners’ evaluation scores of the class/topic and the teacher and to fill in that gap in the literature by correlating students’ perceptions with the reality observed in the classroom.

  Do we need to beware of students’ perceptions?: immediacy and emotional relationship between students and teachers in the Asian context · 2025 · DOI

• The need to balance silence with verbal communication in effective communication.

  The Power of Silence: An Invisible Soft Skill in Modern Communicatio · 2026 · DOI

• Based on the findings and conclusions of the study, several recommendations are proposed. The instructional enhancement framework titled “From Avoidance to Achievement” may be evaluated, validated, and localized by Oral Communication in Context teachers within the Schools Division Office of Tarlac Province to determine its applicability in classroom-based oral communication instruction.

  Mediating effect of gender on communicative strategies and public speaking anxiety among Senior High School students · 2026 · DOI

• The study has a limited sample size. The study uses a non-experimental design. The follow-up evaluation is short. The study suggests the need for more intensive intervention for participants with moderate self-esteem.

  Speak Up, Stand Out: Improving Self-Confidence through Public Speaking Training for Psychology Students · 2026 · DOI

• Further research with larger and more diverse samples is needed. Experimental/quasi-experimental designs and medium-to long-term evaluations are suggested. The development of booster sessions or follow-up modules targeting social comparison and academic authority anxiety is recommended.

  Speak Up, Stand Out: Improving Self-Confidence through Public Speaking Training for Psychology Students · 2026 · DOI

• Future studies can use the School Communication Scale to examine the relationship between school communication and student outcomes. Future studies can investigate the effectiveness of communication interventions in schools. Future studies can explore the use of the School Communication Scale in different educational contexts.

  Development of the School Communication Scale · 2026 · DOI

• There is a need for a valid and reliable instrument to assess teachers' perceptions of school communication. Prior work has highlighted the importance of communication in schools, but there is a lack of a comprehensive and theoretically-based scale.

  Development of the School Communication Scale · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies a gap in understanding the impact of family communication patterns on mental well-being and academic performance among undergraduate MBBS students.

  Quality of family communication patterns among medical students at LNMC · 2026 · DOI

• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of virtual academic conferences (VACs), yet limited research sheds light on the effects of speaker quality and congruency on the outcomes of virtual academic conferences.

  Unveiling the Effects of Speaker Quality and Congruency on Virtual Academic Conference Outcomes · 2026 · DOI

• There is a need to systematically examine the reliability of the Communication Skills Assessment Scale. There is a lack of studies examining the characteristics of studies using the CSAS.

  Reliability Generalisation Meta-Analysis Of The Communicatıon Skills Assessment Scale · 2026 · DOI

• Instructors should integrate AI feedback tools as formative rehearsal aids, enabling students to practice privately before graded tasks. Embedding dual-mode AI feedback early in communication-based courses helps develop self-monitoring and confidence. Educators should align AI metrics with existing rubrics to ensure coherence and provide brief guided debriefings to contextualize AI feedback for learners.

  Learners’ Perceptions of AI Feedback in Oral Presentation Rehearsals: A Pilot Case Study in Oman · 2026 · DOI

• The lack of effective strategies to strengthen oral expression in educational contexts. The need for a pedagogical approach that promotes expressive experiences and overcomes difficulties in oral expression.

  Teatro Pobre de Jerzy Grotowski como Estrategia Didáctica para el Fortalecimiento de la Expresión Oral · 2026 · DOI

• There is a lack of understanding about the relationship between communication and mental health in student organizations. Prior studies have not examined the specific communication patterns and strategies used in student organizations.

  Health Communication in the Context of Student Organizations · 2026 · DOI

• Future research could address these limitations by incorporating longitudinal data, diverse teacher demographics, and statistical analyses to combine more precise quantitative findings with qualitative insights, thereby providing deeper understanding of the OCF beliefs and practices of language teachers.

  The impact of perfectionism on the oral corrective feedback beliefs and practices of Iranian L2 teachers · 2026 · DOI

• Teacher education institutions and professional development programs should also incorporate explicit training on nonverbal communication, particularly focusing on regulatory behaviors such as gestures, posture, and eye contact.

  Silent Signals: Understanding the Use of Regulators in Classroom Communication · 2026 · DOI

• The exact and dynamic mechanism of converting individuals' communication skills and interpretive thoughts into tangible and sustainable motivational tendencies within organizational spaces remains largely a theoretical 'black box'.

  A structural model of the impact of communication competence on achievement motivation: explaining the mediating role of ethical behaviors · 2026 · DOI

• This study employed a cross-sectional design, and while this approach allows for a broad assessment, it does not account for how experiences evolve over time.

  Content Moderator Mental Health and Associations with Coping Styles: Replication and Extension of Previous Studies · 2025 · DOI

• Inquiry on emotions in higher education: Progress and open problems. Academic motivation theories revisited: An interactive dialog between motivation scholars on recent contributions, underexplored issues, and future directions.

  Academic Emotions, Emotion Regulation, Academic Motivation, and Approaches to Learning: A Person-Centered Approach · 2025 · DOI

• Further study on the role of silence in different cultural contexts. Investigation of the impact of silence on communication outcomes in various domains.

  The Power of Silence: An Invisible Soft Skill in Modern Communicatio · 2026 · DOI

• Mahalliy pedagogik amaliyotda noverbal kommunikatsiyaga yetarli e'tibor berilmasligining sababikasbiy tayyorgarlik standartlarida bu soha alohida kompetensiya sifatida belgilanmaganligida ko'rinadi.

  BO‘LAJAK O‘QITUVCHILARDA NOVERBAL KOMMUNIKATIV QOBILIYATLARINI SHAKLLANTIRISHNING PEDAGOGIK SHART-SHAROITLARI VA OMILLARI · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Communication in Education and Healthcare

• Mass Communication and Para-Social Interaction · Psychiatry · 1956 · 3,417 citations
• SOME EXPLORATIONS IN INITIAL INTERACTION AND BEYOND: TOWARD A DEVELOPMENTAL THEORY OF INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION · Human Communication Research · 1975 · 2,060 citations
• Interpersonal Effects in Computer-Mediated Interaction · Communication Research · 1992 · 1,778 citations
• An Exploratory Study of Employee Silence: Issues that Employees Don’t Communicate Upward and Why* · Journal of Management Studies · 2003 · 1,190 citations
• Social anxiety and self-presentation: A conceptualization model. · Psychological Bulletin · 1982 · 1,138 citations
• Social presence as a predictor of satisfaction within a computer‐mediated conferencing environment · American Journal of Distance Education · 1997 · 1,131 citations
• Communication and Uncertainty Management · Journal of Communication · 2001 · 1,129 citations
• Mixed emotions: teachers’ perceptions of their interactions with students · Teaching and Teacher Education · 2000 · 925 citations
• Shyness and sociability. · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 1981 · 886 citations
• Computer-Mediated Communication Effects on Disclosure, Impressions, and Interpersonal Evaluations: Getting to Know One Another a Bit at a Time · Human Communication Research · 2002 · 827 citations

Most recent work

• Teacher Emotional Support and Academic Engagement in University English Learning: The Mediating Effects of Self-Efficacy and Positive Emotions · SAGE Open · 2026
• Teacher interpersonal behaviors: Jordanian EFL learners’ expectations and perceived impacts on academic engagement · Cogent Education · 2026
• Developing and validating the English Classroom Teaching Enjoyment Scale for Chinese senior high school teachers · Acta Psychologica · 2026
• More conflict and less closeness: The mediating role of dyadic interactions in explaining lower teacher–student relationship quality for low SES and ethnic minority students · Social Psychology of Education · 2026
• Persuasion Through Focus Groups: Helping Teachers Maintain Healthy Voices · Journal of Voice · 2026
• Bringing Anti‐Oppression Pedagogy Training Into a Predominately White Institution in the United States: A Qualitative Analysis of the Challenges and Accelerators Faculty Face in Anti‐Oppression Work · Journal of Community Psychology · 2026
• Do Credibility Statements Really Matter? Applying Truth-Default Theory to Public Speaking · Business and Professional Communication Quarterly · 2026
• Faking It in the Conference Room: How Employees Enact and Detect Pretend Participation · International Journal of Business Communication · 2026
• Identifying demographic and personality correlates of public speaking anxiety among adult workers · Acta Psychologica · 2026
• From motive to action: how teachers interpret and respond to students’ shy behaviour · Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research · 2026

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