Open research questions in Communication in Education and Healthcare

What the literature leaves open

• 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

• 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. 88 International Journal of Language, English Studies, Translation, and Communication Research (IJLESTCR) Regular assessment of students’ communicative strategy use and public speaking anxiety levels may also be conducted to monitor learners’ communication development and identify appropriate intervention strategies. Communication training programs and anxiety-sensitive instructional approaches may likewise be designed for students who demonstrate elevated levels of communication apprehension, particularly among female and HUMSS learners. Furthermore, English language teachers and communication educators may integrate learner-centered speaking activities, collaborative communication tasks, and supportive oral interaction strategies that encourage the use of compensatory communicative behaviors instead of avoidance patterns. Future researchers may also conduct longitudinal or comparative studies involving other academic strands, educational settings, or ESL populations to further examine the relationship between communicative strategies, gender, and public speaking anxiety. REFERENCES Ahmad, S. N., Rahmat, N. H., Shahabani, N. S., & Khairuddin, Z. (2022). Discovering the relationship between communication strategies and fear of oral presentation among university students.

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

• Additionally, there is limited research on how the IRF model affects advice acceptance and the influence of asymmetry during institutional talk, particularly in online office-hour appointments.

  Advising Practices in Office-Hour Sessions: An IRF Model, Asymmetry Influence and Conversation Analytic Investigation · 2025 · DOI

• This study adds to the research by documenting the opportunities for creating affiliative moments between teachers and students afforded by side sequences, an under-explored topic in L2 classroom research.

  Building affiliation in the L2 classroom: the role of side sequences · 2025 · DOI

• In this study, we examine one PST's sequential participation in a traditional POC and a VMPOC, which itself has rarely been reported in the literature.

  Exploring a video‐mediated post‐observation conversation to complement preservice practicum supervision in Japan · 2024 · DOI

• However, in the theory and practice of pedagogical education and science the phenomenon of communicative-rhetorical competence as the most important component of the teacher's professional profile is not realized, its structure is not distinguished, psychological and pedagogical bases and, technology of its formation for students are not clearly defined, the world’s experience of rhetorical personality formation is studied.

  Preparation of Primary School Teachers for Communicative and Rhetorical Activity in School in the Context of their Practical Training · 2022 · DOI

• The findings can significantly contribute for understanding the potential of an ARS supporting two-way communication during a lecture-based approach of instruction, also demonstrate that thinking level of the questions with the feasibility of ARS should be investigated together, and the different preferences of students on the question type, feedback type, and nickname use highlight the importance of student characteristics.

  One Step Further · 2021 · DOI

• The results suggest that awareness of nonverbal cues and silent behaviour - with multiple forms and functions, should be explored further as an approach to detecting language anxiety in EFL contexts.

  Observing Anxiety in the Foreign Language Classroom: Student Silence and Nonverbal Cues · 2020 · DOI

• Yet, very little is known about the extent, nature, and purposes of these practices, the limitations and affordances, the type of discourse and conflicts that develop in these spaces, and the extent to which it affects teacher-student interactions outside of WhatsApp (e.

  “WhatsApp, Teacher?” - Student Perspectives on Teacher-Student WhatsApp Interactions in Secondary Schools · 2018 · DOI

• I revisit the notion of open and closed questions but, instead of considering the structural aspect (Worley 2015b), I address the psychological dimension of open and closed questioning, what I have called ‘Open Question Mindset’ (OQM) and its opposite ‘Closed Question Mindset’ (CQM).

  Ariadne’s Clew Absence and presence in the facilitation of philosophical conversations · 2016 · DOI

• Researchers express ideas about the relationship between feedback provided during the studies and students' professional calling and raise hypotheses about the impact of certain elements of feedback on some aspects of professional calling, however, empirical evidence of the impact of feedback on students' professional calling is still lacking.

  The impact of providing feedback to students as future professionals on their professional calling · 2016 · DOI

• Social anxiety (SA) has been consistently linked to subjectively rated perceptions of nonconfident vocal communication, yet the link between SA and objective vocal properties remains understudied.

  Acoustic Properties of Dominance and Request Utterances in Social Anxiety · 2013 · DOI

• Future research should examine if students choose not to participate in OCC based on instructor communicative behaviors and how this choice is reflected in their choice of particular communicative channels.

  Perceived Instructor In-class Communicative Behaviors As a Predictor of Student Participation in Out of Class Communication · 2005 · DOI

• Although there exists a large literature about the causes and consequences of shyness and self-confidence, very little is known about how such people conduct mundane encounters (for a recent overview, see Crozier 1990).

  Shyness, Self-Confidence, and Social Interaction · 1993 · DOI

• Because of the disparate findings of this study with those of Flanders, et al., there is a need for extensive study to be undertaken. Greater numbers of teachers and their students at all high school levels and in subject matter areas demand investigation if we are to learn more about the nature of classroom teacher-student communication patterns. Specifically, students of communication should consider conducting similar studies in school districts found in large urban areas. In order to make the gathering of thousands of tallies more efficient, IBM cards of the sensing—or punch-type—should be developed for coder use in tallying observations. The information from these cards could be translated by machine into the final I/D ratio and greatly decrease the amount of laborious hand labor. It was found that the use of two coders per teacher was a wasteful practice. Reliability can be maintained by weekly tests of consistency which compare the coder's observations with those of an expert. Thus two coders could observe twice the number of teachers, or a study could use only one. In conclusion, this study has indicated that an investigation employing interaction analysis can be undertaken outside the laboratory with reliable results which indicate a limited relationship of teacher communication patterns to student academic success.

  Teacher‐student communication patterns · 1974 · DOI

• It remains to be seen whether the instrument will prove equally reliable and meaningful in the assessment of manifest speech anxiety in other populations, and whether it is applicable for use during live speech performances. Although the potential utility of the full-length BASA was evidenced in this initial trial, further research is required to determine its strengths and weakness- es in other situations.

  Behavioral assessment of speech anxiety · 1974 · DOI

• The need to augment and improve communication systems is a problem of major significance being encountered in contemporary business organizations. Educators must place a high priority on mak- ing available to business the largely untapped resources available in the colleges and universities. Conversely, the organizations must take the steps necessary to uncover and identify areas in which they pos- sess limited capability for improvement. Once this has been done, pro-active measures can be developed on a mutually beneficial basis. In order to facilitate this synthesis of need and resource we recom- ’ mend the following: i. Actively identify and define current communication related problem areas in organizations. 2. Mobilize university resources to provide problem-solving ori- ented communication programs and seminars at all management levels in Business Organizations. 3. Initiate courses at the graduate level that ( i ) actively seek solu- tions to the identified communication problems, and (2) provide the students with workable knowledge of the communication process.

  COMMUNICATION: A View from the Inside of Business · 1974 · DOI

• I shall make here four general suggestions as to directions which I believe future research on interpersonal trust could and should profitably 21 Ibid., p. 226. 22 Lloyd H. Strickland, "Surveillance and trust," Journal of Personality, 26 (19S8), 200-02. 23 Ibid., p. 202. Downloaded by [University of Arizona] at 07:49 11 June 2016 WESTERN SPEECH DAVID T. BUEHANS, JR. pursue. First, much of the work of Deutsch and his followers should be replicated and extended in research designs which are not limited to game playing behavior. Quite apart from the general concern with whether game playing behavior is ever representative of the more socially significant interpersonal behaviors to which social psychologists wish to generalize, it appears to me that many of the trust game paradigm experiments may have been particularly high in demand characteristics which limit even the internal validity of some of their findings.24 The question arises as to whether the Ss' behavior in the various trust game experiments can best be explained by the hypothesized independent variables or by the Ss' willingness to play the game and to assume that their opponents were playing the game according to the rules carefully laid down by the experimenter. A useful research strategy would be to try to replicate the essential conditions of the game paradigm in non-game situations. To the degree that the findings of the trust game studies still obtain in situations which are similar in their essential characteristics (e.g., the ability of each person to influence the outcome of the other) but dissimilar in their non-essential characteristics (such as the particular nature of the outcome payoff—points, dollars, etc.), we can have greater confidence in the validity and generalizability of those findings. A second direction which interpersonal trust research should take is to conduct much more research involving interpersonal trust or trusting behavior as an independent rather than a dependent variable. I know of only two empirical studies at this writing which have treated interpersonal trust as an independent variable: (1) Mellinger's study which dealt with the notion that "a communicator... who lacks trust in the recipient of his communication... tends to be motivated to conceal his own attitudes about an issue... in communicating with [that recipient]";25 and (2) Leathers' research on the effects of trust-destroying behavior on an individual's feedback responses in a small group situation.26 A great deal more needs to be investigated about the various behavioral manifestations of a trusting or non-trusting relationship.

  The experimental study of interpersonal trust · 1973 · DOI

• ) (4) Because the "open-door" is apparently ineffective, other channels should be investigated as means of improving communication between students and administrators: "rap" sessions, mass media, teaching courses, mass meetings, university councils, ombudsmen, informal "walks and talks" around campus, etc. (6) Because "office hours" appear to be ineffective, other student-faculty channels should be explored: better classroom instruction, student input on faculty committees, faculty visits to student living and social quarters, etc.

  Communication at the university · 1972 · DOI

• source credibility). In virtually all fearappeal studies, the researchers apparently accept and/or assume the Janis-Feshbach implication that the accompanying reassuring recommendation must be of sufficient the aroused tension. No one has systematically explored what happens if the reto dissipate (i.e., by strength Mrs. Cope is an Instructor of Speech and Mr. Richardson is Associate Professor and Assistant Dean of the Graduate School at Auburn University. 1 Irving L. Janis and Seymour Feshbach, "Effects of Fear-Arousing Communications," Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 48 (1953), 78-92. assuring recommendation is omitted altogether. From a theoretical standpoint, the arousal of a fear response could create a drive-state which would persist and continue to influence the subjects' behavior until the drive is in some way reduced or dissipated. In the absence of (which a reassuring recommendation we assume would reduce the drive strength), the continuance of the drive might influence the retention of inforthe message, opinion mation change, and attitudes toward the message source. from It was to answer some of these questions and to provide empirical data regarding the function of the "reassuring recommendation" that this study was undertaken. METHOD The subjects for this study were students enrolled in the basic speech course at Auburn University. Sixteen classes (278 students) participated in the study. There were eight classes in the "R" group (reassuring recommendation) and eight classes in the "NR" group (no reassuring recommendation). The basic message was designed to produce fear about the threat of nuclear war. It contained no specific reassuring recommendations. This speech was delivered to approximately one-half of the subjects in the study, and is labeled the NR speech. The other half of the subjects heard the basic speech plus the reassuring rec- Downloaded by [Oregon State University] at 21:17 05 January 2015 SPECIAL REPORTS 149 ommendation. The reassuring recommendation suggested that since there are no prime targets in the immediate vicinity of Auburn University, the main danger from nuclear attack was radioactive fallout. Therefore, the danger of serious injury or death could be avoided altogether by adequate fallout protection. The basic speech plus the reassuring recommendation is labeled the R speech. The students in an advanced public speaking class delivered all of the speeches. Each speaker delivered at least one R and NR speech. The speeches were presented to intact classes in a 7- day period. The instructor explained that he had agreed to allow the speech to be given if the speaker would make up a test to examine the students' listening ability. The quiz served as the "retention test" of the study. The test consisted of 20 items; seventeen of which were factual questions about the information in the basic speech; the other three items were statements to be rated on a one to seven linear scale. These scales measured opinion change, worry about nuclear attack, and concern about fallout. Following this post-test, the students were given an 8-item speaker evaluation form. This form was administered by the classroom instructor after the speaker had left the room. Each item in this evaluation form had five possible responses. An example item is: "Do you think the speaker gave a fair presentation of the subject?" The choices were: very fair, moderately fair, undecided, moderately unfair, very unfair. An analysis of this form served to indicate whether the unresolved emotional tension generalized to the audience's attitude toward the communicator. Standard Mests were applied to the data for retention of information, shiftof-opinion, amount of worry, and amount of concern. An analysis of variance technique recommended by Winer for a two factor factorial design with N observation per cell2 was applied to the data derived from the speaker evaluation form.

  The effects of reassuring recommendations in a fear‐arousing speech · 1972 · DOI

• Given a history of vigorous research ac- tivity dealing with communication and adoption practices, Rogers and Shoe- maker stipulate a twofold purpose for their work: (1) "To synthesize a series of generalizations from research on the dif- fusion of innovations," and (2) "to pre- vent the unnecessary duplication of re- search effort, which often results when a corpus of research literature has not been thoroughly analyzed and synthesized.

  Readings in communication theory: Suggestions and an occasional caveat · 1971 · DOI

• A similar situation prevails in the examination of practical teaching ability: students teaching different age groups in schools whose conditions vary widely are assessed by different tutors whose interests vary widely and who are not entirely agreed as to the qualities they are trying to assess. It would be useful to conduct further investigation into the question of 50 W.

  Assessing Students’ Behaviour in Group Discussion · 1971 · DOI

• (Note: there are no specific English courses required in order to enter Colo- rado State Colleges). The counselors surveyed, in the ma- jority of instances, schedule students in- to oral communication courses less than 20% of the time. The few students scheduled into such courses do not nec- essarily reflect the attitude of the coun- selor. The reasons for such a low per- centage of students being scheduled into such classes are multiple.

  Counselors' attitudes toward scheduling students into speech communication courses at the high school level · 1970 · DOI

• The recommendations that follow are, in general, based on the analysis of a survey study, and the cumulative experience of the Pennsylvania Speech * This paper is based upon a study conducted by The Pennsylvania State University and The Department of Public Instruction of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and released by that Department in 1966. The general comments expressed in the report represent the conclusions of the author and are included because of their general interest, not because they necessarily represent or reflect the Department of Public Instruction's position or conclusions. The Department, however, concurs fully with the recommendations which Professor Dunham has included. TODAY'S SPEECH reprints this paper with permission of the Department of Public Instruction and Professor Dunham. Single copies of this report are available free from the Bureau of Curriculum Development, Department of Public Instruction, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. Association members and speech education consultants appointed by the Department of Public Instruction in 1964, who work in cooperation with local school districts in developing speech programs. FIRST, that balanced speech programs, cnrricnlar or co-curricular, include 1. instruction in principles of communicative** speaking 2. practice under realistic audience conditions 3. criticism which stresses important points of cummunicative speaking. The survey indicates that many of the co-curricular activities being offered are predominately elocution. The Department joins with the Pennsylvania Speech Association in urging that events and activities be encouraged which stress the broader communicative process of speech. SECOND, that in-service speech education programs for inteachers of speech and English be an dispensable part of quality speech education curricula in Commonwealth schools. The survey strongly indicates that the majority of speech programs are being taught not by speech majors but by English teachers with limited training in speech and consequent feelings of inadequacy. The Department has appointed speech consultants to work with the fourteen area curriculum centers of the Commonwealth. These consultants may be contacted through the closest area curriculum center. **The student of communicative speaking focuses not on his own behaviors, but on the understanding, beliefs and actions of his listeners. Old speech programs (sometimes called "elocution") have focused students on "pretty" delivery for its own sake; communicative speech programs teach him to analyze and solve real communication problems.

  Speech education in Pennsylvania high schools · 1969 · DOI

• Future research should investigate this hypothesis with various audience treatments. Further research on the effects of non-vocal audience feedback on such variables as speaker eye-contact, facial expression, body activity, organization, and other variables of speech communi- cation needs to be undertaken.

  Effects of positive and negative audience feedback on selected variables of speech behavior · 1969 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Communication in Education and Healthcare

• Can you connect with me now? How the presence of mobile communication technology influences face-to-face conversation quality · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · 2012 · 481 citations
• Social cues in multimedia learning: Role of speaker's voice. · Journal of Educational Psychology · 2003 · 306 citations
• Effects of Self-Talk: A Systematic Review · Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology · 2011 · 174 citations
• Person-to-person interactions in online classroom settings under the impact of COVID-19: a social presence theory perspective · Asia Pacific Education Review · 2021 · 132 citations
• On the relationship between EFL students' attitudes toward artificial intelligence, teachers' immediacy and teacher-student rapport, and their willingness to communicate · System · 2024 · 128 citations
• Student fears of oral presentations and public speaking in higher education: a qualitative survey · Journal of Further and Higher Education · 2021 · 122 citations
• Nonverbal immediacy behaviors and online student engagement: bringing past instructional research into the present virtual classroom · Communication Education · 2016 · 107 citations
• How do students perceive face-to-face/blended learning as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic? · The International Journal of Management Education · 2021 · 100 citations
• Modeling the interaction between teacher credibility, teacher confirmation, and English major students’ academic engagement: A sequential mixed-methods approach · Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching · 2024 · 96 citations
• It Takes More Than a Good Camera: Which Factors Contribute to Differences Between Face-to-Face Interviews and Videoconference Interviews Regarding Performance Ratings and Interviewee Perceptions? · Journal of Business and Psychology · 2020 · 88 citations

Most recent work

• 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
• The Power of Silence: An Invisible Soft Skill in Modern Communicatio · International Journal of Science, Strategic Management and Technology · 2026
• Nonverbal Means in Pedagogical Communication · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
• The Paradox of Belonging: Communication Students’ Sense of Support, Isolation, and Identity Amid DEI Retrenchment · Howard Journal of Communications · 2026
• Speech Invaders: A gamified VR public-speaking simulation activity for reducing public-speaking anxiety and building confidence · Communication Teacher · 2026
• Mediating effect of gender on communicative strategies and public speaking anxiety among Senior High School students · International Journal of Language English Studies Translation and Communication Research (IJLESTCR) · 2026
• Speak Up, Stand Out: Improving Self-Confidence through Public Speaking Training for Psychology Students · YASIN · 2026
• Development of the School Communication Scale · Research on Education and Psychology · 2026
• Supplemental Material for Listening Across the Divide: High-Quality Listening Promotes Speakers’ State Well-Being Through Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction During Disagreements · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · 2026

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