Role of Teacher Communicator Style in the Delivery of a Middle School Substance Use Prevention Program

• NCJ Number: 243858
• Journal: Journal of Drug Education Volume: 42 Issue: 4 Dated: 2012 Pages: 393-411
• Author(s): Steven M. Giles, Ph.D.; Melinda M. Pankratz, Ph.D.; Chris Ringwalt, Ph.D.; Julia Jackson-Newsom, Ph.D.; William B. Hansen, Ph.D.; Dana Bishop, M.S.; Linda Dusenbury, Ph.D.; Nisha Gottfredson, Ph.D.
• Date Published: 2012
• Length: 19 pages
• Grant Number(s): 5R01 DA016098; 5R01 DA024639
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute on Drug Abuse
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined whether teachers' communicator style related to student engagement, teacher-student relationships, student perceptions of teacher immediacy, as well as observer ratings of delivery skills during the implementation of All Stars, a middle school-based substance use prevention program.

Abstract

The authors of this study examined whether teachers' communicator style related to student engagement, teacher-student relationships, student perceptions of teacher immediacy, as well as observer ratings of delivery skills during the implementation of All Stars, a middle school-based substance use prevention program. Data from 48 teachers who taught All Stars up to 3 consecutive years and their respective seventh-grade students (n = 2,240) indicate that having an authoritative communication style is negatively related to student engagement with the curriculum and the quality of the student-teacher relationship, while having an expressive communicator style improves teachers' immediacy to student needs. Adaptations made by a subsample of teachers (n = 27) reveal that those who were more expressive asked students more questions, used more motivational techniques, and introduced more new concepts than authoritarian teachers. (Published Abstract)