Reconceptualizing the Role of Anxiety in Classroom Instruction: A Model for Future Research

• In Event: Engaging Students in the College Classroom From Day One

Abstract

For more than 50 years, scholars have explored the relationship between learning and anxiety. Much of this interest centers on how students master a body of knowledge or communication-related skill sets while successfully managing the affective states associated with anxiety. The goal of this manuscript is explore how to model the relationship among anxiety, instructors’ classroom communication and relevant variables. Guided by uncertainty reduction theory, we consider how anxiety, learning and potentially relevant variables are related.

Authors

• John Haas, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

• Stephanie E. Kelly, University of Tennessee