R U Able to Meat Me: The Impact of Students’ Overly Casual Email Messages to Instructors

Abstract

Out-of-classroom communication (OCC) in the form of email has increased considerably in the past few years. This study uses Interaction Adaptation Theory (IAT) to inform and frame the impact of using overly casual email messages with instructors. Study one used an experimental method to determine that message quality (casual vs. formal messages) accounted for between 48% and 64% of the variance explained in affect toward the student, student credibility, and message attitude. Message quality also significantly impacted on an instructor's willingness to comply with a simple request for a face-to-face meeting. Study two further examined these findings using a comparative analysis of both instructors and students. Findings reveal that instructors are bothered more than students by overly casual email messages. Instructors attribute students’ use of overly casual emails more heavily to training issues, while students attribute this to technology use. Two specific email violations that bother instructors more than students are emails not signed by the message sender and messages that include shortcuts like “RU” instead of “are you”. Finally, it appears that instructor generational differences have little impact on these descriptive findings.

Keywords:

• Email Use
• Email Quality
• Instructional Communication
• Out-of-Classroom Communication
• Generational Effects
• Technology Use

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Russell Corrigan for his initial work on testing the email messages used in this study. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the International Communication Association Conference in May 2008.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Keri K. Stephens

Keri K. Stephens (Ph.D. 2005, University of Texas) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Texas at Austin

Marian L. Houser

Marian L. Houser (Ph.D. 2002, University of Tennessee, Knoxville) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas State University

Renee L. Cowan

Renee L. Cowan (M.A. 2005, Texas State University) is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication Studies at Texas A & M University