Instructor socio‐communicative style, argumentativeness, and verbal aggressiveness in the college classroom

Abstract

This study explored the relationship among instructor socio‐communicative style, argumentativeness, and verbal aggressiveness in the college classroom. Participants were 139 undergraduate students enrolled at a small southern university who completed the Assertiveness‐Responsiveness Measure (Richmond & McCroskey, 1990) as well as modified versions of the Argumentativeness Scale (Infante & Rancer, 1982) and the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale (Infante & Wigley, 1986). Results indicated that (a) competent and aggressive instructors are rated significantly higher in argumentativeness than submissive instructors and (b) noncompetent and aggressive instructors are rated significantly higher in verbal aggressiveness than either competent or submissive instructors.