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Graduation Term

2020

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

School of Communication

Committee Chair

John F. Hooker

Committee Member

Cheri J. Simonds

Abstract

Students are often socialized to compete; yet, cooperative skills have become increasingly desirable in many workplace. In order to equip the current generation of college students with essential skills to work with others in their future careers, structuring cooperative tasks into college classrooms can be an effective instructional strategy. The goal of this study is to examine how different social interdependence structures (competition, individualistic, and cooperation) influence students’ affective learning, motivation, classroom communication apprehension, and perceptions of classroom climate. Participants were randomly assigned to conditions (competitive structure, individualistic structure, and cooperative structure) and were asked to complete a short survey after reading the scenarios for these conditions. The highest levels of affective learning as well as motivation were found in the individualistic structure, followed by the cooperative and competitive structures. Regarding classroom communication apprehension, students in the competitive structure were most apprehensive, followed by students in the cooperative and individualistic structures. Finally, both students in the cooperative structure and students in the individualistic structure viewed their classroom climate more favorably than students in the competitive classroom.

Access Type

Thesis-ISU Access Only

DOI

http://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2020.Vu.N

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