This study investigates whether college students can accurately distinguish between lessons taught in clear and unclear manners and what the effect of a low clarity lesson is on achievement at the knowledge (recall) level. Concluded that students can distinguish between high and low clarity lessons and that there is no causal relationship between…

Two low-inference teacher clarity variables, vagueness terms and mazes, are discussed in terms of their effect on student achievement and on student perception of lesson effectiveness. Results indicate that high frequencies of teacher vagueness terms inhibit student achievement and cause students to perceive the lesson as ineffective. (Authors/JN)

For seventh-grade mathematics students lesson discontinuity and teacher vagueness terms significantly affected student achievement, and the interaction between continuity and vagueness was significant. Vagueness terms significantly affected student perception of lesson effectiveness. (Author/CP)

High school students were presented with identical social studies lessons. The only differences were variations in teacher uncertainty, teacher "bluffing," lesson discontinuity, and lecture notes. Each group was tested on lesson comprehension and completed a lesson evaluation. Results were discussed in terms of low inference behaviors related to…

This study examined the impact of teachers' attractiveness and gender upon students' perception of the teachers' ability. A group of seventh grade math students (N=28) was chosen for the experiment. The students rated photographs of teachers in the areas of organization, classroom management, motivation, communication, sensitivity, imagination,…

Teacher clarity and its effects on student achievement were investigated in a study of high school social studies students. Groups were defined by possible combinations of two teacher uncertainty conditions, two teacher "bluffing" conditions, and two lecture note conditions. Results are discussed. (Author/DF)

One hundred sixty college students were randomly assigned to eight groups defined by the possible combinations of teacher vagueness in instruction (vagueness v. no vagueness), teacher mazes conditions (mazes are defined as false starts or halts in speech, redundancy, and semantically nonsensical word combinations), and additional unexplained…

High school social studies students (n=160) were each assigned to 1 of 8 groups defined by possible combinations of 2 teacher uncertainty conditions (uncertainty vs. no uncertainty), 2 teacher "bluffing" conditions (bluffing vs. no bluffing), and 2 lecture notes conditions (students receive lecture notes handout vs. students do not…

This study was conducted to examine students' perceptions of the impact of age and gender upon an individual's ability to teach. Seventh-grade science students (N=28) were shown photographs of six teachers (a young female, a young male, a middle-aged female, a middle-aged male, an old female, and an old male) for purposes of evaluation in terms of…

High school social studies students (n=448) were each assigned to one of 16 groups defined by possible combinations of two teacher uncertainty conditions (uncertainty vs. no uncertainty), two teacher "bluffing" conditions (bluffing vs. no bluffing), two lesson discontinuity conditions (discontinuity vs. no discontinuity), and two lecture notes…