Attentive Facework During Instructional Feedback: Key to Perceiving Mentorship and an Optimal Learning Environment

This study investigated how the face threat mitigation students received from their teachers during feedback influenced their judgments about mentored relationships with their teachers and the supportiveness of the classroom learning environment. Public speaking students (N =345) at three universities completed an online survey about the speech feedback they had received from their instructors throughout that term. Receiving skilled facework during feedback predicted all aspects of perceived mentoring (including satisfaction) and almost all of the supportive learning environment components. Findings support instructional facework as a key communication mechanism by which teachers and students negotiate optimally adaptive and engaging learning relationships and environments.