Power in the classroom I: Teacher and student perceptions

learninghavebeenespousedand newcommunicationtechniques/strategiesare beingencouragedasalternativemethodstothetraditionalclassroommodel.How-ever,"thetraditionalviewofeducation,aviewthatstillprevails,holdsthatlearners mustsubmitthemselvesto teachers"(Menges,1977,p.5).As Mengesfurther suggests,thisviewmeansthattheteachers'authorityis nottobequestioned.The underlyingassumptionis thatwithoutthecommunicationof powerbytheteacher overthestudent,thestudentcannotlearn. Hurt,Scott,andMcCroskey(1978)suggestthatin aclassroomsetting"acertain degreeof teacherpoweris alwayspresent"(p. 125).They continue.bysuggesting thatthemorepowerisemployedbytheteacherasameansofcontrol,themorelikely itwill berequiredasameansofcontrol.In otherwords"themoreit isused,themore it will needtobeused"(p.125). The primaryfocusof thisstudyis todeterminethedegreetowhichteachersand studentshavesharedperceptionsoftheuseof powerin theclassroom.If thereis a highdegreeofsharedperceptionsthismightillustratethatbothteacherandstudent are awareof powerand its outcome.A low degreeof sharedperceptionsmay contributeto ineffectivecommunicationbetweentheteacherandstudent.Shared perceptions,of course,donotguaranteeffectivecommunication.However,if the studentdoesn'tlikethetypeof poweremployedbytheteacherbutcanrecognizeit whenit is usedhe/shemaybeabletorespondappropriately.If thestudentcannot recognizethetypeof powercommunicatedbytheteacher,he/sheis morelikelyto respondinappropriately.The key is to determineif studentsand teachershave sharedperceptionsaboutthekindsof poweremployedin a classroom.If this is determinedthenbothteachersandstudentscanbetaughtwhat typesof power producecertainoutcomes(i.e.,learning).