The compliant communicator: Teacher perceptions of appropriate classroom behavior

Elementary and middle school teachers were asked to supply concrete descriptions of behaviors which they perceived as signalling a lack of communicative competence on the part of students. These behaviors were coded into six categories which serve to define major rules for competent discourse in the classroom. The results show that, from the teachers’ point of view, communication competence involves a complex of behaviors including attitudinal/motivational as well as cognitive dimensions.