Teaching Ethics in Communication Courses: An Investigation of Instructional Methods, Course Foci, and Student Outcomes

This study investigates the impact of ethics instruction in communication courses on students’ moral reasoning competence. Using a quasi-experiment, participants in interpersonal conflict courses and communication ethics courses were exposed to different levels of ethics instruction through a variety of instructional methods. Results indicate that students who completed conflict courses demonstrated significant gains in moral-reasoning abilities, whereas students in communication ethics courses demonstrated small but insignificant gains in moral reasoning. Additionally, significant differences in gains in moral-reasoning competence occurred between students who had high pretest scores and students who had low pretest scores. Instructional methods significantly affected students’ reports of the degree to which ethics had been addressed in courses.