Communication and Learning

Alan K. Goodboy and Zachary W. Goldman

6Teacher Power and Compliance-Gaining

Abstract: From the earliest onsets of children’s formal education to advanced forms of adult learning, grade-school teachers and college instructors use power in their classrooms to influence their students, manage their behavior, encourage their academic efforts, and keep them focused on learning tasks. It is ultimately the manner in which educators acquire and use their power that determines the effectiveness and appropriateness of their influence over their students. Teachers and instructors may choose from many bases of power and strategies to influence their students; these choices have important effects on and implications for students and their learning environments. ...