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Thursday, December 7, 2017

Instructor Dress Influencing Student Behaviors
The Problem & Rationale
Prior research has focused on instructor dress influencing student behaviors (Chatelain, 2015; Lavin, Davies, & Carr, 2010) and as a result of this can influence the student perception of the instructor's ability. Clothing can have a major impact on one's perception of another and can signal the wrong information (Chatelain, 2015; Dunbar & Segrin, 2012; Hannover & Kühnen, 2006; Naylor, 2007; Peluchette, Karl, & Rust, 2006; Roach, 1997). The studies on clothing, likeability, approachability, credibility, and immediacy sited in the literature review does not give clear evidence that perceptions of others can be influenced by an individuals dress. Most studies dependent upon where their study lies states that there is no significance. Students need to know that the instructor ability for teaching the class is credible and the instructor is knowledgeable. When this is not present student behaviors can elicit problems for the instructor. 

The Results & Discussion
This study was designed to test hypotheses that predicted instructors dressed formal, informal, or casual will influence student behavior, and the instructor dressing formal, informal, casual will influence student perceptions of the instructor’s ability. Neither hypotheses were supported. The results were not significant. However, this study showed some indications of student perceptions on instructor abilities and student behaviors when instructor dresses casual.
Contrary to what other researchers have found citing that instructors attire does influence student behavior, this study showed there is no significance and the hypotheses was not supported. However, the findings did indicate that students’ behavior is higher when an instructor is dressed casually (casual M=21.33, SD=8.44; formal M=17.56, SD=6.13; informal M=15.55, SD=3.67). The behaviors students elicit are the result of their own actions, such as not attending class, paying more attention in class, or even participating in class. 

The hypotheses for instructor dressing formal, informal, or casual will influence student perceptions of the instructor’s ability was not supported by this research and showed there was no significance. As stated earlier these researchers (Carr, Davies, & Lavin, 2010; Gorham, Cohen, & Morris, 1999; Mosca & Buzza, 2013) in their study has shown there is no significance of instructor attire influencing student perception on instructor ability. Their claim did not support the literature review and raises concerns about other research studies. However, this study indicated that when an instructor is dressed formal the student perception of the instructor ability increased (formal M=14.44, SD=7.33; informal M=13.36, SD=2.46; casual M=12.00, SD=.00). Therefore, decreasing student behavior.

One could assume that because the instructor is dressed formal they are not approachable, and this could be the negative side of instructor ability for the student perception. Contrary to the negative, there are positive aspects of instructor’s ability which are being prepared for class, knowledgeable and the ability to present information clearly, and being credible. This positive aspect would allow student’s behavior to decrease and be more productive in class. Therefore, having a positive perception of instructor’s ability. Because the hypothesis was not supported we can only speculate these are the perceptions student’s have on the instructor ability.

References
Carr, D. L., Davies, T. L., & Lavin, A. M. (2010). The Impact of Instructor Attire on College Student Satisfaction. College Student Journal, 44(1), 101-111.
Chatelain, A. M. (2015). The effect of academics’ dress and gender on student perceptions of instructor approachability and likeability. Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management, 37(4), 413-423. doi:10.1080/1360080X.2015.1056598
Dunbar, N.E., & Segrin, C. (2012). Clothing and Teacher Credibility: An Application of Expectancy Violations Theory. ISRN Education, Vol 2012 (2012), doi:10.5402/2012/140517
Gorham, J., & Cohen, S. H., Morris, T. L. (1999). Fashion in the Classroom III: Effects of Instructor Attire and Immediacy in Natural Classroom... Communication Quarterly, 47(3), 281-299.
Hannover, B., & Kühnen, U. (2006). “The Clothing Makes the Self” Via Knowledge Activation1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 32. 2513 - 2525. 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.tb02754.x.
Lavin, A. M., Davies, T. L., & Carr, D. L. (2010). The Impact of Instructor Attire on Student Perceptions of Faculty Credibility and Their Own Resultant Behavior. American Journal of Business Education, 3(6), 51-62.
Mosca, J. B., & Buzza, J. (2013). Clothing and the Affects on a Teacher's Image: How Students View Them. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 6(1), 59-66
Peluchette, J.V., Karl, K. & Rust, K. J (2006) 21: 45. Dressing to Impress: Beliefs and Attitudes regarding Workplace Attire. Journal of Business and Psychology, Vol. 21, No. 1, 46-63, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-005-9022-1
Roach, K. D. (1997). Effects of Graduate Teaching Assistant Attire on Student Learning, Misbehaviors, and Ratings of Instruction. Communication Quarterly, 45(3), 125-141

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