Abstract
This article examines the applicability of the value-added model of learning to speech communication education and the degree to which instructors should be held accountable for students’ growth. Douglas critiques the model’s economic and industrial origins, which frame students as products and teachers as assembly-line workers. While the model provides clarity through measurable objectives and feedback mechanisms, it risks narrowing learning to easily quantifiable skills at the expense of creativity, individuality, and higher-order symbolic development. The paper argues that the model can be useful for assessing basic, observable skills, but is inadequate for capturing the organic, non-linear nature of human communication and symbolic growth. Ultimately, Douglas concludes that instructors should be accountable primarily to themselves and their peers for fostering students’ broader communicative development, including self-awareness, ethical understanding, and symbolic competence.
Recommended Citation
Douglas, Jack
(1987)
"To What Extent Should Instructors Be Held Accountable for Students' Value-Added Skills?,"
Association for Communication Administration Bulletin: Vol. 60, Article 16.
Available at:
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/aca/vol60/iss1/16
