Abstract

Instructional communication literature suggests that, to achieve optimal student learning outcomes, an instructor must completely engage in all aspects of experiential learning. It follows, then, that youth ministers should also employ experiential learning in their youth ministries to achieve their learning outcome goals among the youth they teach. This research project examined three research questions: 1.) What pedagogical strategies do youth ministers use during large group class sessions? 2.) In what ways do youth ministers employ instructional communication best practices within their pedagogical strategies? 3.) What strategies do former students remember their youth minister using the most? The analysis revealed four key conclusions. First, youth ministers privilege lecture-style delivery formats over other formats suggested as key in the instructional communication literature. Second, youth ministers who do implement discussion-based delivery formats predominately use teacher-student rather than student-student discussion, which is also an instructional communication best practice. Third, although youth ministers talk about instructional communication best practices regarding engagement and action, they rarely provide opportunities for students to do so during large group class session. Finally, former students report recalling that youth ministers privilege lecture delivery over student-to-student discussions or active application activities related to their daily lives. Based on these conclusions, several implications and suggestions for future research are proposed.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2019

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Sellnow, Deanna

Degree

Master of Arts (M.A.)

College

College of Health Professions and Sciences

Department

Communication

Degree Program

Communication; Interpersonal Communication Track

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0007539

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0007539

Language

English

Release Date

May 2019

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

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