Is My Professor’s Lecture Style Affecting My Learning?

You’re sitting in class as your professor rambles on. The material is interesting, but the lecture is choppy. The professor stops-and-starts frequently, sounding uncertain, and you’re counting the number of times he says, “um.” Meanwhile, your friend is taking the same class with a different instructor known for his confident and clear style.

The content of the courses is the same, but the delivery of that content must be affecting your ability to learn the material, right?

Maybe not. A recent study out of Iowa State University found that the lecture style of an instructor had no consistent effect on learning.

In the experiment, participants watched a 22-minute presentation of a scientific concept. Half of the participants heard the presentation narrated by an instructor who sounded hesitant, disengaged, and awkward. The other half heard the information from the same instructor but who now spoke in a calm and fluid manner. The actual material covered in the two presentations was identical.

Participants’ confidence in their learning did not differ between the two instructors either. In other words, those who learned from the awkward instructor thought they would perform just as well as those who learned from the confident instructor.

This result may sound surprising, but classrooms have a lot going on. Lectures are typically accompanied by a presentation, graphics, and demonstrations. If the material itself is generally considered hard, it might not matter how it is presented.

That’s what the researchers found: participants generally based their memory confidence on the material being learned and on their own learning abilities instead of on the instructor’s delivery.

But even if the clarity of presentation does not influence learning or confidence, it could affect other outcomes. Teaching evaluations hold a lot of weight in how instructors are perceived – by themselves, their students, and the institutions they work for. Therefore, instructors may look to improve these evaluations. One way to do this? Work on how you sound. Participants rated the clear and confident instructor as more organized, knowledgeable, prepared, and effective.

This study has takeaways for both teachers and students. First, instructors, if you value the perceptions of your students, try to present your lectures in an engaging and fluid manner. Students notice presentation style and judge their professors on how the material is given. But we all have rough days. There might be a time when you can’t prepare and rehearse as much as you’d like, and that’s okay. Your students’ comprehension may not be any worse off.

Now students, your understanding of the material may not be influenced by your instructor’s delivery. Actually, having an overly confident instructor could hurt your learning. A related study found that students learning from such an instructor thought that they understood the information much better than they actually did. So maybe you don’t have to be too envious the next time you hear about your friend’s awesome professor.

Peer edited by Salma Azam, Sara Duncan, and Lindsay Walton.

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