Classroom understanding: An expanded notion of teacher clarity

The purpose of this paper is to expand and clarify the construct of teacher clarity. In doing so, this paper summarizes the findings on teacher clarity, points out two neglected areas, and presents an instrument that incorporates both content and process clarity. This study posits that clarity must be incorporated as a goal of general classroom understanding which includes content and process messages and that teacher clarity is a relational variable. The development of this instrument will allow future scholars to measure teacher clarity as it relates to other communication variables from a relational perspective. Also, the items on this expanded instrument will help teachers to become aware of and identify, more inclusively, the behaviors that constitute teacher clarity.