Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Formational Relational Turning Points In The Transition To College: Understanding How Communication Events Shape First-Generation Students' Relationships With Their College Teachers, Tiffany R. Wang

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of the present study was to explore teacher-student interaction, teacher-student relationship formation and development, and the ways in which teacher- student interaction and relationships facilitated support and ultimately persistence to graduation for first-generation students in the transition to college. In this study I sought to better understand the nature of interaction in the teacher-student relationship of these first-generation students during their transition to college. I took an interpretive communication-centered approach to identify the teacher messages that first-generation students perceived to be relational turning points with their teachers as well as their perceptions of teacher messages and relational turning …