Abstract:

This study set out to reveal how the classroom is a rhetorical situation in order to accomplish two primary goals: first, to examine six study types of student evaluations of teaching: (1) multisection, (2) multitrait-multimethod, (3) bias, (4) laboratory, (5) conceptual structure, and (6) theoretical; and, second, to discover what they actually tell educators about teaching and learning in order to increase quality in, accessibility to, accountability for, and transparency of teaching and learning in higher education. Numerous studies have considered student evaluations of teaching, which produced contradictory results making it a challenge for anyone to determine what these important studies show. The results of this investigation, however, uncovered many reasons for the inherent contradictions in the data through the application of rhetorical theories of kairos and the rhetorical situation. Many researchers in the field of student evaluations of teaching have looked at these studies acknowledging the contradictions, and conjecturing the reasons. Yet, none has taken a rhetorical-theoretical approach that breaks down the more controversial studies into their elements. This study used rhetorical theories to reveal why one study, such as a bias study, might produce different and seeming contradictions to another, such as a multisection study. The findings in this research suggest that rhetorical theories enhance the understanding of student evaluations of teaching because they provide a lens through which researchers can view the classroom in its rich complexity, and its evaluation, allowing administrators, educators, and accreditation agencies to better understand the teaching and learning that takes place there.