| Title: |
Characterizing the Content and Mechanisms of Instructor Messages That Communicate Instructor Beliefs about Ability to Undergraduates |
| Language: |
English |
| Authors: |
Anastasia Chouvalova (ORCID 0009-0007-1917-9054); Isabel Billings; Abby G. Caraway; Nathan Hoggatt; Ga Yeon Kim; Aastha Mehta; David Vizcaino; Lisa B. Limeri (ORCID 0000-0002-7054-7509) |
| Source: |
CBE - Life Sciences Education. 2026 25(1). |
| Availability: |
American Society for Cell Biology. 8120 Woodmont Avenue Suite 750, Bethesda, MD 20814-2762. Tel: 301-347-9300; Fax: 301-347-9310; e-mail: ascbinfo@ascb.org; Website: https://www.lifescied.org/ |
| Peer Reviewed: |
Y |
| Page Count: |
24 |
| Publication Date: |
2026 |
| Sponsoring Agency: |
National Science Foundation (NSF) |
| Contract Number: |
2141956; 2141988 |
| Document Type: |
Journal Articles; Reports - Research |
| Education Level: |
Higher Education; Postsecondary Education |
| Descriptors: |
Undergraduate Students; College Faculty; Teacher Student Relationship; Interpersonal Communication; Teacher Attitudes; Student Attitudes; Beliefs; STEM Education; Content Analysis; Discourse Analysis; Affordances; Goal Orientation; Academic Achievement; Attribution Theory; Inferences; Classroom Environment; Teacher Expectations of Students |
| DOI: |
10.1187/cbe.25-09-0202 |
| ISSN: |
1931-7913 |
| Abstract: |
Instructors' beliefs about their students' abilities (called "lay theories") and student perceptions of instructors' beliefs impact students' outcomes. Lay theories include three beliefs: mindset (improvability of intelligence), universality (distribution of potential for achieving high ability), and brilliance (whether talent is required for success). There is growing literature explaining how instructors' mindset beliefs affect students, but little is known about instructors' universality and brilliance beliefs, despite evidence that all three beliefs uniquely impact student outcomes. Our qualitative study (1) characterizes the content and mechanism of instructor messages that inform students' perceptions of instructors' beliefs and (2) compares how different beliefs are communicated. We interviewed 24 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) undergraduates about how they perceive their instructors' beliefs. We identified four themes of content of instructor messages that communicate beliefs: affordances for success, goal orientations, distribution of achievement, and attributions for performance. We identified three mechanisms through which these messages are communicated: statements, actions, and course structure and policies. We also found that students assume their instructors' beliefs based on instructor, class, or institution characteristics, or their own beliefs. Students use all the message contents and mechanisms to infer all three beliefs, though not in equal frequencies. Our results provide practical implications to enhance instructor-student communication. |
| Abstractor: |
As Provided |
| Entry Date: |
2026 |
| Accession Number: |
EJ1499655 |
| Database: |
ERIC |