The influence of frequency of emails from instructors and sustained email communication between teachers and students on students' success and academic outcomes

Guided by social information processing theory (SIPT), this study explored the frequency of teacher-to-student email, as well as sustained email communication between students and teachers, and their impact on student-teacher relationship development, students' in-class motivation, and students' cognitive and affective learning. In addition, this study examined students' propensity to engage in hyperpersonal communication via email with their instructors. Participants (N = 286) responded to an online survey, which assessed the frequency with which their teachers emailed them throughout the semester under consideration, the amount of sustained email communication between students and their teachers, and students' perceptions of relational development with their instructors, their motivation, and cognitive and affective learning. Results indicated a positive correlation between the frequency of teacher-to-student email and student-teacher relationship development, students' in-class motivation, and students' cognitive and affective learning. Conversely, sustained email communication between students and teachers was not significantly related to the development of student-teacher relationships, students' motivation, or students' cognitive and affective learning. Finally, results revealed that students do not engage in hyperpersonal communication with their instructors.