The purposes of this study were: (1) to identify the communication concerns of prospective, student, and inservice teachers and (2) to determine differences in the concerns of the three groups with regard to a three-phase conceptualization: concern with self, task, and impact. Findings were that: (1) prospective teachers expressed more self than task or impact concerns, (2) student teachers expressed more task than impact concerns, (3) inservice teachers expressed more impact than self or task concerns, and (4) prospective teachers expressed more self concerns than student or inservice teachers, student teachers expressed more task concerns than prospective or inservice teachers, and inservice teachers expressed more impact concerns than prospective or student teachers.In recent years teacher-student communication has been recognized as an important variable influencing the effectiveness of the instructional process (Smith). There have been few efforts, however, to determine empirically the instructional communication needs of preservice and inservice teachers.An important consideration in the design of instruction, and one often overlooked, is the meaningfulness of instruction to students. Much research attests to the widespread dissatisfaction of prospective teachers with their education training (Fuller, 1969). Education students often feel a sense of "frustration at what they consider to be trivial, fractionized, and irrelevant cumcular experiences" (Yamamoto et al., 1969).A by-product of such dissatisfaction may be an adverse effect on motivation, and, consequently, learning. As a motivating factor, Hall and Jones (1976) urge instruction which is meaningful to the learners' personal goals and needs. Personalization Ann Q. Staton-Spicer (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 1977) is assistant professor of speech communication at University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195. RonafdE. Bassen (Ph.D., Florida State University, 1973) is associate professor of speech communication atgoes a step beyond individualization, which identifies and sequences instruction according to cognitive needs. When learning is personalized, it "helps the learner to become aware of his personal needs, potential, and limitations, and it offers instruction that is sequenced according to what we will call 'concerns"' (p. 136).One way of personalizing instruction and motivating students is to provide learning that matches concerns (problems the student experiences) and program (problems the student is given help with) . Despite the obvious importance of providing relevant instruction, Fuller and Bown (1975) concluded that most teacher education programs do not meet teachers' needs in the sequence in which teachers experience those needs. Thus, the content of such programs may need to be changed, or reordered, to fit the concerns of trainees and hence maximize motivation and learning.
Concerns ModelFuller's (1969) model provides the framework for examining the concerns of teachers. Through a series of counseling seminars, interview...
