A survey of instructional communication: 15 years of research in review

Since the founding of instructional communication in the 1970s, scholars have periodically conducted comprehensive reviews of the published body of research to assess the state of the field of study. Despite the importance of such reflections, no comprehensive analysis of the literature has been conducted in over 15 years. To this end, a content analysis was conducted of Communication Education, the flagship journal of instructional communication. Articles published between January 2000 and January 2016 were examined. Results indicate that the research references a wide range of theories, derives most of its data from surveys administered to college students, and predominantly focuses on refining and further exploring previous research topics in new contexts.