The impact of instructor decision authority and verbal and nonverbal immediacy on Korean student satisfaction in the US and South Korea

This study compared Korean students in South Korea and Korean students in the US regarding their perceptions of instructor decision authority and verbal and nonverbal immediacy. Korean students reported higher instructor decision authority and lower levels of instructor verbal and nonverbal immediacy in Korean classrooms than in US classrooms. Verbal immediacy was positively related to the satisfaction of Korean students in the US, whereas it was not significantly related to the satisfaction of Korean students in Korea. Korean students studying in the US indicated lower satisfaction when their perceived levels of instructor decision authority were lower than their expected levels of instructor decision authority, compared to when their perceived levels were higher than their expected levels.