ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the origins of rapport research, followed by an overview of rapport in the instructional setting. It reviews contemporary rapport literature and how it affects students, classroom climate, and instructors, ending with theoretical applications. When considering rapport online, rhetorical goals emerged as more salient in the online learning context, though relational and rhetorical goals are interdependent. The true conceptualization and study of rapport began in provider-patient interactions and interpersonal relationships. Rapport seems to be a perceptual umbrella term that encompasses many prosocial instructor behaviors and excludes antisocial instructor behaviors. Rapport may cross over into the dark side of instructional communication by inciting negative behaviors, controlling negative behaviors, and posing as a risk to faculty. Studies of student-student behaviors have become increasingly common in instructional communication. Only two rapport studies examined student-student rapport.
