ABSTRACT
The term instructional communication was originally conceived in the 1970s as a means to distinguish it from communication education , which was broadly defined as instruction in communication. Instructional communication, on the other hand, referred to the role of communication in instruction. Scholars believed that conceptualizing instructional communication in this broader context would encourage a wealth of instructional research occurring in a variety of communication contexts. Sean Horan and Courtney Wright call for expanding instructional research to explore its role in shedding new light on socially relevant issues in their article, “Bridging campus and community: religion and violence as expansive and socially relevant communication research.” Communication scholars must be the go-to sources for evidence-based teaching and learning not only in the academy but in the communities within which people live.
