Teacher Responses to Classroom Incivility

Abstract

Incivility occurs frequently in college classrooms. However, recommendations to teachers for handling student incivility are based on anecdotal evidence. To address this gap in knowledge, students ( N = 150) in the current study evaluated the effectiveness of several teacher responses to classroom incivility. Incidents of incivility, described in vignettes, varied in disorderliness and harmfulness. Students perceived ignoring incivility as the only ineffective response. Direct confrontation of uncivil students in class or outside of class received the highest overall ratings of effectiveness, and students tended to see immediate responses to disorderly behaviors as more effective than delayed responses. These results suggest that students perceive teachers as having a responsibility to manage classroom incivility, especially when it disrupts classroom order.