Classroom Incivilities: The Challenge of Interactions between College Students and Instructors in the US

Exploring Faculty Perceptions of Student Incivility in Social Work: Results from a National Survey

“…More severe behaviors, such as behaving threateningly or violently, were experienced by respondents to a far lesser extent. The results of the current study are consistent with previous research literature using both social work (Ausbrooks et al, 2011;Ballan, 2015) and non-social work (Alberts et al, 2010) samples. Faculty respondents in the study by Alberts and colleagues reported eating, talking to other students inappropriately, being tardy or leaving early, and texting in class as the behaviors they most frequently experienced in undergraduate and graduate students combined.…”

“…Similar to this finding, Alberts et al (2010) did not find statistically significant differences in relation to gender and reports of disrespectful or inattentive uncivil behaviors in their sample. However, their results did show that female faculty reported experiencing more incidents of hostility from students than their male counterparts.…”

“…Civility has been described as a virtue (Connelly, 2009) and as "…other-regarding in the sense of knowing how to live harmoniously with others and with self" (p. 54). However, the literature documents instances of students (Alberts et al, 2010;Ausbrooks et al, 2011;Bjorklund & Rehling, 2009;Boice, 1996) as well as faculty (Clark, 2008;Clark & Springer, 2007) not acting consistently with this virtue. Acts of incivility present educators with the challenge to more intentionally address students' behaviors towards others and, for social work faculty, the opportunity to better align actions with social work values and principles outlined in the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics (NASW, 2008).…”

“…The occurrence of student incivility appears to be on the upswing (Alberts, Hazen, & Theobald, 2010;Knepp, 2012). Various studies indicate that disrespectful and inappropriate classroom behavior has been increasing across college campuses (Alexander-Snow, 2004;Baker, Comer, & Martinak, 2008;Boice, 1996).…”

Academic engagement of hospitality students

“…Alberts, Hazen, and Theobald (2010) examined the incivilities and challenges experienced by U.S. institutions' pre-tenured faculty. Respondents reported the classroom incivilities they had to manage were inattentiveness (27.6%), disrespectful behavior (75.8%), and hostility (21.3%) (Alberts, Hazen, & Theobald, 2010).…”