Disruptive student behaviors in university preparatory classes observed by teachers of English

The purpose of this study is to identify the disruptive student behaviors observed by teachers of English in university preparatory classrooms. The teachers? perceptions on students? behaviors described as ?disruptive? and common disruptive student behaviors in the classrooms were investigated. This study seeks answers for the following questions: ?How do teachers of English in university preparatory classrooms perceive disruptive student behaviors? What types of disruptive student behavior do the teachers of English encounter in their classrooms? What are common disruptive student behaviors observed by teachers of English in university preparatory classrooms? Is there any significant relationship between the teachers? gender, age, the department they graduated from, experience, the number of classes they teach and the number of students they have in their classrooms and their perceptions of disruptive student behavior?? This research was a survey study. 40 teachers of English in preparatory classes of Çukurova University School of Foreign Languages participated in this study. The data was collected through a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of two parts. In the first part, there were questions about the participants? gender, age, experience, the department they graduated from, the number of classes they teach and the number of students they have in their classrooms. In the second part, the perceptions of English language teachers in university preparatory classrooms of the disruptive student behaviors were investigated. The results indicated that ?Using a mobile telephone during the lesson?, ?Arguing or disagreeing with the teacher or other pupils?, ?Cheeky or rude remarks or replies to the teacher? ?Cheating?, ?Not studying regularly? were common disruptive student behaviors. Besides, ?Goofing off? was the most commonly encountered misbehavior type. Lastly, there was a significant relationship between the teachers? gender, age, teaching experience, the number of classes they teach and the number of students they have in their classrooms and their perceptions of disruptive student behavior. On the other hand, there was no significant relationship between the department the teachers graduated from and their perceptions of misbehavior.