Investigating English as a Foreign Language Classroom Management in the Mauritanian Secondary Schools

Abstract

This research is conducted to investigate the issue of EFL classroom management, aiming at discovering the various types of students’ misbehavior, their reasons, and teachers’ management strategies. In accordance with these objectives, a qualitative method was employed through the use of one-to-one interview technique. The participants were limited to 14 teachers from different secondary schools in Mauritania and 102 students from three secondary schools located in Nouakchott, Boghe and Maata Moulana. The study revealed four types of misbehavior made by students: verbal, non-verbal, confrontational and non-confrontational, and the reasons were summarized as lack of time management, unfriendly relationship, inappropriate instructional methodologies, students’ disengagements in learning, poor learning environment, teachers’ characteristics, students’ low proficiency, affective attitudes, lack of ethics, and overcrowding. To deal with this issue, teachers adopted four coping management strategies: preventive, supportive, corrective and ignoring strategies. These strategies decrease the students’ disruptive behavior and contribute to their focus on achieving better academic results.