There continues to be a growing concern over student misbehavior in the classrooms. Student disruptive behavior, such as talking out of turn, fighting, unnecessary noises, or rudeness, are minor disturbances; yet, as perceived by teachers and students, these forms of misbehavior occur frequently and significantly interrupt the teaching-learning process (Paramita, Anderson, & Sharma, 2020).

Classroom management is widely researched, and teachers’ behavior management competence is numerously emphasized as one of the critical teacher’s competencies. Still, recent studies show that disruptive behavior is one of the main problems of pre-service and novice teachers. Beginning teachers feel not prepared for dealing with students’ disruptive behavior (Hong, 2012). Confrontation with students’ misbehavior negatively affects teacher stress, feelings, confidence, and job satisfaction (Paramita et al., 2020). Moreover, student misbehavior proved to be one of the major causes of teachers’ burnout syndrome (Evers, Tomic, & Brouwers, 2004) and drop-out (Paramita et al., 2020).

The need for effective behavior management training has been widely called for. However, studies show that novice teachers still have only little possibilities to enhance their classroom management skills in pre-service teacher education (Evertson & Weinstein, 2006; Brophy, 2006). Nevertheless, as Emmer and Evertson (2008) conclude, training for teachers in how to manage students’ behavior in the classroom would allow teachers to deal with conflicts more efficiently, and consequently, it would increase their well-being, as discussed in numerous studies (Evers et al., 2004; Stough, Montague, Williams-Diehm, & Landmark, 2006).  
Effective communication skills are crucial in managing learner behavior. Gordon (2003), Larrivee (2008), and Burden (2016) believe that without effective communication skills, there can be no effective behavior management. This study offers a view on effective communication from the student-centered orientation. This approach was chosen for it promotes student responsibility, autonomy, social and emotional competence, and self-regulation, which are crucial skills for the 21^st century. All the communication strategies were gathered through a systematic literature review and are supported both by theory and research. Effective communication strategies include hinting, descriptive feedback, active listening, empathy, I-messages, and perspective-taking. The authors also emphasize the ineffective communication strategies and their negative impact on students’ behavior, affect, and learning. Among the ineffective communication strategies are manipulating, blaming, judging, labeling, threatening, moralizing, humiliating, yelling in anger, interrogating, sarcasm, and punishments. Numerous research studies support both the effective and ineffective strategies listed; researchers point to the positive impact of effective communication skills on student responsibility, level of misbehavior, teacher-student relationship, and well-being (Lewis, Romi, Qui, & Katz, 2005; Wallace, Sung, & Williams, 2014; Hargreaves, 2017). Findings also indicate that the ineffective communication strategies contribute to student drop-out, lack of motivation, damaged teacher-student relationships, ruined classroom climate, harmed student self-concept, and negative students’ feelings such as anxiety, fear, anger, or guilt (Lewis et al., 2005; Miller, Ferguson, & Byrne, 2000).  

Although researchers repeatedly emphasize that managing student behavior is a significant problem for novice teachers, research studies are short of identifying novice teachers’ specific needs and practices in effective communication to manage learner behavior. To address this research gap, this research study aims at identifying what specific strategies novice teachers use when managing student behavior and what they need in their communication for effective behavior management. The study is guided by the following research questions: (i) What are novice teachers’ needs in communication skills to manage student behavior? (ii) How do novice teachers respond to student disruptive behavior? (iii) How do novice teachers perceive ineffective communication responses in teacher-student communication?

The qualitative research methodology was chosen to determine what teachers need in communication when dealing with student misbehavior. Specifically, observation and semi-structured interview were chosen as the two main research methods. Observation will be done in the classrooms where the participants teach. An observation checklist will be designed for the observation, including effective and ineffective communication strategies gathered through the literature review. This way, the specific communication strategies that novice teachers use when managing student behavior will be gathered. Video recording will be used for the observation to obtain more detailed and precise information; moreover, the video recording can be used for participants’ reflection during the interview and for the data analysis. For the research, ten novice teachers will be identified (in their first two years of teaching) in the Pilsen Region in the Czech Republic. In cooperation with the Pedagogical faculty in Pilsen, the student database will identify students who graduated one or two years before the research; these graduates will be randomly chosen and asked to participate in the research. After the observation, a reflection and interview with the participants will be done; this will provide greater insight into participants’ feelings and needs when dealing with disruptive behavior. The interview will be semi-structured and will reflect on the specific situations from the observed lesson. The researcher will describe the specific situations, using the video recording as a support, and the participants will be asked to reflect on them. Following questions to prompt the reflection might be used: “What is going on in your mind when we look back at this situation? What made you react in this way? If you could, would you change your response? Did your response lead to your desired outcome? How effectively do you think you solved the situation on a scale from one to ten? How did you feel in this situation? How do you think the student/students felt in this situation? Would you need some help to solve this situation?” Interviews and observations, together with the observation checklist, will be analyzed and interpreted. Results will unveil the practices and needs of novice teachers in behavior management communication skills.

The proposed research represents a significant step towards understanding novice teachers’ needs in communication skills to manage learner behavior. Although researchers numerously stress that novice teachers are not prepared for dealing with students’ disruptive behavior, research on specific novice teachers’ communication strategies in managing behavior problems has low attention. Also, studies that would identify the specific needs of novice teachers in behavior management are missing. This study will fill the research gap and broaden our understanding of which specific communication strategies novice teachers implement in behavior management and what they need in managing disruptive behavior. Both effective and ineffective communication strategies will be outlined, and teachers’ needs for effective communication will be presented. Identifying these needs could be crucial in helping novice teachers with the problem they face when they enter their profession. The research findings might be interesting for faculties of education, as they can either learn what the needs of novice teachers are or implement effective communication strategies into their courses for future teachers; this way, educators can address these needs before the critical time when novice teachers enter the schools and experience a reality shock. The findings will inform both the local and the global community of educators, for such studies are short of in both contexts.

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