Student views of instructor-student rapport in the college classroom

Building upon past research on the positive learning outcomes associated with rapport building in the classroom, this study examines the specific behaviors instructors utilize in college classrooms to build rapport with undergraduate students. Participants (N=230) answered open-ended survey questions about their instructors’ rapport-building behaviors. A total of 514 behaviors described as rapport building were categorized into five themes: attentive behaviors, common grounding behaviors, courteous behaviors, connecting behavior, and information sharing behaviors.