When Students Push Back: Understanding Students' Resistance to Learning

A rare thing causes such discouragement and shakes an instructor's self-confidence as students' resistance to learning. The dull look on an indifferent face, gazing into some different reality other than the one in the classroom, zero emotions no matter how hard an instructor tries to involve a student or get their attention. A silent but steady refusal to participate, engage, and become a part of a small learning community within a group. The resistance brings frustration and uncertainty, turning a teaching process into an unbeatable challenge with little hope of winning. Understanding the root causes of students' resistance helps realize that many factors start it apart from the instructor's best efforts and professional abilities.

As Brookfield (2015) remarkably notes, "resistance to learning is not something that can be removed from the classroom in the same way that a stain can be washed out of a garment." The problem is more profound than it seems, and not a single instructor's behavior or attitude is entirely responsible for the issue.

In the book "Why Students Resist Learning?" (2017), the authors Tolman et al. claim that student resistance is not solely a student behavior but a result of multiple factors, including institutional context, faculty attitudes, and student expectations. Understanding resistance as a form of communication can help instructors address underlying issues and become more effective educators. The McFarlands' article (2001) adds that student defiance is shaped more by the organizational dynamics of social settings than by individual traits like race or class. "Social opportunities of tasks, coupled with political opportunities of networks, enable students to consistently undermine and redirect classroom affairs," McFarland states (p. 612).

Some of the common causes of student resistance Brookfield (2015) mentions are poor self-image as learners, fear of the unknown, disjunction between learning and teaching styles, apparent irrelevance of the learning activity, inappropriate level of required learning, and students' dislike of teacher (pp.219-224). However, the optimistic conclusion is that resistance to learning occurs every day and should not be entirely "overcome" but mitigated by understanding its causes. Weimer (2010) stresses that teachers can address resistance by making learning relevant, creating opportunities for early success, and fostering conditions that encourage engagement while respecting students' right to resist.

Although we, as instructors, wish we could never face this challenge in a classroom, it is barely possible, so it's better to continue to look for possible roots and causes and keep in mind that understanding is half of the solution and is the first and the most significant step in addressing the unpleasant thing.

References

Brookfield, S. D. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. John Wiley & Sons.

McFarland, D. A. (2001). Student resistance: How the formal and informal organization of classrooms facilitate everyday forms of student defiance. American journal of sociology, 107(3), 612-678.

Tolman, A. O., Sechler, A., & Smart, S. (2017). Defining and understanding student resistance. In Why Students Resist Learning (pp. 1-20). Routledge.

Weimer, M., PhD. (2010, July 20). Student Learning: Six Causes of Resistance. Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/student-learning-six-causes-of-resistance/