Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.

org
ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online)
Vol.5, No.2, 2014

A review of Factors Associated with Student’s Lateness Behavior

and Dealing Strategies
Marwan Zaid Bataineh
Department of Psychology, College of Education, King Saud University, P.O. BOX 2458, Riyadh 11451, Saudi
Arabia * E-mail of the corresponding author [email protected]
Abstract
This study aimed to systematically review studies that investigate factors associated with students lateness
behavior and dealing strategies. There were at least 24 papers and reports reviewed regarding lateness behavior.
The related journal papers and reports on factor associated with students lateness behavior and dealing strategies
were downloaded with cut off limit from 1991 to 2013. The papers and reports were then analyzed and organized
according to the definitions of lateness and various factors associated with students lateness behavior and dealing
strategies. However, the finding of this study indicate that there were conclusive evidence from the reviewed
literature regarding students lateness behavior, yet the number of articles supporting it was small. Finally,
conclusion of the study indicate tha dealing with disruptive behavior in the classroom is one of the most
challenging aspects of being a professor and the study recommended further investigations and analysis could be
beneficial to obtain a complete vision of patterns of lateness behavior and coping strategies for the student.
Keywords: systematically review, lateness behavior, dealing strategies.

1. Introduction
Time is like a sword. If you did not cut it, it will cut you. Basically, human beings are the most difficult to
manage.However, some students are late to class on a regular basis, and students are probably displaying a sort
of defiance or impedance. Thus, students are proper to rationalize excuse, such as, traffic jam, perents care or
job responsibilities that prevent them being punctual attending the class. However, when students come to class
late, it can confuse the flowing of a lecture or discussion, distract other students, and disturb learning teaching
process. Moreover, lateness can become frequent and infect other students. however, (Schneider, 1998) reported
that the reality of classroom life may be very different. All faculty are confronted with students who engage in
behaviors that are disruptive to the educational process. Students may be late for class, leave early, talk
inappropriately, or sleep during class.

However, the student attendance policy has been developed as a role of the university’s commitment to provide a
supportive learning environment which authorize all students who have selected to study with the university to
fulfill their absolute potential. ETC’s (2009) reported that the attendance and punctuality policy clearly states
that “regular and punctual attendance is of paramount importance in ensuring that all students have full access to
the curriculum. Valuable learning time is lost when students are absent or late”. Therefore, University’s expects
students to attend all learning and teaching sessions. Thus, students should come on time for classes. Late arrival
students are disruptive and inequitable to other class members. Basically, there are a number of hidden reasons
that students arrive to class late, which causes the source of the problem. Nontheless, instructors are responeable
to establish appropriate dealing strategies to uproot such behavior.
Santillano (2010) reported that psychological theorists considered some “personality traits, including low self-
esteem and anxiety” as triggering factors of lateness. However, some theorists considered lateness as an “inborn
quality” since our being early or late is “partially biologically determined”, which she also agreed, other experts
also believed that some people are “chronically tardy” for the reason that they consciously and unconsciously get
good things from it.
Study by Pimentel and Quijada (2011) Cited in Bilocura (2012) focused on the frequency of use by the UP Cebu
freshmen students of Facebook and a part of the study tackled about the effect of the famous social networking
site to UP Cebu students’ punctuality and academic performance. They asked the (60) respondent about their use
of Facebook and its effects. A certain question asked the respondents if late-night use of Facebook has an effect
on their punctuality. However, results of the study revealed that, three out of 60 respondents are always late,
eight said they are sometimes late, 12 said they are seldom late and 37 said that they never get late due to late-
night use of Facebook.

Another study by Kaye-Tierney (2009) examined chronic student lateness within a suburban middle school
context in Northeastern United States via an ethnographic exploration of the frequently-late student, the
attendance office, and school staff.. The research design was that of a bounded case study using a grounded
theory approach. The data include observations in the attendance office, semi-structured interviews with fourteen
chronically-late students, seven staff members, and archival data, collected over the course of two academic

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Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org
ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online)
Vol.5, No.2, 2014

years, 2005 through 2007, to ensure that the "lateness" data were not restricted to a single year in the life of the
school. The students, dubbed "Frequent Flyers", were chosen based on their chronic lateness to school, observed
behavior, as well as their willingness [including that of their parents] to be interviewed. Staff were chosen based
upon their level of involvement with student lateness and their willingness to be interviewed. A major overall
finding was that the structure and function of this particular middle school relating to issues of lateness actually
facilitates persistent and chronic lateness on the part of a specific population of students. Results highlight the
importance of tracking lateness over the students' academic progression and using the data monthly, quarterly,
and annually to create systems that would motivate students to be on time to school.

Therefore, students lateness behavior considered an educational problem and epidemic disease spread and infect
other students, and lead to delayed follow-up curriculum and become chronic among students. As we know there
are a number of possible reasons causes arrive students to come to class late. Thus, this study comes to determine
the roots of the problem and understand the causes, which helps officials, administrators and faculty members to
develop appropriate strategies to deal with such behavior seriously and not condoned access, to establish
controlled and organized learning environment.

Finaly, this study aimed to systematically review the literature on factors associated with students lateness
behavior and dealing strategies. Firstly, reviewed on the definitions of lateness. lastly, recommendations for
future studies.
2. Material and Methods
2.1. Material
There were at least 24 papers and reports reviewed on factors associated with students lateness bahavior and
dealing strategies, to idintify the levels of factors that influance students attendance and for instrutors to make
every effort to provide the best educational environment for all students.
2.2. Procedure
The researcher downloaded papers and reports using King Saud University subscribed data based. Ebscohost
were among the frequently used. In addition, Google search was also employed. The related papers and reports
on factors associated with students lateness bahavior and dealing strategies downloaded with cut off limit from
1991 to 2013 only. The researcher go through those papers and reports to find out the factors caused lateness
behavior. However, most of the papers and reports were (university reports, online reports, online book chapters,
Doctoral Dissertation, MA thesis and review papers) regarding lateness behavior and dealing strategies.
Therefore, the researcher analyized and organized those papers and reports in the form of: introduction about
lateness behavior and what studies has been done before, the definition of lateness, the most important factors
causes lateness behavior, the most comnon strategies that instructor’s and administrators used to control late
students, conclusion of the negative reflection of lateness behavior on learning environment (miss the
information, students performance, instructor’s discussion), and future recommendations for further
investigations to obtain a complete vision of patterns of lateness behavior and coping strategies for the student.
At last, the downloaded papers and reports were then summarized and organized in the following sections as
mentioned above.

3. Result
First, the downloaded papers and reports were analyzed on definition of lateness. Second, they were on various
factor associated with students lateness behavior, third on dealing strategies. Finally, conclusion and
recommendation for future research have been discussed.

3.1 Definition of Lateness

Lateness is a form of disruptive behaviour. Lateness disrupts the rhythm of the class lecture, and also distracts
other students who may be paying attention to the lecture. Literally, the term “lateness” implies a situation where
an individual arrives after the proper, scheduled or usual time (Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, 5th ed.,
1995). Furthermore, Lauby (2009) puts it as a term used to describe “people not showing up on time”. Breeze et
al. (2010) contributed by saying that, lateness is synonymous with “tardiness”, which implies being slow to act
or slow to respond, thus not meeting up with proper or usual timing. It is obvious therefore that, lateness could
be seen as a system of network breakdown (Peretomode, 1991), a situation of not meeting up with programme, a
function of tim, time is the criteria and determinant of lateness.

3.2 Factor Causes Lateness

Based on the review of the existing lateness behavior literature, the researcher addressed the following specific

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ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online)
Vol.5, No.2, 2014

factors associated with students lateness behavior.

1. Poor organization
is the most common reason for lateness. Students wait until the last minute, and then do not allow themselves
enough time to travel.

2. Going late to bed

The individual involved in watching films and home videos may till late night, this could result in waking up
late, as could be deduced from the literal meaning of the saying “early to bed early to rise” (Nakpodia &
Dafiaghor, 2011)

3. Family background
The habit of lateness could be learned from family members. For instance, the person who sees the father always
going late to work could also either learn the habit, thus go to lecture late also. This is supported by Peretomode
(2001) and Egbule (2004), when they elaborated the concept of nature-nature as it affects an individual’s habits.
Moreover, it could be due to lack of parental supervision, domestic violence, poverty, and differing attitudes
toward education (U.S. Department of Justice, 2001).

4. Cultural background
Different cultures have different standards concerning lateness. However, punctuality is not really a serious
matter for some cultures, compared with how punctuality is being perceived in western cultures and developed
countries (Breeze et al., 2010).

5. College factors
These include college climate issues, such as class size and attitudes of lecturers, other students, and
administrators and inflexibility in meeting the diverse cultural and learning styles of the students. (U.S.
Department of Justice, 2001).

6. Illnesses
In general, College students have poorly taking care of their health and may exposed to variety source of mental
illnesses, for instance, depression and schizophrenia (Kuhlenschmidt and Layne, 1999).

7. There is no consequence of being late

The consequences associated with a behavior help in determine whether or not that behavior will be repeated. If
the consequences are negative, the behavior is less likely to reoccur. This applies to coming late to class. If
instructors neglect to react to or penalize lateness, or do so inconsistently, the behavior is likely to be continued
(Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence, ECTE, n.d).

8. Fatigue
It is common to university students to experiences different kind of academic stressor. As time pressures
increase. Students may be working multiple jobs or night shifts in addition to studying. For some, “pulling an
all-nighter” is almost a rite of passage, with attendant potential loss of alertness and interpersonal sensitivity
(American Psychiatric Association, 1994).

9. Emotional Challenges
Several psychological and emotional conditions can undermine students’ motivation to get to class on time.
Indeed, a hallmark symptom of conditions such as depression includes a decreased motivation to engage in
normal daily activities. In addition, prescription medications can interfere with motivation and may disrupt sleep
patterns, which may indirectly affect students’ ability to get to class in a timely manner (Kuhlenschmidt and
Layne, 1999).

10. challenge the instructor’s authority

In some cases, students come to class late to test the instructor or challenge his or her authority. for example, if
the instructor is timid or does not seem in command of the class or the material. Some students may also seek to
challenge the authority of particular categories of instructors, such as instructors who are young, female,
minority, or non-English speakers (ECTE, n.d).

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ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online)
Vol.5, No.2, 2014

11. Economic influences

These include high mobility rates, poverty, employed students, single-parent homes, parents who hold multiple
jobs, and a lack of affordable transportation for their family members (U.S. Department of Justice, 2001).

12. Maturity
College students still have much to learn about taking on adult responsibilities and balancing requirements.
Under stress, some students are likely to revert to child like ways of coping. (Kuhlenschmidt and Layne, 1999).

13. Routine
In general, too much routine produces boredom. As instructor you can avoid routine by using some instructional
methods during a class session and across a semester (Kuhlenschmidt and Layne, 1999).

14. Beginning of class not important

Students do not realize that the first minutes of class are important, since this is when instructors share important
administrative information, present the day’s agenda, frame the content of the lecture or discussion (ECTE, n.d).

15. logistical reasons

student may find it difficult to make it to class on time because of the physical distance between classes (ECTE,
n.d).

16. Students’ expectations about the instructor’s

some instructors are bothered if students arrive the class a few minutes late; others are not. There is also a wide
variation in departmental cultures, some of which may tolerate lateness more than others. Because of this
variability, students’ expectations regarding being on time may be substantially different from those of a
particular instructor. Moreover, students may have an incorrect set of expectations regarding lateness in certain
kinds of courses, such as courses that meet in the evening, are large, meet for 3 to 4 hours or more, or have
relatively informal formats (e.g., studios, labs) (ECTE, n.d).

17. Student variables

College students, lack of social skills, mental health problems, lack of understanding of attendance laws and poor
physical health (U.S. Department of Justice, 2001).

18. Instructors late

Instructors who arrive late to classes set a bad example for their students. When students see their instructor
come to class late, they may think that it is entirely okay to be tardy (Coleman, 2013).

3.3 Dealing Strategies with lateness behavior

Based on the review of the existing lateness behavior literature. There are some general dealing strategies
reviewd which can be used to improve students lateness behavior.

1. Provide full information in course syllabus and policies regarding class attendance and tardiness (Office of
Student Development at Appalachian State University OSDASU, 2006).

2. If you have noticed problems with classes in the past (for example, students who repeatedly are late for an
early morning class), present the current class with a list of the issues and “negotiate” a consensus on how these
issues will be dealt with this time (OSDASU, 2006).

3. Ask yourself if you have done anything to contribute to the issue, Talk with colleagues about similar situations
and how they handled them (Downs, 1992).

4. Deal with any significant issues of disruption in private (your office with the door open). Dealing with an
issue in front of others can cause both the students and the instructor to be affected (Center for Teaching,
Learning, & Faculty Development at Ferris State University, 2010).

5. Put yourself in the student’s shoes and try to see what is the motivation behind this disruption issue (Center for
Teaching, Learning, & Faculty Development at Ferris State University, 2010).

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Vol.5, No.2, 2014

6. If the student reject to respond, indicate that you will enlist the assist of others to stop the behavior and that the
behavior is subjected to disciplinary proceedings of the university. (Action of the university faculty counsil,
2005)

7. Document disruptive behavior for possible future reference. Include name of student, date and time of
incident, describe incident in behavioral terms, and use documentation where possible. (Counseling Services at
the University of Missouri at St. Louis, n.d).

8. Deal with the disruptive behavior immediately, and ask the student to stop the conduct to talk to you after
class or during office hours. (Counseling and Student Development Center at James Madison University, 2009).

9. Be a role model for the behavior you require of your students and always begin and end classes on time.
(Eileen, 1994).

10. Take attendance and use the first 15 minutes of class for the most important announcements to discourages
student lateness behavior (Eileen, 1994).

11. Discuss with students how to resolve the situation. Explain to the student your expectations for behavior in
the future and the possible consequences that may be incurred including forwarding the case to the University
Conduct Officer. Also ask how they would handle the situation if they were the instructor (Office of Citizenship
and Community Standards at Truman State University, 2003).

12. Speak to the latenesses student after class. Share what you see and encourage the student to share his or her
perspective. Try to use the disruption positively; validate it and use it for content (Eileen, 1994).

13. Place a sign on the classroom door that says “class in progress”. Allow the late students to understand that
the class is in progress, and that they should be quiet when entering the class, to avoid disturbance the class.

14. Instructor’s can prevent late student’s from entering the class, and they should wait for a convenient break to
enter the class.

15. Instructor can forward the late students to the psychological unit for assistance and control the behavior,
which also help to activate the work of psychological unit in the college to amend such negative behaviors that
affect the learning process.

16. Instructors can integrate the lateness policy along with attendance policy and counts two late arrivals as one
absence (ECET, n.d).

4. Conclusion
Lateness among students has negative reflection due to affecting other students. However, late students coming
to class distract the rest students and disrupts the flow of the instuctor’s discussion. Definitely, understanding the
variety of causes that could contribute to disruptive behavior in the classroom can help professors to select the
most appropriate solution . Lateness among students is persistent and important issue and it is one of the most
challenging aspects as a professor to deal with such behavior in the classroom.
In addition to, Instructors can be more realistic and effective in selecting coping strategies with students lateness
behavior to identify the available referral resources and institutional policies concerning lateness behavior.
Basically, to create a constructive classroom enviroment, instructors need to consider their own behavior as well
as that of their students. Moreover, the first class give perfect opportunity for instructors to communicate the
expectations for classroom agreement, such as arriving and departure time. One more things, instructors should
make sure that policy and consequences for lateness have exceptions and seeking feedback from students before
they act to handle students lateness behavior.

Moreover, lateness could affect students performance and lead to low grade averages. Weade (2004) reported
that students with better attendance and punctuality have higher grade point averages. While students with poor
attendance and punctuality have lower grade point averages.

Eventually, lateness has both intellectual and social costs. Where it, interrupt the instuctor’s thought and affect

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Vol.5, No.2, 2014

the learning process. When students come to class late they miss the important information and they distract
other students to miss it too. Nakpodia and Dafiaghor (2011) reported that lateness or tardiness is not just the
problem of the late student, but it affects the surrounding people. A student coming late in class distracts the rest
of the students and disrupts the flow of the teacher’s discussion.

5. Recommendations
Further investigations and analysis could be beneficial to obtain a complete vision of patterns of lateness
behavior and coping strategies for the student. In addition to, universites and collegs should monitoring and
recording students attendance and maintain the guideline attendance policy annually. On the other hand, college
may invite the students to discuss and seek explanation for their unsatisfactory attendance to be improved and
any support that may be required. One more things, educational institutions should developed a firm, well-
established policy that handling late students, and should imposition of sanctions and penalties for late students.

Further more, it is substantial for officials, administrators and instructors as essential part of this problem to
recognize and display solutions to this disturbing problem that could drive the students’ drop-out, knowing that
lateness could be reduced by providing available clear and firm attendance guidelines for students; free
education counselling and discipline among students and monitor factors could responsible of prevent a student
from attending class regularly.

Acknowledgement
I would like to thank and appreciate the research center in faculty of education at King Saud University for
supporting this research paper.

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