Classroom Seating Behavior and Personal Space

The purpose of this study is to examine whether students' classroom seating positions can be explained through their concept of personal space. Seating positions of 151 female college students from two classes were observed for ten times in one semester. According to their seating positions, they were classified into four zone groups: front, central, rear and side. In the final class of the semester, students were asked to indicate the most comfortable distance points in a interpersonal distance chart when talking to people of various levels of familiarity. Results reveal that the further foward the seating zone, and the more familiar the figure was, the lower the interpersonal distance score (IPD) was. This study suggests that students' seating positions along the front-rear axis may be a reflection of distancing from the teacher.