The study looks into the problem of student–faculty communication. It addresses the issue of claimed scarcity of such interaction that exists despite the recognized benefits it can bring to students and instructors. It is suggested that examination and comparison of the participants’ interest and actual engagement in out-of-class communication (OCC) may shed light on this. Two populations from a university in Russia: 148 students and 35 instructors, were analyzed to measure their overall interest and engagement in OCC. The paper also addressed the question whether the studied populations are interested and engage in the same types of OCC. The results demonstrate that the reported overall interest in OCC was higher than the actual engagement in it among both groups of the respondents. Besides, students and faculty chose different types of OCC as most interest evincing and most frequently practiced. The research outcomes may help the parties concerned (scholars, teaching staff, educational managers and students) enhance understanding of the nature of OCC and its specifics and consider ways of harmonizing it in the best interests of all stakeholders.

该研究探讨了师生之间的沟通问题。它解决了声称的这种互动缺乏的问题，尽管这种互动可以给学生和教师带来公认的好处，但仍然存在。建议对参与者的兴趣和实际参与课外沟通（OCC）进行检查和比较可能会对此有所启发。分析了来自俄罗斯一所大学的两个人群：148名学生和35名讲师，以衡量他们对OCC的总体兴趣和参与度。本文还讨论了所研究的人群是否感兴趣并参与相同类型的OCC的问题。结果表明，两组受访者对OCC的总体兴趣都高于对OCC的实际参与程度。除了，学生和教职员工选择了不同类型的OCC，这是最引起人们兴趣和最经常实践的。研究成果可能有助于有关各方（学者，教学人员，教育管理者和学生）加深对OCC性质及其具体特征的了解，并考虑使所有利益相关者的最大利益协调一致的方法。