NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION IN

CLASSROOM

PROFESOR
DRAGOMIR ELENA

Nonverbal communication in classroom

Nonverbal communication is also a critical aspect of interpersonal communication

in the classroom. The most credible messages teachers generate, as communication
sources are nonverbal.
Galloway views educators as multi-sensory organisms who only occasionally talk.
Balzer reported that approximately 75% of classroom management behavior was
nonverbal. Smith noted that teachers nonverbal behaviors are for students signs of the
psychological state of the teacher. Rosenthal and Jacobsons Teacher Expectations for
the Disadvantagedsuggested that, through nonverbal behavior, teacherexpectations for
the progress of their students become self-fulfilling prophecie
Many of the cues students use to make judgments about teachers competence or
characters are obtained by observing the teachers nonverbal behavior. From my own
experience, as a student and as a teacher, I know that there is variety of nonverbal signals
emitted from teacher in classroom which to deepest levels influence classroom
atmosphere, students moods, perception, learning and eventually attitudes towards
knowledge and school generally.
On the other hand teacher has powerful tool to identify what is actually going on
with his class in general and each individual per se, without any word being said.
This is extremely important in lecture like classes when teacher is primarily
supposed to talk.
Verbal signals (in direct communication) are never so powerful.
Yet, nonverbal signals are much more difficult to capture, describe and rationally
explain because we necessarily have to use words to do that and words are not enough
fine and precise tool for this (similar as they are not for describing pictures).
So one who wants to learn how to control nonverbal signals and behavior in order
to teach more effectively finds many difficulties on this way.
Besides problem with describing those behaviors, there is cultural problem with
interpreting them, can be amazingly quick and subtle, most often are unconscious, but
most importantly - they are valid only if genuine.
Here we have blessing and curse of nonverbal signalization. We cannot pretend it
but we can really change our attitudes and feelings in the way we would like them to be.
This is real developing challenge.
But certainly there are things, which can be described and analyzed in this sense,
and which can greatly add to our understanding of NVS.
Nonverbal communication in the classroom occurs with distance, physical
environment, facial expression, vocal cues, body movements and gestures, touch, time,
physical attractiveness, and dress. Each will be separately discussed.

BODY MOVEMENTS, GESTURES AND POSTURES

Movements and gestures by the hands, arms, legs, and other parts of the body and
face are the most pervasive types of nonverbal messages and the most difficult to control.
It is estimated that there are over 200.000 physical signs capable of stimulating meaning
in another person (some social scientists state even 700.000). For example, there are 23
distinct eyebrow movements, each capable of stimulating a different meaning.
Humans express attitudes toward themselves and vividly through body motions
and posture. Bodies movements elucidate true messages about feeling that cannot be
masked. Because such avenues of communication are visual, they travel much farther
than spoken words and are unaffected by the presence of noise that interrupt, or cancels
out speech.?
People communicate by the way they walk, stand, and sit. We tend to be more
relaxed with friends or when addressing those of lower status.
Body orientation also indicates status or liking of the other individual. More direct
orientation is related to a more positive attitude.
Body movements and postures alone have no exact meaning, but they can greatly
support or reject the spoken word. It these two means of communication are
dichotomized and contradict each other, some result will be a disordered image and most
often the nonverbal will dominate.

Body movement and gesture in the classroom

The variety of ways in which teacher and students walk, stand, or sit can all affect
interpersonal perception. The teacher who slouches or twitches when talking to students
is not likely to be perceived as a composed person. Conversely, the teacher who always
appears unruffled regardless of the circumstances is likely to be perceived as cold and
withdrawn.
Body postures and movements are frequently indicators of self-confidence,
energy, fatigue, or status. In the classroom, students keen to receive body message of
enthusiasm or boredom about the subject matter being taught can sense confidence or
frustration from the unconscious behaviors of teachers.

Observant teachers can also tell when students understand the content presented
or when they have trouble grasping the major concepts. A student who is slouching in his
seat sends a very different message than the student who learns forward or sits erect.

Gestures
Cognitively, gestures operate to clarify, contradict, or replace verbal messages. Gestures
also serve an important function with regard to regulating the flow of conversation. For
example, if a student is talking in class, single nods of the head from the teacher will
likely cause that student to continue and perhaps elaborate.

?What a ?!
And I have to stand behind him?!??

?I hope he would make

?up something good now?
?

?No, no. You misunderstood.?

Posture
Postures as well as gestures are used to indicate attitudes, status, affective moods,
approval, deception, warmth, and other variables related to classroom interaction.
Ekman and Friesen (1967) have suggested that posture conveys gross or overall
affect (liking), while specific emotions are communicated by more discreet, facial and
body movements.

FACIAL EXPRESSION
A picture is worth a thousand words well describes the meaning of facial
expression. Facial appearance - including wrinkles, muscle tone, skin coloration, and eye
color-offers enduring cues that reveal information about age, sex, race, ethnic origin, and
status.

Varieties of expressions
A less permanent second set of facial cues-including length of hair, hairstyle,
cleanliness, and facial hair-relate to an individuals idea of beauty.?
A third group of facial markers are momentary expressions that signal that cause
changes in the forehead, eyebrows, eyelids, cheeks, nose, lips, and chin, such as raising
the eyebrows, wrinkling the brow, curling the lip.
Some facial expressions are readily visible, while others are fleeting. Both types
can positively or negatively reinforce the spoken word and convey cues concerning
emotions and attitude.
Next to words the human face is the primary source of information for
determining an individuals internal feelings.

Face talks
Facial expressions may be unintentional or intentional.
The facial expression for fear is an example of an involuntary gesture - people
generally do not think of how to move facial muscles when truly frightened.
Facial expressions can also be voluntary, as when an individual wants deliberately to hide
feelings for different reasons
.
Often people try to hide feelings and emotions behind masks. The frown, jutting
chin, raise eyebrow, open mouth, and sneer are facial expressions that can betray and
ultimately broadcast deception. All humans are capable of faking a happy or a sad face, a
smile or a frown. I found interesting statement that the timing gives them away. They
cannot determine how long to keep it or how quickly to let it go.

How much can we fake?

Facial expression in the classroom

All people and thus certainly teachers and students use facial expressions to form
impressions of another. A cold hard stare has long been in the repertoire of teachers
weapons. Similarly, a smile can be useful tool in reinforcing desired student behaviors
(this time in affirmative way).
A teacher can also use students facial expressions as valuable sources of
feedback.? When, for example, delivering a lecture, a teacher should use students
expressions to determine whether or not to slow down, speed up, or in some other way
modify his presentation.
Facial expression involves some of the smallest body movements, but its impact
in the classroom may be greater than any other body language the teacher exhibits. The
teacher probably communicates more accidentally by his or her facial expression than by
any other means.
Scientists who study facial expression refer to ?micro-momentary movements,?
changes in expression that constantly occur in all human communicators and are usually
so fleeting that it requires highly technical photography to be able to isolate them for
study. However, as quickly as they pass across a persons face, they are picked up by
other people and produce responses.
When teachers are responding to students, these changes in facial expression can
serve as reinforces to the student or as non-reinforces. Unfortunately, the teacher
normally has very little control over such micro-momentary movements, but should be
able to control more long-lasting expressions, such as smiles or frowns.

How many birds in seven soft-boiled eggs??

Smiles and grimace can therefore still be very effectively used in the classroom.
But according researches, more commonly, teachers simply respond to the student
without thinking what their nonverbal physical response may be communicating.

Often a teacher does not want to communicate what he or she is thinking to the
student. While the teacher may not say that, his or her facial expression may
communicate it very clearly.

EYES
The most dominant and reliable features of the face, the eyes, provide a constant channel
of communication. They can be shifty and evasive; convey hate, fear, and guilt; or
express confidence, love, and support.

Referred to as mirrors of the soul, the eye serve as the major decision factor in
interpreting the spoken words.
The eyes of the man converse as much as their tongues, with the advantage that
the ocular dialect needs no dictionary, but is understood, all the world over. When the eye
say one thing, and the tongue another, a practiced man relies on eye.
Except for extremely shy individuals, most people look for social acceptance by
studying the eyes of others.
Eyes also can accurately indicate a positive or a negative relationship. People tend to look
longer and more often at those, whom they trust, respect and care about than at those
whom they doubt or dislike.
Researches show that a speaker who looks at an audience is perceived as
Much more
Favorable
Qualified
Confident
Honest
Credible
And less
Formal
Nervous
than the same person delivering the identical message while avoiding eye contact.
Normal eye dilation is not under control of the individual. But when looking at
something pleasing, an individuals pupil will measurably dilate; when viewing
something displeasing, the pupils will constrict.
Personally characteristics such as introversion and extroversion also influence eye
behavior.

Eye behavior in the classroom

Eye behavior seems to be particular importance and is generally used to indicate
whether one is open to communication. This can be observed when a teacher asks the
class a question: students who think they know the answer will generally look the teacher,
while students who do not will usually try to avoid eye contact.
Visual contact with the instructor appears related to students comprehension.
Jecker, Maccoby, and Breitrose isolated visual cues given by students which seemed
associated with comprehension of lecture content and reported that teachers trained to
recognize such cues became more accurate in their judgment of student comprehension
that did untrained teachers.
The results of a study by Breed, Christiansen, and Larson suggest that visual
contact with the instructor increases attentiveness, which in turn makes for better grades.
Students in group who were looked at almost continuously by lecturer received higher
quiz scores.
Exline (1971) reports that, in responses to a questionnaire, college students said
they thought that they would be more comfortable with another who, when speaking,
listening, and sharing mutual silence, looked at them 50% of time as opposed to 100% of
the time or not at all.
I believe that only very self-confident, knowledgeable and attentive students will prefer
100% of eye contact time. Nobody is in this mood all the time and many are never. On
the other hand 0% of time of eye contact would mean that speaker has great deal of
trouble with self-confidence, knowledge or care for students.
This explains this result of 50% and it is the valuable information for teacher.
Eye contact is often used to control an interpersonal interaction. When people do
not wish to be interrupted, they will often glance away and continue talking.
When they wish the other person to speak, they will pause, making direct eye contact.
Teachers often use eye contact in the classroom to decide who is prepared to
answer a question, or who was completed a homework assignment.
One interesting information to be aware of.
Eye contact is often used as an indicant of whether or not a person is laying. The
stereotype is that a dishonest person will not look you in the eye.
Many teachers who suspect a student is cheating on a test may, in the absence of other
evidence, decide a student is lying because the student fails to look them in the eye when
answering a direct question about the test. Unfortunately, there seems to be little validity
to this theory. Research has actually found the reverse to be true-people who are lying are
more likely to look the other person directly the eye, probably as a conscious response to
the stereotype.
Teachers can have individual eye contact with every student in the classroom
through eye contact. Attitudes of intimacy, aloofness, concern, or indifference can be
inferred by the way a teacher looks or avoids looking at a student.
Most experienced teachers are aware when students are bored with the subject
matter being presented. Students eyes often signal listening and non-listening behaviors,
thus transmitting subtle messages about their lack of attentiveness.

Students who are constantly looking at the wall clock rather than watching and
listening to the teacher may be indicating the need for a break, the dullness of the content,
or a lack of teacher motivation and preparation.
In any case, observation of eye behavior can be used in evaluating teacher and
student performance.

DISTANCE
Horizontal distance
Schwebal and Cherlin found that elementary school children seated in the front row were
attentive and were evaluated more positively by their teachers than were students who sat
in the middle and back rows.
Edward T. Hall?s categories can lend insight. Hall (1966) specifies four distance zones
which are commonly observed by North Americans.
1. Intimate distance - from actual touching to eighteen inches. This zone is reserved
for those with whom one is intimate. At this distance the physical presence of another is
overwhelming. Teachers who violate students intimate space are likely to be perceived
as intruders.
2. Personal distance from eighteen inches to four feet. This is the distance of
interaction of good friends. This would also seem to be most appropriate distance for
teacher and student to discuss personal affairs such as grades, conduct, private problems,
etc.

Appropriate distance depends on many factors

3. Social distance exists from four to twelve feet. It seems to be an appropriate
distance for casual friends and acquaintances to interact.
4. Public distance outward from twelve feet a speaker becomes formal. Classes of
teachers who maintain this distance between themselves and their students are generally
formal, and some students may feel that the teacher is cold and distant.
10

Halls system for the categorization of distance can constructively be used to lend insight
into the nature of various student-teacher interactions. It should be noted, however, that
appropriate distance is determined by a myriad of variables including the situation, the
nature of the relationship, the topic of conversation, and the physical constraints which
are present.

Vertical distance
The vertical distance between communicators is often indicative of the degree of
dominance a sub ordinance in the relationship. People are affected by literally looking up
at or looking down on another person.
The implications are that vertical distance can be used by teachers both as a tool
and as a weapon. Teachers, and especially those who work with small children, should
realize that students will interact more comfortably with a teacher when they are in same
vertical plane. Used in this way, an understanding of vertical distance can become a tool
for improved teacher-student communication. On the other hand, the disciplinarian can
put this information to use in order to gain psychological advantage over an unruly
student.?

TOUCH
Even a handshake tells much about an individuals character. The human skin has
hundreds of thousands of submicroscopic nerve endings, serving as tactual receptors and
detecting pressure, temperature, texture, pain, stroking, tickling.
Parents transmit feelings to an infant physically, not verbally.
In most human relationships, touching cab give encouragement, express tenderness, and
show emotional support.
In general, the meaning of touching depends of the situation, culture, sex, and age.
Workers in hospitals and nursing homes have long been aware of the therapeutic value of
a sympathetic touch. There are empirical supports for this.
Tactile communication can serve useful function in the classroom situation but it
also becomes a delicate matter.
Since teachers are considered superiors in the classroom, they often initiate
touching behaviors. Teacher judgment is the best indicator. A teacher who grabs the arm
or shoulder of an unruly student enters the students space uninvited.
11

Aside from embarrassment, the student may develop other negative feelings
toward the teacher.
More positively, however, touching can also be used as a reinforcer.
At times, a teacher can develop a close relationship with students by invading
their space. A simple pat on the back for a job well done is a much used and usually
accepted from praise.
There is also some limited evidence that touching behaviors can actually increase
learning. One recent investigation (Kleinfeld) has shown that teachers employed such
behaviors as smiling, touching, and close body distance, small children tended to learn
significantly more.
As children grow older, however, these touching behaviors become less
appropriate.
Touch has different impacts in the classroom depending on the age and sex of the
students.
Still, with older students, hand shaking and an occasional pat on the back could prove
effective.
Four younger children in the lower primary grades, touch plays an important
development role. It can communicate a sense of belonging, security, and understanding
to the child. Conversely, when a teacher withholds touch, a child may feel isolated and
rejected, which can lead to the acquisition of negative attitudes toward school.

Children in the lower elementary grades also have a strong need to touch things
around them. They learn this way about environment. It is not uncommon for small
children to wish to touch the teachers clothing or hair. They will also touch one another a
lot. The teacher must be very careful to interpret childrens touching behavior on the basis
of adult touching norms.
While certain general norms govern touching behavior in the North American
culture, considerable differences exist among ethnic groups.? The teacher must recognize
that these are set cultural variations and should be viewed in that light.
Although the use of touch as a reward is appropriate in the elementary school as
children move into junior and senior high school, changes occur that require an alteration
of teacher behavior. Awakening sexual interest in adolescents results in adaptation to
adult to touch terms.
The use of the touch as a reward at this stage may be greatly misinterpreted,
particularly by other people who observe the touch. Most male teachers of junior and
high school students soon recognize that it is highly inappropriate to touch female
students under almost any circumstance.

VOCAL INTONATION AND CUES

12

The proverb It is not what we say that counts, but how we say it reflects the meaning of
vocal intonation.
An unconscious bias of the listening public is a widespread positive prejudice in
favor of man with low, deep voices with resonant tones, such as those qualities possessed
by most male newscasters. Studies have also reported the use of vocal cues as accurate
indicators of overall appearance, body type, height, and race, education, and dialect
region.
Paralinguistic cues often reveal emotional conditions. Difference in loudness,
pitch, timbre, rate, inflection, rhythm, and enunciation all relate to the expression of
various emotions.
Experimental findings suggest that active feelings, such as rage, are exemplified
vocally by high pitch, fast pace, and blaring sound. The more passive feelings, such as
despair, ate portrayed by low pitch, retarded pace, and resonant sound. In addition, stress
is often vocalized by higher pitch and words uttered at a greater rate than normal. The
reverse (lower pitch, slower word pace) is likely during depression.
We are generally aware of some of the common uses of vocal cues. People
indicate the ends of declarative sentences by lowering voice pitch and the ends of
questions by raising it. The vocal message can contradict the verbal one and, when done
consciously, is considered an indication of sarcasm. Vocal cues play a prominent part in
peoples determination of whether or not someone is laying to them.
Mehrabian in his research concluded that listeners? perception of the attitude of a
speaker were influenced 7% by the verbal message and 38% by the vocal tones which
were used.
Same words or phases can have many different meanings, depending on how they
are said. For example, analyze the phrase Thank you. If uttered sincerely, it generally
means an expression of gratitude; if intoned sarcastically, it can insinuate an entirely
opposite intention.

Vocal cues in classroom

This powerful nonverbal tool can readily affect student participation. Generally, to
correct answers the teacher respond with positive verbal reinforcement enhanced by
vocal pitch or tone, expressing the acceptance and liking of the students? answer (often
accompanied by a smile or other forms of nonverbal approval).
Opposite is the case when teacher do not like the response (or behavior in the same way).
Some early studies, found that large variations of rate, force, pitch, and quality
produced higher levels of retention than did messages delivered without these variations.
For example ?mono-pitch? reduces comprehension for both prose and poetry
when compared with ?good intonation?.
There is distinction between a childs and adults response to nonverbal behavior,
particularly in terms of nonverbal vocal behavior. While the adult will almost universally
accept the nonverbal vocal behavior as the correct cue when vocal behavior and verbal
behavior are in conflict, young children often operate in the reverse manner.

13

Therefore for the small child, conflicting verbal and nonverbal messages will
cause considerable trouble. One of the best examples of this is the use of satire, which is
for this reason generally inappropriate means of communication with small children.
Vocal behavior is also capable of arousing stereotypes about either a teacher or a
student. For example, a teacher who has a very nasal speaking voice is often perceived as
having a variety of undesirable personal and physical characteristics. Female teachers
with very tense voices are often perceived as being younger, feminine, more emotional,
easily upset, and less intelligent. Male teachers with the same vocal characteristics are
often perceived as being older, more unyielding, and cantankerous.
Of course vocal characteristics affect teachers? perception of students as well, and
the stereotypes noted above can be applied again. Fortunately, as students and teachers
get to know each other better, they are able to overcome some of these stereotypes.
However, in the upper grades and secondary schools, students and teachers my
never interact frequently enough to overcome stereotypic responses based on vocal
behavior. Many teachers would be shocked at students? imitations of them, often
imitation mimicking the teachers vocal pattern. While teachers may be somewhat not
always that different.
When teacher does not speak the same accent or dialect as children in his or her
classroom, a conscious or unconscious prejudice may develop from both sides.
While it is certainly true that children who leave their ethnic or regional
background in order to gain employment and acceptance in other areas of the community
will have difficulty because of their accent or dialect, it is also true that most importantly,
a childs speech pattern is an intrinsic part of the childs personality and self-image.
Children learn their spec from their parents and the other people in their
environment. Their assumption is that the accent or dialect they have learned is the ?
correct? one. To fin that accent or dialect rejected by a teacher and/or the school is
usually interpreted by the child as a personal rejection. Frequently this leads to rejection
of self and a lowered self-image and/or a rejection to teacher and school.?

SPACE AND PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

Research in the area of proxemics, the study of the ways how people use space
while communicating, indicates that the use of space in the classroom can have a major
impact on communication. To understand the impact of space on classroom
communication we need to distinguish between territoriality and personal space.
Territoriality, a trait shared by human beings and lower forms of animal life, is the
instinct to secure space for oneself and to defend that space against potential intruders.
Violations of territory, depending how serious are, will produce different reactions
on the part of the person invaded. From tension and nervousness to, (especially if the
situation persists), verbal or physical aggressive response.

14

Personal space, unlike territory, has no fixed or semi-fixed geographical position.

Personal space has been likened to an invisible bubble that moves with the individual and
may expand in size or become smaller depending on the given situation.?
As human being grow and mature, they increasingly learn to control their
responses to invasion of their personal space. However, small children have not yet
learned to do so. They may respond very negatively to one another, with both verbal and
physical aggression, without being aware of what exactly has produced their behavior.
Teachers must be particularly conscious of this phenomenon, both in the classroom and in
other school environments.
The classroom itself has limited amount of space and the way that space is
employed will certainly affect the kind of communication. We will here see some
advantages and disadvantages of most usual classroom arrangements.

Traditional classroom arrangement

Circles represent students seats. People occupying the dark seats will account for a very
large proportion of the total interaction between teacher and the students in this type of
arrangement.? People seating in the gray seats interact some, but much less frequently
than those in the darkened areas and people in the white seats will participate very
infrequently, if at all.
Most common explanations for this variance in participation are that students
sitting in the dark seats have the best visual contact with the teacher and they are in
comparatively closer proximity to the teacher.
But is seems that this is not all. Some students are quite anxious about
communicating with other people, particularly teachers, while other students look
forward to such experiences and seek them.

15

Shy students generally attempt to avoid interaction in the classroom and thus will
gravitate to the seats depicted in above picture as white areas. Outgoing students, on the
other hand, will tend to take dark seats.? Students with moderate communication
apprehension are likely to select gray seats.
Each of these different types of students, therefore, employs space in the
classroom differently if they are given free choice. The question thus arises as to whether
the teacher should permit the students to have free choice.
Research shows that rearranging students (alphabetically or by some other arbitrary
method) does not change anything in terms of participation of particular students
Verbal, low communication - apprehensive students will continue to participate, no
matter where they are seated in such a system and vice versa. This suggests free choice as
better solution.
If the teacher wishes to dominate the interaction in the classroom, the traditional
arrangement is probably the best because students are seated side by side and the primary
focal point is the teacher; thus, most interaction will go from teacher to student and form
student to teacher.

Variations of traditional arrangement

16

Horseshoe classroom arrangement

(Different colors of seats have same meaning as above)

Classes with fairly small enrollments are often arranged in this fashion. When students
are given free choice of arranging the classroom, this is one of the most popular option.
Such an arrangement provides for each student equivalent visual access to most other
students and the teacher.
Some research suggests that there is more participation in classes arranged in this way.
Students who are at the opposite end of the horseshoe from the teacher, however, are
those most likely to interact, while those at the right and left hand of the teacher are those
least likely to interact.
If the teacher desires that the full-class interaction occur, the horseshoe arrangement may
be the most desirable. This will encourage interaction both among the students and
between students and teacher.
According some research, this arrangement results not only in greater participation, but
also in wider participation than the traditional arrangement.
It also seems safe to say that a teacher is perceived as less intimidating when he is seated
in a circle with the students rather than behind the formal and imposing symbol of his
large desk.

17

Modular classroom arrangement

This arrangement is particularly desirable for classes requiring interaction among smaller
groups of students. Modular arrangements such as this one tend to increase the amount of
student interaction, but at the same time make interaction with the teacher more difficult.
If very important part of the learning in the class is dependent on student interaction with
other students, the modular arrangement may be preferable. This arrangement permits
many students to be interacting at the same time without interrupting on one another.

18

Preparing for future

While many other elements will determine the nature of communication in a
given teachers classroom, the arrangements of classroom space may have the largest
impact.
How can this information be of use to a teacher? A teacher may assume that a
student who sits himself in dark areas wants to be involved.
Teachers should be careful, however, not to play to these students at the expense of the
rest of the class. Students who seat themselves at the back of the room want to maintain
maximum distance between themselves and the teacher. The extent to which a teacher
will seek to involve these students is likely to be the result of an individuals own
pedagogical decision.
Some teachers will be content with minimal disruption from the rear, while others
will assume that these are the students who need the most help.
Some teachers may want to arrange students desks in a circle or open square
configuration.

OBJECTS
Environmental research has clearly indicated that communication differs greatly
from one physical environment to another.
The physical environment of the classroom is determined in the large measure by
the objects in that classroom. Some of them are intrinsic for the classroom itself, while
others are objects that the inhabitants bring with them. Such objects may have a
significant (either negative or positive) effect on classroom communication.

19

Certainly, there is difference

In an interesting study of the impact of environment on communication, students
were randomly assigned to one of two different rooms. One room, known as the ?
beautiful room,? was well decorated, and had sufficient but subdued lighting. The room
was clean and attractive. The other room, known as ?ugly room,? was devoid of
carpeting, was painted in a drab color, and had brilliant lighting. The room was dirty and
cobwebs were noticeable in the corners. The students were engaged in an interaction task
for about a half hour. Subsequently, they were removed to a third room that was
moderately attractive. They than competed questionnaires indicating how pleasant they
found their interaction to have been, whether they would like to continue interaction with
the same people with whom they had been interacting, and whether they would like to
return to the same room for future discussions.
The difference between the two groups were dramatic.
The people in the beautiful room, enjoyed their experience, liked the people with they
interacted with, and looked forward to interacting in that environment further. The
students who had been in the ugly room, however, did not like the people with whom
they interacted, did not enjoy the task, and did not want to return to that place for future
discussions.
We can walk through almost any school at random and find some classrooms that
appear much more conductive to learning and positive communication between teachers
and students than to other classrooms.
Unfortunately, many of the classroom with which teachers must cope more
closely fit the description of the ?ugly room.? And to change this we do not have to build
a new school!

Would anybody mind if I add one picture on the wall??

The teacher can do a great deal to overcome the negative elements of the
environment, which can adversely affect communication. However, many teachers seem
to be totally unaware of the problem, or have simply given up to it.
If the room have movable chairs, it is easy to arrange them so that students do not
have to cope with excessive glare from outside windows.
It is often possible to adjust the lighting in the room. Brilliant lightning may make it
easier to the children to see the paper on their desks, but over a period of time it tends to
increase the irritability of both the teacher and the student.
20

It every classroom, it is possible for the teacher to add decorations (general or

even better educational) to make the room more pleasant environment. Many teachers
employ bulletin boards for this purpose and display students? work around the room.
Besides inexpensive photographs, paintings can also greatly alter the appearance
of the room.
In addition to characteristic objects of the classroom, both - students and teacher
may wish to bring it more personal objects to enhance their classroom. All too often,
teachers discourage such contributions. In doing so, they limit the students? attempts to
express their individuality.
When possible, teacher should allow students to alter and decorate the small part
of the room, which is theirs, whether that to be their desks or whatever. Usually this is not
a problem. Some teachers even allow students to alter areas outside of their own small
desk area. Some encourage the children to bring their favorite poster, photograph, or
painting to be displayed in the room. This created a more intimate atmosphere for young
people and made school seem more a part of them rather then something imposed on
them.
Regarding students? individual wearing apparel and adornment the best policy for
the individual teacher is to not interfere with individuality of the student in this area
unless forced to by the administration or because an individual?s extreme behavior is
proving to be a disturbance to the other students. Limiting a young person freedom of
expression almost ensures rebelliousness on his or hers part, and consequently interferes
in the communication between teacher and student, but, if sufficient tolerance for this
devotion is permitted, there is usually movement toward more restraint fairly soon.

Notice me!

DRESS
Although most people are only superficially aware of the wear of others,
clothing does communicate. Often dictated by societal norms, clothing indicates a great
amount of information about self.

21

It identifies sex, age, socioeconomic class, status, role, group membership, personality or
mood, physical climate, and time in history.
In addition, attitudes most often associated with clothing relate to
1) 1) A desire to conform
2) 2) A desire for self-expression
3) 3) A desire for aesthetic satisfaction
4) 4) Prestige values
5) 5) The desire for social participation
6) 6) Physical comfort, and
7) 7) Economy
Much empirical evidence supports the view that one who is well dressed is likely to be
much better accepted by not known people than if not well dressed thus increasing
interpersonal effectiveness.
Some research suggests also that a relationship exists between success of student and the
acceptability of their dress.
Clothing also affects self-confidence. In one early investigation (Hurlock, 1929)
all of the men studied believed that their estimate of a person was affected by his
clothing, and 97% of all subjects reported feelings of increased self-confidence when
they were well dressed.
I believe that this is the case also today but definition of being well dressed? is surely
somewhat changed.
But some authors contradict the opinion that a person should always strive to be ?
well-dressed.? Gandhi is offered as an example of a leader who understands this point
and who would successfully dress down in order to better, relate to the masses he sought
to influence.

Clothing and classroom

Because clothing affects others perception, people often dress to ?fit the part.?
These clothing cues, however have little effect on those with whom one is familiar. But
opposite is true when regarding students impression of teacher especially first one.
In order to establish credibility, the teacher should strive to appear
comfortable and at ease in the role, thus removing some of the typical teacher/student
barriers. Although outward appearance does not, of course, indicate a persons
knowledge, values, or philosophy, dress can communicate; but, in most cases, it is only a
outward show.
Students see instructors based on their motivation, sincerity, and fairness; they
will be fooled only momentarily by clothing. A Savile Row suit or a Givenchy dress
cannot turn a grouch into a lively, dynamic teacher. A smile is worth many times
whatever the teacher might pay for clothes.

22

Another aspect of this situation is that it seems that students form some lasting
impressions of their instructors during the first few moments (around 30 seconds) of their
contact.
Gordon Allport has written: With briefest visual perception, a complex mental
process is aroused, resulting within a very short time in judgment of the sex, age, size,
nationality, profession and social caste of the stranger, together with some estimate with
his temperament, his ascendance, friendliness, neatness, and even his trustworthiness and
integrity.

Your first estimation. How much can you say?

Personal artifacts
The personal artifacts (makeup, jewelry, glasses) with which people choose to
adorn themselves also communicate a message to others.
Horn also argues that the process of inferring characteristics based on personal
appearance, is based on a sort of logic although often erroneous.
For example, she writes, a person who wears glasses probably suffered from eye strain;
eye strain is often caused from too much reading; a person who reads a lot is apt to be
very intelligent; consequently, it is ?logical? to assume that people who wear glasses are
intelligent.
It is interesting to note that some older research found that college students rated
people who wore glasses higher in intelligence and industriousness. Today glasses are
more often connected with closed nature, clumsiness and religiousness.
What will prevail in teachers? cases depends on others (again nonverbal) clues we emit.

23

PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS
Body type communicates a variety of meanings, particularly as it relates to
physical attractiveness. Three general types, each capable of arousing several stereotypes
about personality, can be identified.
The first of these is the ectomorph. Ectomorphs are tall, thin, and fragile looking and are
thought of as being tense, anxious, reticent, and self-conscious.
Mesomorphs are bony, muscular, and athletic and are thought es being dominant,
energetic, and talkative.
Endomorphs are described as soft, round, and fat and are thought of as
complacent, warm, and sociable.
Whether these adjectives are accurate is irrelevant; they represent and arouse the real
stereotypes.

In our world attractiveness plays a role

The reason we stress various body types is that teachers, like other people, tend to
stereotype students based on their physical characteristics. The body type considered
most physically attractive to most people in this culture is mesomorph. Mesomorphs tend
to get higher grades, not because they are more intelligent, but because they are more
attractive and are likely to be targets of interaction. They are more popular with other
students and teachers and often are the opinion leaders among their peers.
Various studies have explored the effects of personal attractiveness and showed positive
relationship between physical attractiveness and:

Effectiveness in influencing audience opinions

Speakers? success
In an educational context, a positive relationship was found between
attractiveness and grade-point average

24

The physical attractiveness of students and teachers does serve to influence

classroom interaction. This variable, however, is probably less deserving of attention than
some others, since communicators do not easily manipulate it.
Teachers must be very careful about the stereotypes. Intelligent students do not all
look alike, they do not all wear glasses, and they are not all thin.
Plump children are not all happy and contented and easy-going. Athletically built young
people are not all jocks.
Perhaps the most practical use of this research for educators lies in the admonition
that they need to be aware of these tendencies and should strive to avoid favoring
attractives

TIME
Though this has not been adequately studied, per se, it seems safe to say that
teacher?s use of time has nonverbal communicative value. Consider an elementary
teacher who tells his students that math is as important as history, yet devote much more
classroom time to history. His students can probably tell which subject he really thinks is
more important.
A college teacher may tell his students that he wants to get to know then better,
but if he schedules only one office hour per week, they likely to be more influenced by
latter message.
A teacher also communicate by the extent to which he is punctual for class and by
formality or informality of the way in which he schedules appointments.
Statement usual in the North American culture, such as, ?Time is money? or ?We?
ve out of time.? Reflects that time is viewed as commodity.
Teachers tell students not to waste time, or to use their time more efficiently. Classes are
scheduled to meet at certain times during the day and lateness is punishable offense.

Watch it!
Colleges and universities have carried time considerations to their absurd
extreme; undergraduate degrees are awarded partially on the basis of a minimum number
of credits which are computed in terms of the number of contact hours a week students

25

spend in classes. In many states, pay increases for public school teachers are based on a
thirty hours plus, model.
There are also a non written norms related to how long students are expected to
wait for late instructors, and it varies according to rank.
Since students ate accustomed to classes running for a certain amount of time,
they tend to expose nervousness when their expectancies are violated. If reading is
scheduled to end at 9:50 A.M. and arithmetic to begin at 10:00 A.M., students will start to
engage in some nonverbal ?leave-talking? behaviors around 9:45, such as putting away
pens ad pencils, closing notebooks, shuffling feet, and looking at a clock.
Some authors suggests that it is probably not good to introduce new material near the end
of a class period, since the time for attentiveness has in all likelihood passed its peak.
On the other hand some research suggests that attention rises before the end of the class.
Solution could be to be consistent in ending class at the time so that students know that
their time will not be violated and there is no need for nonverbal warnings.
One of the more important uses of time on the part of the teacher is the use of the
pause. Pausing while presenting information usually emphasizes the content that has just
preceded or will immediately follow.
Most classrooms involve interactions between teachers and students, with the
teacher asking questions to which the student is expected to respond. One of the hardest
things for teachers to learn is to take sufficient time between asking the question and
expecting an answer. Very often, the teacher expects an instant response. Frequently, no
such response is forthcoming. The teacher may then give the answer, or may call on some
poor student who is not ready to answer. Voluntary responses to questions in the
classroom almost always occur if the teacher is willing to wait long enough.
It is not suggestion, of course, to wait a 10 min. waiting period, but if we examine teacher
behavior, we find that teachers seldom wait as long as 5 seconds!
In addition, children have different response rates. Some children can process
question and determine what their answer will be quickly, while other children take two
or times time as long to determine their response. This does not indicate a difference in
intelligence or preparation on the part of the children, only a difference in response
pattern.
Children who respond quickly, of course, tend to become favorites of the teacher.
Those who wait a long time probably participate much below average in most teachers?
So advice to teacher is to learn how to wait for a response and do not always call on the
first student who is ready to respond.
An interesting thing can be added here. It is well known that most children, as
well as most adults, can be placed into one of two categories relating to their bodily
time: ?sparrows? and ?owls?.? Sparrows are early risers and are at their best in the
morning. Conversely, owls, like their namesakes, do not function well in the morning, but
begin functioning better as the day proceeds and are at their best in the evening.
While the largest percentage of both children and adults fall into the owl category,
elementary and secondary schools in the United States almost exclusively follow a
sparrow pattern.
This is still strong cultural norm and it is probably not going to be drastically
changed in foreseeable future, so that it is valuable for teacher to keep this in mind.
.

26

CONCLUSION
Words are accented and punctuated by body movements and gestures, while the
face shows a myriad of expressions. Men are like Geneva watches with crystal faces
which express the whole movement.
It is important to be aware of the dominance of the nonverbal message. If there is
disagreement between the verbal and nonverbal message, the nonverbal will win. Also,
the validity and reliability of verbal messages are checked by nonverbal actions. Again, if
discrepancy exists, the nonverbal will dictate.
Therefore students see the teachers nonverbal messages as more honest reflections of
what he is really thinking or feeling.
Based on this, and all other stated findings, we can reasonably conclude that
further serious investigation of the effects of nonverbal signalization in the classroom
could result in extremely useful pedagogical information.
Effective teaching depends on successful communication and successful
communication - on successful. By definition of NVC (non-verbal communication),
without uttering a single word, teachers and students constantly send messages to each
other.
In this paper, I highlight certain aspects of nonverbal classroom communication.
There is certainly much more to explore in this area, and this discussion encouraged me
to pursue the topic further.
In writing this paper my primary interest was to gather useful knowledge for my
own later reference. Wonderful books I found on this topic were real discovery because
this is the first time I am dealing with this with topic in this way.
Before this, I just knew from experience that there is extremely powerful nonverbal
communication going on in every classroom all the time and.
Being aware of this, I thought it could be useful to find out more about it? - and I
was right. At first I tried to describe my observations in real classrooms but it was too
subtle for describing and without any experimental or other objective evidence (I could
not interview students or teacher after class and ask them if they really felt like I thought
in some particular moment).
So I took this approach with intention to benefit from already known resources instead of
discovering new knowledge.

27

RESOURCES

1. Argyle, Michael (1972a), Non-verbal Communication in Human Social

Interaction. Hinde,
2. Robert A., ed., Non-Verbal Communication. Cambridge: University Press,
243-269.
3. Argyle, Michael (1972b), Soziale Interaktion. Kln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch.
4. James, J. Thomson, Beyond Words; nonverbal communication in the
classroom, Citation Press, New York, 2000;
5. Knapp, Mark L. (1972), Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction.
New York:
6. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
7. Miller W., Patrick, Nonverbal communication in the classroom, Patrick W.
Miller & Associates, 2000;

28

Knowledge & Discourse: Speculating on Disciplinary Futures, 2nd International Conference, Hong Kong, June, 2002

Web Proceedings, July, 2003 Theme: Voices from the Classroom

KD2 Proceedings Website: http://ec.hku.hk/kd2proc/default.asp [Eds. C. Barron, P. Benson & N. Bruce]

Nonverbal Aspects of Teacher-Pupil Communication in the Foreign

Language Classroom
Wolfgang Lrscher
University of Leipzig, Germany
[email protected]
Abstract
That nonverbal aspects of communication play an extremely important role in human
social interaction has been known for a long time. Nonetheless, nonverbal phenomena
have hardly been investigated. Only very recently have they become a focus of interest
in various disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, pedagogics, linguistics, and the
science of information. - In the first part of this article, nonverbal and paralinguistic
phenomena will be described and categorized by means of two different classification
schemes, which, as will be shown, are complementary by nature. The article's second
part deals with what are considered to be the four main aspects of the importance of
nonverbal behaviour in foreign language classroom discourse. By way of conclusion it
will be shown that nonverbal signals play a highly important and essential role in foreign
language classroom communication, and that, as a result of the considerations presented
in here, they must be included in any comprehensive analysis of discourse.
1. Introduction
We speak with our vocal organs, but we converse with our entire bodies. Conversation
consists of much more than a simple interchange of spoken words.
This statement by David Abercrombie (1968, 55) denotes what is generally taken for granted;
however, it has not been given its due attention by those disciplines which investigate social
interaction. For a long time, they only considered the verbal component of communication
and
have either neglected or ignored the manifold nonverbal phenomena. Only recently has there
been a growing interest in the nonverbal component of human communication. It has become
a
focus of investigation in anthropology, sociology, pedagogics, linguistics and the science of
information (Scherer/Wallbott 1979, 5).
The investigations which are carried out today under the heading of nonverbal
communication
are rather heterogeneous. First they approach their object of investigation by using rather

29

different methodologies and with distinct epistemological interests. Second they very often
concentrate on particular nonverbal phenomena which are transmitted through specific
channels,
such as the visual and the auditory media. This specialisation very often leads to the fact that
the
entirety of communicative behaviour becomes obscure and a systematic conception of a
theory
of nonverbal behaviour is hindered rather than helped (Scherer/Wallbott 1979, 11).
Nonverbal Aspects Of Teacher-Pupil Communication
KD2 Web Proceedings, July, 2003 Wolfgang
Lrscher

2
2. Nonverbal And Paralinguistic Phenomena
Nonverbal communication has mainly been distinguished from verbal communication in a
negative way, i.e. that verbal communication has been defined and everything else which is
considered to have a communicative value is called nonverbal communication. A positive
definition which distinguishes nonverbal phenomena such as gestures, mimicry, proxemic
behaviour, speech pauses, pitch, etc. from spoken or written language has not been
sufficiently
elaborated so far. When looking at the relevant literature on nonverbal communication one
soon
realizes that the notion of nonverbal communication still requires scholarly consensing.
Those
authors who favour a broader notion of communication come to the conclusion that
nonverbal
signs are not always coded in an unambiguous way and are not always transmitted in an
intentional way. They often use the notion of nonverbal behaviour in this way (Lyons 1977;
Scherer 1980).
The object of nonverbal communication is defined differently by different authors. According
to
Argyle (1972b) the following ten phenomena constitute nonverbal communication.
1. bodily contact
2. proximity
3. posture
4. physical appearance
5. facial and gestural movements
6. direction of gaze
7. timing of speech
8. emotional tone of speech
9. speech errors
10. accent
Knapp (1972) considers the following seven nonverbal phenomena:
1. body motion or kinesic behaviour
2. physical characteristics
3. touching behaviour
4. paralanguage
5. proxemics
6. artefacts
7. environmental factors

30

Although this list could easily be supplemented the enumeration reveals a core area of
nonverbal
phenomena which includes body movements, proxemic behaviour and paralinguistic
phenomena. The latter very often represent a special area because in contrast to the other
nonverbal phenomena, they are of a vocal kind, i.e., they are produced by our vocal organs.
Some scholars do not subsume them under the notion of nonverbal for this reason.
Nonverbal Aspects Of Teacher-Pupil Communication
KD2 Web Proceedings, July, 2003 Wolfgang
Lrscher

3
There is no agreement either on what is considered to be paralinguistic. However, the
following
areas which are mentioned by Crystal (1974) may be considered to be the proper subject
matter of paralinguistics. They are:
1. the speed of speech or the speech tempo
2. rhythm
3. key
4. register
5. voice volume
6. intensity
7. articulatory characteristics
8. type of voice
Pitch, stress, juncture phenomena and intonation are often not considered to be paralinguistic
but verbal phenomena.
According to the German psychologist Scherer misunderstandings often arise when the term
nonverbal is used because both visible phenomena such as gesture and mimicry as well as
audible phenomena such as speech style and speech quality are subsumed under this notion
(Scherer/Wallbott 1979).
Therefore, Scherer suggests not only distinguishing between verbal and nonverbal
phenomena
but additionally making a distinction between vocal and nonvocal phenomena. Accordingly, a
gesture would be a nonverbal-nonvocal form of behaviour, whereas speech quality would be
considered nonverbal-vocal.
3. Classification Of Nonverbal Phenomena
In order to investigate the complexities of nonverbal communication in a systematic way it
seems
to be necessary to split the entire domain of nonverbal behaviour into parts. Two different
models can be found in the relevant literature.
3.1 Scherer's Observational Categories Scheme
The first model comprises observational categories. It classifies nonverbal behaviour by
means
of the channels through which they are communicated from a sender to a receiver, and by
means of the sensory organs by which the receiver perceives them. This mainly
receiver-oriented approach is used by Scherer (1973). His categories are as follows:
Scherer's Observational Categories Scheme (1973)
C h a n n e l Non-verbal phenomena perceived
----------------------------------------------visual/eye - mimicry (facial expression)
- direction and movements of gaze
- gestures and body movements
- proxemics (interpersonal distance and spatial orientation)

31

----------------------------------------------Nonverbal Aspects Of Teacher-Pupil Communication

KD2 Web Proceedings, July, 2003 Wolfgang
Lrscher

4
auditory/ear - voice quality (pitch, stress, key)
- way of speaking
voice-dependent variation:
intonation, pronunciation, change of loudness
time-dependent variation:
speed, duration, utterance length, pauses, turntaking
organization, variation of speech continuity, dialect, accent
----------------------------------------------olfactory/nose - smells
----------------------------------------------gustatory/ - tastes
tongue, nose
----------------------------------------------tactile/skin - touches
----------------------------------------------thermal/skin - temperature and changes of temperature

3.2 Argyle's Behavioural Categories Scheme

In the second model, behavioural categories are used for the classification of nonverbal
phenomena. This approach which is propagated by Argyle focuses on the different observable
ways of behaviour of a sender which are or can be expressed in a social interaction. The
following list of categories goes back to Argyle (1972b, 90ff.)
Scherer's Observational Categories Scheme (1973)
C h a n n e l Non-verbal phenomena perceived
----------------------------------------------visual/ eye - mimicry (facial expression)
- direction and movements of gaze
- gestures and body movements
- proxemics (interpersonal distance and spatial orientation)
----------------------------------------------auditory/ear - voice quality (pitch, stress, key)
- way of speaking
voice-dependent variation:
intonation, pronunciation, change of loudness;
time-dependent variation:
speed, duration, utterance length, pauses, turntaking
organization, variation of speech continuity, dialect, accent
----------------------------------------------olfactory/ nose - smells
----------------------------------------------gustatory/ - tastes
tongue, nose
----------------------------------------------tactile/ skin - touches
----------------------------------------------thermal/skin - temperature and changes of temperature
Nonverbal Aspects Of Teacher-Pupil Communication
KD2 Web Proceedings, July, 2003 Wolfgang
Lrscher

5
The behavioural categories as used by Argyle can easily be related to Scherers observational
categories for the visual, the auditory, and the tactile channel. The two classification systems
are
thus complementary by nature.
4. Aspects of the Importance of Nonverbal Behaviour in Foreign Language Classroom

32

Discourse
The considerations made so far about nonverbal behaviour have hopefully revealed the
importance of nonverbal behaviour for human communication in general and by implication
for
communication in the foreign language classroom. Nonetheless, nonverbal phenomena in the
classroom have hardly been investigated so far. One reason for this deficit must be seen in
connection with what was said earlier, namely that only recently has the importance of
nonverbal
communication been realized and become an object of investigation in the disciplines
involved in
the study of communication. As far as communication in the foreign language classroom is
concerned it is obvious that nonverbal behaviour plays an especially important role. As the
results yielded by a research project (cf. Lrscher 1983; Hllen and Lrscher 1989) suggest,
at
least four aspects are worth mentioning:
1. Communication in the classroom is highly organized. The teacher and the pupils
communicate mainly to reach specific aims which are largely given in advance. The teacher
as an
expert in her or his field knows the aims and has to achieve them in the most economical way
possible. The teachers function is to organize the communicative resources available by the
pupils so that the aims can be reached in an optimal way. This very often requires the use of
nonverbal signals.
2. In the foreign language classroom there is a specific constellation of the participants in the
discourse. There is one teacher and a group of pupils. Due to this specific constellation and
the
largely asymmetrical role relationship between the teacher and the pupils in class, the
communication which takes place is between one teacher and a group of pupils. This,
however,
does not mean that there is no interaction at all between a single pupil and a teacher. The
therapeutic measures which the teacher often uses after a learner commits an error, for
example
corrections or repairs, are first and foremost directed to the individual learner. But at the same
time, these therapeutic measures have an important function in preventing errors among the
other members of the group. With very few exceptions the teachers utterances are also
directed to the entire group of the learners. Thus supra-individual repertoires of knowledge
are
built up and the reality of the classroom as such is constituted. Part of the classroom
management thus consists in signalling to the learners that the relevance of utterances
concerns
the whole group, even though in specific situations utterances are directly addressed to single
members of the group. This signalling is mainly brought about nonverbally, above all by
means
of eye contact and gesture.
3. In the foreign language classroom the primary aim of teaching and learning is the
acquisition
of the foreign language code and its appropriate use. Therefore, the teacher's feedback is
usually directed towards the correctness of the propositional content of the pupils' utterances
as

33

well as towards its correct realization in the foreign language. It can, therefore, be assumed
that
the reference of the teacher's feedback on either the formal realization or the content of the
Nonverbal Aspects Of Teacher-Pupil Communication
KD2 Web Proceedings, July, 2003 Wolfgang
Lrscher

6
propositions uttered by the pupils is signalled nonverbally by the teacher and thus understood
by
the pupils.
4. As certain nonverbal signs can replace verbal ones (Scherer 1980) it can be expected that
both the teacher and the pupils make use of this substitution function of the nonverbal signs
in
the foreign language classroom. The teachers may use nonverbal signals in order to transmit
information which they think that, if verbalized in the target-language, will not be understood
by
the pupils; and learners may use them to transmit information which they are unable to
express
in the foreign language. The function of amplification in emphasizing, illustrating, and
interpreting
verbal signs by nonverbal forms of behaviour must be seen analogously.
In what follows nonverbal phenomena, especially those which are visually perceivable, will
be
described in their functions and modes of realization as they occur in thirty recorded foreign
language classroom periods (cf. Lrscher 1983). The topics of the periods are grammatical
phenomena of English, the analysis and interpretation of a work of literature, cultural aspects
of
Great Britain and the United States of America or the repetition of a textbook chapter which
the
pupils already knew from previous periods. The latter is a fixed type of foreign language
lesson
in Germany called repetitive classroom discourse in which the teacher asks questions about
a
textbook chapter and thus makes his or her pupils repeat it in small sections. The English
lessons
were videotaped between 1979 and 1994, with teachers and pupils from different types of
schools in Germany, from form 6 to form 13. Due to the abundance of the data collected and
our epistemological interest, only some aspects of the nonverbal behaviour detected in the
data
could be concentrated on.
i. Only the nonverbal signals of the teachers were observed. This delimitation was necessary
because only two cameras were available for the recordings. One camera recorded the
teacher, the second recorded the class as a whole. In this way it was not possible to
systematically observe the nonverbal behaviour of one particular pupil.
ii. The investigation restricted itself to that segment of nonverbal behaviour which was
visually
observable, i.e. the nonverbal- nonvocal phenomena. Modes of behaviour communicated by
the tactile, the thermal, or the olfactory channel could obviously not be observed but may
play a secondary role in the classroom.

34

iii. With regard to the specifics of classroom communication in general and foreign language
classroom communication in particular those types of nonverbal behaviour were
concentrated on which occur:
a) in phases in which communication on fictitious reference systems took place, i.e. on topics
about a fictitious rather than the real world of here and now. Examples are a chapter of a
textbook like the story about Peter and Betty on Uncle Henry's farm or a literary work
like Macbeth;
b) in phases of classroom management and those aside of the discourse topic in which the
teacher gives information and/or directives or asks questions with non-fictitious that is
real reference systems. Examples would involve a teacher directive such as Please take
out your exercise books, or a teacher request such as Who can go and get some
chalk?
c) in phases in which the didactic communication is about the foreign language code and its
appropriate use;
Nonverbal Aspects Of Teacher-Pupil Communication
KD2 Web Proceedings, July, 2003 Wolfgang
Lrscher

7
d) in phases in which the teacher feeds back utterances of the pupils. These feedback
utterances can be realized as the third element of an initiation-response-feedback
structure and thus as evaluations of or comments on a preceding utterance by a pupil.
But they can also be realized as confirmation or critical remarks during the utterance of a
pupil. The latter case is called back-channel behaviour (Duncan and Niederehe 1974;
Kendon 1967, 1979).
4.1 Nonverbal phenomena within phases in which communication with fictitious
reference systems takes place
In those periods in which the teacher and the pupils talked about fictitious stories from a
textbook, the number and intensity of the nonverbal signals was especially high. This holds
true
independent of the particular personality of the teacher. Didactic questions, i.e. those
questions
to which the teacher already knows the answers in advance, are often asked with reference to
fictitious information and are often asked with a strongly artificial facial expression. This
may be
true for didactic questions in general. But it occurs often and emphatically in connection with
fictitious information. It can be observed in the data that the nonverbal behaviour of the
teacher
and the pupils was most conspicuous when the teacher and the pupils acted as if they actually
were in fictitious situations and really performed fictitious actions. It can be assumed that the
intensity of this very artificial nonverbal behaviour serves to play down the triviality of many
of
the questions referring to fictitious reference systems. Thus the teacher's questions should
create
the impression that they were of high importance, which in fact they were not. To give an
example: In one of the stories in the textbook the teacher and the pupils used during a period
there were Peter and Betty who spent their holidays on Uncle Henry's farm. Both the teacher
and the twelve-year-old pupils knew the story very well. One can readily imagine that the
teacher's question What did Peter and Betty do during their holidays? was of a very trivial
nature. By asking the question with concomitant nonverbal behaviour that suggested that the

35

teacher did not know the answer to this question, its triviality and artificiality increased rather
than decreased. Trivial questions on information with fictitious reference systems can only be
justified if their function is to make the pupils practice the foreign language. The importance
of
these questions is therefore not, as the nonverbal phenomena may suggest, their informational
content but their instrumental function with regard to the major aim of any foreign language
teaching, i.e. making the pupils learn the foreign language code and its appropriate use.
4.2 Nonverbal phenom ena in phases of classroom management and in connection with
utterances with non-fictitious reference systems
In phases of classroom management and in those teaching phases in which communication
about
information with non-fictitious reference systems takes place there is a significantly smaller
number and lower intensity of nonverbal signals. Those nonverbal signals which are used for
classroom management can hardly be distinguished from those to be found outside the
classroom. One reason for this may be the fact that the pieces of information dealt with in
phases of classroom management are neither in direct connection with the specific learning
goals
and thus do not have to be learned nor have they an instrumental function in attaining specific
learning goals. The teacher's allocation of the turns to speak represent by far the largest part
of
the utterances of classroom management. The allocation of turns can be performed in a
primarily
Nonverbal Aspects Of Teacher-Pupil Communication
KD2 Web Proceedings, July, 2003 Wolfgang
Lrscher

8
verbal way, i.e. verbal plus nonverbal-vocal. It can be performed exclusively nonverbally, i.e.
nonverbally-nonvocally or by a combination of verbal and nonverbal signals. The most
frequently occurring cases are nominations, verbal utterances like yes [?], hm[?] with
rising
intonation or the more direct but often rather impolite address form you with falling
intonation,
in co-occurrence with eye-contact to the specific pupil, a deictic movement towards her or
him
and often in connection with a step towards him or her to make the distance between the
participants smaller. The two first-mentioned nonverbal phenomena can allocate the speaking
role even without verbal nominations and thus have a quasi-emblematic nature (Ekman and
Friesen 1969) within specific communicative situations.
4.3 Nonverbal phenomena in phases in which communication on aspects of the foreign
language code and its situationally adequate use takes place
Due to the partial competence of the learners in the foreign language many teachers often
make
use of the substitution and amplification function of nonverbal signals, especially in order to
semantisize lexemes in the foreign language which are unknown to the pupils without using
the
learners' mother tongue. Mimicry and gesture are especially suitable for this purpose. By
means
of mimicry, emotional states can easily be expressed as denoted by adjectives such as: happy

36

and sad, or by adverbials and/or nouns such as joy and anger. Gestures are especially suited
to
express qualities, actions and/or objects which denote spatial relationships or movements
such
as adjectives like tiny or fast , adverbs or verbs like climb or walk , nouns like clearing or
fight and prepositions like up or towards.
The nonverbal phenomena just mentioned generally occur in connection with verbal signs,
and
because of this co-occurrence they can also serve as aids for memorizing unknown lexemes
to
be learnt in a foreign language. The nonverbal signals used by the teachers for semantisizing
lexemes in the foreign language are often idiosyncratic. Verbs of movement such as pass by,
walk etc. can be expressed or clarified by movements of the head, of one or both hands or by
the teacher changing her or his position in the classroom. It is important, however, that these
different ways of behaviour can all be reduced to the abstract concept of movement. The
concrete mode of movement which is denoted by the specific verb can, if at all, only be
captured in a rather imprecise way by the nonverbal signals. Idiosyncratic nonverbal signs
which
cannot be interpreted in a pictographic way are thus less suitable as aids for semantisizing
new
lexemes in the foreign language. Rather they are used as signals for the retrieval of lexemes
which have already been stored in the long-term memory of the pupils.
In this function they can be found in the lessons and especially in those phases in which
communication takes place which is not primarily focussed on the foreign language.
Nonverbal
signs often fulfil the function of highlighting or emphasizing information which is considered
to be
important by the user of the signs. Since the major goal in the foreign language classroom is
the
teaching and learning of the foreign language, those stretches of discourse which have a
metalinguistic orientation, in other words those which deal with the correct use of the foreign
language, are considered to be of special importance. This is why discourse phases in which
aspects of the foreign language code are communicated reveal a large number of nonverbal
signals of emphasizing and stressing information.
Nonverbal Aspects Of Teacher-Pupil Communication
KD2 Web Proceedings, July, 2003 Wolfgang
Lrscher

9
The amplification and the substitution function of nonverbal signs in connection with
metalinguistic information occur less frequently in more advanced foreign language
classrooms.
Here the foreign language has already been mastered to a higher degree, such that
metalinguistically oriented phases occur less frequently. Interpretations of texts and free
conversations are performed in which the amplification function of the nonverbal signs
concerns
the thematic contents of the discourse such as the arguments put forward in an interpretation
or
the points made in a free conversation. Only in cases of gross violations of the target
language

37

norms does the discourse shift from the thematic to the metalinguistic level and the
amplification
function of the nonverbal signals changes accordingly.
4.4 Nonverbal phenomena and teacher feedback
Nonverbal feedback of the pupils by the teacher occurs with or without concomitant verbal
utterances. The main function of the teacher's feedback is to comment on or to evaluate
learners' utterances in a positive or in a negative way. In the foreign language classroom,
positive
feedback can refer to the contents of the pupil's utterances or to their formal linguistic
realization
or to both of these aspects, which is generally the case. Exceptions occur when pupils'
utterances are linguistically or topically extraordinary good. In these cases positive
evaluations
either refer to the form or to the contents of the utterances. The nonverbal signals for
emphasizing used by the teachers in these particular cases differ from those observable in
other
discourse phases. When aspects of the contents of an utterance are positively emphasized
signals such as smiling, for example, are used. When the emphasizing signals refer to the
linguistic realisation of an utterance other signals are employed such as deictic gestures. The
nonverbal signs used obviously fulfil an important indicator function. They tell the pupils
unambiguously whether the linguistic or the thematic reference system of the feedback is
meant.
The nonverbal signals either occur as the third element of an initiation-response-feedback
structure or as back-channel signals which encourage the particular pupil who holds the floor
to
continue her or his utterance. The labelling of the nonverbal signals as referring to the
language and referring to the contents also applies to utterances of negative feedback.
Negative evaluations of pupils' utterances can refer to their contents or to their formal
linguistic
realization or to both of these aspects together with the latter being an exception. Due to the
major goal of the foreign language classroom, violations of the foreign language norms very
often
lead to negative evaluations. The most frequently occurring nonverbal signal, which even
without
concomitant verbal signs negatively feeds back a linguistic error is the rising of the teacher's
hand often accompanied by a negative facial expression or shaking his or her head. The high
importance which most of the teachers attach to the negative evaluations of pupils' erroneous
utterances becomes obvious by the numerous therapeutic measures which they use after the
evaluations. In periods which focus on the formal linguistic correctness of utterances, content
errors often play a subordinate role . As our data reveals their negative feedback did not lead
to
any single therapeutic measure, only questions or comments on these erroneous utterances
occurred although rather infrequently. The concomitant nonverbal signals differ considerably
from those used after violations of foreign language norms. Either similar nonverbal signals
are
used with less extensity and intensity or the nonverbal signals are qualitatively different.
Furthermore, the teachers' nonverbal behaviour seems to be dependent on the degree of
Nonverbal Aspects Of Teacher-Pupil Communication
KD2 Web Proceedings, July, 2003 Wolfgang

38

Lrscher

10
fictitiousness and triviality of the contents to be communicated. In periods or phases in which
this degree was especially high thematic errors were obviously considered to be rather
unimportant and the nonverbal signals, if used at all, occurred in a less extensive and
intensive
way.
5. Concluding remarks
The overwhelming majority of the nonverbal signals described so far were employed
consistently by the teachers and were usually interpreted by the pupils correctly. This applies
both to those nonverbal signs which where used by all or most of the teachers in our data
corpus and to those nonverbal signs which were only used by one particular teacher.
Consistency of form and function in the use of nonverbal signs is a necessary precondition
for
the fact that in the periods of our data corpus, and this may well be generalized, a specific
system of nonverbal signals has developed which is mainly concomitant with the verbal
system
but can also replace it, at least in part. It is used and interpreted by the participants of the
discourse with hardly any disturbances.
As a consequence of these considerations on the functions of nonverbal behaviour in the
foreign
language classroom two facts should be kept in mind:
1. Nonverbal signals play a highly important role in the communication in the foreign
language
classroom.
2. Especially when nonverbal signs are used to interpret, comment on, or modify the
concomitant verbal utterances in discourse or when they replace verbal signs they must be
included in any discourse analysis.
6. References
Abercrombie, David (1968), Paralanguage. British Journal of Disorders of
Communication 3, 55-59.
Argyle, Michael (1972a), Non-verbal Communication in Human Social Interaction. Hinde,
Robert A., ed., Non-Verbal Communication. Cambridge: University Press, 243-269.
Argyle, Michael (1972b), Soziale Interaktion. Kln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch.
Argyle, Michael and Cook, Mark (1976), Gaze and Mutual Gaze. Cambridge: University
Press.
Crystal, David (1974), Paralinguistics. Sebeok, Thomas A., ed., Current Trends in
Linguistics. Volume 12. Den Haag: Mouton, 265-295.
Duncan, Starkey jr. and Niederehe, George (1974), On signalling that its your turn to
speak.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 10, 234-247.
Ekman, Paul and Friesen, Wallace (1969), The repertoire of nonverbal behavior: categories,
origins, usage, and coding. Semiotica 1, 49-98.
Nonverbal Aspects Of Teacher-Pupil Communication
KD2 Web Proceedings, July, 2003 Wolfgang
Lrscher

11
Hllen, Werner and Lrscher, Wolfgang (1989), On describing and analyzing foreign
language

39

classroom discourse. Oleksy, Wieslaw, ed., Contrastive Pragmatics. Amsterdam:

John Benjamins, 169-188.
Kendon, Adam (1967), Some functions of gaze-direction in social interaction. Acta
Psychologica 26, 22-63.
Kendon, Adam (1979), Some emerging features of face-to-face interaction. Sign Language
Studies 22, 7-22.
Knapp, Mark L. (1972), Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction. New York:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Lrscher, Wolfgang (1983), Linguistische Beschreibung und Analyse von
Fremdsprachenunterricht als Diskurs. Tbingen: Gunter Narr.
Lyons, John (1977), Semantics. 2 volumes. Cambridge: University Press.
Scherer, Klaus R. (31973), Nonverbale Kommunikation. Hamburg: Buske.
Scherer, Klaus R. (1980), The Functions of Nonverbal Signs in Conversation. Giles,
Howard
and St. Clair, Roger eds., The Social and Psychological Contexts of
Communication. Hillsdale NJ: L. Erlbaum, 225-244.
Scherer, Klaus R. and Wallbott, Harald G., eds., (1979, 21984), Nonverbale
Kommunikation: Forschungsberichte zum Interaktionsverhalten. Weinheim and
Basel: Beltz.

Using nonverbal communication to improve teacher

effectiveness
by Susan B. Rosa, EdD
Joey, a second grader, returns from a doctors appointment in the middle of a math
lesson. Welcome back, Joey, his teacher says with a smile. Were working
together to solve the problem on page twenty-three.
The combination of the teachers words and the teachers smile helps Joey feel
comfortable and confident about returning to the school routine. Smiling broadly in
affirmation, raising our eyebrows in surprise, or lowering our voice for dramatic
effect are all clear sources of information to our students. In fact researchers in the
field of nonverbal communication tell us that only about 7% of all communication is
verbal; of the remaining 93%, 38% is vocal and 55% is facial (Mehrabian & Ferris
1967; Ekman & Friesen 1969).
Effective teaching requires that we pay a lot of attention to our verbal teacher
language, using carefully chosen words to help build a positive and productive
classroom community. (See The Power of Language.) But the way in which we
deliver these verbal messages may contribute more to student understanding than
the words themselves, particularly for children over the age of eight. Young children
focus on the words that teachers use; older children tend to focus more on adults
nonverbal behaviors in their attempts to understand What does s/he really expect
from me? (Mayo & La France 1978).
Are we aware of the nonverbal behaviors we are using and are we sending the
messages we intend? Following are some suggestions and ideas for using nonverbal
behavior to improve your effectiveness in the classroom.

40

^^^Back to Top^^^

Use eye contact proactively

Ms. Rossi has a classroom full of energetic third graders. When she wants to begin a
lesson she says, I need all eyes on me. She makes a point of looking directly at
each child when she is speaking as well as when she is listening to their responses
and questions. During the sharing component of Morning Meeting, she makes eye
contact with a student who is about to touch the loose shoelace of a nearby student
and then she points to the sharer. The fidgety student quickly returns her attention
to the child who is sharing.
We acknowledge the importance of establishing and maintaining eye contact when
we encourage children to make friendly and respectful eye contact with each other
during Morning Meeting. But do we pay attention to our own use of eye contact?
Making eye contact with individual students can help a teacher establish a presence
in the classroom and reinforces the importance of the teachers message (Hodge
1971). It may also assist students in their ability to recall information. In one study,
students whose teacher made eye contact with them while reading a story had
greater recall of details of that story than students whose teacher did not make eye
contact while reading the same story (Otteson & Otteson 1980).
Ask yourself: How often do I look directly at a child when Im speaking with him/her?
When Im speaking to a group of children, how often do I make eye contact with
individual children in the group? Raising your own level of consciousness is one way
to begin making changes.
If you decide that youd like to improve your use of eye contact, you can enlist the
childrens help by letting them know that youll be practicing your use of eye contact
during lessons with them just as they practice good eye contact during Morning
Meeting. Simply letting the children know that this is a goal youre working on can
help keep you focused on the goal.
^^^Back to Top^^^

Teach nonverbal signals and their meanings

Nonverbal signals such as a raised hand for quiet can be extremely useful and
effective in the classroom. But children need to know that a finger point means timeout, the light flicker means that quiet time is ending, or a finger to the mouth during
Morning Meeting means Its time to listen. At the beginning of the year, teach,
model, and practice the nonverbal signals that you and the students will use and
then throughout the year, be consistent in your use of those signals.
Pay attention to voice tone, pitch, volume

41

Weve all been thereits mid-afternoon and the instructor is droning away at a
lectern in the front of the room. Even as adults, our impulse is to fidget, snooze,
whisper, or construct our grocery lists. Imagine what its like for children when we
speak in a monotone voice?
Comprehensive studies indicate a relationship between paralanguage (voice tone,
pitch, volume, tempo, intensity, silent pauses) and teacher effectiveness. Our voices
are important instructional tools that we can learn to use in flexible ways. When
were animated and vary the way we speak, we send a message that says Hey, this
is interesting. Pay attention.
For example, try varying the ways you can say that well-known story opener Long,
long ago in a place far, far away Stretch out the words and insert a pause:
Lonnnng, lonnnng ago (pause) in a place farrrr, farrr away Or use a different pitch
for the first long versus the second long and the first far versus the second
far for a different effect.
One way to check on your paralanguage is to tape record yourself through a typical
day. As you listen to the tape, pay attention to how often and when you vary the
speed of what youre saying, vary the volume, and vary the pitch and tone. Also pay
attention to when and for how long you pause.
If youd like to enliven the way in which you speak, you might begin by listening to
good storytellers. (Check out some adult or childrens books-on-tape from your local
library.) How do they use their voices to enhance the content of the story? Then as
part of your daily lesson preparation, practice using your voice more flexibly.
Consider using a tape recorder to check on your progress.
^^^Back to Top^^^

Become a face fancier

Have you ever had one of those conversations where youre not sure whats going
on? For example, youre working on a project with another teacher. You propose a
course of action. Your colleagues responding words are enthusiastic and indicate
agreement but her facial expression, voice tone, and lack of eye contact say
something quite different: I really think this is a bad idea. Which communication do
you respond to?
Teachers and students show a lot of what they are thinking and feeling in their facial
expressions. Students faces might show interest, concentration, or confusion, so
observing their facial expressions can be a step towards assessing engagement and
understanding. Likewise, our facial expressions might show impatience, disapproval,
and irritation, all of which can confuse and discourage students, particularly since
were often not aware of whatand how muchour faces show.
If our goal is to encourage and empower students, then we need to project our
caring and support through our facial expressions. This doesnt mean smiling sweetly
all the time, even when were bothered by something a student does or says. It does

42

mean letting our genuine concern for our students shine through consistently, during
hard and easy moments. If youre concerned about what your facial expressions
communicate, you might ask a colleague to observe you and give you feedback.
^^^Back to Top^^^

A final thought
Consulting teacher Ruth Sidney Charney emphasizes how important it is for teachers
to say what you mean and mean what you say. (Charney 2002, 233245) But since
most of our message is projected nonverbally, I think its important to take that one
step further: Be sure that what you say and how you say it send the same
message. If you say Time-out, Shari, with a questioning inflection, Shari will be
confused. Should she go to time-out or not? If you say Remind me how we agreed
to use the scissors but furrow your brow in an angry way, you lose the
nonjudgmental intent no matter how matter-of-fact your voice is.
The most effective way to assess verbal and nonverbal consistency is by videotaping
yourself during a typical lesson. As you watch the tape, ask yourself: Is what Im
saying in sync with how Im saying it? Do the children seem to know what I expect or
do I frequently need to repeat myself? Are my nonverbal signals as effective as I
need them to be? Many teachers have found that watching themselves on videotape
offered unique insights into their own teaching style, which is an important step
towards change.

Further Resources
Martinek, Thomas; Patricia Crowe; and Walter Rejeski. 1982. Pygmalion in the Gym:
Causes and Effects of Expectations in Teaching and Coaching. West Point, NY: Leisure
Press.
Miller, Patrick W., PhD. 2000. Nonverbal Communication in the Classroom. Chicago:
Patrick W. Miller and Associates.
Woolfolk, Anita E. and Douglas M. Brooks. 1985. "The Influence of Teacher's
Nonverbal Behaviors on Students' Perceptions and Performance." The Elementary
School Journal. (85): 513-528.

Works cited
Charney, Ruth Sidney. 2002. Teaching Children to Care. Greenfield, MA: Northeast
Foundation for Children.
Ekman, Paul, and Wallace V. Friesen. 1969. The Repertoire of Nonverbal Behavior:
Categories, Origins, Usage, and Coding. Semiotica (1): 49-98.
Hodge, R L. 1971. Interpersonal Classroom Communication through Eye Contact.
Theory into Practice. (10): 264-267.

43

Mayo, Clara and Marianne LaFrance. 1978. On the Acquisition of Nonverbal

Communication: A Review. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. (24): 213-228.
Mehrabian, Albert, and R. Ferris. 1967. Inference of Attitudes from Nonverbal
Communication in Two Channels. Journal of Consulting Psychology (31, 3): 248-252.
Otteson, J. P. and C. R. Otteson. 1980. Effects of Teacher Gaze on Childrens Story
Recall. Perceptual and Motor Skills (50): 35-42.
Thoughts: This class, G203 Communication in the Classroom, is what
it says it is: communicating in the classroom. We will be spending
the semester thinking about what we communicate, how we communicate,
and why we communicate in the classroom, but also, how we communicate
in society with ourselves and other people. We will be looking at,
analyzing, discussing, and writing about the following topics:
1. Classroom Communication
2. Interpersonal Communication
3. Listening
4. Verbal/Nonverbal Communication
5. Leading Classroom Discussion
6. Small Group Communication
7. Increasing Communication Skills
8. Anger, Stress, and Managing Feelings
9. Building Relationships with Diverse Populations
10. Ethics of Relationships
11. Conflict Resolution
We will be applying these ideas to our lives as future teachers where
we will need to communicate with a diverse population, which includes
our students, other teachers and administrators in the schools, and
parents, members, and officials in the communities where we will be
teaching. The goal for this class is to understand why we want to
teach in the first place and hopefully, realize that communicating
effectively will play a major role in our success as teachers. We
will also need to come up with our own theory of communication and
what we think works the best for us in the classroom. In other
words, we need to find our own style of communicating and come up
with ideas for implementing it in our realities as teachers. To do
this, we will be writing papers and journals, doing in-class
activities, interviewing people, actually teaching the class, and
doing some role-playing. Here are some brief descriptions of the
major assignments we will be doing to accomplish these goals:
Teacher Philosophy/Qualities Paper (25 pts.): This will be our first
3-5 page paper where we will be able to get out our thoughts on our
own philosophies of teaching and what makes a good teacher. We will
use our own experiences as students as well as teachers in the real
world and write about what we have learned from these experiences,
mentors and other teachers, and jobs where we had leadership duties.
What works? What doesnt work? Why?
Communication Analysis (25 pts.): This 3-5 page paper will be
applying the communication strategies that Cooper & Simonds talk
about in their text to something that we view, but take for granted.
We will be applying the theories of interpersonal communication,
listening, and verbal/nonverbal communication to a movie that we will

44

be watching. We will disseminate the communication patterns between

the major characters in the movie and write about what we saw.
Interview Assignments (35 pts.): This 5-7 page paper will give us
the chance to talk to teachers and students in the schools. The goal
for this paper is to interview at least two teachers and ask them
what communication strategies they use in the classroom with students
and outside with parents, administrators, and community members. We
will also interview some students to see what kinds of communication
strategies they find most useful for them as learners. You will get
a chance to present your finding to a group of your peers.
SIGs (Special Interest Groups) (40 pts.): You and about four other
classmates will get a chance to teach the class over a topic in
Reaching Out (2003) by Johnson. The goal here will be for you and
your group to practice the communication strategies we learned and
apply them while you teach and enact them in class. Your SIG will be
required to have a handout on the material you want to cover for the
rest of the class to have and use for our futures as teachers. Your
SIG will get a chance to administer and assess a 10 point in-class
assignment during your groups time teaching. Also, you will get a
chance to assess one other SIG on how they did and what they could do
to improve their presentation. Your assessment will be worth 10
points.
Conflict Resolution Strategies Paper (25 pts.): This 3-5 page paper
will be about our strategies for resolving conflict inside and
outside of class with students and parents. We will be applying the
ideas from Morse & Ivey to our own understanding of what we think
would work in and out of the classroom with resolving conflicts. We
will have a chance to listen to other teachers talk about their
strategies for resolving conflict and get a chance to practice this
skill in role playing activities at a parent-teacher conference.
Final Paper (35 pts.): After reading various chapters in the class
texts, teaching the class, interviewing people, role-playing, and
analyzing the world around us, this 5-7 page paper will be our final
thoughts on our own theories of communicating in the field of
education. In other words, we will write about what we have learned
in the class on communication and think about what will work and not
work for us as future teachers. In a sense, this will be our final
exam. Instead of taking a multiple choice or short answer test on
this stuff, we will get a chance to write about it all and apply it
to our own lives.
Vibe Journals (105 pts.): We will be keeping a journal over the
ideas we are reading and activities that we are doing in class. We
will get a chance to write at the beginning of class on the things we
have read. We also get a chance to write about our reactions to the
in-class assignments that we will be doing. A vibe is a gut
reaction to what we encounter and a chance for us to let it all out.
We will be doing about 21 of these in class, so get a notebook or
tablet and dedicate it specifically for this journal. Bring it to
class everyday.
Attendance: You are expected to be here every class since we will be
working in groups and doing in-class activities during our time

45

together and your presence will be needed. You can miss one class
with no questions asked, but if you miss a class after your one
exemption, you will lose 10 points from your final point total for
your grade this semester. Of course there are emergencies such as
sicknesses or deaths in the family, and if this happens, we will need
to set up a time to talk about your absence. If this occurs, please
e-mail me, and if need be, any group you are working in, to let us
know about your absence.
Texts: The following texts are required for this class and are
available at the bookstores:
Cooper, P.J., & Simonds, C.J. (2003).
classroom teacher. (7th
ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Johnson, D.W. (2003). Reaching out:
and self-actualization.
(8th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Morse, P.S., & Ivey, A.E. (1996).
resolution in the schools.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Communication for the

Interpersonal effectiveness

Communication and conflict

Handing in assignments: All typed assignments will be in 12-point

Times New Roman font and double-spaced. There will be 10% knocked
off the final grade of the assignment each day it is late. You are
welcome to revise any assignment you want and turn it back in for a
better grade if you are not happy with the original grade. But, if
the assignment is late, you will forfeit your right to revise that
assignment.
Final Thoughts: Other than that, I look forward to having a good
semester with all of you and learning about each other and our
thoughts on the world. Remember, no question is silly and we are
here to help each other learn about ourselves and each other and the
world around us. Furthermore, 20-25 heads working together on issues
that are important to our reality are better than just one person
lecturing about something that does not apply to anything around us.
So, the goal is for us to feel comfortable to share our vibes on the
world and ask questions so we can learn more about it all.

46