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Groups that may Experience Difficulties with Nonverbal Communication
As communication is such a fundamental aspect of teaching, educators should be aware of groups of students who may experience difficulties with nonverbal communication in the classroom. The most noticeable lack of nonverbal skills is evident in children with autism spectrum disorders, such as Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome. Autistic students have great difficulty with nonverbal communication, especially when it involves voice intonation and facial expressions (White & Gardner, 2012, p. 34). While Asperger’s Syndrome is less severe than Autism, those with the disorder still have significant difficulty with nonverbal communication skills. Students with Asperger’s Syndrome will find it difficult to integrate socially in the classroom in large part due to their nonverbal deficits, as they are unable to read social cues or express emotion themselves and experience difficulty in determining what is acceptable in social interaction (Babad, 2009, p. 186). Research has indicated other groups of students that may experience difficulties with nonverbal communication skills, such as children from an ethnic minority background, children who have suffered abuse and children with learning disabilities or other mental problems.
It is vital that teachers are aware of student nonverbal deficiencies in the classroom, for both the affected students themselves and the class overall. As noted by Babad, students deficient in nonverbal skills are usually ‘problem students in the classroom’, and their academic performance will be negatively affected by their poor interactions with teachers and other students (2009, p. 186). If teachers are aware of students in their classes with poor nonverbal skills and understand the implications of these deficiencies, they will be better able to support the affected students and maintain a better classroom environment overall.
NVC for classroom management
In 2009 Zeki conducted a study “aimed to examine students’ perceptions regarding eye contact, facial expressions (mimics) and gestures (body language). All three are powerful tools that can be used to convey messages. The study revealed that non verbal communication can be central as a tool to gain and maintain students’ attention as well as a vital source in motivation and concentration for students’ learning.
The study indicated the following in regards to students’ perceptions of teachers’ eye contact:
• is a source of motivation and concentration for the students (students felt part of the class)
• a way of taking and maintaining students’ attention
• captures students’ attention and promotes student to concentrate on topic
• as a means of emphasis (students’ understand that the topic is important to them)
• as a display of teacher confidence in what he/she is teaching
• as a tool for evaluating students (are all students listening/paying attention?)
The following are in regards to facial expression and gestures:
• gestures that indicate the teacher is friendly promote students’ feeling of confidence and comfort with the teacher.
• teachers use of hand and body movements as well as facial expressions aided in maintaining students’ attention and focus on what he/she is saying (eg turning off the over head projector for students to focus on what the teacher was saying)
• reflects the mood of the teacher (whether the teacher is stressed or happy)
In most cases using eye contact and body gestures are portrayed as a way of maintaining control and keeping a class quiet. Yet as this study revealed, it is interesting to find that students find the eye contact and body gestures as a reason for motivation, engagement and enthusiasm in class. Therefore more the reason for teachers to pay attention to their own uses non verbal communication in aid of promoting a comfortable, well managed and motivating classroom.
NVC and teacher enthusiasm
Among other tools to for the effective teacher, enthusiasm is another. According to Mitchell (2013 p.20) “teacher enthusiasm has a potential impact on both the students and the teacher.” As an example of this, in ones own observation of a teacher (Stage 1) who was lacking in enthusiasm during class, the students’ were distracted and had no engagement in what was being taught. This not only created an unmanageable and stressful class for the teacher but most unfortunately impacted on what the students were to learn.
Enthusiasm can be described as behaviours such as facial expressions (frowning or smiling), emotions (poker face or happiness), body gestures (rigid or moving) and posture (slumped or straight). Particularly with younger children, enthusiasm can almost be seen as contagious. “Applied to an instructional setting, the intentional behaviour of a teacher to be enthusiastic can raise the level of enthusiasm and vitality of group of students. In turn, the evaluated level of enthusiasm and vitality of a group of students can influence a teacher’s level of enthusiasm, and so on.” (Mitchell 2013, p.20)
Enthusiasm can also be appreciated via lesson plans (poor or well developed), attire (casual or smart), arrival (late or early) and delivery (monotone or varied). The energy and time a teacher has taken to create a lesson is clear to students when the lesson is delivered. This can include the instructional variety, activities and props the teacher may bring to class. A teacher’s enthusiasm should only be encouraged in schools. It seems quite natural that if the teacher is enthusiastic about the school, lesson and students that the modelled behaviour will only be reciprocated by the students.
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Negative teacher NVC
Young children are able to understand non-verbal communication, for example facial expressions, body movement and gestures, more than verbal communication. According to Haneef et al (2014) “non-verbal communication is normally noticed by children soon after birth.” Borg (2008) indicates that only 7% of communication is verbal and the majority is non verbal. Because of the central role of communication in education, it is important for teachers to be aware of the positives but also the negative impact non-verbal communication can have on students, the class environment and their learning.
Negative non-verbal communication comes in both emotional and physical form. For example, results have found that “Friendly environment are more conductive for the human physical and mental growth” (Haneef et al 2014). If teachers are more severe, generally stressed and unenthusiastic then the feeling would be reciprocated by the students. The students may loose any feeling in enthusiasm to learn, uncomfortable to approach the teacher for advice or to ask a question and therefore make no progress in their learning. In a study conducted by Haneef et al (2014) a student made a point that “the teachers who came irritated to class or have some domestic issues create a more hectic and boring class.”
Physical non-verbal communication includes:
• closed postures eg. crossed arms -this creates a physical barrier between teacher and student
• no eye contact - this give the student feelings of insecurity or teacher lacking in confidence
• yawning or looking at watch - shows teacher lacking in enthusiasm and not listening to student
• standing behind the desk or not walking around class - the table creates a barrier and students feel less of a connection with teacher
• Poor posture- slumped shoulders indicate shyness or lacking in confidence
• Negative or no facial expressions - frowning or not indicating any positive feedback on students answers will only dishearten the student in answering any further questions
There is also the concern of teachers differentiating non verbal praise, criticism or emotions depending on the student. For example, the tendency to give negative facial expressions to the ‘non-preferred’ student. To finalise, teachers need to be aware of negative emotions or physical traits they may bring to the classroom which will only bring negative results in student teacher relationships and student learning.
