Development of Non-Verbal Communication

General Differences in Nonverbal Communication:

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 Vjc中国英语学习网

As would be expected children are not born with the innate ability to understand all nonverbal communication, this is an important point that is of relevance to teachers because with the varying age groups come differences in students nonverbal ability. In order for their students to better understand them they must have match the student’s ability to the type of nonverbal cue they employ during the lesson. Children’s ability to copy facial expressions improves rapidly between 5 and 9 years of age, with further improvements up to adult level by the age of 13 years (Ekman, 1980). The importance of knowing this is that teachers may hold off judgement of a student abilities and personality as nonverbal communication plays a large part in this. There are also social reasons why nonverbal communication may differ from age to age for example toddlers gaze at people where as school goers will avert their gaze, that is because they have learnt that staring is rude and not to do it. In general facial expressions move from a biological base state to one which is controlled by individual learning and experience. Zivin (1982) found the way in which children’s use of signals of dominance (eg. Plush face and chin up and gaze at the opponent). With age children tend to use the signals of dominance in non-social situations. So for example a child may be confronted with a difficult puzzle to make and make signals of dominance. This in turn transmits a signal of competence to anyone watching even though they may be having difficulty. Likewise a child that is shy may transmit signals that maximise rejection (head down indecisive) even though they may have no problem. The astute teacher who is aware that signals of dominance become habituated will ensure that they are not taken in by such discrepant communication.

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Vjc中国英语学习网

Control of Intonation:

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The use of ‘motherese’ which is, the emphatic use of intonation when speaking to younger children, is one area in which teachers and most people unconsciously change their nonverbal communication. Teachers of younger classes should be aware to increase the frequency of their use of motherese with younger classes and decrease it with older classes.

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 Vjc中国英语学习网

Development of Gestures:

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Adults use less extravagant gestures when communicating with each other, while children use and often act out the whole sequence of events they are trying to explain (iconic gestures). Metaphoric gestures develop latter in children at around the age of 9 which corresponds to their ability to think in abstractly, teachers need to be aware that when gesturing about a metaphoric object that the children are at an appropriate age to understand it. McNeill (1986) pointed out that the apparent grammatically adult speech of children can often mask incomprehension of the meaning of sentences (e.g. incy wincy spider). Adults too have the ability to return to a gesture after an aside. The continuing existence of an object in the conversation even when the conversation deviates from it, is symbolised by its havening the same location in gestural space when it is returned to. This demonstrates adults superior communication organisation, children above the age of 12 are believed to have this adult like ability. It is important for teachers to remember that when explaining new terms to younger children that they may be at a greater disadvantage as they may not have the assistance of nonverbal cues as well as a limited vocabulary.

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 Vjc中国英语学习网

Development of Gestures:

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Signals of understanding are very important in a classroom they offer feedback to a teacher that a class understands what is being thought to them. Some examples are a head nod, an upright posture, good concentration on the task, facing the task and so on. However similar to signals of dominance, signals of understanding to can become habituated. Allen and Atkins (1978) found that high-achieving and low-achieving 10-11 year olds tended to signal their characteristic level of understanding regardless of what their actual level was. The children were recorded while looking at a videotaped lesson which was either very simple or very difficult well above any student’s level of understanding. The teachers then watched the video taped children and judged the high-achieving children as understanding more of the lesson though the children’s own ratings did not differ. The differences were more marked for girls who are generally more nonverbally expressive.

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 Vjc中国英语学习网

Decoding Discrepant messages:

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Older children are far better at decoding discrepant messages such as sarcasm which display both positive and negative facial features (draw on board). At about the age of 14-15 years both sexes switch their attention from bodily cues to facial expressions. Zuckerman (1980) believed that this is due to the importance of social conformity at this age. People who are especially good at decoding visual cues may over rely on them as paralinguistic cues seem to be more reliable. This may cause teachers problems as teachers have to relay on facial expressions due to noise in the room or when students work in silence.

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 Vjc中国英语学习网

The above differences in nonverbal communication are by no means the only areas a teacher should be aware of in the classroom. Differences in gender, culture and psychology must also be taken into consideration.

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 Vjc中国英语学习网