NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION
NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION OCCURS WITHOUT USING ANY
ORAL OR WRITTEN WORD. INSTEAD OF WRITTEN OR ORAL
WORDS, IT RELIES ON VARIOUS NON-VERBAL CUES LIKE
PHYSICAL MOVEMENTS, TASKS, COLOUR SIGNS, SYMBOLS,
SIGNALS CHARTS, ETC. TO EXPRESS FEELINGS, ATTITUDES OR
INFORMATION. ALTHOUGH NO WORD IS USED IN NON-VERBAL
COMMUNICATION, IT CAN EFFECTIVELY COMMUNICATE MANY
HUMAN FEELINGS MORE ACCURATELY THAN VERBAL METHODS
OF COMMUNICATION.
Types of Nonverbal
Communication
• Eye contact
• Facial expressions
• Gestures
• Posture and body orientation
• Body Language
• Space and Distance
• Proximity
• Para-linguistic
• Humour
• Touch
• Silence
• Personal Appearance
• Symbol
• Visual Communication
Eye contact:
Eye contact is an important channel of interpersonal communication. It helps to
regulate the flow of communication. And it signals interest in others. Furthermore, Eye
contact with audiences increases the speaker’s credibility. Teachers who make eye
contact open the flow of communication and convey interest, concern, warmth, and
credibility.
Facial expressions:
• The face is an important communicator. It is commonly said that the face is the
index of the mind.
• It expresses the type of emotions or feelings such as joy, love, interest, sorrow,
anger, annoyance, confusion, enthusiasm, fear, hatred surprise, and uncertainty.
• Facial expressions are indicated through the mouth (open, wide or closed), eyelids
(raised or lowered), nose (wrinkled or relaxed), cheeks (drawn up or back) and the
forehead (lowered or raised).
• Within the facial area, eyes are especially effective for indicating attention and
interest. However, interpretations of facial expressions differ from culture to culture.
Smiling is a powerful cue that transmits:
➢ Happiness.
➢ Friendliness.
➢ Warmth.
➢ Liking.
➢ Affiliation.
Gestures:
• Head nods, a form of gestures, communicate positive reinforcement to students and
indicate that you are listening.
• Gestures are movements of the arms, legs, hands, and head.
• Some authors opine that gesture is the deliberate body movement because they
express specific and intentional meaning
. • For example; a wave of the hand has a specific meaning-“hello” or “good- bye”; a
forefinger and a thumb touching to form a circle have the meaning - “ok”. • In Europe,
raising thumb is used to convey that someone has done something excellent while in
Bangladesh the same gesture means something idiotic.
Posture and body orientation:
• We communicate numerous messages by the way we walk, talk, stand
and sit.
• Standing erect, but not rigid, and leaning slightly forward
communicates to students that you are approachable, receptive and
friendly.
• Interpersonal closeness results when you and your students face each
other.
• Speaking with your back turned or looking at the floor or ceiling should
be avoided; it communicates disinterest to your class.
Body Language:
• Body movements can convey meanings and messages. Body language
may take two forms of unconscious movements and consciously
controlled movements.
• For example; When a person is bored, he may gaze around the room
rather than look at the speaker or he may shift positions frequently.
• When a person is nervous, he may bite his nails or mash hair. These
are usually made unconsciously. On the other hand, leaning forward
toward the speaker to express interest is the case of conscious body
movement.
Space and Distance:
• Space and distance are significant non-verbal tools in the case of organizational
communication.
• A spacious and well-decorated room indicates a person’s position in the organization
hierarchy and external people get a message about his importance and authority only by
visiting his room.
• Distance is another communication tool, which expresses the degree of intimacy and
individual acceptance.
Proximity :
• Cultural norms dictate a comfortable distance for interaction with students.
You should look for signals of discomfort caused by invading students’ space. Some of these
are:
➢ Rocking
➢ Leg swinging
➢ Tapping
➢ Gaze aversion
Typically, in large college classes space invasion is not a problem. There is usually too much
distance.
• To counteract this, move around the classroom to increase interaction with your students.
Para-linguistic:
This facet of nonverbal communication includes such vocal elements as:
➢ Tone
➢ Pitch
➢ Rhythm
➢ Timbre
➢ Loudness
➢ Inflection
For effectiveness in communication, learn to vary these six elements of your voice. One of the major
criticisms is of instructors who speak in a monotone. Listeners perceive these instructors as boring
and dull.
Humor:
• One should develop the ability to laugh at yourself and encourage students to do the same. It
fosters a friendly environment that facilitates learning
. • Adequate knowledge of the subject matter is crucial to your success; however, it’s not the only
crucial element.
• Creating a climate that facilitates learning and retention demands good nonverbal and verbal
skills.
Touch:
• Touch is a widely used form of non-verbal communication tool.
• By touching, one can express a wide range of emotions. However, the accepted modes of touch vary
depending on the gender, age, relative status, intimacy and cultural background of the persons.
• For example, in the context of our culture, when one touches you from the back of the examination
hall, your understanding is that he wants to know something.
Silence:
• Silence is a powerful tool for communication. It may have a positive or negative meaning.
• In a classroom, silence indicates that students are listening carefully and attentively. In the same
way, through silence one can communicate his lack of interest or a failure to understand. For example,
silence often indicates that a person receiving instruction does not understand the action required or
sometimes silence indicates consent.
Personal Appearance:
• Appearance is also an important non-verbal communication tool. Appearance includes dress,
hair, jewellery , makeup, belt buckles and so on.
• Appearance indicates the degree of importance or interest a person conveys to an occasion.
Through uniform, we can identify a student, a doctor, a lawyer, a police officer, etc.
• In an organization, one’s dress is keenly observed to see whether it conforms to accepted
standards of appearance. As an example, workers may wear different clothes when they are on
strike than they do when they are working.
Symbol:
• A symbol is something that represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct
from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may
be a symbol for “stop”. On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are
symbols for numbers. Personal names are symbols representing individuals. A red rose
symbolizes love and compassion.
