The term "communicative competence" has been in currency for approximately 10 years and is generally used to refer to teaching strategies which substitute real-life situations and contexts for meaningless mechanical and structural exercises. In essence, it attempts to put content and contact into the speech act. However, early proponents…

For years, researchers have sought to identify facial features and movements that make a difference to an observer when judging emotional displays. One area that has received attention is that of semantic dimensions of facial expressions. Factor analysis has revealed three such dimensions: pleasantness, activity (tension), and control…

Arguing that a systems theory can be applied to the description and analysis of families and other close relationships, this paper first describes a method for coding verbal interaction that involves three steps: categorizing messages according to grammatical form and response mode, assigning control directions to those categories, and combining…

This report is a collection of five papers emphasizing the significance of the young child's motor development. Each paper addresses at least one of four objectives: (1) to help develop clearer insights concerning the significance of physical activity in the early years of childhood; (2) to examine the existing body of knowledge from research and…

This paper develops a theoretical context for the concept that visual literacy involves a specific type of information processing that has been discussed in the literature on symbolism and epistemology for a number of years. Literacy is discussed first, as a general process of information processing involving the generation of knowledge through…

This study was concerned with student perceptions of teacher warmth through verbal, nonverbal, and combined channels of communication, and with the identification of nonverbal cues that contributed to students' perceptions of teacher warmth. The study is based on the assumption that teaching is a communicative process that is facilitated by the…

The purpose of the study was to assist in developing a system of communication for six multiply handicapped hearing impaired children (2 1/2 to 5 years old). The Natural Gesture language system was employed to initiate communication between educator and child. The educational intervention consisted of daily 1/2-hour language lessons incorporating…

This study presents a dramatistic analysis of the language used by four teachers, all of whom were considered excellent by their department directors, by their students, and by the parents of their students. Regular freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior literature classes were videotaped. Dialogue was then transcribed, and nonverbal activity,…

Since much of the recent literature concerning leadership has emphasized the study of verbal interactions among leaders and other group members (ignoring the role of nonverbal communication), a study was undertaken to investigate several aspects of nonverbal communication in leadership. Specifically, it examined whether (1) leadership messages…

Based on research suggesting spatial zones of proximity in human behavior (individuals have definable zones of intimate, personal, social, and public space), it was hypothesized that "framed shots" of people on television screens would suggest specific distances to the viewer. The hypotheses were that subjects would estimate a greater…

Many studies using questionnaires and observational methods to collect information on the pointing gesture in infants have recently been performed. However, no study based on long-term observation is presently available that deals with the appearance and development of pointing as an interaction between mothers and their children. Therefore, this…