Various aspects of nonverbal communication are discussed in this paper, and the questions of how and why to teach it are considered. It is suggested that the nonverbal field can be roughly divided into three domains, in terms of method and the nature of the questions asked. Albert Scheflen and several other "nonverbal structuralists" are…

This study was designed to examine the nature of nonverbal social interaction between mothers and infants and to compare various situational effects. A total of ten 3-month-old twin infants (five male and five female) and their mothers were videotaped in their homes during free play, bottle feeding and spoon feeding situations. A repeated measures…

The inductivist model of language acquisition was tested by comparing the linguistic development of impulsive kindergarten children with that of reflective children, who, in general, make fewer errors on inductive reasoning tasks. The 81 children sampled were tested with the Matching Familiar Figures Test and with measures of syntactic and…

Two experiments investigated the relationship between nonverbal behavior and the racial composition of a teacher-student dyad. Both White and Black teachers behaved nonverbally more positively to a student of their own race than to a student of the other race, even though student performance was controlled. (Author/RD)

Points out features of Jamaican paralanguage involving gestures that are rude by any standard and would not be accepted or tolerated by the classroom teacher in the home country. The importance of Canadian teachers' understanding culture-based behavior is stressed. (EJS)

The history and development of various sign languages in Europe and America are described, and the characteristics of manual communication systems are discussed. Modifications of sign language have been used to communicate with nonvocal austic children, severely language-delayed children, and retarded adults. (CTM)

The paper outlines an educational scheme whereby teachers of severely mentally retarded and multiply-handicapped children (including deaf/blind children) can assess the prelanguage levels of children on a hierarchical language schedule, which culminates in the acquisition of natural gesture. (Author)

The Rankin Interaction Analysis System, a system of recording behavioral events as they occur between teacher and students is described. Its purpose is to provide a method for teachers and supervisors to evaluate verbal and nonverbal behavior of student teachers in physical education. (Author/MJB)

Provides a rationale for the development of a classification and retrieval system for games and exercises in speech communication, a model of a classification and retrieval system in the area of nonverbal communication and, a set of guidelines for the development of a classification and retrieval system for other areas of speech communication.…

The computer program which is described was designed for microcomputer application to aid the communication process of an individual with cerebral palsy. This microcomputer communication system is characterized by thought transfer options of word groups, subgroups, individual words, and letters selected and shown on a TV screen. (CMV)

Teachers presented four behavioral combinations--(1) verbally and nonverbally positive; (2) verbally positive and nonverbally negative; (3) verbally negative and nonverbally positive; or (4) verbally and nonverbally negative--to sixth grade students. Negative nonverbal behavior led to significantly greater performance. Teacher gender and student…

Misunderstandings and impoliteness can occur among people from different countries because of differences in cultures and languages. Observations about British, American, and other European cultures concern set phrases, word connotations, intonation, forms of address and reference, grammar, and nonverbal behavior. (SW)

Two age groups of normal, autistic and sub-normal children were tested for their ability to recognize the faces of peers from isolated facial features and inverted photographs. (CM)

To discover how students perceived they were being helped to learn, three teacher nonverbal behaviors (invasion, touching, and eye contact) were investigated in secondary education typewriting classes through the use of silent videotaped teacher-student enactments and several significant findings were indicated, including a noted difference in…