THE IMPORTANCE OF NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Researcher Albert Mehrabian split in percentajes the impact of a message,  according to his study: 7% verbal, 38% vocal (tone, nuances and other characteristics) and a 55% non verbal language (signs and gestures).

We must be aware that the verbal component is used to communicate information and the non verbal component to communicate personal state and attitudes. This researcher states that in a face to face conversation, the verbal component is a 35% and over 60% is non verbal communication.

We think that it is really important to make students aware of the importance of non verbal communication when trying to communicate each other. Therefore, we will try to show them, by means of the video ‘The Potter’, how  we can understand characters through gestures when they do not speak. Just by observing their gestures, we can understand how they feel. Even though there is no conversation in the video, characters help us understand perfectly the story and their feelings through gestures and expressions.

Here is an example:

The boy looks surprised at his master making magic. The surprise of the child is reflected in his raised eyebrows and slightly open mouth. Moreover, we can see the old monster with wrinkles, aging skin and drooping eyelids. We can guess a look of wisdom

  

In this picture we can see how the teacher shows the child the ability to do magic. By observing the child’s face, we can guess how emotions come together: joy, excitement, curiosity and nervousness. The old man looks at the humble child enjoying his happiness and thinking "that sweetie”.

  

The teacher explains to the child before using the magic  that first, he will have to learn how to work ceramics.

The child refuses to do it because he thinks it is boring, but the teacher insists on it. The child’s face reflects boredom and heaviness for what he is asked to do.

Once he has achieved his goal, the child looks happy because he has managed to do it thanks to his efforts. It can be guessed by his widely opened eyes looking at the pot that he is fully satisfied.  

These four images represent only a small part of the great variety of images that we could use to work on the importance of non verbal communication among students.

To deal with it in class, we can do many activities, as for example, mime, non verbal theatre,  students telling a story  to classmates by means of gestures, etc..

Made by: Cristina Muñoz and Pablo Pérez.