The importance of non-verbal communication in classroom management

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine students’ perceptions about nonverbal communication in class focusing on eye contact, mimics and gestures. 67 students who were enrolled into two classroom management groups of the researcher were adopted as the participants of the study. The students were assigned to write a “critical moments reflection’ report on any of the incidents that they consider to be critical once a week right after their classes for two months. Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data gathered from the reports through coding, categorizing and labelling the primary patterns/occurring themes in the data (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Patton, 2002). The researcher focused on the following research question: “What do the students enrolled in the classroom management course report on the meaning of eye contact, mimics and gestures?” The findings revealed that non-verbal communication can be an important source of motivation and concentration for students’ learning as well as a tool for taking and maintaining attention.