Teachers' Verbal And Nonverbal Communication Patterns As A .
Teachers' Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Patterns as a Function of Teacher Race,Student Gender, and Student RaceAuthor(s): Adelaide W. Simpson and Marilyn T. EricksonSource: American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Summer, 1983), pp. 183-198Published by: American Educational Research AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1162593 .Accessed: 24/02/2015 12:18Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at ms.jsp.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.American Educational Research Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to American Educational Research Journal.http://www.jstor.orgThis content downloaded from 152.14.136.96 on Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:18:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
American Educational Research JournalSummer 1983, Vol. 20, No. 2, Pp. 183-198Teachers' Verbal and Nonverbal CommunicationPatterns as a Function of Teacher Race, StudentGender, and Student RaceADELAIDE W. SIMPSON and MARILYN T. ERICKSONVirginiaCommonwealth UniversityTeachers'verbaland nonverbalbehaviorswereexamined in the naturalclassroom setting to assess differences based on sex of child, race ofchild, and race of teacher. The subjects were 16 (8 black and 8 white)female first grade teachers in an urban public elementary schoolsystem. All teachers' classrooms contained students of both races withat least a 1 to 3 ratio of one race to the other. Trained observersrecorded verbal and nonverbal behaviorfor each instance of teacherbehavior directed toward individual children in each classroom. Theresults indicated that white teachers directed more verbalpraise andcriticism and nonverbal praise toward males and more nonverbalcriticism toward black males.The classroom is a natural setting for observing how teachers interact withstudents. Teachers are in an influential position with respect to students andcan communicate significant messages concerning expectations, evaluations,and performance. Their verbal and nonverbal behaviors are part of theinteraction pattern that can affect students and their behaviors.Research has begun to examine the relationship between teacher andstudent behavior. A number of studies have found that teachers' verbalpraise improves student behavior (Hughes, 1973; O'Leary & O'Leary, 1972;Rosenshine, 1976). Stallings and Kashowitz (1975) found criticism to bepositively correlated with performance, whereas others have found negativecorrelations between teacher criticism and student performance (Brophy &Evertson, 1974;Rosenshine, 1976). The nonverbal behavior of teachers, suchas facial expressions, voice tone, and gestures, also can convey approval anddisapproval, which strengthen or weaken responses, but these nonverbalinfluences often are overlooked (Keith, Tornatzky, & Pettigrew, 1974). The183This content downloaded from 152.14.136.96 on Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:18:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
SIMPSON AND ERICKSONinfluence of these behaviors has only recently been examined. Woolfolk andWoolfolk (1974) demonstrated that children correctly perceived both theverbal and nonverbal communications of their teachers. A more recent studyby Woolfolk (1978) indicated that teachers' positive verbal behavior withnegative nonverbal behavior may be the most effective combination forinfluencing student performance. However, there are limits to the generalizability of the research results due to the analogue nature of the study andthe limited sample of white, middle-class students.Demographic data also need to be examined with respect to teacherstudent interaction patterns because a number of studies have shown thatvariables such as sex of the child, race of the child, race of the teacher, andsocioeconomic status of the child have been correlated with differences inteachers' verbal and nonverbal behaviors. Studies examining the sex variablehave indicated some differences in the verbal behavior of teachers withmales and females. Good, Sikes, and Brophy (1973) and Meyer and Thompson (1956) found that boys received more approving and disapprovingcomments from teachers than did girls. It was also suggested that sexdifferences in teacher-student interaction patterns may be a result of thedifferential behavior that boys and girls exhibit, particularly since boys werefound to be more active and to interact more with teachers (Good et al.,1973). Davis (1967) also found that boys received more disapproving comments in the classroom, but the study did not show any significant sexdifferences in the amount of verbal praise received from the teacher.Race is a factor that needs to be considered because there are a numberof studies showing differences in the behavior of whites toward blacks. Weitz(1972), for example, has suggested that there may be conflicting cues in someinterracial situations. Her study showed that subtle signs of rejection ofblacks were revealed by voice tone, even though favorable verbal statementswere being made. Word, Zanna, and Cooper (1974) studied other nonverbalmediators of attitudes and expectations, and in their experiments blackapplicants interviewed by white interviewers received more distant nonverbalbehaviors which, according to Mehrabian (1972), hinders closeness to andinteraction with others.In the studies with children, differences have been found with respect toteacher ratings and expectations. Eaves (1975), for example, found that whiteteachers rated black male children as more deviant and white male childrenas less deviant. The ratings of black teachers were not found to vary withstudent race. Coates (1972) also showed that white teachers rated black malechildren more negatively on a personality trait scale. One study by Rubovitsand Maehr (1973), manipulating an expectancy variable in its investigationof the behavior of white teachers toward white and black students, demonstrated that black students received significantly less attention and praisethan did white students. The "bright" white students received the most184This content downloaded from 152.14.136.96 on Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:18:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
COMMUNICATION PATTERNSattention and praise, while the "bright" black students received the least.Another study (Hillman & Davenport, 1978), involving actual classroomobservation with black and white teachers, found that black students andmale students received a greater proportion of classroom interactions thanwhite students or females. However, this greater amount of interaction forblack students was in categories such as receiving more criticism fromteachers, receiving more nonacceptance of a student's question or response,and receiving more specific, focused behavior-controlling questions fromteachers.Studies examining the reinforcement patterns of black and white teachersare scanty, but several have shown differential reinforcement patterns forblack and white teachers with black and white students. Brown, Payne,Lankewich, and Corell (1970) found that teachers gave more praise andless criticism to students of the opposite race. The research of Byalick andBersoff (1974) also found that teachers reinforced opposite race childrenmore frequently than children of their own race. Female teachers of bothraces verbally reinforced opposite race boys the most; boys of both raceswere the most frequently reinforced group. Interesting differences in touching behavior also were revealed; white teachers touched white children withgreater relative frequency than black children, and black teachers touchedblack children with greater frequency. Feldman and Donohoe (1978) alsoobtained results indicating that both black and white teachers were nonverbally more positive in their behavior to students of their own race.The research results with race as a factor are not all consistent; severalstudies suggest more negative interactions between white teachers and blackstudents, and at least two studies suggest more positive interactions betweenwhite and black teachers and their opposite race students. It is possible thatin the Brown et al. study (1970), the Byalick and Bersoff study (1974), andeven the Hillman and Davenport (1978) study, the teachers were trying toovercompensate in their interactional behavior with opposite race children.The Hillman and Davenport research, however, also suggests that althoughteachers may be trying to make the patterns appear equal, the categories ofinteraction were not necessarily positive and perhaps more oriented towardcontrolling behavior. The three studies also entailed large group as opposedto small group or individual interactions, which supports the overcompensation idea. The other studies with less positive behavior of white teacherstoward black students involved student ratings, one-to-one, or small groupinteractions and were more experimentally controlled situations. Naturalisticobservational studies in the classroom may show overcompensatory verbalbehavior on the part of black and white teachers. However, the nonverbalbehaviors may indicate a natural preference or comfortableness with studentsof one's own race as suggested by the results of the Feldman and Donohoe(1978) and Byalick and Bersoff studies.185This content downloaded from 152.14.136.96 on Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:18:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
SIMPSON AND ERICKSONResearch also has indicated that social class can be a significant variablethat influences teacher behavior (Friedman, 1976; Heller & White, 1975).Cooper, Baron, and Lowe (1975) and Bennett (1976) found support for bothrace and social class information influencing the expectations of teachers. Astudy by Miller (1973) showed that social class, but not race, affected teacherexpectation. However, the latter study involved teacher expectations basedon descriptive stories of black and white working and middle-class boys butno direct interactions. Given that race and social class can both be influentialvariables, future studies involving race as a variable should attempt tocontrol for socioeconomic status.The present study examines female teachers' verbal and nonverbal behaviors in the natural environment of first-grade classrooms as a function of therace of the teachers and the sex and race of the students while controlling forthe students' socioeconomic status. Previous findings suggest that black andwhite teachers will be more positive in their verbal behavior toward oppositerace students and that they may be more positive in their nonverbal behaviortoward the same race students with classroom observational studies. Inaddition, the study looks at the verbal and nonverbal behavior of black andwhite teachers toward male and female students because little has been doneto examine both behaviors taking into account the sex-of-student variablealong with the race-of-student variable. The study can be added to thoseconcerned with the differential behavior of teachers toward students differingon characteristicssuch as sex and race. It is relevant to understanding teacherbehavior in the growing number of integrated school settings.METHODSubjectsSubjects were 16 female first-grade teachers in an urban public schoolsystem. Eight teachers were black, and eight were white. The 16 classroomsranged from 50 to 75 percent black. Teachers' participation in the study wasvoluntary. Teachers were not informed about the purposes of the studyduring the data collection phase but were carefully debriefed during apersonal visit after the data were collected. The data collected on teachersand pupils were kept anonymous.ObserversSix undergraduate psychology majors, three males and three females,served as observers for the study. Four were primary observers, and twowere alternates. They were trained to a .85 interobserver agreement with theprincipal investigator's ratings as the criterion. They were not informedabout the specific purposes of the study until after the data were collected.186This content downloaded from 152.14.136.96 on Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:18:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
COMMUNICATIONPATTERNSExperimental DesignData were collected for the verbal and nonverbal behavior of each teacherin her interactions with individual students. There were two levels of theteacher race category, black and white; two levels of student race, black andwhite; and two levels of student sex, male and female. A 2 (teacher race) x2 (student race) x 2 (student sex) analysis of variance was performed oneach of the separate and combined categories of verbal and nonverbalbehavior. The within-group variable was teacher race, and the betweengroup variables were student sex and student race. In addition, an analysisof covariance using the socioeconomic level of each group of students as thecovariate, that is, black males, black females, white males, and white females,was also performed.MeasuresObservers were listening for teacher verbal behavior directed toward anindividual child. Each instance of verbal behavior, a teacher utterancedirected toward an individual child, and the nonverbal behavior that accompanied or followed it was classified as one of the following (the first threeare verbal, and the last three are nonverbal):1. Verbal praise/encouragement, attention to or elaboration of work,ideas, and personal/social behavior included comments that convey acknowledgement, agreement with, or identity with a child's statement orbehavior such as "yeah," "right," "fine," "correct," "great," "you're on theright track," "I really like your work," or repetition of the correct answer thechild had given.2. Verbal criticism or rejection of work, ideas, and personal/social behavior included reprimands or comments that express disapproval or negationsuch as "no," "not quite," "that's wrong," "you could do better," "don't youknow," "would you not do this." It also included comments that indicatedthat the child should be doing something else.3. Verbally neutral behavior included any instructional or social behaviorstatement that does not fit into one of the above verbal categories.4. Nonverbal praise, acceptance, attention to work, ideas, and personal/social behavior included vocal pleasantness such as modulated tone, eventempo and rhythm, facial expressions of pleasantness such as smiles, gesturesof acceptance and of attending such as head nods.5. Nonverbal criticism or rejection of work, ideas, and personal/socialbehaviors included vocal sarcasm, anger or annoyance (high pitch, loud,clipped, or curt enunciation, blaring timbre), and negative facial expressionsuch as frowns, glares, sneers, raised eyebrows; gestures of negation such ashead shakes, repeated pointing of finger away from student when he/sheapproached; and leaning away from student in an interaction.187This content downloaded from 152.14.136.96 on Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:18:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
SIMPSON AND ERICKSON6. Nonverbally neutral behavior for the purposes of this study is nonverbalbehavior that cannot be classified in one of the above categories.There was a total of 15 dependent measures that included the separateand all possible combinations of verbal and nonverbal behavior. Theseincluded the following: verbal praise, verbal criticism, verbal neutral; nonverbal praise, nonverbal criticism, nonverbal neutral; verbal praise andnonverbal praise, verbal praise and nonverbal criticism, verbal praise andnonverbal neutral; verbal criticism and nonverbal praise, verbal criticismand nonverbal criticism, verbal criticism and nonverbal neutral; verbalneutral and nonverbal praise, verbal neutral and nonverbal criticism, verbalneutral and nonverbal neutral.ProcedurePrior to data collection, the observers received 10 hours of training inrecording verbal and nonverbal behavior of teachers. Pairs of observers werethen assigned to each classroom. All observations were made in the mornings,while classes focused on reading activities. A practice session of at least 15minutes was conducted in each classroom to acclimate the observers to theteacher and classroom. Most of the 16 classrooms were observed for a totalof 4 hours and the rest for 3 hours due to scheduling problems. In each class,a male and female observer were paired and randomly assigned to aclassroom in which they observed for 3 or 4 mornings for 1 hour each.Behavior was recorded each time a teacher made a verbal utterance directedtoward an individual child.Each teacher submitted the parent occupation of each child after observations were made. No personal identity of students was required. Theinformation supplied the total number of children, the number of males andfemales, the number of black and white students, and the parent occupationsassociated with the sex and race of each child. Socioeconomic status for eachstudent in each race and sex category was assigned a level using the sevenlevels of the Hollingshead and Redlich (1958) occupational scale. Averageswere then computed for each sex and race category in each classroom,because observations were made according to the sex and race of students ineach classroom and not according to individuals. This information was thenused to convert the data in the analysis of covariance to equate for thesocioeconomic status of students in each race and sex category within eachclassroom. Socioeconomic status was subsequently used as the covariate inthe analyses of covariance.'In half the classroomswhite and blackstudentswere fromequivalentsocioeconomic backgrounds.In the other eight classroomswhite males and white femaleswereon the averagefroma highersocioeconomicbackgroundthan blackmalesandblackfemales.188This content downloaded from 152.14.136.96 on Tue, 24 Feb 2015 12:18:45 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
COMMUNICATION PATTERNSRESULTSInterobserverAgreementInterobserver reliability was calculated for each of the verbal and nonverbal variables across all observations for the 16 classrooms. Interobserveragreement was determined by computing a reliability percentage (smallerfrequency divided by larger frequency) for each classroom observation andthen averaging the percentages. The following agreement percentages wereobtained: verbal praise, 84 percent; verbal criticism, 74 percent; verbalneutral, 91 percent; nonverbal praise, 76 percent; nonverbal criticism, 73percent and nonverbal neutral, 91 percent.Statistical AnalysesRaw scores for each category of student sex and race were transformedinto scores based on that group's representation within each classroom, usingthe following formula:Total number interactions forvariable in a given studentsex-race categoryTotal number interactionsfor variableTotal number studentsin classTotal number students insex-race categoryTable I presents the means and standard deviations for the separate andcombined verbal and nonverbal behaviors for each student race and sexcategory within each teacher race category.2 An analysis of variance wasperformed for each of the 13 dependent variables. The analyses yieldedsignificant differences for 10 of the 13 measures. Post hoc analyses using theTukey test (Winer, 1971) were performed for all variables that yieldedsignificant analyses of variance.An analysis of covariance using data for the socioeconomic level of eachgroup of students was also performed for each of the 13 dependent variables.The analyses yielded significant differences for 9 of the 13 measures. TableII compares the significance levels of analyses of covariance for the variablessignificant with analysis of
that influences teacher behavior (Friedman, 1976; Heller & White, 1975). Cooper, Baron, and Lowe (1975) and Bennett (1976) found support for both race and social class information influencing the expectations of teachers. A study by Miller (1973) showed that social class, but not race, affected teacher expectation.
on successful communication, this booklet discusses the nonverbal dimension of communication. The booklet contends that humans. use. nonverbal communications for the following reasons: (1) words have limitations; (2) nonverbal signals are powerful; (3) nonverbal messages are likely to be more genuine; (4) nonverbal signals can
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2. Deficits in nonverbal communicative behaviors used for social interaction, ranging, for example, from poorly integrated-verbal and nonverbal communication; to abnormalities in eye contact and body-language or deficits in understanding and use of gestures, to a total lack of facial expression and nonverbal communication. 3.
1. Defi ne verbal communication and provide some examples of when a health care professional needs good verbal communication skills. Last, list guidelines for good verbal communication. _ 2. Defi ne nonverbal communication and explain why awareness of your own body language as well as that of your patients is so important for a career in .
Communication is an integral part of our lives. We communicate in different ways to express our thoughts, feelings, knowledge, skills, and ideas. It is normally assumed that communication is identified with speech and sounds but communication is, in fact, the communication of verbal and non-verbal transmission of knowledge. Communication is
