Types of Nonverbal Communication

IDevice Icon Types of NVC

Nonverbal Communication (NVC) serves many purposes in the communication process and there are many channels of Nonverbal Communication. Teachers wanting to communicate effectively with their students will need to pay attention to their body language, eye contact, gestures, facial expressions and presentation. Awareness of the impact of these elements is an important step toward success as an educator.

Below is an interaction that describes various types of NVC.
Roll your mouse over a type to read more about it.


IDevice Icon NVC as a Stepping Stone to Strong Relationships
It takes more than words to create fulfilling, strong relationships with students. Nonverbal communication has a huge impact on the quality of our relationships. Developing Nonverbal Communication skills can improve relationships by helping you:
  • Accurately read other people, including the emotions they’re feeling and the unspoken messages they’re sending.
  • Create trust and transparency in relationships by sending nonverbal signals that match up with your words.
  • Respond with nonverbal cues that show others that you understand, notice, and care.

Unfortunately, many people send confusing or negative nonverbal signals often without even knowing it. When this happens, both connection and trust may be lost in our relationships.

The Responsive Classroom Newsletter has an article by Susan Rosa entitled "What Did You Say?: Using nonverbal communication to improve teacher effectiveness" that puts some of these ideas into practice in the classroom. It is well worth a read if you have the time.

In the next section, we will take a look at the relative influence of different channels of communication.


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