Unit 6 Non-verbal Communication

1. Unit 6 Non-verbal Communication Joseph Gong

2. By the end of this unit, you should be able to: • Tell what non-verbal communication is and what purposes it serves; • Express or show puzzlement with nonverbal communication; • Know what the gestures mean to us & to others; • Know the meaning of various emotions revealed in facial expressions; • Know how to describe rules governing eye contact; • Know how to describe rules governing proximity and contact; • Have a good command of nonverbal communication in different countries

3. Step1 Warming up • Students in this step will be asked to finish 2 tasks. One is to write the interpretations of some statements by famous people across the world in ancient or modern times while the other task is to ask students to guess the meaning of non-verbal communication.

4. Task1. Write the interpretations of the following statements: • There’s language in her eye, her cheek, her lip. • The unspoken dialogue between two people can never be put right by anything they say.

5. Task2. Guess the meaning of nonverbal communication by the students • Nonverbal communication will be defined as the process by which nonverbal behaviors are used, either singly or in combination with verbal behaviors, in the exchange and interpretation of messages within a given situation or context. (L. A. Malandro, 1983)

6. Non-verbal communication could be: • Body Language (posture, head movement, facial expressions, eye behavior, gestures, handshaking, arm movement, leg movement etc); para-language (sound, pitch, tempo of speech, turn-taking, silence); object language (clothing, personal artifacts, hair, etc.); environmental language (time language, spatial language, color, light, signs and symbols, architecture, etc.); gestures

7. Step2 Non-verbal communication in Chinese culture and puzzlement in nonverbal communication • Task1. Students would know what kind of nonverbal communication would be used in China by answering the following questions:

8. What kind of nonverbal communication is used for greeting someone you have just been introduced to? • What kind of nonverbal communication is used to pass a foreigner in the street?

9. What kind of nonverbal communication is used to talk to someone who is senior? • What kind of nonverbal communication is used to when speaking in public and audience is applauding?

10. What kind of nonverbal communication is used to see a relative or friend off ar th railway station or airport?

11. Task2. Students would know what kind of puzzlement the speakers would have in the dialogue and how they show puzzlement by listening to the tape.

12. Please listen to the tape, and finish the exercises in P227 and P229

13. Step3Read to know the purpose of non-verbal communication • Task1. Skim the text to get the purpose of non-verbal communication

14. The purposes of non-verbal communication are • 1.__________________________ • 2.__________________________ • 3.__________________________ • 4.__________________________ • 5.__________________________

15. Task2. Skim the text to answer the following questions:

16. How does the author explain that while we speak with out vocal organs we converse with our whole bodies? • A wide range of signals are made use of when non-verbal communication occurs. What are mentioned in the passage?

17. Does body language stand for all aspects of non-verbal communication? What other language is mentioned in the text which is also regarded as a component of non-verbal communication? What does it include?

18. Step4 To know what the gestures mean to us and others

19. Task1. The meaning of gestures • There are a lot of gestures commonly used in China, such as the ring gesture, the thumbs-up sign, the single finger beckon, the eyelid-pull, the ear-tug, the V-sign. Students form groups to discuss the meaning of gesures in China.

20. Task2. The meaning of gestures in other countries: • 1. The ring gesture: • In America/Britain, it means something is good; • In Latin America it is used as an insult; • In Japan it means money; • In France it means zero or worthless; • In Tunisia: “I’ll kill you.”

21. 2.The thumbs-up sign: • In Britain it means sth. is good and it is also used as a sign for hitch-hiking. • In Greece / Sardinia it is an insult.

22. 3. the single finger beckon • In America it simply means: come here. • In Yugoslavia and Malaysia it is only used for beckoning animals. • In Indonesia and Australia it is used for beckoning prostitutes. i.e., ladies for the night.

23. 4. the eyelid-pull • In France and Greece it means: see my eye! • In England: don’t you think I can see it? You can’t fool me. • In Spain and Italy it is also related to be alert. • In South America it means you find a woman very attractive.

24. 5. The ear-tug • In Spain it means someone is a sponger, i.e. Using other people’s money and never spending his own; • In Greece it is a warning; • In Malta it says someone is a sneak; • In Italy it is used to call someone a homosexual.

25. 6.The V-sign • palm to others: • In England: peace &victory; • In Greece: hold up the palm to someone’s face means insult. • palm to yourself: • In England transforms the meaning of insult. Churchill

26. Task3. Reading comprehension • Read the text and write true or false to the exercises on P238.

27. Step5 To know something about facial expressions

28. Facial expressions are considered to be one of the most important means of non-verbal communication, to know something about facial expressions and the differences in facial expressions is one of the most important ways to improve the communication skills.

29. Task1. To name kinds of emotions and turn these nouns into adjectives • Surprised/fearful/disgusted/angry/shocked/horrified/revolted/furious/grief-stricken/embarrassed/as

30. Facial Expressions surprised fearful disgusted angry

31. shocked horrified revolted furious

32. grief-stricken embarrassed proud ashamed

33. shy bored confused suspicious

34. Task2. To compare the difference in the meaning of facial expressions

36. Task3. Reading comprehension • Students in this task read the text on P244 and choose the most appropriate answers to the questions on P245

37. Task4. Writing • Students in this task need to read the letter on P247 and write in your notebook a letter to Mike telling him what you think about the incident and his reaction to it.

38. To know something about the “eye contact”

39. Task1 To know the meaning of eye contact • Eye contact is an important aspect of body language. One could draw up quite rules about eye contact: to look or not to look, when to look and how long to look, who ant who not to look at, etc. And these rules vary from culture to culture.

40. Task2 To compare the difference of eye contact in different countries. • Students in this task need to image in what situations people use eye contact to communicate and what the meaning of eye contact is in that situation.

41. Task3 Reading comprehension • Read the text on P251 and finish the exercise on P252 • In this task, students will learn more information about eye contact and different meanings in eye contact. By finishing the exercises, students will be able to judge the statements will be true or false.

42. To know the body distance • Task1. The variance in body distance

43. Body distance

44. Task 2 To know four main categories of distance for Americans on P255

45. Body distance • Intimate • Personal • Social • Public

46. Task3 Reading comprehension • Read the text on P256 and write true or false in front of the statements on P257 and P258

47. Task 4:Case study • Please analyze the case on Page 240. It is showing the different meaning of the gesture for beckoning someone in China and America. Sun Yan suddenly felt uncomfortable with her boss because of the beckoning gesture.

48. The mistake • The gesture for beckoning someone in China is that the hand is extended toward the person, palm open facing down, with all fingers crooked in a beckoning motion. The gesture used by Mr. Black is one that is acceptable as a way of beckoning in his culture, whereas in China many would regard the gesture as impolite or improper. Conclusion: Gestures can mean different things in different culture.

49. Review • Time to review, but before you do let me teach you one more thing about non-verbal communication. It has to do with the gesture the English use to wish good luck to one another or even to themselves. They do this by crossing the middle finger over the index finger of the same hand. Try it. That's fight. Now you'll have good luck with mastering what you have learned! I hope so. In fact I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you, too!

50. Homework Case analysis: Bill had just arrived from the United States to study engineering at a Chinese university. In the first few days he met and moved in with his roommate Zemin. over the next few days he noticed that female students on campus frequently walked arm-in-arm or even holding hands .He noticed, too, that students of both sexes, but especially the boys, would huddle around newspaper displays in a fashion of close contact. Bill felt rather uncomfortable and wondered how he would respond if one of his classmates were to put his arms around him… Question: why does Bill feel uncomfortable?