Kassandra Schramm EDFD220

Assessment 2: An Essay
What are the differences between verbal and non-verbal
communication Are they effective methods for the classroom
It is essential that teachers of today ensure they communicate effectively to
students as it is considered that effective communication is the foundation of
all successful teaching and learning (Scales, 2008, p. 27. Students need to
!e e"posed to a vast range of communication s#ills !oth ver!al and non$
ver!al. %hroughout this essay the &riter &ill !e discussing &hy communication
is so important and &hy &e must teach this in the classroom, the advantages
of !oth ver!al and non$ver!al communication and ho& these styles are
effective in the classroom. %here &ill !e a num!er of e"amples to illustrate the
idea of these types of communication and !y reading these different opinions
from various &riters, one is a!le to o!tain an idea of the effective &ays of
communicating in the classroom today.
'ello&es and (a#ley (20)0 define communication as a process &here!y
t&o or more people construct meaning (p. *. %here are t&o types of
communication styles, ver!al and non$ver!al, &hich the &riter &ill !e
discussing further in this essay. %eachers play a very important role, as they
need to understand &hat students already #no& and assist them in creating
meaning and connections to their future learning (Scales, 2008, p. 2+. %he
only &ay to grasp a student,s prior #no&ledge is through communicating &ith
them and finding out &hat they already #no&. %hrough the &riter,s personal
e"perience on her teaching rounds, she o!served that a student,s e"isting
#no&ledge could !e displayed in a variety of &ays. -re and post testing can
!e formally used to assess &hat students already #no&. .y utili/ing this
method, teachers are a!le to see ho& much the student already #no&s a!out
a particular topic. 0nother &ay &ould !e !y !rainstorming &ith children and
developing a concept map. %his helps the teacher understand &hat the
students #no& and &ill also strengthen the student,s #no&ledge as they &ill
!e going over topics and information again. %eachers &ould also
communicate ver!ally &ith past teachers to find out &hat students covered in
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Kassandra Schramm EDFD220
their previous years. %eachers should already roughly #no& &hat students are
up to !y loo#ing at the 2ictorian 3ssential 4earning Standards. %he only &ay
of learning is !y communicating &ith some!ody or something therefore it is
the communication process in the classroom that facilitates learning
(5ansford, )+88, p. )1. It is evident that communication must !e utili/ed
effectively as it is a very important s#ill for !oth teachers and students. In
contrast, communicating can also !ecome 6uite difficult in a classroom as
there is one teacher educating 2*7 students. 3ach student has their o&n
individual &ay of communicating and learning therefore, it can get challenging
for teachers to communicate &ith a diverse range of students (-o&ell, 20)0,
para. ). %he &riters o!servation on teaching rounds sho&ed that the teacher
#ne& her students very &ell in terms of ho& each individual learnt !est.
%herefore !y grouping particular students together, it &as o!served to !e
!eneficial as they &ere a!le to !ounce ideas off each other and help one
another.
%he most common &ay of communicating in the classroom is ver!ally.
0ndre&, 8o!! and 9iampietro (200* investigated that in order to ver!ally
communicate effectively, teachers must ensure they are clear and coherent
&hen presenting information and giving e"planations. %eachers also need to
assist students in putting their ideas into &ords and improve their
communication s#ills. (n placement rounds the &riter o!served strong ver!al
communication !y the teacher delivering clear instructions &hen the students
&ere as#ed to complete a tas#. 5ere they &ere given an o!:ective and a time
frame that &ould ensure the children &ould complete the tas# efficiently. 0n
e"ample of this &ould !e &here students &ere given a picture of a mon#ey on
a s#ate!oard as a stimulus and then had to &rite a creative story !ased on
this picture. %he story &as to !e as imaginative as possi!le ho&ever it must
have a pro!lem and a solution. %he students had previously completed a
&riting piece similar to this; therefore they had prior #no&ledge of the format.
<uring discussion time the teacher as#ed the students to recall the layout and
structure of a creative &riting piece. Students &ould then raise their hands
and provide ans&ers &hen invited to do so. %he teacher &ould then record
the correct ans&ers on the &hite !oard as a reference for &hen the students
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Kassandra Schramm EDFD220
returned to their ta!les. 'rom this point there &as thirty minutes to complete
their plan and upon completion they &ould gather on the floor together to
share their ideas. %he teacher gave e"tremely clear and coherent ver!al
instructions allo&ing students to !e involved in the discussion &here they
&ere effectively a!le to recall the planning process easily as the information
provided &as o!viously understood. 0s a result, there is evidence that strong
ver!al communication can !e !eneficial as students can easily recall prior
learning. =nderstanding and clarity of information provided allo&s the
students to firmly grasp and complete the tas# at hand &ithin a set time frame.

>on$ver!al communication refers to all the !ody signals &e send deli!erately
or unconsciously &hen communicating &ith others (Scales, 20)0, p. ?+. %he
&riter discovered on teaching rounds that !y simply ma#ing eye contact or
particular facial e"pressions, it emphasi/es &hat you are trying to say to
someone &ithout actually saying anything. 0ctions really can spea# louder
than &ords at times. 'or e"ample, &hen a child has said something that they
shouldn,t have, !y the teacher giving direct eye contact, raising their
eye!ro&s and having a disappointed face, children &ill respond effectively to
these non$ver!al cues as they are po&erful tools to convey messages (@e#i,
200+, para. 2. 9oldin$Aeado& (200B mentions that gestures are a part of
non$ver!al communication and hand movements relate &ith speech (para. 2.
0n e"ample that the &riter e"perienced on placement &as that the class and
the teacher esta!lished rules and conse6uences together at the start of term
one. (ne of these rules &as a!out communicating and the teacher indicated
that instead of raising her voice telling everyone to !e 6uiet, she &ould
instead use a clapping pattern and once she finished clapping students must
clap the pattern !ac#. %he teacher &as a!le to effectively communicate to the
students &ithout saying a &ord. Students #ne& that they needed to !e 6uiet
&hen this &as done as it meant the teacher had something to say to the
class. 0nother non$ver!al cue relating to communication is facial e"pressions.
0n e"ample the &riter e"perienced &hen teaching a mathematics lesson on
multiplication &ith three num!ers &as that after e"plaining &hat she thought
&as clear enough, she &as a!le to see the students did not understand due to
their pu//led facial e"pressions. .y seeing this, the teacher #ne& the students
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Kassandra Schramm EDFD220
did not comprehend &hat she &as saying. %herefore students needed further
clarification and e"planation in a different &ay. @e#i (200+ states, pu//led
e"pressions 6uic#ly tell the teacher &hat is to !e revised or repeated (para.
*. It is at this point the teacher &ill need to consider alternative methods to
convey the message. >on$ver!al communication is a simple measure &hen
determining the effectiveness of the information delivery. -ic#ing up on cues
is e"tremely important considering some students may lac# confidence in
spea#ing out in front of the rest of the class.
In conclusion the &riter has discussed that effective communication is
essential. =sing !oth ver!al and non$ver!al communication is imperative
&hen teaching in a classroom and is an important process as it is &here you
construct meaning &ith the students. It is evident that ver!al communication
needs to !e clear to allo& the correct message to !e delivered and easily
understood !y the entire group. Cesearch demonstrates that non$ver!al
communication cues can have a large impact on a person. %o !e effective,
teachers need to #no& their students and understand the !est &ay to
communicate &ith them in order to get the !est result. =sing !oth ver!al and
non$ver!al cues sho&s that you are an attentive teacher that can effectively
deliver information through the understanding of the individual supported !y
strong communication s#ills.
Word Count - 1338
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Kassandra Schramm EDFD220
Ceference 4ist
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