Children's Reported Responses to Teachers' Non-verbal Signals: a pilot study

Abstract

Four classes of children, aged between 12 and 18, recorded their responses to drawings of teachers' nonverbal signals on a questionnaire. A factor analysis of their responses produced four factors. The pictures which loaded onto each factor were in most cases the nonverbal expression of a specific emotional state. The implications for teachers are discussed.

Children's Responses to Touch‐a questionnaire study

“…A explanatory cluster analysis indicated that clusters were initially formed from touches of the same type directed to the same area of the body, with similar touches from different people clustered together. The strong discrimination between friendly and aggressive types of touch, expected from the results of the previous study (Neill, 1986a) was apparent in these analyses.…”

“…The children were shown slides of the six types of touch which were being investigated. Four were taken from the previous study of reactions to non-verbal signals (Neill, 1986a): those for friendly touch (a young female teacher smiling and putting her hand on a girl's shoulder to attract attention), angry touch (a female teacher frowning and twisting a boy's head round, the boy protesting openmouthed), directing touch (a male teacher steering a boy carrying a pencil with a hand on each shoulder, smiling slightly), and for touch to another person (a standing girl reaching to put her hand on the shoulder of a rising teacher, both smiling-illustrated in Neill, 1986a). The slides for comforting (a male teacher with his arm round a boy's shoulder, holding a book, the boy sad-faced and slumped) and rough-and-tumble touch (a female teacher grabbing a sitting boy's tie, both grinning) were new.…”

“…Some of the teachers observed did not touch children at all, and overall touch was so rare that it showed no significant differences between teachers who had good relationships with their classes and those who were ineffective (Neill, 1986b). However children's responses to teachers' non-verbal signals (Neill, 1986a) showed an unexpected positive reaction to types of touch which were seen as showing that a teacher was 'fun' or 'friendly'. These include not only friendly and supportive touch, but also directing touch (a teacher steering a child) and a child touching a teacher in a friendly way (only recorded once during the videotape study (Neill, 1986b)).…”

“…This research arose from the contrast between the rarity of touch observed between teachers and secondary children (Neill, 1986b) and its salience when children were shown pictures of a range of non-verbal behaviour by teachers (Neill, 1986a). Some of the teachers observed did not touch children at all, and overall touch was so rare that it showed no significant differences between teachers who had good relationships with their classes and those who were ineffective (Neill, 1986b).…”

The Quality and Impact of Relationships between Elementary School Students and Teachers

“…Furthermore, research by Neill (1983Neill ( , 1986Neill ( , 1989 and Robertson (1989) found teachers and students utilize nonverbal messages within the classroom to regulate interpersonal interactions and classroom learning. They argue students are expected to master a set of nonverbal cues that are uniquely expressed in the classroom setting.…”