Nonverbal Communication in Lecturing: A Constructivist Perspective

This paper attempts to develop a communication‐based rationale for understanding the lecturing process in colleges and universities. It seeks to demonstrate the importance of nonverbal communication in lecturing. Particular attention is paid to the lecturer's communication of emotional states signalled nonverbally, at the time of delivery. The process of lecturing is explained from a constructivist perspective so as to emphasise the active communicator roles not only of the lecturer but also of audience members. It is further argued that since communication is not only a social act but also a cognitive process concerned with the construction of meaning, student listeners should not be stereotyped as passive receivers of information in a one‐way communication exercise.

It is also argued that the extent to which students are able to formulate meanings from the lecture content is not only a function of the inherent quality of the subject‐matter but also of the way that subject‐matter is presented. Effective presentation in lecturing, it is suggested, is in large measure dependent upon the ways in which lecturers express themselves nonverbally before their audiences.

Michael Kaye, B.A. (Syd.), Dip.Ed. (Syd.), M.Ed. (Syd.), M.A. Hons. (Macq.), M.A.Ps.S., is Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of Communication Studies, Kuring‐gai College of Advanced Education. He has held teaching positions in several high schools in New South Wales, the N.S.W. State Conservatorium of Music, Sydney Teachers' College and Kuring‐gai College of Advanced Education. Michael Kaye is the author of various journal articles on teaching, nonverbal communication and applied communication theory. His current interests include adult learning, training and development, and nonverbal communication.