Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toledo, 2004. / Typescript. "A thesis [submitted] as partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Master of Arts degree in English." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 34-35).

This study explores the meanings that participants in a British ELT setting give to teachers' non-verbal behaviours. It is a qualitative, descriptive study of the perceived functions that gestures and other non-verbal behaviours perform in the foreign language classroom, viewed mainly from the language learners' perspective. The thesis presents the stages of the research process, from the initial development of the research questions to the discussion of the research findings that summarise and discuss the participants' views. There are two distinct research phases presented in the thesis. The pilot study explores the perceptions of 18 experienced language learners of teachers' non-verbal behaviours. The data is collected in interviews based on videotaped extracts of classroom interaction, presented to the participants in two experimental conditions, with and without sound. The findings of this initial study justify the later change of method from the experimental design to a more exploratory framework. In the main study, 22 learners explain, in interviews based on stimulated recall, their perceptions on their teachers' verbal and non-verbal behaviours as occurring within the immediate classroom context. Finally, learners' views are complemented by 20 trainee teachers' written reports of classroom observation and their opinions expressed in focus group interviews. The data for the main study were thus collected through a combination of methods, ranging from classroom direct observations and videotaped recordings, to semi-structured interviews with language learners. The research findings indicate that participants generally believe that gestures and other non-verbal behaviours playa key role in the language learning and teaching process. Learners identify three types of functions that non-verbal behaviours play in the classroom interaction: (i) cognitive, i.e. non-verbal behaviours which work as enhancers of the learning processes, (ii) emotional, i.e. non-verbal behaviours that function as reliable communicative devices of teachers' emotions and attitudes and (iii) organisational, i.e. non-verbal behaviours which serve as tools of classroom management and control. The findings suggest that learners interpret teachers' non-verbal behaviours in a functional manner and use these messages and cues in their learning and social interaction with the teacher. The trainee teachers value in a similar manner the roles that non-verbal behaviours play in the language teaching and learning. However, they seem to prioritise the cognitive and managerial functions of teachers' non-verbal behaviours over the emotional ones and do not consider the latter as important as the learners did. This study is original in relation to previous studies of language classroom interaction in that it: • describes the kinds of teachers' behaviours which all teachers and learners are familiar with, but which have seldom been foregrounded in classroom-based research; • unlike previous studies of non-verbal behaviour, investigates the perceiver's view of the others' non-verbal behaviour rather than its production; • documents these processes of perception through an innovative methodology of data collection and analysis; • explores the teachers' non-verbal behaviours as perceived by the learners themselves, suggesting that their viewpoint can be one window on the reality of language classrooms; • provides explanations and functional interpretations for the many spontaneous and apparently unimportant actions that teachers use on a routine basis; • identifies a new area which needs consideration in any future research and pedagogy of language teaching and learning.

Editor's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1956. / Verifax reproduction of the 1644 ed. in the University of Wisconsin Library, with typescript introduction and notes. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (v. 1, leaves 132-135).

Theories of embodiment propose that our bodily states can influence affective processing. This thesis investigated the possibility that facial feedback (i.e., afferent signals from facial muscles) can influence the interpretation of affective stimuli. One study tested the effect of overt smiling and frowning on the interpretation of short descriptions of everyday events. Smiling, as compared to frowning, led to more positive evaluations, but only for participants who were aware of the emotional relevance of their expressions. A second study tested whether subtle changes in facial activation (elicited by unconsciously presented happy/angry facial expressions) led to changes in evaluations of ambiguous target symbols. While angry prime faces, as compared to happy prime faces, induced more frowning (as measured via electromyography), this change in facial activation did not translate into a behavioural effect on subsequent evaluations. A third study investigated the relation between naturally occurring facial reactions and interpretations of both clearly valenced and ambiguous facial expressions. Results indicate that facial reactivity predicts participants' self-reports of their own emotional reactions towards others' expressions (Experiment 1). A relation between facial reactions and interpretations of the expression senders' emotional states was only found in cases in which participants with high sensitivity towards their own bodily states (as measured with a test of interoceptive accuracy) tried to interpret ambiguous expressions (Experiment 2). In a last experiment, prolonged presentation of emotional prime faces led to expression-congruent facial reactions, but resulted in expression-incongruent behavioural reactions in both classification speed and interpretative tendency of emotional target faces. Overall, this thesis suggests that facial feedback is not generally involved in the interpretation of affective stimuli, but that it might contribute to evaluative processes only under special circumstances.

Though human nonverbal vocalisations are widespread, scientific consideration of their mechanisms and communicative functions has been largely overlooked. This is despite their close alignment with the vocal communicative systems of primates and other mammals, whose primary function is to signal indexical information relevant to sexual and natural selection processes. In this thesis, I examine human nonverbal vocalisations from an evolutionary perspective, with the central hypothesis that they are functionally and structurally homologous to nonhuman mammal calls, communicating evolutionarily relevant indexical information that is perceived and utilised by listeners. In Chapter 1, I introduce the methodological framework (source-filter theory) necessary to understand the production of vocal signals in mammals, before summarising the information contained within the acoustic structure of nonhuman mammals and human speech, and the effects these cues have on both vocaliser and listener. I then examine the current evidence for functional and structural homology between human and nonhuman nonverbal vocalisations. In Chapters 2 to 5, I quantitatively analyse the acoustic structure of a number of nonverbal vocalisations, and perform playback experiments to examine their functional effects on listeners. In Chapters 2 and 3, I investigate whether aggressive roars and distress screams communicate acoustic cues to absolute and relative strength and height. In Chapter 4, I analyse the acoustic structure of pain cries of varying intensity, and conduct playback experiments to explore the acoustic and perceptual correlates of pain. In Chapter 5, I examine whether the fundamental frequency of tennis grunts produced during professional tennis matches is dependent on the sex and body posture of the vocaliser, as well as the progress and outcome of the contest, and whether listeners can infer these cues. In Chapter 6, I tie these findings together, arguing that the acoustic structure of human nonverbal vocalisations, in continuity with nonhuman mammal vocalisations, has been selected to support the functional communication of indexical and motivational information.

Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit besteht darin, den Wert der nonverbalen Ausdrucksmittel für einen erfolgreichen Kommunikationsverlauf zu verdeutlichen und aufzuzeigen, welche Rolle Geschlecht und soziale Hierarchie in der nonverbalen Kommunikation spielen und in welchem Maße sie eine Interaktion beeinflussen können. Als Untersuchungsgegenstand fungiert das nonverbale Verhalten des ecuadorianischen Präsidenten Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado, wobei der Fokus auf den Faktoren Geschlecht und soziale Hierarchie und deren Ausdruck in der nonverbalen Kommunikation liegt. Die Durchführung der Untersuchung erfolgt anhand des medial inszenierten Abbildes von Rafael Correa, das ihn in einer diskursiven Beziehung darstellt, d.h. Aufzeichnungen politischer Debatten und Interviews, die auf internationaler Ebene stattgefunden haben. Bei der Auswahl des Untersuchungsgegenstandes wird Wert auf Verschiedenheit der Konstellationen der Interaktionspartner (Status und Geschlecht) gelegt, um einen Vergleich des nonverbalen Verhaltens zu ermöglichen. Es ergeben sich für die vorliegende Arbeit folgende Hauptfragen, die es mit Hilfe der Untersuchung zu beantworten gilt: Inwieweit spiegelt das nonverbale Verhalten des ecuadorianischen Präsidenten Rafael Correa in einer Interaktion seine soziale Hierarchie wider und weist geschlechtsspezifische Züge auf? Variiert je nach sozialer Hierarchie und Geschlecht seiner Interaktionspartner das nonverbale Verhalten des ecuadorianischen Präsidenten Rafael Correa in einer Interaktion? Im Rahmen dieser Fragestellung ergeben sich ferner folgende Nebenfragen: In welcher Beziehung steht das nonverbale Verhalten des ecuadorianischen Präsidenten Rafael Correa zum verbalen Verhalten? Harmonieren diese zwei Ebenen miteinander, ergänzen sie sich oder widersprechen sie sich? Inwieweit zeigt sich die kulturelle Prägung im nonverbalen Verhalten Rafael Correas? Die Auswertung des nonverbalen Verhaltens Rafael Correas in asymmetrischer und in symmetrischer Beziehung macht deutlich, dass sowohl das Geschlecht als auch die soziale Hierarchie der Interaktionspartner Einfluss auf den Charakter und den möglichen Verlauf einer Interaktion nehmen. Anhand des Vergleichs des nonverbalen Verhaltens Correas in verschiedenen Konstellationen wird deutlich, dass das nonverbale Verhalten des Präsidenten von der sozialen Hierarchie und dem Geschlecht seiner Interaktionspartner nicht abhängig ist und somit nicht variiert. Die verbale und nonverbale Ebene ergänzen sich und weisen keine Widersprüchlichkeit auf. Es sind nur wenige kulturspezifische Verhaltensweisen des Präsidenten zu beobachten.