Non-Verbal Elements in Education

Non-Verbal Elements in Education: Some New Perspectives
Author(s): W. A. L. Blyth
Source: British Journal of Educational Studies , Jun., 1976, Vol. 24, No. 2 (Jun., 1976),
pp. 109-126
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Society for Educational Studies
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3120379
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BRITISH JoURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES
VOL XXIV No 2 JUNE 1976
NON-VERBAL ELEMENTS IN EDUCATION:

SOME NEW PERSPECTIVES
by W. A. L. BLYTH, Professor of Education, University
I. INTRODUCTION
At leastpredominant.
in Western education,
Whether thought isthe verbal
regarded elements
as prior to words,have always been
or words to thought, their joint significance has never been in
doubt. Yet alongside verbal education there has always been some kind
of awareness that an education based solely on words is defective and
perhaps undesirable. Periodically, there have been calls for an emphasis
on something else: Nature, things, art, movement, or other people.
Bookish education has been persistent, but not unchallenged. Even the
bookworms who sustain it would agree that Society needs not bookworms
but balanced people, people who can do and feel and love as well as think.
In the present century, there has been a further reaction against an
over-emphasis on an education that has come to be regarded, often super-
ficially, as not only bookish but also snobbish. Yet paradoxically this has
also been a century in which knowledge about the verbal aspects of educa-
tion has consistently outpaced knowledge about its other features. Indeed,
when a writer such as Elliot Eisner' speaks out boldly about the inade-
quacy of some aspect of current educational discourse in its application to
non-verbal education-in his case, specific behavioural objectives in their
relation to education in the arts-there is still a tendency for others to
react with mild embarrassment, acknowledging that this is by common
consent an important matter, but admitting that it has been consistently
under-studied. However, recently there have been new developments,
especially in the study of non-verbal communication, which place non-
verbal education in a series of new perspectives.
The purpose of this article is to indicate, first, what are the non-verbal
elements in education, next, to indicate some ways in which these new
perspectives have been developed, and finally to suggest some ways in
which a coherent programme of study, practice and research could be
developed.
Of course, this is an ambitious programme for a single article. There-
fore, what follows must be regarded as a sketch, rather than a diligent
and exhaustive survey.
However, it is not a quick, improvised sketch. It represents the outcome
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NON-VERBAL ELEMENTS IN EDUCATION: SOME NEW PERSPECTIVES
of thinking and discussion by an informal study gr

meeting informally, and with no specific financial sup
of Education at Liverpool University for four years.* D
the members of the group have come into contact, thr
through personal encounter, with most of the types of
under way in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and
many of the problems which such work involves.
II. A CLASSIFICATION OF THE NON-VERBAL ELEMENTS RELATED TO

EDUCATION
In order to introduce some kind of system into the consideration of this

general topic, a classification is proposed in Figure i (p. I I I). It is based,
quite explicitly, on the assumption that
(a) Education has a non-verbal as well as a verbal component (the inner

circle A and B).
(b) Both of these are themselves assisted by processes involving both verbal
and non-verbal concomitants (broken middle circle: C, D, E and F).
(c) All of these processes also take place within a cultural context which
in its turn also comprises both verbal and non-verbal elements (outer
circle: G and H).
According to this diagram, direct interaction is possible between each of

the eight sectors and most others. This is practicable because of a fourth
assumption:
(d) Some education is directly influenced by its cultural context without

the intervention of intermediate processes: that is why the middle
circle is broken.
Before these sectors are considered more closely, it must be emphasized

that this diagram is intended to afford nothing more than a classificatory
device. It does not purport to indicate what Education is, or should be,
or what is or should be the relative weighting or importance of the
various parts of the diagram though it is obvious that sectors A, E and H
have received, over the years, far more attention than the others and that
of these others, B has been considered more usually than the rest. Nor
does it imply that the various boundaries indicated are clear-cut, or that
they have been subsequently confirmed by experimental investigation. It
is merely intended to help clarify the issues which must be considered
* The members of this group have been drawn mainly from the School of Education
but also from other departments of the University of Liverpool, especially Psychology
and Communication Studies, and from the Faculty of Education, Liverpool Polytechnic,
and Chester College. I am grateful to members of the group for their comments on this
paper in draft.
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before any coherent theory of non-verbal education can be gener

Each of the sectors related to non-verbal education (B, C, D, F and
now be explained a little more fully.
of the Cultural Cot
NS CI/ -
Ad,\ Os) ~
Vol G n-er
-Aese 0A
C ,/O f0,7
Edcaio Eucto/io
A B
Verbal Non-Verbal
ofeI E F (\N? 60!o(
verbal elements in education

S OftheCultralCOnleoCO
Figrei.A iara idictig om rlaios btwenveba ad on
verbal elements in educatio

Figure i. A diagram indicating some relations between verbal and n
III. THE TRADITIONAL PERSPECTIVE
Sector B. Non-verbal education

This one is relatively well served, compared with some of the others. It
can in turn be divided into
Education in non-verbal movement, considered in purely psychomotor

terms
Education in non-verbal signs and symbols

Education in non-verbal expressive activity
Education in non-verbal social and moral behaviour.
III

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NON-VERBAL ELEMENTS IN EDUCATION: SOME NEWr PERSPECTIVES
Of course (and this is an inescapable paradox, which this article itself

exemplifies) these non-verbal aspects of education are necessarily discussed
in verbal terms. They have been so discussed in modes as varied as those
of Plato and Pestalozzi. They have been included together in grand
theoretical schemes such as Aristotle's; they have also been analysed
separately, and further subdivided, in practical programmes such as
Sldijd2 and the development of the education of movement' as well as in
the whole long story of musical education.4 In these last few cases, a set
of non-verbal notations has also been devised in order to introduce an
element of system and reproducibility.5 If to these is added the whole
range of writings about art education and its relation to the development
of personality" it soon becomes clear that non-verbal education even in
the strictest sense could constitute a subject for several substantial
volumes. Through the study of aesthetics, too, it has been systematically
considered by philosophers of education.'
Yet through all of this there runs a haunting impression that as we
leave the firm ground of verbal education and its intellectual content, so
we enter a sphere of assertion, of unproven and immeasurable processes.
Research has of course nibbled at the edge of the problems; but its sum
total indicates the vastness of the unanswered questions set by Plato and
Aristotle: does a balanced mixture of artistic and physical education
produce a balanced citizen? Does the practice of virtuous acts impel a
citizen to become a person able to perform such acts with greater facility?
For that matter: does the collective practice of democratic procedures
induce democratic behaviour, as Dewey hoped it would? The difficulties
of finding conclusive answers to such questions appear wellnigh insuper-
able.
So it is perhaps small wonder that educational practice remains un-
altered, typified by Reports from Spens to Plowden which have spoken
of the non-verbal components of the curriculum as though they had no
need of further justification.
IV. NEW PERSPECTIVES
It is at this point that it is necessary to begin to consider the new

tives that are being opened up.
(a) Sector C. Non-verbal Concomitants of Verbal Education

Comparatively little direct attention has hitherto been paid to
in which non-verbal means can be and are used to develop verba
tion. Indeed, the first image that might well be conjured up
version of that of the carrot and stick. A moment's reflection will in
however, that there is a subtle range of ways in which the non
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behaviour of teachers and pupils alike can assist, or impede,

struction. An example can be taken from the teaching of fo
guages a matter which has been of particular interest to one
group, Nicholas Beattie.s This particular form of non-verbal
ment of verbal learning has two kinds of justification. The
this is a form of verbal learning which is by definition difficult,
exaggeration of encouraging gesture can become part of
repertoire, and a piece of non-verbal improvisation may be
device to which pupils may have recourse when their verbal r
up. But in addition-and this is in the long run more import
of gesture is an essential part of the way in which a languag
by its own natural speakers, a paralinguistic element of a differen
a technique which learners of a new language must to s
acquire. Common stereotype of course exaggerates the type a
such cultural differences, but they are genuine, and this is a c
verbal teaching must remain incomplete unless this non-ver
is added, in a way that would not be true, for example, of m
Another instance where non-verbal activity is intimately
sarily linked with a verbal element is in the teaching of dram
much this may begin with free mime and movement, the poin
ally reached at which actual plays are attempted, and here th
clear verbal instructions about movement, stance, expression
ance. It is impossible to produce a play without paying due a
stage instructions, or to act without non-verbal expression, a
the integration of verbal and non-verbal elements is achieved
and necessary fashion.
A third type of non-verbal reinforcement of verbal educa
direct teaching of accepted systems or codes of signs such a
denote road directions or other public information. However
more general way too in which non-verbal behaviour by t
pupils concerns the curriculum as a whole. In fact, non-verb
is itself a part of the hidden curriculum. Surprisingly little a
been paid to the non-verbal aspects of signalling by teachers
and by pupils to teachers and other pupils, which express di
approval and thus lead to differential reinforcement of verb
This, at least, is open to some form of empirical investigation
quite likely, from experiences that we as a group have consi
teachers and pupils form firm initial impressions about the v
ease of verbal learning by watching one another's non-verba
before a word is spoken. Thus Mr Milton intuits that 3B2 wi
but not stupid; 3B2 intuits that English will be demanding bu
and events prove both of them right.
Meanwhile, in view of the extent of studies already conduct
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importance of community and social-class influences upon

strange that relatively little systematic attention has be
social importance of non-verbal interaction between teac
and between child and child, from different social backg
stein9 has shown with his usual insight that he is well aw
significance of the non-verbal aspects of the curriculum a
but the actual repertoire of non-verbal behaviour which d
bring with them into school'" itself gives rise to signals
misunderstood and misinterpreted, or which function as sym
ence rather than as means of communication. It would b
and revealing, to observe and record the interactions wi
mixed social origins and in relation to their teachers.
(b) Sector D. Non-verbal Concomitants of Non-verbal

This is a part of the whole subject that requires relatively
goes without saying that demonstration of non-verbal skil
are those of the skilled craftsman or of the ballet dance
element in the training of others to pursue those skills.
usually interspersed with verbal comment, ranging from
exuberant, but the non-verbal element remains central t
and it can be seen in a particularly exposed form in the t
to the deaf or the severely subnormal."
What is less immediately obvious is that here, too, the n
ponent also figures differentially as a part of the hidde
Slight modifications of facial expression or of gesture can
meaning. An instructor can show with his hands how
welded joint, while with his head and eyes he can imp
you should all be able to do it; even clumsy Jones an
Brown'. A reluctant adolescent girl can convey to her
response in the gymnasium, '.. . of course I could do it b
but it's all I'm going to do for you'. And a boy on the fo
indicate, through a combination of ritual gesture and exa
sive movement, the extent and depth of his cultural and
volvement in the game, leaving the teacher to react with
Thus the subtle processes of transaction by which for
takes place can be amended through non-verbal mean
educative activity is in the verbal or the non-verbal mod
(c) Sector F. Verbal Concomitants of Non-verbal Educ

This is another topic worth considering in its own right.
be illustrated from a comparison between a modern appr
education and an equally modern approach to art educ
concerned with non-verbal aspects of the curriculum, b
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between the two in verbal styles is usually striking. Obvi

piercing tone is required to transcend the energetic movem
bodies than to penetrate the silence of thirty people absor
activity in the visual or plastic arts. (Music teaching com
between the two.) Yet there is also a place for the whisper
P.E. and for the peremptory command in the art room. O
numbers of teachers certainly suggests a big variation be
the personal styles that they use, and the nature and ext
content that they introduce. They also vary intra-person
to different situations or to their own moods."
Just because they do, this too becomes an area of diffe
teacher-pupil interaction and a means by which the hidde
can be conveyed. To display one pupil's clay figurine for
to react with scarcely veiled sarcasm to another's attempts
apparatus or to serve at tennis, is very similar" to reacting dif
children's use of language or number, though it is less co
treat it as a subject for debate.
(d) Sector G. Non-verbal Aspects of the Cultural Context

However, it is when we turn away from the immediate pro
tion to consider their cultural setting that the breadth of t
context becomes apparent. This is a real new area of mult
study, a whole aspect of human behaviour which has been
recently by experts in many fields, usually without any
with education, as was pointed out at the beginning of thi
unites this large, heterogeneous new field of study is a com
in non-verbal communication, whether among animals, chi
human beings. It ranges in its treatment from the po
abstruse," and in its perspectives from the arts to the med
touches by common consent the deepest levels of human
personal relationships, in aesthetic and literary sensibility
experience, and thus in one sense it belongs to the whole
tory. All the same, as an academic study and research field
ing new development, one which belongs to the last ten ye
has already reached the stage at which 'readers' on the su
published:" a sure sign of academic coming of age.
Before attempting to classify the various perspectives o
communication, it is necessary to comment briefly on its r
verbal education. There could be extensive argument
reasonably representative distinction between the two woul
can be no education without communication, but there ca
cation without education; education is a subset of commun
which the communication is co-ordinated and purposive, i
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with some relatively coherent teleology. Therefore, educa

communication; but educational theory has to take accou
cation theory, including theories of non-verbal commun
part of the actual situation within which education take
its cultural context.
With this in mind, it is possible to look at the general approaches to
non-verbal communication that have been developed. Various classifica-
tions have been suggested: for present purposes it will be convenient to
use the one that follows and to consider briefly the implications of each
of its subdivisions for the non-verbal context of education:
Those derived from the mechanical sciences: information theory

Those derived from individual psychology: kinesics, person perception,
'presentation of self'
Those derived from social psychology: proxemics and ethology
Those derived from linguistics: paralinguistics and semiotics
Those derived from general cultural theory: mass communication etc.
Those derived from the medical sciences: the pathology of non-verbal
communication.
(i) Information theory. This, in its simplest terms, is a model of the

communication process which could take place within the classroom or
elsewhere. Information theory can enable us to formulate and tes
hypotheses about non-verbal communication. It has been elaborated by
one of our group, Dr Harry Jamieson,"' in such a way as to indicate how
noise, in the sense of motivational distractors, can intervene in the educa
tional process itself; for example, if the culture of a group of children
impaired their understanding of non-verbal signals from their teachers.
Although there have hitherto been few substantive studies of children
based on an information-theory approach, clearly this is an important
field for the development of valuable theoretical insights and it should be
incorporated into any specific research proposal that may be formulated
(ii) Kinesics, person perception, 'presentation of self'. This has

emerged as one of the most fascinating and popular aspects of non-verba
communication. It covers a whole series of aspects of individual be-
haviour; the gestures which express personality, the ways in which these
are woven into a 'body language' and made part of the repertoire for the
'presentation of self in everyday life' of which Goffman"' has made hi
contemporaries aware. Facial expression has, not surprisingly, received
special attention within this general field."8 Birdwhistell,' by devising
notation for what he termed 'kinesics', or the science of movement and
gesture, has attempted to afford a basis for replicative and comparativ
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studies which can lift this whole subject from its obvious
appeal to the level of a more exact science. Meanwhile Ar
University of Oxford20 and others such as Livesley and Bro
extended the range of such studies to include the perception b
others, and the interpretation of their gaze and gestures. Sy
one of our own group, has begun to explore further the relev
studies for teachers." (Incidentally, their fascination can be
effects. Catching oneself for the twentieth time crossing on
cocking one's head on one side, one can be tempted to think th
ignorance of kinesics can be a kind of bliss.)
(iii) Proxemics and ethology. These two aspects of social ps

have been related to non-verbal communication for quite
reasons. The former is concerned with the regularities in th
which people group themselves in relation to other people or t
objects, and has been developed by one of the 'founding fath
verbal communication studies, Edward T. Hall. In The Hid
sion2' he sets forth a detailed theory about how people react
various distances from their own bodies, indicating thereby
territoriality similar to that shown by animals or birds, and
notation for this purpose. Students of Hall and others suc
Sommer"4 have carried out a series of fascinating studies in
tural differences in the individual and group use of space. Mo
studies have related to ethnic groups; here again it is strange
class differences have not been similarly explored.
Ethology has figured in quite a different way in the recent
of non-verbal communication. Deriving its pattern from studi
and other non-human communities, it has been applied to th
of human beings and in particular to the behaviour of very y
ren. Here, for once, is an aspect of non-verbal communic
educational significance has been positively examined. It was
context of nursery schools and play groups that the applicatio
logical methods to studies of children's behaviour was first de
least in the United Kingdom. Some of the most interesting w
kind was developed at the Universities of London by Blurton-
Birmingham by Chance26 and Grant27 and at Sheffield by C
Smith2" assisted by Fleming. Similar work among rather older
been carried out at the University of Bristol by Reynolds and
we have had the privilege of keeping in touch with all of th
and of inviting a number of their participants to Liverpool. S
the earlier developments in studies of group behaviour, such as
methods"3 and analysis of classroom interaction, these etholog
indicate a very valuable increment in the techniques ava
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research. However, all these investigators encountered ve

lems in actually observing and measuring group beha
our own group sobering advice about the first attemp
observation in which we were then ourselves engaged. Fo
contacts, Helen Graham, one of our group, herself carried
direction of another member, Dr Agnes Crawford, a furt
with pre-school children which brought out the relation
and non-verbal growth.s'
(iv) Paralinguistics and semiotics. A quite different

more allied to linguistics and developed in Europe mo
U.S.A. or the United Kingdom, is concerned with the
of verbal communication by ancillary sound and gesture
cultures, and the expansion of such studies into a general
and communication. It differs from the preceding aspec
communication in that its emphasis is on the individual a
agent operating in specific situations, rather than on the
general laws. In one respect it is closely related to the
under (i), because of the emphasis that it lays on variati
between individuals in their capacity to pick up and inte
kinds of communication. The ambitious nature of this en
relatively early stage of development," render it at prese
ately accessible as a source of ideas for educational researc
but for that very reason its eventual importance is likel
extending in fact the radical reappraisal of language tha
others have initiated until it covers all forms of communi
(v) General cultural theory. A still wider perspective i

writers such as Marshall McLuhan"S with their intimation
ing importance of verbal communication and therefore o
ment in education itself, as the new media become messag
right and computerization takes over. This is a possibilit
envisaged, though it appears likely that verbal skills and
will prove much more persistent and adaptable than som
have liked to believe. Nevertheless, like semiotics, theorie
doom for the written and spoken word do not have imm
tions to what goes on in schools today.
(vi) The pathology of non-verbal communication.

sideration, with its emphasis on the medical and in
psychiatric approach,"8 is included here for two reasons.
tutes, as it were, a limiting case, indicating that the othe
non-verbal communication do not operate beyond a cert
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expressions, for example, that appear to display emoti

outcome of disease."' Gestures that appear to denote socia
be unavoidable because of physical defect: one has only to
habitual downward gaze of the blind, or the seemingly ag
sometimes associated with cerebral palsy, or, as ArgyleS" p
aversion of gaze shown by autistic children. To respond t
who show such abnormalities requires particular awareness
commitment to promote communication, whereas in fact
often appear themselves prone to behave in an unnaturall
even embarrassed way in the presence of the abnormal, th
inhibiting the very process of communication which they
trying to facilitate. If such matters are taken into acc
assumptions of kinesics, person perception, and proxemics
can require some measure of reappraisal.
But there is also a second reason for mentioning the path
verbal communication. It represents a positive challeng
Defects do not merely indicate the limits of the normal.
suffer from them, they are all that there is of bodily reperto
indicate in a very direct way that non-verbal communica
their case be treated as a different kind of context within whi
can be conducted. At least to those who are concerned with
tion (two of whom, David Thomas and Ian Petrie, belong t
non-verbal education has a significance of its own.
David Thomas suggests that it might be important to ex
such as the effects of abnormal dependence upon non-verb
tion among the deaf, the contrasting effects of abnormal
non-verbal communication among the blind, the heighten
interpretation of non-verbal signals given and received by
maladjusted children. Each of these requires among teache
sensitivity and skill, which may in fact constitute an ext
range of sensitivities and skills that all teachers, in some m
V. SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR THE STUDY AND PRACTICE O
The significance of the aspects of non-verbal education

verbal communication, briefly surveyed in the preceding se
carefully considered. Taken together, they may well presen
impressions. On the one hand, they show an unequal, scar
ated burgeoning of study and interest in a vast but relati
area of human experience. On the other hand, in spite of
developments sketched in Section IV, they may seem to in
that we do not already, in our heart of hearts, know. If this is
non-verbal aspects of education are in fact following very
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precedent set by the study of its verbal aspects. The

learning and verbal abilities was often regarded as provi
when (as in the case of the faculty theory) the apparent
questioned, the questioning was largely ignored. So it mig
the non-verbal aspects of education. Nevertheless, it seem
programme of educational studies can henceforth be r
quate if it does not squarely face the issues of non-v
especially in relation to three kinds of activity: ideas, poli
The first of these, namely ideas, is what this article p
about. The references which it cites indicate only a f
important sources of information about non-verbal educ
the newer focus on non-verbal communication. What is
to integrate this new interest into our thinking about no
tion as a whole-to consider, in terms of the diagram, sect
G as well as Sector B. To do this requires a programme o
adaptation and extension which is what a coherent conce
tional studies implies. It is not sufficient to import findings
social sciences, or elsewhere, and then to allow them to
mainstream of educational thought through the minds o
students or busy teachers. Those who claim to specialize
studies are under some obligation to weigh, consider,
new ideas for themselves. In retrospect, we may smil
which, for example, Herbart or Spencer, Bain, Montessor
worked out the implications for education of new curre
in their own day; but at least they tried, with considera
their efforts gained respect for pedagogy as well as
Some of the ways in which we could focus our effort
considering further the non-verbal elements in classroo
(Sectors C, D and G); the non-verbal aids and obstacle
non-verbal curriculum processes (Sectors C and D); t
ponent in non-verbal education (Sector F); and the non
comparative studies whether between sub-cultures in a soc
societies (Sector G); while also continuing the long-estab
exploring the significance and interrelation of the non-ve
the overt curriculum itself (Sector B).
All of these matters need also to be considered, too, in
perspective. Whatever may be claimed for non-verba
attainment of verbal competence remains central to the g
and this process implies further attention to a still vaster
namely the role of the non-verbal elements in education-
P.E., moral behaviour-at various stages of child developm
development and how these can relate to verbal learning.
Like medical studies, educational studies are inextricab
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practical outcomes. Satisfying though it may be to study edu

-and it is just as satisfying as to study politics or literature
widely and reasonably assumed that such study will eventuall
improvement in practice. This kind of outcome can be pursu
ways. First, the initial and in-service education of teachers
riched by the inclusion of non-verbal considerations. Our ow
been considering ways of achieving this, and its members h
experimented with slight modifications in initial training cou
art and craft, music, physical education and modem languag
in-service and advanced courses, including courses in special
Communication studies have now also gained entrance to
programmes in the University of Liverpool. However, this i
total, quite possibly exceeded elsewhere, though we are not
published reports of similar activities in other parts of the U
dom."7 More surprising, perhaps, in view of the extensive r
ducted in the United States, is the limited impact on teache
that has taken place even there, outside the specific training
of non-verbal subjects. Of the 'readers' mentioned in note 14,
take teacher education into account. There is, however, o
American book38 and one issue of the journal Theory into p
So, No. 4, October 1971) entitled 'The challenge of nonverba
which includes two articles directly concerned with tea
schools", 40 and which charts the beginnings of a developing
of teacher education from which other societies have much
in other aspects of their behaviour, teachers are likely to ga
fidence, sensitivity and insight if the non-verbal dimensions
are made explicit. At the most obvious level they will be les
misinterpret pupils' gesture and movement, a consideration
become more and more important as our schools become mor
ally, socially, racially and culturally comprehensive. This wo
the first step in the development of relevant social skills, as a par
professional repertoire.
The second practical application of the new perspectives on
education is concerned with their actual use as curricular mat
here to what appears to be a necessary part of the education
namely the development by children of their own ideas about
tance and desirability of what schooling, including its non-ve
is about. During the currency of the Schools Council Project
Geography and Social Science 8-13 it became apparent that th
ment of critical thinking and of empathy were groups of obje
were justifiable and which involved going beyond any specifie
These curricular principles could, and probably should, be m
applied. For example, it is not enough to find enjoyment or
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in physical activity or artistic creation. The educative pro

by considering why these matters are rewarding, whether
rewarding to others, and what they contribute to societ
it might be. Marxists have never hesitated to consider thes
increasingly necessary for any democratic alternative to
much. Indeed, as a part of the development of democr
children, as well as teachers, need to practise social skills
constructively through coming to grips collectively with
of this kind. Thus, without becoming over-solemn or did
cess, teachers could well open up--as some do--these wide
One way in which this can be attempted is through loo
verbal communication itself, including sign language
enjoyable, as well as a challenging, activity for children
it combines the fun of a party game with a real examinat
personal behaviour with which, in their family and peer
almost bound to be familiar. The History, Geography an
8-13 Project not only included social skills among its objec
ren but also selected Communication as one of the 'key c
development in children's thinking about place, time and
portant and which thus can influence the choice of subjec
evident that this must include non-verbal communication,
pre-literate peoples or in the visual media, or informally a
ren themselves. Other curriculum development projec
various ways, stressed the central significance of Comm
curriculum"s and they, too, would comprise non-verbal
within this ambit, thus allowing a further outlet for the
tives within the curriculum itself. In one particular case
education,"4 there is already a more direct link since the
Schools Council projects in this field, Peter McPhail,
participated in the research into non-verbal communicati
Oxford by Argyle (see note 2o).
The final implication of considering new perspectives on
elements in education, for those concerned with education
examine the possibilities of further research. The preced
indicated both the range of study that is still to be done, and
of carrying it out. First, there are the conceptual probl
contributed to the relative limitations of study of non-
itself: Sector B as contrasted with Sector A. As has often
strated, it is hard enough to sort out precise problems fo
field of expressive education, which comprises so large a
verbal aspects, especially in face of the taint of impiety w
sis sometimes earns. In addition, matters such as visu
perception present an investigator with additional difficul
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34.192.2.131 on Thu, 31 Mar 2022 17:37:54 UTC
investigate Sector F meet similar problems. But when the scope o

is widened, as the newer perspectives require, to cover Sectors
(in its educational impact) G, then the conceptual difficulties ar
pounded by a whole further range of technical problems. Althoug
taping and time-lapse photography, and various ingenious comb
of recording devices, have enabled considerable advances to b
including many of those already described, it still remains noto
difficult actually to record the totality of what is happening in
situation.'" Nevertheless, it is possible, and well worth while, to
forward and to find ways in which limited, but soundly-based, a
can be made to knowledge especially about aspects of non-verba
munication and their significance in the educative process. It is t
of our group that, together with our students, we may initi
advances of this nature.
Yet, in doing so, we remain conscious that the new perspectives to
which we shall attempt to respond must be kept in proportion. Their im-
portance lies in how they affect education. In Figure I the ultimate focus
of interest remains in the two central sectors A and B. What eventually
matters is the same problem that educators have always faced: the verbal
and non-verbal education of children and adults, how they interrelate,
and how they can and should be improved.
REFERENCES
i. E. W. Eisner, 'Instructional and expressive objectives: their formula

in curriculum', American Educational Research Association Monog
on Curriculum Evaluation, 3 (Chicago: McNally, I969), 3. See also E
Educating artistic vision (New York: Macmillan, 1972), ch. 6.
2. See W. Boyd, History of Western education, ioth ed. revised by
(London: A. & C. Black, 1972), 393. For a contemporary account, se
mon, Theory of educational sldjd, 1892. For a general but unpublis
see D. J. Whittaker, The sl]jd system: a Scandinavian contributio
tion with special reference to Britain, M.A. thesis, University of Liv
3. For a useful summary of the views of Laban, see R. Laban, Mast
ment, ed. Lisa Ullmann (London: MacDonald & Evans, Ig60). See also
Dance and dance drama in education (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 19
ch. I I.
4. There is no one simple introduction to the history of musical education; for a
useful perspective, see Brian Brocklehurst, Response to music: principles of
musical education (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, I971).
5. Musical notation has, of course, a long history. For an attempt to devise a paral-
lel system for movement, see A. Hutchinson, Labanotation (London: MacDonald
& Evans, 1954).
6. V. Lowenfeld, The nature of creative activity (New York: Harcourt Brace &
World, 1939).
7. Sir Herbert Read, Education through art (London: Faber, 1943). For one philo-
123

34.192.2.131 on Thu, 31 Mar 2022 17:37:54 UTC
sopher's view see also L. A. Reid, Ways of knowledge and ex

Allen & Unwin, 1961).
8. N. M. Beattie, 'Nonverbal aspects of the teaching and learni
guages' (forthcoming).
9. B. Bernstein, Class, codes and control: 3-Towards a theory of
missions (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975), 138.
Io. For some indication of a psychologist's approach to such issu
W. Labarre, 'The cultural basis of emotions and gestures', Jo
ality, 16, 1947, 49-68, esp. 65.
Si. See for example W. M. Craig and J. L. Collins, 'Analysis of
interaction in classes for deaf children', American Annals of
1970, 79-85-
12. In association with studies of classroom behaviour by Profe
members of our own group, D. S. Finlayson and Sylvia Quirk, a
aspects of these interpersonal and intrapersonal differences.
13. An example of a best-selling treatment is Julius Fast, Body
Souvenir Press Ltd. and Pan Books Ltd., 1971). This book was
in the U.S.A. in 1970. On the front cover there is a young lady
verbal communication of a fairly positive kind.
14. An example of an 'academic' volume within the general fi
communication, embodying extensive research findings, is A
verbal communication (Chicago: Aldine Press, 1972).
15. For example (in addition to those already cited): D. C. Spee
communication (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 197
Non-verbal communication (London: C.U.P., 1972); M. L. Kn
communication in human interaction (New York: Holt, Rine
1972); L. Krames et al. (eds.), Advances in the study of com
affect. Vol. I. Non-verbal communication (New York: Plenu
1974); Shirley Weitz (ed.), Nonverbal communication: reading
tary (London: Oxford U.P., 1974). Each of these represents a
sis but draws widely on the available literature. The most com
single author is the excellent new volume by Michael Argyle, B
tion (London: Methuen, 1975).
16. G. H. Jamieson, 'Television in the observation of teaching',
tional Television (in press).
17. E. Goffman, The presentation of self in everyday life (New
'959).
18. See for example P. Evans, P. Ellsworth and W. V. Friesen, Emotion in the
human face: guidelines for research and an integration of findings (New York:
Pergamon Press, 1972). Also on young children in England, E. C. Grant,
'Human facial expression', Man, 4, 4, December 1969.
i9. R. L. Birdwhistell, Kinesics and context: essays on body-motion communication
(London: Allen Lane, Penguin Press, 1971).
20. M. Argyle, 'Non-verbal communication in human social interaction', in R. A.
Hinde, op. cit. See also M. Argyle, The psychology of interpersonal behaviour
(Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1973), and Bodily communication (London:
Methuen, 1975) (see note 15 above).
21. W. J. Livesley and D. B. Bromley, Person perception in childhood and adoles-
cence (London: John Wiley & Sons, 1973).
22. S. Quirk, Person perception: implications for the classroom, unpublished M.Ed.
dissertation, University of Liverpool, 1975. See also note 12 above.
124

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NON-VERBAL ELEMENTS IN EDUCATION: SOME NEWr PERSPECTIVES
23. E. T. Hall, The hidden dimension (New York: Doubleday, 1966).

24. R. Sommer, Personal space (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1959). See
also M. Argyle, ut supra (note 15), esp. ch. I6.
25. N. G. Blurton-Jones (ed.), Ethological studies of child behaviour (London: Cam-
bridge U.P., 1972).
26. M. V. R. Chance, Special groups of monkeys, apes and men (London; Jonathan
Cape, 1971).
27. E. C. Grant, op. cit.
98. P. K. Smith and K. Connolly, 'Patterns of play and social interaction in pre-
school children', in N. Blurton-Jones, op. cit., ch. 3; K. Connolly and P. K.
Smith, 'Reactions of pre-school children to a strange observer', in N. Blurton-
Jones, op. cit., ch. 6.
29. See V. Reynolds and Ann Guest, 'A physiological study of 6-7 year-old school-
children', Biology and Human Affairs (forthcoming). Another interesting study
associated with the foregoing is Susan Oldman, An observational study of the
social behaviour of a class of 5-7 year-old children, unpublished thesis for the
degree of M.Sc., Bristol, 1973.
30. See W. A. L. Blyth, 'The sociometric study of children's groups in English
schools', British Journal of Educational Studies, 8, 2, I960, I27-47. Significantly,
the journal Sociometry itself now covers aspects of social psychology relevant to
non-verbal communication, notably proxemics.
31. Part of ongoing research hitherto unpublished.
32. Some idea of the present state of study and knowledge in semiotics can be found
in the journal Semiotica, and more specifically in J. Kristeva et al. (eds.), Essays
in semiotics (Atlantic Heights, N.J.: Humanities Press Inc., I971). See also P.
Guiraud, Semiology (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, I975).
33- McLuhan's work has enjoyed a wide range of popularity and comment. For a
discussion of non-verbal communication, see especially The Gutenberg Galaxy
(London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962).
34. See for example A. E. Scheflen, Body language and the social order: communica-
tion and behavioural control (New York: Prentice Hall, 1972).
35. For illustrations of how pathological conditions can lead to misinterpretations
of gesture and expression, see e.g. J. Ruesch, and W. Kees, Nonverbal com-
munication: notes on the visual perception of human relations (Berkeley and Los
Angeles: Univ. of Calif. Press, 1972), esp. ch. 17.
36. M. Argyle ut supra (note I5), 239-40.
37- See however Elizabeth Richardson, Group study for teachers (London: Rout-
ledge & Kegan Paul, 1967), and The environment of learning (London: Nelson,
1967); also comment in M. Argyle, ut supra (note 15), 311-12.
38. Barbara M. Grant and Dorothy G. Hemmings, The teacher moves: an analysis
of non-verbal activity (New York: Teachers College Press, 1971). A relevant
English work is G. Yarlott, Education and children's emotions (London: Weiden-
feld & Nicolson, 1972). See also P. Chambers, 'Observation of non-verbal aspects
of teaching behaviour: implications for teacher education curricula', Research
Intelligence
I6-18. (Bulletin of the British Educational Research Association), 2, I1975,
39. M. L. Knapp, 'The role of nonverbal communication in the classroom', Theory

into practice, Io, 4, October I971, 243-49.
40. R. L. French, 'Analysing and improving nonverbal communication', ibid., 305-
309.
41. W. A. L. Blyth, K. R. Cooper, R. Derricott, G. Elliott, H. M. Sumner and
125

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A. Waplington, Place, time and society 8-13. Curriculum developm

tory, geography and social science (Glasgow: Collins, I976), Section
42. Ibid., Section 2.2.
43. E.g. Keele Integrated Studies Project; Mathematics for the Major
tion Project; Communication Skills in Early Childhood; implicitly
too. The Keele Project has included some treatment of non-verba
its published materials.
44. See P. McPhail, J. R. Ungoed-Thomas and Hilary Chapman, Mor
in the secondary schools, Schools Council Project in Moral Educat
Longmans, 1972).
45. For some discussion of the technical problems involved, see R. W
Adelman, A guide to classroom observation (London: Methuen,
J. O. Thompson, J. P. Baggaley and G. H. Jamieson, 'Representa
and the study of communication', Journal of Educational Televis
2 -3.
126

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