Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

Hello and welcome to this presentation which covers verbal and nonverbal communication and their various aspects.

This section starts off with exploring verbal communication. Verbal communication can be described as the exchange of meaning or, rather, the sharing of information through either spoken or written words (Hamilton, 2016). In other words, verbal communication is when people utilize spoken or written words to pass a certain message, including expressing one’s thoughts or feelings.

This section also showcases an example of verbal communication to help illustrate the importance of accurate verbal communication in interpersonal interactions. Accordingly, the example contains communication between a customer and their producer. At first, the customer expresses their dissatisfaction with the product sent to them by the producer; however, their cause of dissatisfaction is not accurately communicated. The producer then replies and inquires about what exactly caused the client’s dissatisfaction so that they can fix it. After this specific inquiry, the customer gives an accurate answer to what they prefer for their products, and as such, successful communication occurs between the two.

There are various principles of verbal communication, but this section will only cover two principles. The first principle is syntactic, also called syntax. Syntax refers to the rules of verbal communication that govern a sentence’s structure or order (Hamilton, 2016). This principle is used to arrange a sentence in a way that makes it easy to communicate. It dictates the who or what, how, why when, and how these should be placed in a sentence. A strong syntax is marked by the proper choice of words, a subject-verb agreement, and the correct order of words. Consider the example given above of the syntax in verbal communication. “The chairman requested a meeting tomorrow”, the secretary announced to the council members. Here, it is clear who the subject is as well as the verb, the words are in the correct order, and the words are also proper. The individuals to whom the secretary conveyed this message understood everything she said in her verbal message. Suppose she did not apply the principle of syntax; her message would have been something like “Tomorrow chairman for a meeting requested”, which is quite difficult to understand because there is a disarrangement of words, and it can also be interpreted in different ways.

The second principle of verbal communication is the pragmatic principle. Accordingly, this principle governs both the meaning and choice of words in accordance with the context and social customs (Hamilton, 2016). Contexts vary from place to place; for example, in an office meeting, the context differs from that of people at a wedding reception or basking on a beach. The same applies to social customs or accepted behavior between people having a conversation. An example of how the pragmatic principle applies is shown above. In the conversation between the two sisters, the context and social customs make it acceptable for these two to engage in banter that has sarcasm. However, this would not be acceptable if they were talking to a stranger or someone they know professionally.

This section will cover nonverbal communication. Notably, nonverbal communication is described as a communication process that does not involve the use of either written or spoken words. Rather, this form of communication uses other ways to convey a message, including body posture, facial expressions, hand gestures, and voice tone (Hamilton, 2016). To elaborate, body postures, like a person turning their back on someone, could be used to send the message that they do not want to talk to that person or even that they do not like them. Further, a thumbs-up gesture indicates approval or agreement, depending on the context. Lastly, a scowled facial expression conveys displeasure.

To elaborate further, the above conversation is an example of nonverbal communication in interpersonal communication. In the conversation, the shop attendant observes the customer’s face to gauge whether they like a particular dress. One can tell between a happy face and a disappointed face; this is what the seller uses to help the customer in their shopping experience and help them find whatever they want.

Two main principles of nonverbal communication include irreversibility and fluidity (Hollinden, 2017). Irreversibility means that, unlike verbal communication, which can be retracted, nonverbal communication is unretractable. Most nonverbal communication reveals the true meaning behind the communication. For example, suppose someone says happy words with a disgusted face; the message’s recipient will take the meaning of the nonverbal communication instead of the words spoken. This meaning can also not be changed because it is considered the most honest way of communicating, mostly because it’s unconscious and hence rarely fake. The second principle of nonverbal communication is fluidity which means that it is constant and there is a seamless transition from one cue to another. This demands careful attention to be able to understand each cue and not miss any as well.

An example of irreversibility provided above showcases a conversation between a clothing store attendant and a customer who happens to be overweight. Even though the attendant’s words are polite and welcoming, their nonverbal communication communicates something else. The customer, John, reads this cue as impolite and decides not to shop there anymore. Even if the attendant was to apologize, their real thoughts had already been shown, and there was no way John would be comfortable having this attendant help them while in the shop.

The second example showcases how the principle of fluidity applies to nonverbal communication. Here, Emily makes a sauce and asks her sister to taste it and tell her whether it is good. Emily also looks at Mary’s facial reactions to determine whether she likes the sauce or not. Her reactions end up being exactly what Emily expected for someone who would love the sauce because she knew how the taste worked. Mary’s series of reactions before she even utters a word are the fluidity of nonverbal communication, which makes this communication challenging to single out since they occur constantly. As such, nonverbal communication requires extra attention during the entire communication process to avoid missing anything. If Emily had only observed the first facial reactions from Mary and missed the rest, she would have been convinced that the sauce was terrible, which would have been wrong.

Nonverbal communication has several cues, with facial expressions being one of the major ones because the human face happens to be extremely expressive (Bunglowala & Bunglowala, 2015). In addition, unlike other nonverbal communication cues, facial expressions are universal, meaning that most facial expressions for various emotions are the same across cultures. For example, a scowl shows displeasure across many cultures and ages, and a smile shows happiness, while a gloomy face shows sadness. The second cue is voice tone. One can distinguish a happy voice tone and an angry tone, whether high or low-pitched (Bunglowala & Bunglowala, 2015). The last nonverbal cue given here is hand gestures. Hand gestures can be used to communicate various things, including pointing at things and emphasizing something one is talking about by pointing at them, like when teaching. Examples of hand gestures depending on context are seen in covert operations where soldiers communicate using hand gestures because they cannot talk at that moment.

Looking at the examples, facial expressions as explained above, are universal. In this example, Dan decided to approach a girl at the bar. Suppose the girl gave a blank or displeased look; he would have taken that as a sign she did not want to talk. However, by smiling, Dan knew she was open to conversing with him. The second example of nonverbal cues is voice tone. In the above example, Bethany could tell from her mother’s tone that she was furious about something that required her quick action to see what was wrong, mostly her fault, which brought about her mother’s reaction.

The last example is hand gestures. Here, the person could not verbally communicate what they wanted, so they went with universally recognized hand gestures, including a thumbs up to express their approval and satisfaction and intertwined hands for gratefulness.

In this section, which is the last part of this presentation, the positive influence that words and symbols can have on interpersonal communication is shown using examples. In example one, there is a nervous Tom who is talking about his work which he knows is good, but he also needs his investors to believe in it so that they provide funding. His friend Jane notices his worries and uses words of affirmation to encourage him, and he gets excited, what follows is a great conversation between the two friends.

The second example shows the impact symbols have on communication. Symbols not only build on communication but also on thoughts (Vallotton & Ayoub, 2010). In this example, it is a segue of Tom now with the investors presenting his project. Investors nod, which serves as a symbol of approval of Tom’s project, which then impacts their communication positively, mostly by encouraging Tom to finish his presentation confidently. Suppose, in both cases, Tom was faced with negative words and symbols; the conversation would have most likely taken a completely different direction leading to negative results for his project.

References

Vallotton, C. D., & Ayoub, C. C. (2010). Symbols build communication and thought: The role of gestures and words in the development of engagement skills and social‐emotional concepts during toddlerhood. Social development, 19(3), 601-626.

Hollinden, C. (2017). The 5 key principles of nonverbal communication. Association for Financial Professionals. https://www.afponline.org/ideas-inspiration/topics/articles/Details/the-5-key-principles-of-nonverbal-communication

Bunglowala, A., & Bunglowala, A. (2015). Nonverbal communication: An integral part of teaching learning process. International Journal of Research in Advent Technology, 1, 371-375.teaching-learning

Hamilton, C. M. (2016). Communicating for success. Routledge.

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Your employer has asked you to present on verbal and nonverbal communication practices. You must prepare a PowerPoint presentation, creating one slide for each of the topics below. Be sure to include your speaker notes in the Notes section below each slide. Include a minimum of three relevant citations throughout your presentation.

Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

Using the Unit 4 Assignment Template, please respond to the following:

Slide 1: Title Slide

Slide 2: What is verbal communication? Provide one example to illustrate the importance of accurate verbal communication in interpersonal interactions.

Slide 3: What are two principles of verbal communication? Provide one example of how each can be applied in interpersonal communication.

Slide 4: What is nonverbal communication? Provide one example to illustrate the importance of accurate nonverbal communication in interpersonal interactions.

Slide 5: What are two principles of nonverbal communication? Provide one example of how each can be applied in interpersonal communication.

Slide 6: Identify three types of nonverbal cues. Provide one example of how each can be applied in interpersonal communication.

Slide 7: Provide two examples of how words and symbols can be used to positively influence interpersonal communication.

Slide 8: Reference