VERBAL AND

NON-VERBAL
COMMUNICATION
 “Verbal
Communication.”
We may often think that, having good
communication skills is all about the ability to
speak well…..
Or all about “SPEAKING.”
 We are right……
But only 50% right.
Because….
Verbal Communication has another very important part……
“LISTENING”.

“Speaking” + “Listening” = “Verbal Communication.”

Broadly, LISTENING may be classified
into…

Sympathetic Listening
and
Empathetic Listening.
 Sympathetic LISTENING…

• In sympathetic listening we care about the other person

and show this concern in the way we pay close attention
and express our sorrow for their ills and happiness at their
joys.
• In other words there is “sharing” of feelings.
 Example for sympathetic listening…

On your way back from office, you slip and fall and hurt your
back. When you reach home your family members “Feel”
for you.
They “share” your hurt feelings and maybe even shed a tear
in sympathy.
 Empathetic LISTENING…
• When we listen empathetically, we go beyond sympathy to
seek a truer understanding of how others are feeling. This
requires excellent discrimination and close attention to
emotional signals. When we are being truly empathetic, we
actually acknowledge what they are feeling.
• In order to get others to expose these deep parts of
themselves to us, we also need to demonstrate our empathy
in our demeanor towards them, listening sensitively and in a
way that encourages self-disclosure
 Example for empathetic listening …
On your way back from office, you slip and fall and hurt
your back. You visit your doctor.
Your doctor does not share your feelings.
He does not reject or trifle your feelings, but on the
contrary, he acknowledges your feelings totally and
treats you for your injuries.
Here, there is no “sharing” of feelings, but
acknowledgement of “feelings.”
 Speaking consists of two parts…

1) “What to Speak.”
and

2) “How to Speak.”
 1) “What to Speak.”

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT:
*The first step is Brainstorming.
*The next step is to choose a Presentation Format/
Storage System.
*The Final step is the Presentation itself.
 Brain Storming…

• Individual Brainstorming is the process of you getting your

ideas out on paper.
• The idea is to put down all of / most of your ideas on paper.
This has two advantages.
• 1.It encourages the unrestricted flow of thoughts.
• 2. It facilitates the comparative evaluation of ideas . Once
on paper, you have the opportunity of ranking your ideas in
terms of importance and efficacy. You may now put your
ideas against one another and choose the best ones.
 Putting them all together…

Now that we know what we are going to speak, we

need to put down all our ideas in the most
presentable manner.

We need a Format as per which we may

present these Ideas. We may call it a
Presentation/Display Format or a Storage System.
 Need for Storage Systems…
Asked a question, “Do we forget due to nervousness or
Do we get nervous due to forgetting?”

Eg. “What if you had to recite the alphabet in front of an

audience?”…
“would you get nervous?” … “Obviously Not!”

Or…
 Why do we get Nervous?

Nervousness does not cause as much Forgetting as…..

Forgetting causes Nervousness.

*One of the main causes of Nervousness is “Forgetting”,

or rather, “The Fear of Forgetting”.

*In other words, we would not get nervous if we knew

for certain that we would not forget…our lines.
 So, to prevent forgetting, we need …

A Good Storage System or

A Good Retrieval System….

A Good Storage System or Display Format, also makes it

easy for our listeners to understand our Ideas easily.

Let us check out a few of these “Filing Systems.”

 Storage System 1

IBC…Introduction, Body, Conclusion format…

1.Introduce the Topic or what you are going to say.
2.In the Body, add a few Supporting ideas to build further.
3.End with appropriate Conclusion.
 Storage System 2

WHPI…
1.What… Begin with the End/Conclusion….
2.How….How do we support the Conclusion..
3.Prove It…. Using examples/Case Studies/Statistics.
4.Conclude with… I hope I have been able to…..(use
conclusion used in the beginning).
 Storage System 3

Time Sequence…
1.Start with Reference/Relevance to The Past…
2.Continue with Reference/Relevance to The Present…
3.Project The Future (With Personal Touch).
 Storage System 4

+ve , -ve, personal touch

1.Introduction with +ve (advantages/strengths).
2.Continue with –ve (disadvantages/weaknesses).
3.Give your Personal opinion based on how you’ve
evaluated the +ve and –ve.
 2) “How to Speak.”

Guidelines…
• Speed
• Clarity
• Punctuation
• Pronunciation
• Familiarity
• Fluency
• Expression
 Speed

Speed….number of words per minute.

• Slowing down on rate of speech is the first step towards
better speech.
 Clarity

Clarity…if audible & free of distortion.

• Speech should be loud enough to carry to all the
listeners.
• Voice Clarity can be mastered with regular practice.
 Pronunciation

Pronunciation….
• Always remember that English is not "phonetic". That
means that we do not always say a word the same way
that we spell it.
• Use a Good Dictionary or work with your Trainer to
Correct pronunciation.
 Punctuation

Punctuation…use of various kinds of pauses.

• Pause at Full Stops.
• Pause at Commas.
• Pause at Semi colons.
• Pause at Interjection marks.
• Pause at Question marks.
 Familiarity

Familiarity with words used.

• Learning new words…
• Using known words in new contexts…
• Understanding contexts and situations before reading
again..
 Fluency

Fluency…Able to express easily.

• Developing Fluency is a matter of having all the other
parameters in place.
• Fluency indicates that a comfortable working ability with
the language has been established.
 Expression

Expression…transforming of ideas into words

Expression of different feelings with words,word stress,
tone, pitch and inflection.
 Non-Verbal
Communication (NVC)
 Definition of NVC

“All communication other than that involving words and

language”

“Bodily communication, other than words and language”

 Relationship between NVC,
Language & Culture
• When travelling, we do not, on the whole, make the assumption
that everyone will understand our first and preferred language

• Most of us accept we must either learn a new language or rely

entirely on verbal signals for communication

• We assume we will have no difficulty in decoding non-verbal clues

• We need to be aware of the enormous range and diversity of

non-verbal behaviour
 NVC, Language & Culture

• Even in the secure territory of your own familiar culture,

care is needed in the interpretation of non-verbal clues

• Jumping to conclusions about meanings of non-verbal

clues can be dangerous
 Categorisation of NVC –
Paralanguage
PARALANGUAGE consists of the non-verbal elements that
accompany speech. It includes:
- The way we speak (also known as prosodic features)
- Volume, pitch, intonation, speed of delivery, articulation,
rhythm
- The sounds we make other than language
- Laughter, crying, yawning, sighing, screeching, coughing
- Filled pauses such as ‘Mmmm’, ‘Ahhh’, ‘Ummm’ (Fillers)
 Categorisation of NVC – Physical
Appearance

• Clothing, hairstyle, make-up, jewellery,

tattoos, piercings, glasses, facial hair,
accessories such as bags
 Categorisation of NVC – Physical
Appearance

• Many societies had (and some still do have) highly

regulated codes of dress, often linked to rank and status
• It is the body’s capacity to communicate aspects of an
individual’s identity which makes us so aware of our
physical appearance
 Categorisation of NVC – Physical
Appearance

• Self expression in contemporary culture is also limited

by requirements to wear uniforms or to observe dress
codes
• Not necessarily restricted to schools and public services
• Many corporations and organisations expect employees
to communicate a corporate rather than an individual
identity
 Further Categories of NVC -
Activity

- Body movement (kinesics)

- Closeness (proxemics)
- Touching (haptics)
- Eye movement
- Smells
Body Movement - Kinesics

• Gesture, facial expression, posture, head nodding,

orientation
• Emblems – gestures with specific cultural meanings
attached
• Illustrators reinforce words of speakers
• Adapters are unconscious gestures to relieve stress or
boredom
• Posture is heavily laden with value judgements
 Closeness - Proxemics

• Study of how we use space and distance

• Includes seating arrangements, queuing and territoriality
• Ideas of ‘personal space’, ‘invasion of personal space’ and
‘comfort zones’
• Use of objects as ‘markers’ to indicate ownership of space
Proxemics
Touching - Haptics

• Physical contact such as holding, stroking, shaking hands,

guiding
• Linked to proxemics
• Touch is very important in our early development
• Many rules and taboos regulating physical contact
 Eye Movement

• Eye movement, length and direction of gaze, changes in

pupil size
• We are hypersensitive to information imparted by eyes
• Can be argued eyes reveal the truthfulness of what is
being said
Smell

• Humans do not have a particularly well-developed sense

of smell compared with other species
• Perfumes and deodorants send powerful messages, as
can the natural body odours we try to suppress
 Complex Messages

• Rare for these non-verbal codes to operate in

isolation from one another, or separately from
language
• We create and perceive messages using signs from
a range of verbal and non-verbal codes
• To make this even more complex, these signs and
codes to not always pull in the same direction
 Communicative Competence
A competent communicator will:
- Recognise and use different verbal and non-verbal styles
as they are suited to different social situations
- Recognise the relation between verbal and non-verbal
elements in communication
- Compensate for possible misinterpretations in
communication with others
 The Functions of NVC

• Communicating feelings, emotions and attitudes

• Replacing and regulating language

 Communicating Feelings,
Emotions and Attitudes
• NVC has a particularly important role in establishing and
maintaining relationships, otherwise known as an
affective function
• We rely more heavily on NVC in this area of personal
communication
• Looks, glances, changes in orientation allow others to
know what sort of relationship we want to have
• We use NVC to establish a mutually acceptable level of
intimacy
Replacing & Regulating Language

• Paralinguistic features, such as pitch, tone and

emphasis
• Throw in other non-verbal cues such as eyebrow
lifting or illustrators such as the use of the index
and first finger of both hands to indicate inverted
commas around a word
• Number of potential meanings rapidly increases
Replacing & Regulating Language

• Non-verbal cues also make a significant contribution of

conversation management
• Rules of turn taking allow us to have coherent discussions
without constantly talking over the top of each other
• Paralanguage, gaze, eye contact and head movement all play a
part
• It’s a set of rules that takes some time to grasp
• Women typically have a more cooperative conversational style
whereas men tend to provide less non-verbal feedback
 Other Functions

• Many other uses to which we put our non-verbal codes

including:
- self expression
- group membership
- persuasion
- indicating role