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Non-verbal communication between people is communication through sending and receiving

wordless clues. According to Larry A. Samovar in Haiyan Wang (2009), non-verbal


communication involves all those non-verbal stimuli in a communication setting that are
generated by both the source and his or her use of the environment and that have potential
message value for the source or receiver. Besides, Hickson (2010) in Fred C. Lunenburg stated
that non-verbal communication comes in many forms such as kinesics, proxemics,
paralanguage and chronemics. I agree that non-verbal communication is essential in human
communication.

Eye contact is one example of non-verbal communication. Ergin and Birol (2005), in
Canan P. Zeki (2008), indicate that the real communication between two persons begins when
two of the persons establish eye contact. Eye contact regulates the flow of communication by
signaling the beginning and end of the conversation. It also helps people to reflect their interest
and attention in communication. For instance, in a classroom, a teacher can use an eye contact
to check whether his or her student concentrates or not during the learning session. A teacher
should have a good eye contact with the students so he or she can know students have
something to say by looking at them and encourage them to listen to those doing the talking.

Facial expressions can give a wealth of information. People use facial expressions to
describe their feelings. The expressions that most cultures recognise are happiness, sadness,
anger, fear and surprise. For example, smiling shows happiness while frowning shows
dissatisfaction or anger. Rossman (1989) in Canan P. Zeki stated that teachers need to have a
good facial expression to create a convincing, but not confusing impact on the learner. In a
business matter, people use facial expression and eye contact to transmit several signals to
their counterparts and before negotiations start.

Furthermore, postures can help people to make right impression in many areas of life.
Non-verbal communication notes that posture may reveal even more about a person than verbal
communication does. For instance, open posture can show friendliness. It can be shown by
facing out the palms of our hands and also by sitting or standing up straight. Standing erect can
help people to show and build up their self-confidence. Postures are also important during an
interview session. Interviewers, for example tend to respond more favorably to job applicants
whose non-verbal cues, such as eye contact, and erect posture, are positive than to whose

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display negative non-verbal cues such as looking down or slouching. (Davis, 2001 ; Fred C.
Lunenburg, 2011) .

Next, body movement does play a vital role in non-verbal communication. People also
can show their responds by their body movements. This is because actions also can
communicate. Body language includes gestures, eye behavior, touching or any other movement
of the body. Gesture can describe how people feel. Francis Bacon in Dipical Patel (2014),
explored gestures as the reflection or extension of spoken communication while John Bulwer
looked at using gestures are important to improve speech-making. People tend to gesture more
when they are excited or energised. People will gesture less when they are nervous or afraid.
People likely to do the hand gestures. Body movement also includes unconscious movements
such as winking and slight movements of eyebrows.

One example of the body movement is when someone is opening his or her hands or
unfolding the arms, we can assume that the person will not bring any harm to us. When we
have closed body movement, people may think that we are hiding something from them. This
can be threatening to them. Other than that, when someone is motioning other person to come
closer, it means that he or she want to talk with that person. However, unnecessary body
movement can distract from delivery. For instance, if someone is moving a hand repetitively, it
may cause people to focus more on the movement rather than what he or she is saying. People
should know that body language is different from the sign language because it is a full language
like spoken language and has its own grammar system while body language does not have a
grammar system.

Moreover, people only think non-verbal communication includes body language, facial
expression and gesture. Non-verbal communication also includes clothing. The types of clothing
that someone wears can convey non-verbal cues about his or her personality, job, background,
and culture. Clothing helps people to demonstrate their mood, interest or even level of
confidence. Besides, clothing can be used as a nonverbal cue to attract others. For example, in
traditional festivals, people will use various types of clothes. People will identify someones
culture by looking his or her traditional clothes. People should have knowledge about clothing
for non-verbal communication. It will be useful not only gaining some initial understanding but
also in interacting with people. Our appearance influences how people will react to us. People
can inspire confidence and self-esteem through dress and grooming.

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As a conclusion, it is evident that non-verbal communication is essential in human
communication. The ability to understand and use non-verbal communication is a powerful tool
which can help in contact with others, face challenging situation and build better relationships
with the community. In the future, we have reasons to believe that non-verbal communication
will get a new development and change the patterns of communication.

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References

Blahova, M. (2015). Specific Role of Nonverbal Communication in Business. European

Scientific Journal, 10(11), pp.9-19.

Blake. How Much of Communication Is Really Nonverbal? Accessed on 10 September 2016


from

http://www.nonverbalgroup.com/2011/08/how-much-of-communication-is-really-

nonverbal.

Lunenburg. F.C. (2010). Louder Than Words : The Hidden Power of Nonverbal Communication

In the Workplace. International Journal of Scholarly Academic Intellectual Diversity,


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pp. 1-5.

Patel, D. (2014). Body language : An Effective Communication Tool. IUP Journal of English

Studies, 9(2).

Wang, H. (2009). Nonverbal communication and the Effect on Interpersonal Communication.

Asian Social Science Journal, 5(11), pp. 155-159.

Zeki, C.P. (2009). The Importance of Non-Verbal Communication in Classroom Management.

Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences Journal, pp. 1443-1449.

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