Happy, neutral, and unhappy visual expressions were combined with positive, neutral, and negative intonations of positive, neutral, and negative messages to investigate congruent and incongruent verbal/nonverbal classroom communication. The 53 students in the study viewed pictures of their teacher, listened to a recording of their teacher, then indicated whether the picture and the spoken sentence matched. Seeking to expand on right-left brain functioning, the researchers conducting the study presented the picture tachistoscopically to the students' right or left visual fields. The data showed that the expression on the classroom teacher's face and the intonation of the teacher's verbal statement had a greater impact on the subject's response time and accuracy level than did the content of the verbal statement. When a contradiction existed between the verbal and nonverbal cue presentations, the children relied on the nonverbal component of the presentation as the indicator of the accuracy of the communication event. Presentations to the right hemisphere produced more accurate interpretations of the nonverbal components of the messages than presentations to the left hemisphere. (Suggested readings related to self-concept, classroom expectations, and hemispheric processing are attached.) (RL)