ERIC Number: ED239804
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1983
Pages: 33
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Nonverbal Communications Between American Indian Children and Their Teachers. Final Report.
Greenbaum, Paul
To examine the hypotheses that differences exist between Indians and non-Indians in the nonverbal regulation of conversation and that these differences cause functional difficulties in classroom interaction, the study quantitatively examined differences in the nonverbal repertoires of students and teachers in an American Indian school system and a predominantly middle class Anglo school system. Researchers videotaped 11 fifth and sixth grade class sessions in which Anglo teachers in Mississippi Choctaw Indian schools and Lawrence, Kansas, schools used a switchboard participation structure. Researchers recorded data with 2 cameras, one providing a wide field of view of the teacher and the class and the other recording the listener gaze of 18 students (8 Choctaw, 3 non-Choctaw Indians, and 7 non-Indians). The video tapes provided data on student utterances, turn switching pauses, listener gaze, butting-in interruptions, individual versus "choral" speaking, and teacher utterances and switching pauses. All utterances and switching pauses were precisely timed, and transcribed results supported the hypotheses, showing the Choctaw students spoke individually less often, used shorter utterances, interrupted the teacher more often, and gazed more a peers while the teacher was talking than their Anglo counterparts. Choctaw school teachers had longer switching pauses, asked more questions, and used shorter utterances to ask questions of individual students. (SB)
Descriptors: American Indian Culture, American Indian Education, American Indians, Anglo Americans, Classroom Environment, Classroom Research, Comparative Analysis, Cultural Differences, Elementary Education, Grade 5, Grade 6, Nonverbal Communication, Public Schools, Student Behavior, Student Teacher Relationship, Teacher Behavior, Verbal Communication
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Researchers
Language: English
Sponsor: National Inst. of Education (ED), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Native American Research Associates, Lawrence, KS.
Identifiers - Location: Kansas
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A