Classroom Environment Nonverbal Observations

When sitting in a large lecture class with little discussion, people consciously and unconsciously find many ways to express their attitudes in the environment. Perhaps the most obvious of these are people who use the size of the environment to embrace distractions, unconsciously signaling their lack of concern for the subject of the lecture and perhaps even the idea of being a concerned student in general. These are students who surreptitiously text message with friends, do homework from other classes, or even do the reading for the class itself, using the lecture more as a glorified study hall than a place to focus and learn. Such students often sit at the back of the room to avoid attention. They may put their feet up on the seats to create a wall around themselves. Of course, even focused students will sometimes surround themselves with books and coats on the seats flanking them, to reduce the chance someone will sit near them. Unless a lecture hall is very crowded, it requires additional social confidence to ask someone to move.

The opposite end of the spectrum of focus and attention are the students who sit up at the front of the lecture hall, indicating their attention by nodding, smiling, and even making small noises of assent, depending upon what the professor says. Their open posture, as well as their smiling face and rapt gaze suggest approval and engagement. On the other hand, some students who disagree with the professor will sit with their arms folded, frowning, and feet planted in front of them. Students who do not understand what is being said may have a quizzical expression on their faces. They may also look around from time to time, to see if they are the only ones who are having difficulty understanding the professor.
It is also possible to spot unconscious and conscious social behavior, even in the silence of the classroom. Students may sit very close to one another, even share a book. Having a very open posture towards the person beside the other individual, looking into his or her eyes every so often, hair flipping, even running one’s finger over the page of a book are all suggestive of wanting greater closeness or intimacy. Some couples may hold hands, but a couple does not necessarily need to communicate through kissing or obvious displays of affection that they are much more than friends. The most obvious interpretation of this behavior, of course, is that two people who are romantically entangled wish to express their feelings for one another, but it is also possible to interpret this nonverbal communication as proudly communicating that they are a couple. It may also act a signal to other students not to engage in flirtatious behavior, given that they are both involved.
Friendship may be communicated in the form of students laughing together when they find something funny, whispering when someone does not understand something, or even passing paper notes when sitting very close together. Friends may make eye contact through the lecture. Or they may simply enter and leave at the same time, indicating that they share similar schedules, interests, and majors. Other students may communicate across the lecture hall, raising their hands, making eye contact, and pointing at a seat, to indicate that they will be sitting together. Again, there are practical aspects to this behavior, such as a desire for companionship or communicating that the students wish to share a seat with one another, but it can also be seen as communicating in a more complex fashion that these students are part of the same social tribe, that they have friends, and that they are desirable to be around.
Many of these messages are consciously communicated, but some may be so habitual, the student is not even aware of it. In the future, I will try to be more conscious of my own communication during class, such as how I hold my arms, the eye contact I make, and whether my behavior with others in class may be a distraction, even when I am not speaking aloud.