People express what they think and feel using languages. A language is a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of signs, sounds, gestures, or symbols that have been conventionalized within a culture where they have understood meanings. Here are some of the languages that are found across cultures: speaking, signing, singing, dancing, acting, writing, drawing, painting, sculpting and instrumental music. Languages reflect traditions and styles that evolve over time. How many genres of music, for example, can you name in Western culture (e.g. classical, opera, musical, jazz, blues, blue grass, country, dance, electronic, hiphop, rap, new age, pop, R&B, soul, alternative)?



Many sources of variation shape the message that is communicated in any language. By extension, the overall effectiveness of a communication depends upon how well these different sources are synthesized into a coherent whole. For example, in face-to-face verbal communication, volume, intonation, inflection, eye movements, facial expression, body posture, gestures and timing all qualify the meaning of the spoken words.



The development of this knowledge construction function enhances students' awareness of variables that contribute to an effective communication of thoughts and feelings. It makes them more sensitive communicators of information and better informed recipients of communications directed at them.



To mediate the development of this knowledge construction function:



1) Have your students come up with as many different variables that influence communication as they can. Have them do this for different languages one language at a time (e.g. speaking, acting, drawing).



2) Have students silently portray different emotions and scenarios while others use the non-verbal cues to identify their intent.



3) Have students experiment with the variables that enter into effective communication by rearranging or leaving some of them out.



For example, have them try to communicate without body language, speaking in a flat monotone, smiling in the wrong places, or having angry eyes accompany tender words. Have pairs of students act out such scenarios in front of their classmates as a basis for discovery, analysis and discussion of this knowledge construction function. Have fun!



We all have our own unique style - a fact that is the bread and butter of impressionists. Using available media and resources have students watch and listen to different present-day or historical figures and have them discuss the characteristics of their unique way of synthesizing communicational variables. Have students discuss how different communicational styles may accompany different positions in society (e.g. clergy, doctors, military commanders, politicians, salesmen) and how communicational styles can be used both to lead and to mislead. Have them focus on gestures, word selection, intonation and body language.



Gestures and body language evolve to become shared characteristics within cultural groups and subgroups. Known as kinesics these gestures and movements can provide a language of symbols and signs, a phraseology of their own, which functions as a supportive backdrop to a person's verbal communication. People develop their own characteristic style by adding their own variations and nuances to all the variables that influence communication.



Little conscious attention is afforded to kinesics - until they are missing! What are some of the kinesics in your culture? Can you tell just by watching someone's movements and gestures if he is a member of your culture? How can you tell? Newcomers often absorb at least some of the kinesics of their adopted culture sometimes, in the first stages, through conscious imitation. The success of such efforts is a reminder that even deep seated aspects of communication can be brought under some measure of cognitive control. An emphasis upon this knowledge construction function often plays a part in efforts to familiarize immigrants with a new culture. It also plays a role in efforts to increase awareness of different patterns of communication in different cultures. Accomplished actors learn to synthesize the kinesics of the characters they portray in order to deliver compelling performances.