Hook: In the opening scene of Lie to Me, Cal Lightman, a world renowned expert in nonverbal communication, is interrogating a prisoner. However, he has a problem. The prisoner will not speak.
Thesis: Because of the unique context of writing lab tutorials, nonverbal communication skill should be considered as a factor in tutor hiring, tutor training, and tutor evaluation.
Body 1: Nonverbal signs of frustration, boredom, and anxiety, call for specific tutoring techniques.
Body 2: Knowledge of NVC differences between cultures is crucial for reducing misunderstandings and foreign language anxiety on the part of the tutee.
Body 3: Knowledge of NVC leads to more caution in making judgments, and an increase in making accurate ones.
Body 4: Training has been shown to improve recognition of emotions, affect displays.
Body 5: Although some may protest that rhetorical and grammatical knowledge are more significant for tutoring, interpersonal communication abilities like nonverbal communication are still crucial for tutors. NVC should not be the primary factor considered, but it shoudl not be ignored.
Closing: Clever Hans
I am not suggesting that any Writing Center consultant will be as skillful as Dr. Lightman, but I am suggesting that they should be as clever as that horse.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
"Some of us took this job because we were good with books, not because we were good with people."
ReplyDelete-NVC makes tutors more capable of warm, confident, and engaging conversations.
-It enables us to read signals of student boredom, frustration, and anxiety.
-It offers an illuminating example of how written and spoken communication differ.
-It makes us better cross-cultural communicators.