Nonverbal communication literacy of engineering students: Reading of nonverbal behaviour

Abstract

Nonverbal communication literacy can be defined as a system of knowledge and skills that enables a person to understand or decode nonverbal signs in various communication situations and to use appropriate nonverbal signs (or encode) in a particular situation. Nonverbal communication literacy is a supportive basis of successful verbal communication. Nonverbal communication signs are more effective than verbal exchange in some cases. Engineering students’ education in the field of verbal and nonverbal communication is an important part of their professional development. Nonverbal communication literacy and interaction involvement are in the focus of the paper. Two instruments are used: Interaction involvement scale and Questionnaire of reading nonverbal signs. The sample consists of 116 engineering students: a half of them attended communication courses during one semester at the beginning of their university education. The results indicate the existing differences between engineering students who attended and the students who did not attend these courses: the students in the first group have a higher level of interaction involvement (attentiveness) and interpret nonverbal signs more precisely and with more details than the students in the second group. Both groups develop a moderate level of interaction involvement and relatively low level of nonverbal communication literacy. It is necessary to strengthen engineering students’ communication competence and nonverbal communication literacy as its imminent constituent.