Professors' Perception of Students' Feelings in the Classroom: an Analysis Professors' Perception of Students' Feelings in the Classroom: an Analysis Descriptores Estudiantes Docentes Comunicación No Verbal Emociones Percepción Professors' Perception of Students' Feelings in the Classroom: an Analysis

The objecti ve of this study is to verify the diff erence in professors’ percepti on of students’ feelings before and aft er an explanatory presentati on on the theme. This is an exploratory study using a primary source, and a quanti tati ve approach with 13 Nursing and Medicine professors. A vide showing student images was presented to the professors, who answered a feeling-identi fi cati on questi onnaire, and, aft er an explanatory presentati on about non-verbal communicati on and feelings, the professors watched the same video and answered the questi onnaire again. As to the identi fi cati on of feelings, joy, anxiety, and interest were the most oft en identi fi ed. We found stati sti cally signifi cant values regarding the mean total score before and aft er the explanatory presentati on (p=0.02). The professor is capable of identi fying the feelings, but aft er the explanatory presentati on, their percepti on improved and they were able to make identi fi cati ons more oft en. DESCRIPTORS Students Faculty Nonverbal communicati on Emoti ons Percepti on RESUMEN El estudio objeti vó verifi car la diferencia en la percepción de los senti mientos de los alumnos por los profesores antes y después de una presentación explicati va sobre el tema. Estudio exploratorio de fuente primaria, abordaje cuanti tati vo con 13 profesores de Enfermería y Medicina. Un video con la imagen de los alumnos se presentó a los profesores que respondieron el cuesti onario de identi fi cación de senti mientos y, luego de una presentación explicati va sobre comunicación no-verbal y senti mientos, vieron el mismo video y respondieron nuevamente el cuesti onario. Respecto de identi fi cación de senti mientos, alegría ansiedad e interés fueron los más identi fi cados. Encontramos valores estadísti camente signifi cati vos en relación a la media de puntuación total antes y después de la presentación explicati va (p=0,02). El profesor es capaz de identi fi car los senti mientos, sin embargo luego de la presentación explicati va, su percepción mejoró y le fue posible identi fi car senti mientos mayor canti dad de veces. DESCRIPTORES Estudiantes Docentes Comunicación no verbal Emociones Percepción Aline Raquel Sgariboldi1, Ana Cláudia Giesbrecht Puggina2, Maria Júlia Paes da Silva3 ANÁLISE DA PERCEPÇÃO DOS PROFESSORES EM RELAÇÃO AOS SENTIMENTOS DOS ALUNOS EM SALA DE AULA ANÁLISIS DE LA PERCEPCIÓN DE LOS PROFESORES EN RELACIÓN A LOS SENTIMIENTOS DE LOS ALUMNOS EN SALA DE CLASES * Taken from the monograph “Análise da percepção dos professores em relação aos sentimentos dos alunos em sala de aula”, Nursing Course Conclusion, Faculdade de Medicina de Jundiaí, 2008. 1RN, Faculdade de Medicina de Jundiaí. Jundiaí, SP, Brazil. [email protected] 2RN. Ph.D. student, University of São Paulo School of Nursing. Assistant Professor, Faculdade de Medicina de Jundiaí. Member of the Study and Research Group on Communication in Nursing at the University of São Paulo School of Nursing. São Paulo, SP, Brazil. [email protected] www.claudiapuggina.com 3RN. Full Professor, Medical-Surgical Nursing Department, University of São Paulo School of Nursing. Director, Nursing Department, University Hospital, University of São Paulo. Coordinator of the Study and Research Group on Communication in Nursing. São Paulo, SP, Brazil. [email protected] Received: 07/30/2009 Approved: 12/02/2010 Português / Inglês www.scielo.br/reeusp 1202 Rev Esc Enferm USP 2011; 45(5):1201-7 www.ee.usp.br/reeusp/ Professors’ perception of students’ feelings in the classroom: an analysis Sgariboldi AR, Puggina ACG, Silva MJP Motivation is a condition internal to individuals and, in learning, feelings, interpersonal relations, affection, cultural differences, beliefs and values are involved. INTRODUCTION The etymological origins of the word communicate go back to the Lati n word communicare, which means to make common(1). Communicati on is defi ned as a form of understanding and sharing messages that are sent and received. For this act, the issuer, receiver, message, channel and response should be present(2). Interpersonal communicati on can be divided in verbal and nonverbal communicati on. Verbal communicati on is associated with the words expressed through writt en or spoken language, while nonverbal communicati on involves all behavioral manifestati ons not directly expressed through words. Nonverbal communicati on is the informati on obtained through postures, facial expressions, gestures, body orientati ons, somati c parti culariti es, distance maintained among individuals and even the organizati on of objects in space(3). According to social psychology research, it is esti mated that only 7% of thoughts are expressed through words, 38% through paralinguisti c signs (pitch, speed of words said, among others) and 55% through bodily signs, that is, nonverbal(3). Nonverbal signs provide diff erent meanings and have four main functi ons in the interpersonal communicati on process, which are: complementi ng verbal communicati on, replacing verbal communicati on, contradicting verbal communicati on and demonstrating feelings. Demonstrati ng feelings means demonstrati ng any emoti on that is not just through words, but mainly through facial expressions(3). A percepti ve or intuiti ve person refers to people with the ability to read other people’s body language signs and compare them with the verbal signs, thus identi fying contradicti ons(4). Human emoti on is the acti vati on of a complex and elaborate neural network that promotes a very miscellaneous repertoire of behavioral responses(5). Feeling is defi ned as the faculty or ability to feel and receive mental impressions. In additi on, it is considered a set of emoti ons(6). Human beings’ face can show emoti ons. It is considered a means for communicati ng and translati ng practi cally all reacti ons or emoti ons(7-8). It is presumed that we are capable of making and recognizing about 250 thousand facial expressions(9). The descripti ons of facial expressions of emoti ons have been summarized(8,10-11). Recognizing these facial epxressions can be fundamental for teachers to elaborate interventi ons and improve students’ learning. Teaching means sti mulati ng to identi fy and solve problems, it means helping to create new thought and acti on habits(12). Teaching also means interacti ng, approaching and making two diff erent universes dialogue(13). Some authors consider teachers’ knowledge transmission ability to be their main virtue. Informati on producti on, transmission and recepti on, however, is but one of the communicati on functi ons between teachers and students(12). Teachers need to arouse students’ att enti on and interest, mobilize their intelligence, be understood by the students and induce them towards expression and dialogue, beyond mere preoccupati on with exposing their course; in other words, they need to communicate adequately(12). Teachers need to address various student aspects, including aff ecti on, percepti ons, expression, senses, criti cism, creati vity(8). In additi on, verbal and nonverbal communicati on behaviors exist that can moti vate students to learn. Moti vati on is a conditi on internal to individuals and, in learning, feelings, interpersonal relati ons, aff ecti on, cultural diff erences, beliefs and values are involved(14). In educati on, the feedback resource is used, which is informati on the students receive about their performance in a given situati on or acti vity(15). When that feedback is provided, nonverbal communicati on is very important, as the teachers need to interpret and validate the students’ nonverbal communicati on. If this validati on does not take place, the interpretati on can be distorted and the change in behavioral standards may not occur, thus impeding the learning process. Nonverbal signs that can be observed in students in the classroom, during the learning process, include: body posture, locati on in the classroom, eye contacts, clothing, facial expression, voice volume, interpersonal distance maintained, touch and head movements(3). In a theoreti cal class, understanding is more evident when interacti on occurs between teacher and student. At that moment, there is a constant exchange between diff erent communicati on levels. Interacti on with the students involves the percepti on of teachers and students’ behavior, so as to adjust the class according to the detected reacti on and intervene in diff erent ways to guarantee moti vati on and enhance retenti on(16). Universiti es, in turn, are committ ed to preparing and raising teachers’ awareness about their role as communicators, so that teaching is fl exible and up-to-date(17). Some teachers have higher personal limits than others to develop the percepti on to identi fy the students’ feelings in class. One of the hypotheses regarding why this happens is when teachers are starti ng their teaching carreer and possibly because they are concerned with transmitti ng class informati on and contents. Also, some higher educati on insti tuti ons do not grant teachers the conditi ons to