Communication, the Most Important Quality to Create Trust

Teaching communication aims to train the two factors involved, the teacher and the student, using verbal communication, written communication, non-verbal, paraverbal and visual communication and their combined forms. The message is transmitted and logically structured by the teacher on the basis of precise objectives, set out in the school curricula, while the style of communication is at the choice of the teacher, who can use a wide range of methods and strategies appropriate to the intellectual development of the students. The message must be sent in such a way that it is understood by the pupils, that corresponds to their level of knowledge. Self-regulating communication is done with feedback, which removes obstacles that can be encountered during communication.

Communication in the classroom is successfully achieved through heuristic dialogue, an interactive method in which the teacher and the student are both transmitter and receiver. Ideas change between them, complement each other’s ideas. The actor hidden in the teacher plays a special role in the process of transmitting knowledge to the student. The message conveyed by the educator, involvement, passion, safety, attire, posture are the basic elements of the success of the teaching process.

Communication competence involves the acquisition of knowledge and skills in several fields so that the teacher can ensure transdisciplinaryity in the classroom, involves knowledge of human and school psychology, the ability to connect with students, knowledge of their culture in order to be able to use the most appropriate nonverbal language.

The quality of the information, the way it is transmitted, i.e. the tone of the voice, the gestures that accompany it, can be even more important than the knowledge transmitted. A mutual association was discovered between the teacher and the student’s behaviour. (Skinner&Belmont, 1993). The teacher’s involvement emphasizes the students’ commitment to the classroom, which leads teachers to become more involved in teaching-learning. How teachers choose to manage students’ wrong behaviours in the classroom is the key to developing normal relationships in the class of students. The management of the teacher’s behaviour in such situations stipulates clear limits of tolerance of student behaviour during instructional-educational activity, reinforces the idea that the teacher will always respond firmly to deviant situations of behavior on the part of the students, creates opportunities to give the students the opportunity to analyze their own attitude and behaviour and implements attitudes on the part of the teacher in a way that communicates care and respect for the student. A perspective on teacher behaviour management as a distinct form of behaviour applies the notion that teachers can reduce the number of students with behavioural problems by spending more time with them. Teachers` empathy allows students to feel much safer in school, to feel more competent, eager for high goals and holding positive beliefs. On the other hand, conflicts with teachers can put students on the wrong path that they cannot connect to the academic and social resources provided by the school.

By their attitude, teachers are perceived in a certain way by the students, in turn the students are perceived by the teacher from the moment they enter the classroom. These impressions are important in forming the bonds that develop during school.

In the classroom, the teacher-student relationship is an important element that contributes to the student’s learning process. There is a significant increase in the dominant behavior of the teacher in the early years of his career, after which there is a setback.

Lessons in which students have multiple opportunities to communicate with the teacher are essential for the construction of the student’s knowledge. The teacher can guide students to form habits to search for questions and answers by encouraging them to ask their own questions on the topic discussed. When an educator creates a climate of respect in the classroom and encourages students to generate their own ideas, which involve scientific ways of thinking, there is a greater possibility that students will think deeply and not back down in the face of the hardships and challenges.

The exposure method used in the classroom does not provide opportunities to establish a relationship between the two communication agents. It is not appropriate for the teacher to consider the first answers received, often from the same student, or to answer questions alone and too quickly. He must give students time to think, listen to their opinion and encourage them to think and express out loud what they are thinking. If the lessons are more student-centred, during the activities students can formulate opinions about concepts, receive feedback from the teacher or colleagues and participate in discussions that can guide the direction of the lesson.

The components of the teacher-student relationship act in reciprocal exchanges in which feedback is given by the components of the discussions in the course of the lesson moments, allowing the information to be integrated into the feedback loops. This perspective makes explicit the link between interaction and how participants interpret information focused on relational analysis. The relationship of the interactions between the teacher and the student, as it relates to the student’s motivation, gives an association between these interactions and the quality of teacher-student relationships. Students have a positive perception of their educator when he is more involved in the social activities of the students. A mutual association was found between the teacher and the student’s behaviour: the teacher’s involvement increases the students’ commitment during classes and that commitment, in turn, leads to an even greater involvement of the teacher in the classroom activity.

Some activities may give students the freedom to engage in their own education, such as online searches for relevant information, or may involve students in using the educator as a resource to provide the information they want. In order for the teacher-student relationship to be a successful one, the class should be structured in such a way as to:
a. Contain activities in which the educator receives feedback from the student in order to determine the need to adapt the direction of the lesson;
b. Focus on the diversity of the student’s experience to generate solutions to problems and explore ideas about the context of the lesson;
c. Present multiple possibilities of interaction between teacher, student, student pairs, groups and the entire class;
d. Include sufficient time to have discussions on student activities and related conclusions.

The teacher can gain the students’ trust by adapting the lesson based on the feedback they receive. Students will be delighted to hear their voices, gain self-confidence, no longer be afraid of the mistakes of grammar or expression they might make, and will be proud that the whole class relied on their ideas in acquiring new knowledge. They will also respect the teacher who supported their theory or opinions.

The lessons that bring the problem, the procedures to be followed and the type of analysis do not leave room for the students to contribute through their own thinking. The mechanism of encouraging creative solutions that synthesize context creates a diverse environment centered on the student’s experience, which generates alternative solutions and encourages different ways of interpretation from the student.

Students need to have plenty of time to process the information in the classroom and transfer it to the new concepts they have purchased. Thus the students leave with the lesson learned from the class and the teacher will receive their gratitude for being called „the best teacher”. And indeed he is the best, because the information is fully captured in the classroom and students no longer have to learn the lesson at home.

The teacher must, through his vocation, prove himself to be a reliable partner, who wants a genuine dialogue, through his ability to gain the trust of his students. Through his ability to listen, the teacher encourages students’ freedom of expression. Teachers who know how to listen are most appreciated among students, because they do not make them feel judged or manipulated, but give them a sense of security and confidence in their own forces, give them the courage to express their opinions without fear and to speak freely, without constraints.

Bibliography
1.Bipuss,A., Kearney, P., (2003)-”Teacher Access and Mentoring Abilities: Predicting the Outcome Value of Extra Class Communication”, Journal of Applied Communication Research
2. Farr, S., (2010) –”Teaching as leadership”,Wiley, New York
3. Griggs, M., Gagnon, S., Huelsman, T. J., Kidder-Ashley, P., &Ballard, M., (2009)- ”Student–teacher relationships matter: Moderating influences between temperament and preschool social competence”, Psychology in the Schools
4. Karadoz, A., (2010)- ”Linguistic acts teachers use in the classroom: verbal stimuli”, Education, Vol.130
5. Skinner, E. A., & Belmont, M. J., (1993) – ”Motivation in the classroom: Reciprocal effects of teacher behavior and student engagement across the school year”, Journal of Educational Psychology

 

prof. Luminița Melania Dîngă

Liceul Teoretic, Ghelari (Hunedoara) , România
Profil iTeach: iteach.ro/profesor/luminita.dinga

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