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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION GRADUATION PAPER A STUDY OF AMERICAN POLITICIANS’ GESTURES IN DISAGREEMENT SHOWING IN THE UNITED STATES HOUSE MEETINGS Supervisor: Ngô Hữu Hoàng Student: Hoàng Thị Thu Trang Course: QH2010.F1.E19 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG CỬ CHỈ BÀY TỎ SỰ KHÔNG ĐỒNG TÌNH CỦA CÁC NHÀ CHÍNH TRỊ NGƯỜI MỸ TẠI CÁC KÌ HỌP QUỐC HỘI Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Ngô Hữu Hoàng Sinh viên: Hoàng Thị Thu Trang Khóa: QH2010.F1.E19 HÀ NỘI - 2014 ACCEPTANCE I hereby state that I: HOÀNG THỊ THU TRANG, 10E19, being a candidate for the degree of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or reproduction of the paper. Signature Hoàng Thị Thu Trang Date: 25/4/2014 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper would not have been completed without the support of many people, to all of whom I am profoundly grateful. First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Ngô Hữu Hoàng for his invaluable guidance, and perceptive comments as well as the strong motivation he generated. I can‘t express how grateful I am for my parents‘ support. They always stand by me, encourage me to overcome all challenges and become my endless inspiration. My sincere thanks also to my teachers and my classmates for sharing their knowledge, experience which help me more in the process of conducting this thesis. I am also thankful to my beloved friends: Mai, Nhung, Hồng and my roommates, classmates in the University of Languages and International Studies for their constant supportiveness and encouragement when I encountered difficulties in completing the study. Last but not least, I would like to thank the readers who share their concerning and feedback on this study. Thanks all for creating the most favorable conditions for me to fulfill this research. ii ABSTRACT Political communication plays an important role in both verbal and nonverbal communication. In addition to verbal code, nonverbal code plays an important role as a transparent explanation of political communication. Choosing a specific context to analyze the nonverbal communication, the researcher provides the reader a general knowledge of nonverbal communication and American politicians‘ gestures in disagreement showing in particular. From this, enormous impacts of low context culture on the disagreement expression of American politicians have been manifested. More specifically, the study began with the literature review on the terms related to the topics. Then by using descriptive and qualitative methods in data analysis, the researcher can find out the answers for two research questions. Also, the suggestions for further research will be drawn out. This study hopefully makes a certain contribution to a world of knowledge and numerous researches with the relevant topic. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACCEPTANCE i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Rationale of the study 1 2. Objectives of the study 2 3. Research questions 2 4. Scope of the study 2 5. Significance of the study 3 6. Method of the study 4 7. Organization of the study 4 PART II: DEVELOPMENT 5 CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 1.1 Nonverbal communication 5 1.1.1 Definition 5 1.1.2 The importance of nonverbal communication 6 1.1.3 Political aspect of nonverbal communication 7 1.1.4 Emotional influences in nonverbal communication 8 1.2 Cultural context 8 1.2.1 High context culture 9 iv 1.2.2 Low context culture 10 1.2.3 American culture and low context culture 11 1.2.4 The United State House Meetings 11 1.3 Gesture 11 1.3.1 Definition 11 1.3.2 Gesture classification 13 1.3.3 Significance of gesture in conversations 17 1. 4 Disagreement and disagreement gestures 17 1.4.1 Definition 17 1.4.2 Level of disagreement 18 1.4.3 Gestures conveying the disagreement 18 i) Palm gestures 19 ii) Finger gestures 19 iii) Hand gestures 20 iv) Arm gesture 22 CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 25 2.1 Contextual variables 24 2.2 Research instruments 24 2.3 Procedures of data collection 25 2.4 Procedures of data analysis 25 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 27 3.1 The study for research question 1 28 3.1.1 Video analysis 28 3.1.2 Statistic synthesis 36 3.2 The study for research question 2 37 3.2.1 Communication consequences of low-context cultural orientations 37 3.2.2 Low context culture affects the disagreement showing of the American 37 v politicians PART III: CONCLUSION 40 1. Summary of the findings and concluding remarks 40 2. Implication of the study 40 3. Limitations of the study 41 4. Suggestions for further studies 41 REFERENCES 42 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Structure of Congress 10 Table 2 Encoding disagreement gestures 26 Table 3 The frequency of occurrence of disagreement gestures in videos 35 Table 4 The classification of gestures based on level of disagreement vii 36 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS The U.S: The United State NVC: Nonverbal Communication LC: Low context viii PART I: INTRODUCTION This initial part states the rationale for the study, together with objectives, scope, significance and method of the study. Also, an overview of the rest of the paper is provided to orientate the readers throughout the study. 1. Rationale of the study. In 2013, the master of body language– Allan Pease, paid a visit to Vietnam and had a very interesting talk to the Vietnamese audience in the ―Talk Vietnam Show‖- one of the most well-known shows on VTV4. He shared with Vietnamese participants so many fascinating facts about the nonverbal communication which made a deep impression on me at that time. He said that body language was the best way to understand a person and from which we would have the best manner. After watching such a wonderful show on VTV4, it came to my mind that I would make research on this field if I had any chance. Besides, realizing the application of Nonverbal Communication, especially the importance of gestures in political fields, I had a strong determination to do a small research involving in this topic. The second reason is that to know another‘s language and not his culture is a very good way to make a fluent fool of one‘s else. English has become an international means of communication in our modern life. It is undeniable that its contributions to science, technology, economy, culture, especially politics are significant. In Vietnam, the number of people learning English has increased substantially. Most of them just have spent a lot of time and effort with an view to mastering the grammar, vocabulary as well as the sentences but not concerning to the cultural background. This leads to unexpected consequences such as culture shocks or cultural behavior makings. Hence, enriching the knowledge of cultures in general and the knowledge of nonverbal communication in particular will help you to behave appropriately. 1 Finally, the disagreement showing in verbal cues has been studied by some researches but in nonverbal behavior is not concerned much. All of these above wonderings give me the inspiration to conduct this small research with the hope to provide essential and fascinating information about disagreement gestures of American politicians in the U.S House Meetings. 2. Objectives of the study. The study was conducted with the following objectives: - Pointing out the importance of nonverbal communication in political communication. - Ascertaining that American politicians use various gestures to show disagreement in the U.S House Meetings. - Finding out the main gestures being used by American politicians to show the disagreement in the U.S House Meetings. - Finding out how low context culture affects the way American politicians showing their disagreement. 3. Research questions Putting this theme in a specific context- the U.S House meetings, the researcher is on the road to find the answers for the two following questions: (1) What are disagreement gestures utilized by American politicians in The United States House meetings? (2) How does the cultural context affect the disagreement showing of American politicians? 4. Scope of the study Admittedly, nonverbal communication is an interesting broad subject for researchers to discover. However, the researcher just focuses on one aspect of the non-verbal communication: the disagreement gestures. To put this theme into a 2 specific context - in The U.S House meetings where disagreement expressions of American politicians are manifested, the researcher would like to emphasize on the culture‘s impacts on American politicians‘ gesture to express disagreement. Because of the large scale of gesture definitions, the study pays high attentions to analyzing the gestures including palm, finger, hand, and arm gestures. Thanks to this, the topic will be easily approached and the characteristics of disagreement gestures could be apparently shown. Another interesting thing is that the topics in these the U.S House meetings have no limitations. They might be economics, the pension reform, health care, the education or any other field. The sex of the speaker is not important here because the researcher just finds out the gestures conveying disagreement. 5. Significance of the study. In terms of the significance, the researcher hopes that this study would make some remarkable contributions when it comes to an end. Firstly, the study helps the reader to convey the disagreement gestures utilized by the American politicians in the U.S House meetings. Thanks to this, the reader could avoid the misleading, the misinterpretation or communication breakdowns in formal settings in general and the meetings with American in particular. Secondly, the thesis indicates how low cultural context affects the disagreement showing of American politicians. Hence, the reader can compare to his own country‘s cultural context to clarify the differences. Thirdly, the comprehension of nonverbal communication implication, particularly disagreement gestures would be the key to the success in Communication Art which could bring the advantages or opportunities for students in the future career. Last but not least, this study is carried out with the hope that it would be a useful source of reference for further studies on relevant topics. 3 6. Method of the study (C3, p.25) 7. Organization of the study The study is divided into three parts: Part I (Introduction) highlights rationale, objectives, scope, significance, method and organization of the study. Part II (Development) includes 3 chapters: + Chapter I (Literature review) provides the theoretical framework of the study, including discussions of the definitions and terms related to the disagreement gestures utilized by American politicians. + Chapter II (Methodology) describes the way the study is conducted, including the research setting, participants, instruments of data collection as well as the procedure employed to carry out data analysis. + Chapter III (Findings and discussion) presents and discusses the results that the researcher found out from the collected data. Part III (Conclusion) summarizes the key points, states the limitations and suggests further studies. 4 PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter provides an overview of the topic-related literature as well as the definitions of the terms used. In addition, it gives the list of gestures conveying the disagreement of American politicians in U.S House meetings. 1. 1 Nonverbal communication 1.1.1 Definition Knapp (1972) indicates that non-verbal communication maybe considered as all of those human resources which are not identified as overtly spoken or written words. It can be stated that non-verbal communication comprised all the messages other than words that are used in communication. In oral communication, these symbolic messages are transferred by means of intonation, tone of voice, vocally produced noises, body posture, body gestures, facial expressions or pauses. For instance, when individuals speak, they normally do not confine themselves to the mere emission of words. A great deal of meaning is conveyed by nonverbal means which always accompany oral discourse – intended or not. Burgoon and Saine (1996) point out that ―NVC are those attributes or action of humans, other than the use of words themselves, which have socially shared meaning, are intentionally sent or interpreted as intentional, are consciously received, and have the potential for feedback from the receiver‖. In other words, it implied that NVC is sent and received consciously and has universal meaning. Referring to nonverbal communication, Berko, Rosefeld, and Samovar (1996, p. 136) also conclude that NVC as ―the actions and attributes of people other than words and aspects of the environment that convey the meaning‖. This 5 definition reveals that the initial form of communication being perceived and leant by human beings is body language. From these above definitions, it can be concluded that the nature of nonverbal communication in the scholars‘ eyes remains divergent. Nevertheless, this multiplies the diversity and colorfulness of nonverbal communication definitions. 1.1.2 The importance of nonverbal communication Nonverbal behaviors carry from 65% (Birdwhistell, 1970) to 93% (Mehrabian, 1981) of the total meaning of communication. Non-verbal communication is one of the key aspects of communication. Its diverse functions comprise repeating, accentuating, complementing and contradicting a verbal message. This type of communication also normalizes relations, such as non-verbal cues conveying when a person should speak or not speak. To be more precise, when people do not speak the same language, nonverbal communication can even alter a verbal message through mimics, gestures and facial expressions. In fact, people have tendency to care and look for nonverbal cues when verbal messages are ambiguous or unclear, especially when the language being used in the interaction is totally different. This might be because ―nonverbal behavior arises from our cultural common sense (our ideas about what is appropriate, normal, and effective as communication in relationships), we use different systems of understanding gestures, posture, silence, emotional expression, touch, physical appearance, and other nonverbal cues" (LeBaron, 2003). ―From the speaker‘s point of view, however, there are numerous functions of non-verbal behaviour – even if he or she is not aware of them. Human beings use non-verbal means to persuade or to control others, to clarify or embellish things, to stress, complement, regulate and repeat verbal expressions. Non-verbal 6 communication is emotionally expressive and so any discourse appealing to the receiver‘s emotions has a persuasive impact‖. (Bhagaban Das, 2009) Researchers come to the conclusion that nonverbal expressions provide a full measure of what we mean to communicate. In other words, it plays a significant role in communication. 1.1.3 Political aspects of nonverbal communication In the current context of global integration, especially in the 21st century, it is undeniable that political communication plays a very significant part in our life. On one hand, politics can build up good relations but on other hand, it can lead to the unexpected conflicts or even the war via meetings or negotiations both internal and external. Since political communication varies substantially from culture to culture, it not only requires a broad and profound knowledge of disciplines but also asks for studying global cultural differences. Failure to understand and appreciate these differences can have serious consequences on negotiations. Thus, in order to communicate effectively, both leaders and politicians should not only pay attention to using their words but also care about the nonverbal actions. Politician in general will use different nonverbal behaviors and actions when making a speech in front of a crowd, unintentionally or on purpose. No matter what he talks about, certain gestures can give away the true feelings about something despite what someone's mouth is saying. The American history witnessed a great number of the presidents‘ nonverbal communication styles which draw many researchers' attentions. For instance, in 1960, the five o'clock shadow gesture of Richard M. Nixon helped make him look pale, sickly, and thin; Another outstan3ding example is George H.W. Bush‘s looking at his watch during a 1992 debate. This suggested impatience, boredom, or lack of interest. Or the gesture called the "Clinton thumb" is used by Clinton with the hope to emphasis in speeches. 7 As McNair (1999:45) puts it: ―... political communication is too important to be ignored by those with a concern for the workings of modern democracies.‖ Franklin Delano Roosevelt says that: ―... in politics nothing is accidental. If something happens, be assured it was planned this way.‖ 1.1.4 Emotional influences on nonverbal communication Emotions affects directly on our behaviors as well as the results of nonverbal responses. When people are tense and afraid, they have tendency to avoid intimation and closeness. Everyone who is emotionally upset may even become angry and violate if someone bothers their private zone. Taking another example is to clarify. When you are frustrated or upset about one thing, your hands become trembling. Or, if you have to speak in a big conference and you worry about that, your throats will tighten more compare to the situation when you must present a speech in class. Under high tension, the pitch of voice also rises because the vocal cords tighten. Another specific template, a small child often scared by an older person who is big. Therefore, according to a child psychologists, adult should talk and comfort to them when they feel scared. Similarly, police and trial lawyers know that moving in close to an interviewee may cause him or her to be depressed and he/she will not control their words in a normal way. Taking advantages of this point, his emotional pressure may leads to the confession and admission of guilt. 1.2. Cultural context Hall (1976) stated that ―Human communication is dependent on the context in which it occurs‖. In addition to the verbal and nonverbal codes that are exchanged between interactants, the salient features of a communicative context include the cultural, physical, sociorelational, and perceptual environments. 8 Hall, E. (1976). Beyond culture. New York: Doubleday. As stated by Hall (1982), the cultural context comprises many features such as individualism and collectivism. The physical environment includes the actual geographical location of the interaction such as office, classroom, bedroom. The sociorelational environment encompasses the relationship between the interactants such as the relationship between superior and subordinate; teacher and student or husband and wife. The perceptual environment consists of the attitudes, motivations, and cognitive dispositions of the interactants. Each of these environments provides a wealth of information to the interactants about how to communicate. More importantly, the degree to which interactants focus on these contexts while communicating varies considerably from culture to culture. Besides, according to Hall (1982), "the level of context determines everything about the nature of the communication and is the foundation on which all subsequent behavior rests" (p. 19). 1.2.1 High context culture Edward T. Hall (1976) introduced the concept of a high and low-context continuum for cultures "the level of context determines everything about the nature of the communication and is the foundation on which all subsequent behavior rests" (p. 19). In high-context cultures many of the communication cues are embedded in the socio-cultural context. People in high-context cultures tend to stress collectivism, while low-context cultures tend to elevate individualism (Ting-Toomey, 1988; 9 Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey, 1988). High context cultures feature collective identity-focus, covert communication and homogeneity. (Hall, 1976, p. 39) In high-context cultures, a person is usually spoken to in order to motivate him or her to behave differently from what he or she would otherwise probably do. In such culture speaking is a real art, in which emphasis is laid on the emotional aspect. This is also what the listener expects to receive - an emotional message to persuade him. The interpretational limits of the message, however, are rather loose: both speaking and listening are regarded as sources of enjoyment. The speaker is expected to present an unhurried and relatively long talk, usually not to be interrupted by the partner. A turn of speaking usually represents a complete and finished deliverance. Questions are normally asked not in order to extract additional information, but to put the matter in a more philosophical perspective. 1.2.2 Low context culture According to Hall, in a low-context transaction, the verbal code is the primary source of information. Low-context cultures generally rely on elaborated codes. Unlike users of restricted codes, users of elaborated codes rely extensively on the verbal code system for creating and interpreting meaning. Information to be shared with others is coded in the verbal message. Although persons in low-context transactions recognize the nonverbal environment, they tend to focus more on the verbal context. Moreover, the rules and expectations are explicitly outlined. In low-context culture, the communicants feel a need to speak. People using low-context communication are expected to communicate in ways that are consistent with their feelings. Hence, low-context communication typically involves transmitting direct, explicit messages. People communicating usually expect explanations when something remains unclear. An LC culture is characterised by direct and linear communication and by the constant and sometimes never-ending use of words. Communication is direct, precise, dramatic, open, and based on feelings or true intentions (Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey, 1988). 10