Abstract
M.Ed.
During the political dispensation of separate development, differentiation between cultural groups was based on skin colour (racial criteria), and contact between these different groups was inhibited by law. The same applied for the educational system - even the training of teachers was aimed at monocultural education.
The present political dispensation provides for a multicultural educational situation where learners are admitted to a school, regardless of race, language, or culture. Language and cultural differences between teacher and learner may lead to problems in classroom communication. Communication entails verbal as well as nonverbal communication which can be distinguished, but not separated from one another, and an understanding of both contributes to effective facilitation of learning and acquisition of skills. Nonverbal communication, however, takes place on an unconscious, non-intentional level, and it is this aspect of communication which may lead to major misunderstandings in the classroom. Black learners in large numbers are admitted to schools where the educational context is predominantly white. Considering the limited contact which used to exist between the different racial groups, and the monocultural training of some teachers, the question has arisen as to how teachers as educators experience the nonverbal communication of black learners.
As this research is aimed at gaining insight into the world of experience of these teachers, a qualitative approach has been used. Collection of data was done by means of in-depth (phenomenological) interviews and direct observation, and the data was analised by means of an inductive-descriptive method (the constant comparative method of data analysis).