FACIAL EXPRESSIONS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHING AS THE FEEDBACK IN THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Since it relies on verbal and non-verbal communication, the teaching process is significantly determined by their characteristics and quality. Although these two types of communication are intertwined in the classroom and their roles are dialectically connected, non-verbal communication and some of its signs are often unjustifiably considered less important. Therefore, this paper will focus on facial expressions as one of the most significant types of non-verbal signs used in teaching. The goal of this paper is to determine teachers' perceptions of the importance of facial expressions and the type of feedback that it most often helps to obtain during the teaching process. The research sample consists of 107 primary school teachers from the territory of the Nis' School Administration. The results of this research show that teachers recognize the role of facial expressions in teaching and that the feedback they most often receive through facial expressions is related to the students' feelings and their cognitive activities. Moreover, it was found that the students' age, that is, the level of schooling, significantly determines the diversity of their perceptions on this issue. Based on the results of this research, the paper presents several pedagogical implications and recommendations to improve the state found.