Chapter 9: Auto-Photography and Captioning: Nonverbal Communication Tools

This study investigated the connection between prior cross-cultural experiences and current attitudes and perceptions of “others.” Photographs and captions were used as nonverbal tools to explore subconscious perceptions and as the foundation for verbal peer and instructor interactions and written assessments. The study participants consisted of 18 graduate teacher education students. The nonverbal data sources included 405 black-and-white photographs taken by the study participants and their 36 individually created descriptive photo captions. The verbal and written data source included bi-weekly class discussions, small-group peer debriefings, reflective journals, and final papers. The study found that a connection did exist between the study participants’ level of prior cross-cultural experience and their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors toward the neighborhoods of the students they would someday teach. Additionally, the study revealed that the nonverbal activities of auto-photography and captioning were powerful nonthreatening segues into the challenging themes of (1) self-examination, (2) cultural frames of reference, and (3) perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors toward “self” and “others.”