1Running head BODY LANGUAGE AND CONFLICTBODY LANGUAGE AND C.docx

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Running head: BODY LANGUAGE AND CONFLICT
BODY LANGUAGE AND CONFLICT
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The Relationship Between Misunderstanding of Body Language
and Conflict Among College Students in Intercultural
Communication
Abstract
Nonverbal communication or body language is a significant
factor in human communication. Researchers have described the
harmonization of the body language by emphasizing on the
changes on the breadth of body movements. Consequently, there
is literature about the nonverbal communication as important
tools. However, there is no clear research that discussed the
relationship between body language and conflict. Therefore,
there is a need to examine if the misunderstanding of body
language may cause conflict or not. This study investigates the
relationship between misunderstanding of body language and
conflict among college students in intercultural
communications. The paper will also examine the role of
communication in the relationships of college students with
diverse religious, cultural, ethnic, or social backgrounds by
using non-verbal messages. It looks at the misunderstanding of
non-verbal communication and the conflicts among students
from different cultural backgrounds. The study uses
experimental test method based on two groups of college
students who come from different countries including, USA,
Japan, Saudi Arabia, Korea, China, Bangladesh, India, and
Nepal.
Introduction
Communication is one of the most significant aspects among

college students and lecturers. It is important to understand that
most powerful methods of communication do not include words
at all. Body language communication comprises all unspoken
messages sent to people every day. In the past decades, the part
of nonverbal communication has experienced substantial
reorientation, supplemented by aggregating interest within
social psychology (Hsu, (2007). Body language is a very
important form of communication because it can be applied to
people from different races, geographical locations or cultural
backgrounds. This topic of study is very significance in
communication because it shades light on how body language
can be used in communication among college students in
intercultural communication (Kwon, et.al 2015). The study of
body language communication has been examined with the help
of numerous fields such as ethology, linguistics, psychology,
pedagogy, and psychiatry.
Body language communication plays a far bigger part in
intercultural communication simply because it requires fewer
interpretations and translations, and success depends on the
success of the nonverbal communication at hand.
Communicating effectively in this contemporary world is very
crucial. Therefore, appreciating intercultural communication is
a fundamental aspect to avoid ethnic and racial tensions. For
instance, the multinational college students, which are
increasing population in countries such as USA and UK,
developing abilities to communicate inter-culturally has a
positive impact on their relationship with others and their
academic performance (Burton & Furr, 2014). Misunderstanding
of factors such as body language, cultural ambiguity, language
barrier, and unfamiliar environment among multinational
college students has caused “intercultural communication
anxiety.” This phenomenon causes conflicts among the students
in the colleges hence they need interaction with members of
both the host community and other cultures.
The research question around this study is: R1: “What is the

relationship between misunderstanding of body language and
conflict among college students in intercultural
communication?” building from the research question, the
method of research exploited in this study included an
objectively broad investigation of the published literature.
Consequently, the study reviews literature in the general realm
of communication, particular nonverbal communication
journals, body language, and connection of these specific
topics. This study investigates the relationship between
misunderstanding of body language and conflict among college
students in intercultural communications.
Definition of terms
Intercultural communication. Is defined as the process of
exchanging, negotiating, and mediating an individual’s cultural
diversities through body language, space relationships, language
and gestures.
Culture. Is defined as a society’s shared morals, attitudes,
actions and acts of communicating that are distributed from one
generation to another.
Communication. Is defined as a goal-focused and context-bound
interchange of meaning between two or more people.
Intercultural communication apprehension. Is the fear connected
with either real or anticipated interaction with people of diverse
groups, more so cultural and ethnic or social groups.
Nonverbal communication. Is a form of communication which
only uses gestures and facial expression and lacks a word.
Literature Review
According to some psychologists, non-verbal communication
varies based on a person’s cultural background, more so in the
individualism-collectivism dimension. Additionally, studies
have indicated that intercultural diversities in how verbal
communications are observed can be traced to differences in
facial signs that individuals from West and East look for when

detecting emotions (Serlin, Berger & Bar-Sinai, 2007).
Therefore, people from distinctive cultures are expected to be
taught to express their feeling via clear indications, although
those from collective cultures are trained to subdue individual
feeling, assigning them ultimately via indirect signs.
Jui-Pi (2014), offers a relatively simple-minded view of
nonverbal communication as communication without using
words. On the other hand, other scholars argue that nonverbal
communication does not include the use of words, but it
includes all expressive signs, signals and prompts. It also
comprises of tomes, speed, loudness and timing of the words
used to communicate. People learn nonverbal communication,
as a child they start the process of verbal communication. The
major obligation of nonverbal communication is to help in the
communication procedure in means that unpretentious
verbalization cannot. Verbal communication has limitation more
when communicating with an individual from different racial
and ethnic background (Hsu, (2007). However, nonverbal
communication helps to bridge this gap due to the usage of body
language.
Consequently, scholars have continuously determined numerous
unhealthy communicative behaviours applied by people in
violent relationships, including the use of verbal antagonism as
well as negative touch, rage, or demeaning behaviour during the
solving conflict. Numerous destructive dyadic methods of
relationship conflict management have also been prominent
(Burton & Furr, 2014). For instance, demand-withdraw and
negative forms of interactive control. These studies have
contributed greatly to the understanding of communication in
vicious relationships by demonstrating that solving conflicts in
intercultural communication require a comprehensive analysis
of the anatomy of conflicts.
Nonverbal communication tools
Neuropsychological studies have continuously sustained the
importance of body language over verbal expression for the

encouragement and communication of demonstrative feelings
(Kwon, Ogawa, Ono& Miyake, 2015). Research requesting
participants to evaluate the eminence of the message conveyed
by individuals depicting contradictory nonverbal message facial
or voice expressions critic the quality of the message regarding
the nonverbal message. According to evidence from research
based on social behaviour and brain, there is a direct link and
interaction between body communication and emotional feeling
(Kwon, et.al 2015).
Subsequently, some studies have discussed nonverbal
communication tools to examine sensation recognition in
intercultural communication. Some scholars developed a tool
which is a set of six postured photos of Caucasian grownups’
facial expressions displaying happiness, anger, disgust, sadness
and fear. Then a computer using the Facial Expressions of
Emotion-Stimuli Tests examined these photos (Yang, 2010).
Also, the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy tool is an
important tool developed to test sentiment recognition of body
languages such as facial expressions and tone of voice.
In the recent past, some researchers have argued that since
feelings are naturally nonverbal, nonverbal communication tools
are more direct means of expression and interaction (Park, Baek
& Cha, 2014). Body language expression is displayed both
deliberately and unintentionally. Some nonverbal behaviours are
learned such as wink; while others are innate such as blush.
However, in most cases some of the nonverbal communication
is misunderstood because of the intercultural communication.
People are different depending on the background, ethnic group,
or race they come from therefore some forms of body language
communication are not universal hence causing
misunderstanding. Vandenabeele (2002), argues that it is
significant to comprehend that insensible actions and reactions
are always the appearances of a college students feels
uncomfortable else articulating.
According to Olson and Braithwaite (2004), a person’s culture

plays an important role in developing his or her nonverbal
behaviours. Some body language expressions are considered
universal, whereas others convey particular cultural meaning.
For instance, some facial expression such as a smile is a mutual
communication of preference among all cultures. While some
aspects of body language have shared meaning, the easiness
with which they are unveiled is also a cultural variable. For
example, it has been discovered that body language expressions
including, fear, disgust, anger, and sadness are mutual between
the Americans and Japanese; however, Japanese citizens believe
that it is unacceptable to demonstrate such adverse feelings in
public (Batty & Taylor, 2006). Consequently, some researchers
have discovered that people from the United States are
extremely open in their expression of positive sensations than
other cultures.
The nonverbal practice of staring directly at a person, gazing,
had been argued to be a
cultural variable. A survey conducted in the recent years shows
that while listening to another person speaking, white
Americans maintain an eye contact for eighty percent of the
time (Marilly, Gonguet, Martinot, & Pain, (2013).
Supplementary, while speaking, White Americans take fifty
percent of their time making eye contact. On the other hand,
African-Americans take most of their time making eye contact
while speaking than when listening. As per most of the cultures
globally, a gaze is connected with supremacy, antagonism, or
authority. However, the Asian cultures prohibit a young person
from making even a brief eye contact with a person of higher
social status, as it is considered to be rude. Conversely, in the
Arab cultures, people tend to stare extremely directly and for
longer periods than other cultures from other parts of the world
(Marilly, Gonguet, Martinot, & Pain, (2013).
Nonverbal Communication Theories
Numerous theoretical philosophies to nonverbal communication
have been developed in the past decades. The external adaptable

and organizational approaches, established by some
psychologists, can be appropriately assigned to psychology and
ecology correspondingly. There are several common theories of
communication which are appropriate to nonverbal
communication. Despite the fact that there are differences, the
majority of the philosophies showcases some common features,
specifically in about the function of behaviour. Nowadays, the
most all-inclusive overview of conventional theories of
expression has been documented in the various literature.
FollowingFichten, Tagalakis, Wright and Amsel (1992),
standard of conversational, he argues that an expression shows
the effect of minor of two partialities on the effectors, the
aptitude of the impression can also be outlined phylogenetically
and can be precisely depicted by the innate releasing
mechanism. Experience and learning can increase both
impression and expression processes. Additionally, the
anticipated message ought to be differentiated from the
impressive behaviour in both its origin and function.
Psycho-biologically and biologically oriented philosophies are
concerned, above all, with the phylogenetic and ontogenesis of
nonverbal behaviour that is vital to the survival of the species
(Mindess, 2014). The psychological theories of nonverbal
communication also distinguish between impression and
expression, however, here the words encoding and decoding of
behaviour are applied, or the sender or the receiver function is
specified. The models and terminology of telecommunication
can be importantly used where the focus in place for the
exchange of messages such as a communication channel, signal,
sender, and receiver. Communication syndromes can, therefore,
be described regarding encoding and decoding errors.
Some theorists argue that the function of nonverbal
communicative behaviour in closer relationship to language
(Mindess, 2014). For that reason, they differentiate the function
of the messages about the personality of the sender, the ‘speech-
supporting’ function and the ‘speech-equivalent’ function. For

instance, the speech-supporting role can be demonstrated
through sender-associated gestures, or illustrators, which focus
or illuminate the verbal content. Consequently, those interactive
patterns that standardise the communication process are termed
as regulators
Most of the probable functions of nonverbal behaviour during
conversations have been characterized by Mindess (2014). Due
to the semiotic classification, he differentiates parasemantic,
parasyntactic, and parapragmatic dimensions, and brings forth
additional
‘dialogic’ functions of nonverbal behaviours. The most
significant functions that are understood as parapragmatic are
response ad manifestation to the partner’s utterances. Also,
Schererproposed a differentiated a theory of the encoding and
decoding of social signals. It states that personality features and
psychological personality are expressed in distal displays such
as facial behaviour, voice quality, the manner of speaking and
gestural behaviour (Nowicki & Duke, 1994).
Meaning of body gestures in different cultures
Some studies conducted recently, argue that interactive three-
dimensional margin prospects also vary between cultures. For
instance, Latin Americans communicate differently, they
interrelate in closer vicinity that the Europeans do.
Additionally, the Italians communicate and interrelate in the
close vicinity that both the Americans and Germans do. Body
language expressions such as physical gestures, using arms and
hands, are another widespread variation between people from
different cultures than can cause misunderstanding in nonverbal
communication. A research conducted by So, Lui, Wong, and
Sit (2015), recognizes numerous gestures that are conventional
and socially tolerable in one culture but then are deliberated
indecent in another culture. For instance, the “OK” sign that
most people in some countries are more so English speaking,
means insignificant or zero in France, while in Japanese it
means money and is a deprecating proclamation or
offensiveness in Arab, Latin American and Mediterranean

nations.
Consequently, two fingers in a V formation has diverse
meanings in different cultures. For instance, it may mean as
victory, peace, two, five, or rudeness. People who come from
Germany and UK., gesture with their hands held low as
compared to people with Latin or
Mediterranean backgrounds. Some studies have indicated that
cultural customs impact behaviour at various stages: including
the body language expressions that people show and the way
many individuals understand nonverbal cues made by others.
Also, scholars have discussed the impact of culture on the
encoding (send out) and decoding (understanding) of nonverbal
behaviour. For that reason, individuals must be aware that their
cultural backgrounds are what they use to deduce the meaning
of behaviour in colleges.
According to Rashotte (2002), Nonverbal communication can be
expressed through gestures, which are subdivided into five
subcategories including, regulators, emblems, adapters, affect
displays, and illustrators. The illustrators and emblems are the
calmest to communicate because emblems refer to sign language
such as the “Thumbs Up” which is among the top recognized
body language used globally. On the other hand, illustrators
imitate what we speak, for instance, showing somebody how
much time is left by holding a specific among of fingers. A
regulator is an approach that depicts meaning via gestures. For
instance, when a student raises one hand in class implies that he
or she has a question. However, the same regulator means
something else across diverse cultures. Subsequently, Adaptors
and Affect Displays, cannot be controlled over by an individual
(Ishikawa, Hashimoto, Kinoshita & Yano, 2010). Affect
Displays demonstrates emotions such as happiness by smiling,
or sadness by trembling the mouth. Adapters are understated
including yawn or tightening fists in anger.
Intercultural Psychology
In intercultural psychology, both macro-level culture and micro

level distinct psychology are equally instituted, and
socialization is deliberating the critical instrument to
explain the mutual relationship between culture and people’s
psychological development. Works available in the
communication by Ishikawa, et.al, (2010), show a model of
cultural inconsistency in interaction. They argue that the
national culture is influencing communication. The culture
customs that are in different regions determine the ways people
are socialized in their cultures. Ishikawa and others continue by
arguing that a person is accentuated in individualistic cultures,
and his or her verbal or non-verbal communication actions are
required to depict their views or feelings with unambiguous
signs or secret language precisely.
Subsequently, research done about how facial expressions and
emotions across multicultural are consistent with those
embracing Ishikawa and his team’s framework. Individuals
within distinctive cultures are comparatively permitted to depict
their feelings, and for that reason, body languages of sensation
are more unswerving and less guarded. Also, individual within
collectivistic cultures are extremely attentive to understanding
the other’s state of mind so as to maintain their face-work;
therefore, facial expressions of feeling are more unforeseen and
less categorical.
Some researchers have reported that persons from
individualistic cultures read a conversation partner’s feelings by
emphasizing on muscles around the mouth, whereas those from
collectivistic cultures infer their partner’s feelings by detecting
movement of the muscles around the eyes (Hsu, (2007).
Psychologists have proved these perceptions by arguing that the
mouth occupies a larger part of the face than the eyes, meaning
that a change in the mouth shape is more easily noticeable than
the change in eye shape. These are very crucial facts in
enlightening the cultural inconsistency in facial expressions of
feelings.
Studies about nonverbal communication indicate that body

language can also be represented via technological devices to
indicate textual representations of facial expression (Samfira
and Faragau-Dragos, 2014). For instance, Twitter can be used to
send messages containing facial expressions conveying the
sender’s emotive state, such as sad, angry, and happy. Scholars
researching on cross-cultural topics have not yet reached an
agreement on whether body languages are universal or culture-
specific. Also, the scholars have argued that nonverbal
communication as a significant tool (Fuller, 2007). However,
there is no any research that has discussed the relationship
between body language and conflict.
Recently, there has been an amassed pressure for colleges and
universities worldwide to integrate intercultural and
international understanding and awareness into the education of
their students (Sussman & Rosenfeld, 1982). The reason behind
this is that there has been a great misunderstanding and conflict
among college students in intercultural communication. College
students ought to have a definite level of global proficiency to
appreciate the world they live in and how they fit into this
world. This level of worldwide proficiency begins with the
college and its faculties, the way they produce and communicate
intercultural awareness and information to students (Ting-
Toomey, Gao, Trubisky, Yang, Soo Kim, Lin & Nishida, 1991).
Segrin and Abramson (1994), describes another form of a non-
verbal type of communication which concerns interaction
through space around us. Or simply termed as “Proxemics.” The
scholar also explains three types of space: Featured-Fixed
space, Semi-fixed Feature space and informal space. Featured-
Fixed space is the way different cultures arrange their space on
a large scale such as structures and parks. Semi-fixed. Feature
space means how space is arranged inside said buildings, such
as the way desks are placed. On the
other hand, Informal space is the space that people place
significance on.
The aptitude to apply gestures to determine non-present
referents is significance for communication of concepts during a

conversation. Previous research on signs has determined that
when a person narrates a story he or she develops coherent
discourse by using linguistic devices as well as speech
accompanying motions (Cambridge, 2012). The studies have
also shown verbal, and special memories are connected with
language body occurrence among characteristic individuals.
Other studies indicate that students who possess poorer visual
and spatial working memory use body language more often than
those who have stronger visual and spatial working memory
(Ishikawa, et.al, 2010). However, there is no evidence that
suggest the relationship between language and cognitive ability
to show signs in children who are going to school.
Additionally, there is numerous literature indicating that
movement experiences using body language were offered that
discovered to the participants’ discrete movement
configurations and the way in which through their cultural
backgrounds, participants could tune into the movement of the
others and establish trust and communication on the nonverbal
level (Yang, Zhijun, Beck, Junsong & Thalmann, (2014).
Students in colleges experience personal body languages that
provide a profounder understanding of the roots of cultural
diversities and indicated concepts on how the appreciative of
the nonverbal stages may be applied to help resolve conflicts in
the verbal and cultural levels of communication.
On the same note, previous research shows that people must be
aware of the body language and intercultural communication.
This awareness is mostly not part of people’s normal human
interaction and continuously leads to unconscious
misinterpretation of every conflict. Knowledge of the meaning
of movement also aids people to see constantly others as
individuals and not just as members of another culture. The
survey that was conducted by Irvine (2012), indicated that
students claimed that body language does not offer a
comprehensive message and hence may add to more
misunderstanding that eventually might lead to solemn

conflicts. For that reason, it is important for people to
understand the power of body language as communication, how
it may unintentionally take them on an unfortunate path, and
how it might be applied in the development of trust.
Nonverbal communication and the familiarity of moving either
in congruence or disharmony with others is an influential tool
for understanding the most basic element of conflict and
resolution (Shiao-Yun, (2009). People from a certain culture
and background face numerous challenges of understanding
individuals from a different culture with an appropriate margin
of sympathy. Preceding studies of college students surveyed the
influence of cross-cultural sympathy in intercultural
communication competence. After surveying students from two
different colleges, Stone, Markham, & Wilhelm (2013), realised
greater levels of intercultural sensitivity demonstrated a
fundamental to successful communication across cultures.
Imagery and emotions
In the past decades, Visual Imagery and communication have
been applied to communicate a person’s feelings toward
communication to predictable communication with another
individual (Bruder, Dosmukhambetova, Nerb, & Manstead,
2012). The capability of people to express their feelings and
nonverbal behaviours in an image assists to coagulate
predictable behaviours when communicating with others.
Imagery is a very significant aspect of communication, and it
has played a crucial role in the development of human beings
regarding the origin and development of an individual when he
or she is a child to adulthood.
Also, it had been argued that human beings used to
communicate using images before languages came up. Thought
and concepts of a person are encoded in images and language
was established in response to the human necessitate to create
those thoughts and concepts known to others (Cambridge,
2012). Words are just taken to be symbols, and they lack
intrinsic meaning while imagery itself is abstract expressions,

patterns, which are the basis of the brain. Scholars also argue
that when individuals experience emotions, they are retained
somewhere within the system and that the aptitude to remember
and practise the situation and its connected emotions is
available to everybody.
Consequently, the literature indicates that people glimpse
drawings easily that spoken texts because they can express what
cannot be put into words. Images can be used to link the gap
between the deceptively individual, independent, social,
collective and political. Therefore, drawing provides a means of
non-verbal communication while supporting the personality.
Posture
Despite the imagery and facial expressions, it has been
theorized that posture can aid in describing and expressing
emotions in nonverbal communication. There are numerous
literatures that show that variations in body posture replicate
changes in an individual's emotional state. Studies indicate that
there is a reciprocal relationship between the bodily expression
of sentiment and the way in which emotional information is
attended to and interpreted. The complete body postures are
depicted to be relatively significant for conveying emotion;
fifty-five percent of non-verbal communication is indicated to
be articulated through body language.
Moreover, the function of posture in touch recognition, and the
significance of emotion in the growth and support of intellectual
and social behaviour has been acknowledged and researched
within several fields such as biology, psychology, and
neurology (Hichang, & Jae-Shin, (2008). Recognition of the
sensation depicted by face is methodically predisposed by the
feeling articulated by the body. When people make verdicts
about facial expression, their awareness is influenced towards
expressive expression carried by the body. However, facial
expressions alone cannot be sufficient verdict in finding out a
person’s emotional situation, but when taken in combination
with stance and body language, the precise emotive response of

nonverbal communication is articulated.
Summary
The advancement of a theory of nonverbal communication is in
the prosperous situation of being fresh, flexible and capable of
benefiting from numerous influences; there has been great
interest that has been depicted from fields such as sociology,
linguistics, and semiotics. The psychological theories are
apprehensive with psychology, cultural, and social factors in
human communication. They possess in collective the distinct
orientation to the interchange of social information, sender and
receiver role, procedures of expression and impression, and
gesture roles (Fuller, 2007). These numerous methodologies
remain essential for a satisfactory treatment of the sensations in
nonverbal communication.
Subsequently, nonverbal communication is directly linked with
sensations including gestures, facial expressions, eye contact,
body posture, and interactive distance. It is essential to include
voice quality and speech activity so as to cover nonverbal
communication extensively (Hichang, & Jae-Shin, (2008). Also,
the differences between sender and receiver within
communication system should be differentiated. Consequently,
it is appropriate for the communication philosophical aspects of
social interaction to consider sender and receiver of social
signals as one complete system.
The most important and prominent aspect of effective
intercultural communication is knowledge. It is vital that
individuals should know and detect the potential difficulties of
intercultural communication among people from different parts
of the globe, and also create a conscious effort to overcome
these difficulties. For that reason, research indicates that people
must be prepared to change how they perceive people from
different cultures.
On the other hand, many people believe that the major cause of
communication troubles among multi-international people is the

cultural diversities. However, they are correct to some extent;
this is because operative communication with individuals from
diverse cultures is a big challenge (Fuller, 2007). Cultures offer
individuals with methods of thinking, ways of seeing, hearing,
and understanding the world. This indicates that some gestures
have a different meaning in various cultures. When the body
languages are different, and translation has to be applied to
communicate, the prospective for misunderstandings upsurges.
Applying Reflective Listening can minimize relationship
conflicts among multinational individuals, which is the most
critical ingredient in intercultural communication. Reflective
Listening is important because it helps in checking the meaning
of what a person says- by repeating back what you think you
have heard. Some scholars have described ways in which culture
interferes with effective intercultural understanding (Fuller,
2007). The ways can be categorized into three, the first one
being “cognitive constraints.” These are explained as structures
of orientation that offers an environment that all new
information is associated to or inserted.
The second way in which culture affect appropriate intercultural
understanding is “behaviour constraints.” Every culture has its
specific rules about proper behaviour that influences verbal and
nonverbal communication. It may be the way people stare or
gaze at each other or how close people stand to each other when
talking. The third factor that influences intercultural
communication is the “emotional constraints”. This describes
how diverse cultures control the show of feeling different.
When some cultures deliberate on an issue, they become very
emotional (Kwon, et.al 2015). For instance, some cultures allow
yelling, crying, exhibit anger, fear, obstructions and other
feelings openly. On the other hand, other cultures keep their
feelings concealed, showcasing or sharing only the “rational” or
factual aspects of the situation.
Rationale
With the rapid growth of students pursuing an education in

different countries with different cultural backgrounds, it is
vital to understand how nonverbal communication would
influence intercultural communication. Particularly for
international students, where there is a great misunderstanding
of body language, it is significant to determine whether there
will be conflicts or not. For that reason, there are numerous
items that can be tested to decide whether misunderstanding of
the body language among multinational college students will
lead to relationship conflict.
First, the use of social media platforms in communication such
as emails. Texting, IM, and other forms of electronic
communication increase fascinating questions about the
interpersonal process and how these processes can cause
individuals to change or familiarize their communication
behaviours. So as to determine whether these processes affect
the quality and performance of intercultural communication, the
fundamental differences among diverse cultures must be
determined and how they relate to each other.
Secondly, as everyone knows that online media including
emails, social media, and text messaging have some lack in
nonverbal communication, so there may be difficulties for a
receiver trying to understand the message. These difficulties
may lead to a misunderstanding of the message and loss of
consistent communication between both parties. Thus, it is
significant to distinguish whether the loss of body language
expressions essentially makes a conspicuous difference if any
among students from different cultural backgrounds, or whether
misunderstanding of this expression will lead to a relationship
conflict.
Lastly, when students go to colleges for studying, they are often
called upon to complete complex assignments or projects as a
group. These assignments need students with diverse skill sets
to communicate and work commendably together in an efficient
way. Finding out how active groups can complete complex and
intricate assignments is a noble indicator about how well

organized and intercultural communication method is being
used. This makes us ask whether body language communication
of students from different cultures will be effective in
completing complex assignments.
Hypotheses
Additional to the proposed research questions, a hypothesis will
also be used to draw conclusions about the participants who will
be involved in the study. The hypothesis used in this study is
H1: Misunderstanding of the body language among
multinational college students will lead to relationship conflict.
Method
The study will be conducted on two groups of college students;
each group has eight members. Sampling will target each
member of the eight college students from diverse countries,
including "Japan, China, USA, Saudi Arabia, India, Bangladesh,
Nepal, and Korea". With the first group, each one of the eight
members needs to send a standard set of ambiguous messages to
the whole group. Then an electronic and hard copies of the
questionnaire will be distributed to the rest of the students in
the first group, so as they can fill them regarding how they will
interpret the ambiguous messages. All the verbal content of the
ambiguous messages that will be sent to the group could have a
positive, natural or negative meaning depending on the
nonverbal communication that will describe the messages.
The questionnaires will be given to every member of the group
and will be required to write what he or she understands from
the student’s body language. All the questionnaires that contain
the written interpretations by the members should be rated by a
group of judges who will classify each error as it is related to
encoding or decoding. After that, we will survey the second
group of students who will be in a different room, in this time
we need to show them a video that has all different meanings of
different gestures in different countries. The video will last for

20 minutes, and it will be allowed for students to take notes
while they are watching the video. After the students are shown
the video, we will do the same test ” ambiguous messages”, we
will give them the same questionnaires to fill, they will write
how they interpreted and understood each gesture that each one
of the eight students will represents. When the students fill in
all the required information, the questionnaires will then be
taken to groups of judges. The judges will help in assessing and
categorizing each error for the second group and then compare
the results of each group.
Participants
The participants of the study will be two groups of college
students; each group will comprise all eight members. Each
member of the eight college students will come from different
countries including "Japan, China, USA, Saudi Arabia, India,
Bangladesh, Nepal, and Korea". There will be questions
presented by every group to collect significant background
information regarding the students.
Study type
We will use both exploratory and descriptive methods to
conduct our research.
Exploratory Research
The chief purpose of our research will be to determine the
relationship between misunderstanding of the body language
and conflict among college students in intercultural
communication. The research we will use takes the form of
open-ended questions whereby the correspondents have the
choice of leaving responses. Therefore, frequently the outcome
of quality data is significant to determine our aim of the
research and to comprehend of particular target interviewers of
opinions and behavior (Bock & Diday, 2012).
Descriptive Research

We employed this research methodology to suggest guideline,
which describe the individuals, and circumstances based on our
research question. Additionally, this kind of research may be
quantitative or qualitative on a particular group of individuals
to assess the study and explain the circumstances and offer the
statistically conclusive of data (Gable, 1994). For instance,
knowing the statistic result about how the relationship between
misunderstanding of the body language and conflict among
college students in intercultural communication.
Data Collection Procedures
In this research, I will use both quantitative and qualitative
methods of collecting information and data to look for data
from the respondents on intercultural communication and body
language communication in different cultures (van Tilburg & de
Leeuw, 1991). Quantitative data for this research will be
collected through an electronic survey sent via email to the
accidental sample or “convenience sample”. Consequently,
Qualitative data will be collected through an open-ended
question on the survey instruments and also via semi-structured
interviews with selected participants who will be their consent
on the survey to be collected for an interview. The goal of the
interviews is to find in-depth data about how a group of
students from different countries interprets ambiguous
messages.
The Quantitative data that will be obtained from the research
will be analyzed using both inferential and descriptive statistics
(Gibbs, 2002). The results will be evaluated using statistical
software and tables and graphs that indicate responses on every
question and every factor will be produced. The software will
also be used to produce tables that depict the comparison of
responses among students. On the other hand, qualitative
information will be collected to investigate further the results of
the research as well as to allow for other probable models or
deeper models to emerge that will not be captured by

quantitative questions on the survey instrument (Wallenstein,
Zucker, & Fleiss, 1980).
Data Analysis
The data that will be collected from the two groups of students
will be entered in the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences). All the responses from every student will be
individually scored, and sums or averages of the responses to
each member of the group will be compiled and then as a
collective audience. After that comparison is drawn between
different groups depending on the type of ambiguous messages,
they were sent with no video or which they sent after the
students watched the video.
The results that will be obtained from the two the groups of
students’ responses will be compiled and analysed using Excel
and SPSS. The findings will be analysed about the research
questions and hypothesis in mind, so as to determine the results
that will answer the research question (Leech, & Onwuegbuzie,
2007). Consequently, the descriptive statistics will be first run
to evaluate the results that will be obtained. To explore the
relationship between independent variables; T-test and Analysis
of Variance (ANOVA) will be used. The T-test will be used in
this research, so as to compare the means of the two different
groups.
The analysis of the quantitative data will determine the study
results. The survey questionnaire will offer the quantitative data
required to perform the study of the relationship between
misunderstanding of the body language and conflict among
college students in intercultural communication. Subsequently,
the study will explore whether a statistically significant
relationship exists between students from different cultural
backgrounds. The results of the study help understand nonverbal
communication among multinational college students.
Result
The paper deals with the relationship between misunderstanding
of the body language and conflict among college students in
intercultural communication. The results that will be obtained

from the study are very significant in answering the research
question as well as the hypothesis of the study that is:
Misunderstanding of the body language among multinational
college students will lead to relationship conflict. Before
testing the research hypothesis, we will first describe the
characterizes of the ambiguous messages that were sent to
students by each one of the both group (Kwon, et.al 2015). All
the verbal content of the ambiguous messages could have a
positive, natural or negative meaning depending on the
nonverbal communication that will describe the messages.
To test the hypothesis of the research, the results of the two
groups on how they interpret the ambiguous message will be
used to predict the outcome of the relationship conflict among
the students from different countries. The results of this study
will be very significant because the contribute to the body
language of nonverbal communication in intercultural
communication research. While the results of this study may not
be universal of the students who will not participate in this
study, the information that will be obtained from this research
will offer a snapshot of a small population, and how a
misunderstanding of the body language among many
multinational students will lead to relationship conflict. This
study is also exceptional, as it will look specifically whether
misunderstanding of body language causes conflicts or not
while original results were looking for a general sense of
nonverbal communication, as opposed to particular things body
language brings in conflict relationship.
Conclusion
The purpose of this paper is to support the hypothesis that:
Misunderstanding of the body language among multinational
college students will lead to relationship conflict. The students
will have different views on the meaning of the ambiguous
messages depending on their cultural backgrounds. If this
hypothesis was to be supported by survey data, then it means
there will be relationship conflict among students from diverse
countries when body language is misunderstood. Body language

communication and the experience of understanding what
gestures and facial expressions different communities use is an
influential tool for understanding the basic element of conflict
and resolution.
The detailed discussions of how each student interprets the body
language of other students from different countries may reveal
the causes of intercultural communication misunderstanding
among multinational students from different cultures. The
relationship conflict among the students may be caused my
misinterpretation of the body language expressions. This is
because different cultures or countries have different meanings
for different types of body language. Therefore, when a student
from a specific country tries to communicate with another
student from a different country through the use of body
language, the message may be distorted because of its diverse
meaning hence cause a friendship conflict. The statistical
significance to support the hypothesis will be performed using
T-tests. Therefore, it the survey will produce statistical
significant hence the hypothesis of this study will be supported.
On the other hand, if the hypothesis was not to be supported
then it means that the relationship between misunderstanding of
the body language and conflict among college students in
intercultural communication would not be clear. Therefore, I
will add more hypotheses to discuss clearly the relationship
between body language and conflict. That is why the support of
the hypothesis will help to assess whether the misunderstanding
of body language may cause conflict or not. Also, If the
hypothesis will not be supported it means it will have no
statistical significance will be found in the answers that will be
provided by the students from the two groups and thus the
hypothesis will be rejected.
Discussion of Future Research
One recommendation for future research would be to focus on a
broad variety of majors of college students within the university
setting, and compare their findings of body language in

intercultural communication. Consequently, future research
should not be limited to college students but should include
different groups of people such as employees and even
lecturers. It will be interesting to assess students at the
secondary level as well as college tutors or lecturers.
Employees in the different areas may have diverse levels of
body language about their cultural backgrounds, depending on
whether they interact with culturally distinct workmates.
Additionally, future research should focus on the long-term
effects of the relationship conflicts on the student’s
performance due to a misunderstanding of nonverbal
communication. In that, there is no information that indicates
the long-term effects on the students’ performance in
academies. This is because the relationship conflicts among
multinational students with different cultures may lead to poor
performance in some students. It will be fascinating to
determine the effects of nonverbal communication on students’
performance in colleges as well as secondary students.
Subsequently, future studies should conduct comprehensive
interviews by increasing the number of the participants or
organizing focus groups. Nevertheless, if the study were to be
replicated using qualitative research tools once again, then it is
recommended a bigger sample of students. It is also recommend
that future research should experiment with other variables such
as emotional intelligence
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Appendix
Questionnaire
Please check the one that best describes you:
-How old are you?
( ) MACROBUTTON HTMLDirect
18-20
MACROBUTTON HTMLDirect
( ) 21-29
30-39
( ) 40-49
( )50-59
( )60-64

65 or older
-Your gender?
( ) Male
Female
( ) Other
-What is the highest level of school have you completed or the
highest degree you have received?
High school degree or equivalent (e.g., GED)
( ) Some college but no degree
Associate degree
Bachelor degree
Graduate degree
( ) Other
-What is your yearly household income?
( ) $20,000 to $34,999

( ) $35,000 to $49,999
( )$50,000 to $74,999
$75,000 to $99,999
$100,000 to $149,999
$150,000 to $199,999
( )$200,000 or more
-What is your study major? If you have
______________________
-What is your ethnicity?
( )White
( )Hispanic or Latino
( )Black or African American
( )Native American or American Indian
( )Asian / Pacific Islander
( )Arabic
( )Other

-Do you have any friend from different countries?
( )Yes
( ) No
-If yes, do you face any problem to understand his or her body
language?
( )Yes
( )No
-Reading nonverbal cues and body language is important
Agree ( ). Disagree ( ). N/O ( ). Strongly agree (
). Strongly disagree ( )
-Misunderstanding of body language or gestures is one of the
problems in intercultural communication.
Agree ( ). Disagree ( ). N/O ( ). Strongly agree
( ). Strongly disagree ( )
-It is important to use the right body language or gestures in
order to not cause misunderstanding in cross-cultural
communication.
-It is important to use body language or gestures in teaching
college students.

-In cross-cultural communication, people need to be aware of
their own body language when they communicate to each other.
Agree ( ). Disagree ( ). N/O ( ). Strongly
agree ( ). Strongly disagree ( )
Running head: COMMUNICATION
1
COMMUNICATION
21
What Is The Relationship Between The Use of Educational Toys
and The Educational Outcome For Deaf Children?
Abstract
This study will investigate the relationship between learning
among deaf students and toy play. It seeks to test null
hypotheses that there is significant relationship between use of
educational toys and educational outcome for deaf children. Ten
deaf children of different gender will be involved in this study.
The children will range from age 4-6 years. Questionnaires will
be used to gather data. The study will also use regression
analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyze data. The
expected finding is that toys play a crucial role among deaf
children since it helps in child development, language
proficiency, creativity, and social development.
Key words: Information Processing, Cognitive Development,
Toys, Deaf Children
Introduction
Considerable evidence reveals that deaf children
experience challenges in memory tasks. For instance, an article
by Eime, Young, Harvey, Charity, & Payne (2013) demonstrated

that deaf children are deficient on digit span test and fail to
interact with others during play. This is because deaf children
are slow learners, given their status. According to another
article by Peredo, Owen, Rojas, and Caughy (2015), there are
two factors contributing to slow learning and communication.
First, deaf children fail to utilize the playing materials and
mnemonic strategies such as grouping and rehearsal with other
children. Second, although these children might utilize
mnemonic strategies, they take a long time to practice and
employ them efficiently. This affects the learning and play
process both in the short and long run. Moreover, a survey
conducted on the relationship between learning among deaf
children and play toys revealed that play enhances early
cognitive, emotional, and physical development by
approximately 33% (Eime et al. (2013). This implies that if
parents understand appropriate toys for deaf children, the
children would develop better communication, thinking, and
physical development. The research question is "What is the
relationship between the use of educational toys and the
educational outcome for deaf children?"
Definition of Terms
A deaf child, according to the Disabilities Education Act, is a
child who has hearing impairment that hinders his/her ability to
receive linguistic information through hearing. Learning
environment is a place, which provides the child with
opportunity to learn through exploration and play. The term
rehearsal refers to the process of transferring sensory
information from transient limited capacity to more permanent
high capacity for long-term storage. Information processing
refers to sequence or steps of a mental operation through which
the brain processes and interprets incoming information.
Information processing rate refers to the rate at which an
individual moves from one mental operation to the next.
Automatic processing refers to an individual’s ability to process
information using minimal amount of cognitive capacity.

Effortful processing refers to the process through which a
person requires a significant amount of mental resources.
Vocalization latency refers to the minimum amount of time
required by a person to identify or name a single item. Memory
span refers to the number of items a person recalls immediately
in their original form and order during presentation. Learning
deaf refers to deaf children with psychological problems such as
understanding and the use of language; whereas, the child might
have imperfect inability to think, speak, listen, write, read, and
conduct mathematical calculation.
Research Problem
In the past, deaf children have had learning challenges since
parents and teachers were insensitive towards developing
concepts to help them learn as others. The society had
developed and accepted that, since language and speech is
closely linked. Hence, the children who had hearing
impairments were un-teachable (Obusu, 2012). Studies reveal
that deafness affects communication and education in children
(Avoke (1997) and Yekple et al. (2011). Accordingly, Teicher
and Samson (2013) investigated why deaf children learnt and
performed poorly and found that the children lacked social
environment. This implies, the parents did not provide play
tools and as result, the children lacked favorable social
environment. Schneider, Atkinson, and Tardif (2001) carried
similar research and found that parents did not play the role of
supervision or coach deaf children appropriately. As such, their
performance in school deteriorated significantly. Geary (2013)
carried an investigation among deaf children’s performance in
grade 3 and found that the average score in the class was
approximately below 60%. Ironically, Teicher and Samson
(2013) assert that the average score for deaf children whose
parents provide social environment and play tools is
approximately 90%. This implies that deaf children have the
ability to score highly if teachers and parents are willing to
provide the necessary playing tools such as toys. Therefore, this

research intends to examine the way toys could improve
learning among deaf children.
Literature Review
Information Processing
Cognitive psychologists describe information processing as the
mental ability to execute and process information from the
environment appropriately. For example, Sahay, Prakash,
Khaique, Kumar, Meenakshi, Ravichandran, and Singh (2013)
has utilized information-processing model to explain how a
person analyze and interpret incoming information. According
to the authors, information system models comprise of sensory
store, response to execution mechanism, perceptual system, and
response selection mechanism. Sahay et al. (2013) asserts that
during the initial stage of information processing, an exact
replica of sensory stimuli information is agitated. As such, the
information is received and stored for a short time once the
stimuli are removed. During the processing stage, some part of
the sensory stimulus is utilized. Peng and Fuchs (2014) assert
that part of the stimulus utilized or attended receive the
information and store it for future use. However, if the deaf
child does not execute this process effectively, it leads to low
information processing and delivery.
The analysis of information in the mind involves receiving the
right information from the perpetual system to respond
appropriately. Once the selected response is executed, the
information is kept in the brain and expressed through
activities. According to Ducharme and Shecter (2011),
cognitive ability is crucial for information process. However,
the shortcoming of information processing model is that it
limits cognitive capacity. In other words, it does not evaluate
the way cognitive capacity affects the performance of mental
operation. That is why Peng and Fuchs (2014) provided an
imperative study on effortful processing and automatic
processing. That is, the authors wanted to determine the rate at
which an individual process information in a sequential manner.
Also, the authors wanted to determine the mental capacity to

deal with mental operation as indicated in automatic processing.
Development of Different Processing Rate among Deaf Children
Younger children do things faster compared to middle
aged children (10-12 years) in handling the same activity. The
developmental research on the reaction time reduces as the child
grows or matures (Baruni, Rapp, Lipe, & Novotny, 2014).
Authors used different techniques to determine processing rate
of deaf children and normal children. The authors used surveys
during the tasks to measure the speed at which the children
finish their tasks; they realized that deaf children perform well
when they are given aiding objects. For example, deaf children
perform well when they are given play tools such as toys to
accomplish a task. This is because they relate toys with certain
information, which is useful in enhancing processing rate.
Weisberg, Zosh, Hirsh-Pasek, and Golinkoff (2013) examined
three measures that involve the information processing speed
which children identify items: retrieval of names codes from
long-term memory, item recognition time, and speed of short-
term memory. The item recognition time measures the minimum
time a child takes to recognize and process the object
accurately. The author realized that deaf children find it
difficult to recognize stimulus for approximately 50% of the
time.
Ducharme and Shecter (2011) carried out a similar study among
grade three children. The study established that normal
children exhibited faster learning and communication ability
compared to deaf children. That is, deaf children responded
slowly since they required objects such as toys or play tools to
remind them of past information or words. This implies that
play tools provide longer item recognition among deaf children
since these children are visual learners (Easterbrooks and
Stoner, 2006). Likewise, Eubanks (2011) argues that visual
language is more holistic and more efficient than spoken
language as a means of disseminating knowledge. Accordingly,
Peng and Fuchs (2014) carried a survey among children in grade

four to determine the vocalization latency. The authors found
that fourth grade children were able to draw lines resembling
objects and animals to the toys they use when playing at home
or school. In fact, when a teacher teaches using playing tools,
children tend to conceptualize the ideas and achieve the
learning objectives. On the other hand, Ducharme and Shecter
(2011) argue that naming latency decreased significantly due to
lack of teaching and playing material in the classroom. The
authors concluded that deaf children retrieve information
quickly when they can resemble information with play object.
Accordingly, Henley (1992) reiterates that visual
communication should be practiced in the classroom. However,
this research failed to examine the features of the objects or
toys parents should consider when buying the objects for deaf
children.
In order to provide information on the research gap, Baruni et
al. (2014) investigated the characteristics and factors parents or
teachers should consider when purchasing toys in order to
facilitate learning. The authors argue that parents should
consider the objects they want depending on the objectives they
want to achieve. For example, there are toys promoting muscle
and physical development, sensory toys, make-believe toys, and
creativity toys. Baruni et al. (2014) assert that a deaf child
requires creativity and intelligence toys such as crayons, clay,
and scissors in order to achieve vocalization latency.
Intelligence toys help deaf children to develop and retrieve
higher-level semantic information. Weisberg et al. (2013)
investigated and compared the oral reading rate among children
in grade 2-5. The authors presented 50 word list and 50 letter
lists and instructed deaf children to read each work quickly.
They also presented the letters and words simultaneously from
left to right and recorded the reading ability or speed of each
child. They discovered that reading speed for deaf children was
slow since they use eye and hand coordination. However, the
authors noticed that as they proceeded to higher grades, reading
among children decreased. This is because children at lower

grades used play toys during reading classes. As such, they
memorized words and letters fasters compared to children at
higher grades. Weisberg et al. (2013) assert that deaf children
require toys meant for muscle exercise, developing imagination,
and learn to balance and coordinate between the eye and the
hand.
Letter matching techniques have also been used to
measure the child’s processing rate. Mortensen, Derby, and
McLaughlin (2015) developed letter matching tasks to
determine whether deaf children have the ability to identify if
letters have been paired in a given criteria. For example, the
children are required to use their judgment in identifying the
differences between letters such as Aa or AA. In case the child
notices the differences, it justifies that the child has the ability
to retrieve name information from his/her memory. Mortensen,
Derby, and McLaughlin (2015) assert that development
improvement among children increase with years and
interaction with the environment. That is, as the child grows
and continues playing with others or toys, the retrieval speed
increases. Weisberg et al. (2013) affirmed that younger children
process information slowly since they play with toys without
conceptualizing their impact. Therefore, the decision time is
slow. Baruni et al. (2014) argue that teachers should use toys
or play items when teaching in order to increase decision time.
Decision time measures the time required to process one bit of
information. The authors concluded that processing rate of the
child is the function of the age and association.
Role of Toy Play in Development
Play is crucial for the development of the child since it
contributes to physical, cognitive, and social wellbeing.
Stockall, Dennis, and Miller (2012) assert that play offers the
child and the parents an opportunity to engage and learn about
one another. This is crucial since the child learns new ideas and
information from the parents. Stockall, Dennis, and Miller
(2012) argue that career development pursued by parents have
reduced the time parents take with children. As such, parents

fail to understand the type of toys they need to buy the child at
a given age. This failure leads to slow development of the child
both physically and cognitively. Ducharme and Shecter (2011)
assert that some of the factors that contribute to a reduction of a
child’s playing time include increased attention to enrichment
and academic activities and changes in the family structures.
According to Mortensen, Derby, and McLaughlin (2015) more
than 40% of the children experience developmental challenges.
This is manifested in the way children perform in school both
academically and emotionally. For example, normal children
bully deaf children since parents have failed to guide children
on the importance of integration and respect. As such, deaf
children find it difficult to interact and learn new ideas and
information from others.
The research carried out by Mortensen, Derby, and
McLaughlin (2015) reveals that there is high correlation
between learning toys and development in deaf children. That
is, the authors found that deaf children who play most of the
time with learning toys developed universal learning skills.
Accordingly, Turnbull et al. (1995) and Marschark and Mayer
(1998) reiterate that stressing the mastery of speech and
grammar with little or no time for practical learning may not be
successful when teaching deaf children. This is because playing
with toys maximizes the child’s creativity and imagination. In
addition, toys act as imaginative companion. Milteer, Ginsburg,
Mulligan, Ameenuddin, Brown, Christakis, and Levine (2012)
assert that imaginary companion promotes joy in the child, thus
helping him/her develop self-esteem. This is because learning
process is sustainable since the child has a companion. In fact,
deaf children develop confidence since they develop natural
love. This is based on the fact that the child engages with an
imaginary companion through the toy. Milteer et al. (2012)
examined how learning emotional-behavioral occur through toy
play among deaf children in primary schools. The authors found
that deaf children reduce fear, stress, and anxiety when they
play with toys. This is because the child learns to develop

companion with the imaginary friend since other children find it
difficult to interact with them.
In most cases, deaf children have leant to reduce social
exclusion from classmates and some family members. For
example, when they experience social exclusion during play,
they console themselves with their toys. This allows the child to
develop high self-esteem. Mortensen, Derby, and McLaughlin
(2015) argue that toy play enables a deaf child to learn how to
cope with different social conditions and circumstances. In most
cases, deaf children have increased calmness, adaptability and
ability to deal with changes and surprises. This is useful to the
school and family since other children also learn from them.
A review by over 40 studies by Moll, Göbel, Gooch, Landerl,
and Snowling (2016) found that toy play contributes to problem
solving and creativity. In addition, the study shows that deaf
children playing with learning toys develop cooperative
behaviors and logical thinking. According to the author, toy
play enhances learning by approximately 33% to 66%. That is,
the child learns how to adjust, reduce social and emotional
problems, and improve language. As the biologist Jean Piaget
observed, dolls contribute to the child’s early development
since it helps the child experience both unpleasant and pleasant
happenings. This is because toys invite play and prolong play.
Moll et al. (2016) carried out home surveys and found that there
are two factors related to cognitive development during
preschool years; availability of playing material and quality of
the parent’s involvement. Toys enhance learning since they help
the child to learn how to interact with others and cooperation.
In fact, access to different toys increases intellectual
achievement regardless of race, sex, and social class.
Toy Play Promotes Language Development
There is slow growth of language among deaf children. In most
cases, disable children develop the feeling of loneliness and
social exclusion. Consequently, these children are reluctant to
associate or socialize with others. Christopher, Miyake, Keenan,
Pennington, DeFries, Wadsworth, and Olson (2012) assert that

children learn almost everything through visualization and play.
In other words, play helps the child build a strong feeling and
learning foundation for future academic growth. However, deaf
children are discriminated in the process since some teachers
believe that disabled children are slow learners. This mismatch
forced Moll et al. (2016) to conduct research on the relationship
between learning pace among deaf children and toy play. The
author found that providing deaf children with toy play enables
them to develop interpersonal relationships, learn language
quickly, and develop high self-esteem. Moll et al. (2016) further
found out that cognitive development processes are similar to
the processes involved in the learning of meaning, self-
regulation, and motivation. Contemporary toys by the virtue of
electronic possibilities and functions enable deaf children to
discover learning activities and exploring new ideas both at
school and home. In other words, deaf children develop the
ability to pay more attention to ideas, which is useful in
learning and performance.
Christopher et al. (2012) argue that the span of learning and
attention during toy play depends on the number of toys
available for the child. This forces parents to buy a deaf child a
variety of toys to enhance learning. The authors further argued
that the child’s exploration during toy play supports learning.
Which means the child develops the ability to speak, read, and
perform math. This depends on the child’s capability to use
symbols. For example, a teacher or parent may encourage a
child to use blocks to represent a telephone. According to Eime
et al. (2013), a deaf child between 13 and 24 months playing
with toys shows a high degree of language development. Apart
from the language skills, the child also enhances school
readiness, creative accomplishment, and social skills.
Therefore, early exposure to toy play at home and school help
deaf children develop emergent literacy skills by the time they
reach kindergarten. Another example is, playing with block toys
helps a child develop mathematical skills such as estimation,
subtraction, planning, and equality, and counting. Research

conducted by Milteer et al. (2012) in Montessori Kindergarten
reveal that deaf children improved their language capability and
abstract memory increased due to long exposure to toy play.
Gunhilde Westman of Uppsala University postulates that toy
play provides an arena for communication and language
development (Stockall, Dennis, & Miller, 2012). This is based
on the fact that children pay attention in order to perform a
given task as required.
Children learn the language by being kin to the sign instructions
provided by the teacher or parents. In addition, deaf children
learn language by playing with others. Christopher et al. (2012)
believe that language development and understanding among
children promote motivation and confidence when playing. In
other words, deaf children motivated by toy play tend to expand
their language and play actions. This is useful during the child’s
cognitive development. Christopher et al. (2012) caution that if
deaf children are left to decide on their own about toys to use
during play, it cannot achieve effective results. This is because
parents and teachers should guide the child on the appropriate
toys to play with depending on the learning objective. Eime et
al. (2013) argue that much research has focused on the
importance of toy play in social and cognitive development. As
such, there is few studies investigating between play and talk in
preschool. In a study by Weisberg et al. (2013), a group of
children 3 to 5 years old who had Norwegian as the second
language and Turkish as the first language shows that during
preschool children talk and play in accordance to language
skills during the first grade.
The Choices of Toy to Enhance Learning among Deaf Children
Girls and boys prefer different toys depending on their gender.
Parents should be cautious when selecting toy play. Boys are
more physically active and require toys that promote muscle
development and learning. Sahay et al. (2013) observed that
girls prefer playing in small groups and quietly while boys run
around and make more noises. As such, if both boys and girls
are playing together, there is high level of competition and the

children tend to express their emotions rather than physical.
According to Peredo et al. (2015), children showing preferences
to toys were noted as early as 1930s in America, Italy, and Asia.
This provided the basis through which psychologists develop
factors to be considered by parents and teachers when buying
toys for boys and girls to promote learning. For example, in
order to promote learning among deaf girls, parents should buy
dolls compared to truck for boys. Peredo et al. (2015) argues
that feminine and masculine toys are preceded by sex
differences and features such as purpose, color, and shape.
These preferences influence the choice of the toy a parent
should consider when buying the toys. Research by Sahay et al.
(2013) found that children learn social behavior through the toy
play. In other words, the behavior of the child depends on the
daily activities he/she engages in. For example, girls like to be
slow and emotionally attached to drawings such as butterflies,
human and flowers. On the other hand, boys like drawing trains,
cars, and moving objects.
Although these researches examined toy preferences of boys and
girls, they did not evaluate how these toys expand working
memory of the child in the short and long term memory.
Therefore, scholars did more research in this field to unveil the
relationship between working memory and the choice of toy
play objects. According to Moll et al. (2016), working memory
is divided into articulatory loop and a central executive. These
memories help a child in learning and memorizing information,
which is useful for future remembrance. Central executive
component is responsible for processing information and
helping the child to make decisions. On the other hand,
articulatory loop stores the verbal information and controls the
central executive. Peng and Fuchs (2014) provide that working
memory model helps the memory to perform a given task by
recording materials depending on the objects in front of the
child. Therefore, if the child is provided with the appropriate
play tool, it easy for the articulate loop to expand the memory
spans. As such, the child develops memory capacity and recalls

the learning process easily. Peng and Fuchs (2014) suggest that
limited memory span among deaf children occur due to
inadequate utilization of articulatory loop. This is based on the
fact that parents having deaf children are incapable of
identifying the required objects for play. This slows learning
since it limits the articulate loop hence the child finds it
difficult to learn faster.
The purpose of the Study and Hypotheses
Although previous research such as Eime et al. (2013) has found
that there is a relationship between learning of deaf children
using toys and information processing, research has not directly
resolved the issue of how toys significantly contribute to
educational outcome for deaf children. The rationale of the
study is to examine the role of toys in promoting learning
among deaf children in schools. This is useful in determining
the effects of relationship between short-term memory in deaf
children and information processing. Every child wants to
achieve cognitive, emotional, and physical development.
Therefore, determining how toys significantly contribute to
educational outcome for deaf children will help in eliminating
learning challenges experienced by deaf children in many
schools.
Statistical Hypothesis
H01: There is significant relationship between use of
educational toys and educational outcome for deaf children.
Research Design and Methodology
How the Samples will be Gathered
The participants for the study will be recruited from preschool
to grade 1. The method of study is quantitative since it involves
collecting data from the population using interview and
questionnaire. The first process in the recruitment process is to
get approval from the school administration and the parents of
deaf children who are active members of the deaf community.
This process is deemed important to secure cultural legitimacy
from the parents of deaf children. Upon receiving the
permission, 10 children will be selected using random sampling.

That is, the study would group the children from preschool to
grade one and choose randomly without considering the class.
After that, the children would be picked randomly without
considering the age. Later, the researcher will use the teacher’s
register to select children aged 4 years and 6 years. Aladag and
Cingi (2015) provide that during random sampling, the entire
process ought to be done in a single step as the subject becomes
an independent member of the population. During this time, the
researcher should ensure that the students use sign language
exclusively to communicate.
Data collection
Primary and secondary procedures will be used for data
collection in this research. Primary data collection will entail
constructing a structured questionnaire for collecting
information from parents of deaf children on issues such as the
type of toys they buy for their children, the time they spend
with their children, and their cooperation with teachers.
Nonetheless, a questionnaire would be prepared to retrieve
information such as what is the average performance of deaf
child, what is the performance difference between children with
toys and deaf children without toys, and what role are they
playing in ensuring deaf children learn through toys and other
objects from teachers. In addition, 5 students would be
requested to use their toys to name parts of the body and
mention alphabetical letters which makes the names. On the
other hand, 5 students would choose to teach others on the name
of different toy objects within the classroom and how they are
associated to the environment. This exercise enables the
researchers to gather information such as children’s
attentiveness, activeness, learning process, interaction, and self-
esteem since this process will allow them the opportunity to
express themselves.
Secondary data collection will involve reviewing the findings of
other studies conducted and published by professionals in the
same field. This enriches the data collected during primary data

collection. Reliable information from peer-reviewed journals
would be considered since the researchers considered larger
sample sizes.
Materials Considered During the Study
The material to be considered during the study includes toy and
other stimulus pictures such as letters, digits, colors, and words.
The toys include blocks, cars, and dolls.
Testing Procedures
The instrument appropriate to collect the data would be the
Robert Apperception Test for Children (RATC). RATC is a test
meant to elicit information on developmental level from deaf
children since it is based on theoretical assumptions and
projected measure. First, the children would be subjected to
drawing the relationship between the parents and deaf children.
Some of the projected characteristics examined during the
process include concerns, thoughts, conflicts, and coping styles.
Second, the RATC would allow freedom of response to test-
taker, which measures a child’s judgment and rating against
normative samples. Third, RATC includes a scale, which
measures the literature as frequency problematic for deaf
children. That is, the child’s self-sufficiency is measured in
terms of positive emotions and assertiveness. The scale would
be 1-reliance on others, 2-support others, 3-problem
identification 4-aggressive. The procedure would be carried out
during class.
Control Steps
The researcher would collaborate with the teacher to ensure the
children comply with the instructions. The activities would
occur in respective classes since the children are used to the
classroom environment and classmates. This enhances
interaction and minimizes errors. In addition, the speed of
identification would be calculated based on each subject by
determining mean and median response time for each stimulus.
In order to ensure participants’ confidentiality, the researcher
would give each participant a numerical code.
Statistical Tools to be used

The statistical tools that would be used to analyze the study
include the use of regression analysis and ANOVA. Regression
analysis would be used to determine the relationship among
variables. In this research, dependent variable is the learning
output among deaf children whereas independent variables
include, child development, language development, information
processing, and type of toys for the child. In order to minimize
time to carry out regression analysis, Statistical Package for
Social Studies (SPSS) version 16.0 would be used. SPSS
analysis begins by presenting data in dialogue box in an open
file. Second, there would be data editor where data, which have
been entered wrongly, are removed. Finally, there would be data
view whereby the researcher would view variables if they were
appropriately placed before running the regression.
Nonetheless, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) would be used to
analyze differences among different groups. For example, the
study also involves non-deaf children to compare performance.
Along with F-test, it would be easy to know the significant level
and standard error. The data would be entered in a frequency
table to determine standard deviation and variance. This
information would be useful in drawing tables and graphs to
determine normal distribution graphs.
The Meaning of the Results
The result expected is that toys play a crucial role in the
learning of a deaf child. The chi-square in ANOVA analysis is
expected to be significant to show that there is relationship
between performance of the deaf and playing with toys. The
strong relationship between toy play and performance of
children is useful in developing strategies to increase
performance. For example, parents would be forced to allocate
quality time with their children to identify appropriate toys to
buy in order to facilitate learning. It is expected that there is no
significant existing between toy play and attributes such as
cognitive development, emotional sustainability, language
development, and social development, and creativity. This is
because the significant level is expected <0.5 during regression

analysis in SPSS.
Conclusion and Suggestions
Toys play a crucial role among deaf children since it helps in
child development, language proficiency, creativity, and social
development. Therefore, teachers should cooperate with parents
in order to include appropriate play toy at home and school.
However, there is no significant difference in performance
between deaf children playing with toys and normal children. In
case the hypothesis was not supported, parents and teachers
would not bother buying deaf children toys to facilitate
learning. Although many researchers such as Teicher and
Samson (2013) investigated the relationship between toy play
and learning among deaf children, there is still a gap to identify
the impact of toy play on health development. This research has
several limitations. For instance, several findings are based on
reports from parents and teachers, which may be biased.
However, parents choose playmates without a guaranteed of true
friendship. In addition, the research failed to consider the
severity of disability. As a result, it is difficult to determine
whether there are factors contributing to slow learning.
Therefore, the researchers should consider carrying out future
research on the relationship between deaf child playing with toy
and health development. In addition, the researchers should
determine the relationship between the child’s characteristics
such as age and gender and toy play. The implication of the
research results for education is that it would enable parents to
become active players in education to facilitate learning.
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