Beyond words: Decoding nonverbal communication in Arab didactic TV shows

Abstract

Effective communication between interlocutors on TV requires harmony between the available meaning-making resources. However, a few research has recently focused on the study of verbal and nonverbal cues in different TV shows and investigated their possible functions. Moreover, didactic TV shows have not been given much attention despite their remarkable influence on the youth, especially at critical times such as the outbreak of the Arab Spring. This study, thus, aims to examine the interplay between speech acts and body language in two didactic TV shows from KSA and Egypt. Employing a qualitative, descriptive analysis, (10) episodes from a Saudi show and (4) from an Egyptian one were selected and transcribed, and the nonverbal language of the two presenters was retrieved via screenshots from the videos. Searle's (1979) speech act theory and Knapp, Hall, and Horgan's (2014) nonverbal communication were used to analyze the verbal and bodily resources, respectively. In a contrastive analysis, the results exhibited that the shared functions of the manifested speech acts and their nonverbal counterparts included audience engagement, clarification, warning, urgency, and speech regulation. Verbally, both assertives and directives were utilized, but the former were found to be the most frequent. Nonverbally, no emblems were used; rather, the two presenters relied only on illustrators. Besides, the face was the most frequent and mutual cue to attain most functions. Hand gestures and head movements also contributed to conveying the intended meanings, despite their variations by the two presenters. The study identified some common verbal and nonverbal features shared between the two Arab shows that distinguish this genre of TV shows.