ABSTRACT
When Julius Fast's (1970) bestseller Body Language hit U. S. bookstores, you could count on one hand the number of college and university courses entirely devoted to the subject of nonverbal communication. Now such courses are commonly found in the curricular offerings of many universities and colleges in departments of communication, anthropology, linguistics, and psychology. In addition, introductory textbooks in the field of communication, especially interpersonal communication, routinely include at least one chapter on nonverbal communication. Thus, students who take a course entirely devoted to nonverbal communication, particularly communication majors, are likely to enter the course with some basic knowledge of the area. Nonverbal communication is so much a part of modern communication education it is hard to imagine that time, not so long ago, when such courses did not exist.
