ABSTRACT Effective communication is essential in various aspects of life, including personal relationships, professional settings, and social interactions. While verbal communication is often emphasized, nonverbal communication, particularly body language, plays a crucial role in conveying emotions, intentions, and attitudes. Despite its importance, there is a lack of standardized tools to measure and interpret body language accurately. This gap hinders our ability to fully understand and utilize nonverbal cues in communication. The primary problem is the absence of a comprehensive and reliable body language scale that can be used across different contexts to assess nonverbal communication. Existing methods are often subjective and lack consistency, leading to varied interpretations and potential misunderstandings. This inconsistency can affect interpersonal relationships, workplace dynamics, and even therapeutic settings where accurate interpretation of body language is critical. Having this in mind the present study aimed at developing and validating a Universal Body Language Scale. The Body Language Scale consisted of 5 constructs, 50 subconstructs, and 79 items. To analyze the collected data and investigate the structural equation modeling (SEM) paths, the Amos software was utilized. The analysis of the data confirmed all psychometric characteristics of the scale including reliability and validity of both models. The findings from this research hold considerable practical implications for students, teachers, researchers, and professionals specializing in this area. By understanding how body language influences communication, educators, and learners can enhance their interactive strategies, leading to more effective educational outcomes.
