Analyzing Facial Expressions and Hand Gestures in Filipino Students' Programming Sessions

This paper discusses facial expressions and gestures of Filipino students while doing a series of programming exercises. It was found that Filipino students are facially expressive throughout a programming session especially while typing, with the most common facial expressions being the widening of the eye, raising the brow, dimpling, pressing or sucking the lip, and opening the mouth. It was also found that an increase in the frequency of hand gestures occurs during moments of confusion and frustration in programming, which is supported by previous studies. The findings of this study can help towards the development of affectively aware intelligent tutoring systems that are also culturally sensitive.