On The Application Of Non - Verbal Behavior In The Teaching Of Chinese As A Foreign Language

The main purpose of teaching Chinese as a foreign language is training the student’s capacity of using Chinese in intercultural communication. Non-verbal communication is a special form of communication. A natural and graceful non-verbal communication is an effective assistance and supplementation to verbal communication. It even plays a role which cannot be replaced by verbal communication. However, nonverbal communication in teaching Chinese as a foreign language has not been paid enough attention for a long time, cultural barriers and cultural conflict resulted from nonverbal communication failures often happens to foreign students. In addition, the foundation of most Chinese learners is relatively weak. Moreover, they have different cultural backgrounds from their teachers. Therefore, many difficulties occur in the practical teaching process. In order to improve the situation, so we should put the nonverbal communication in a proper position. The applications of non-verbal behavior need to be valued in teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Chinese learners are able to figure out the information which teachers are conveying to the students through gestures, posture, facial expressions and body movements.This paper used literature, questionnaire, interview and other methods for the research survey of the current situation and existing problems on the application of nonverbal behavior in classroom teaching of Chinese. It found that teachers were lack of the awareness about the importance of non-verbal behavior in the classroom, which leads to more casual operations. There are some known inconsistencies between teachers and students affected by general education environment. Based on these issues, the study puts forward the corresponding countermeasures:Teachers should improve the sensibility of non-verbal behavior in the teaching process. Meanwhile it’s urgent to learn systematic knowledge about the theory of "non-verbal behavior" in order to use non-verbal means moderately and correctly according to fully understanding of foreign cultures and customs to which the students belong.