| Statement of the Problem. Nonverbal behavior is an influential factor in communication; it is interpreted unconsciously and can therefore cause misunderstandings based on tacit assumptions. Much of nonverbal behavior is culturally learned; it follows, then, that foreign students and their American hosts unconsciously make incorrect assumptions about the meanings of nonverbal signals, resulting in misunderstandings.; Misunderstandings with EFL students can arise in the classroom (1) due to the American teacher's misinterpretation of the students' nonverbal behavior, or (2) due to the EFL students' misinterpretation of their American teacher's nonverbal signals. Outside the classroom, misunderstandings can arise (1) due to Americans' misinterpretation of foreign students' behavior, or (2) due to the EFL students' misinterpretation of American behavior. As a result, classroom interaction will be less successful if students and teachers misunderstand each other. In addition, students without awareness of cultural differences in nonverbal communication will have less communicative competence than those who are trained to analyze nonverbal signals.; Method. Cross-cultural studies were examined to determine the importance of culturally learned behavior in communication. Areas based on Starkey Duncan, Jr.'s model of nonverbal communication were examined to predict situations in which mis-communication would occur between EFL students and Americans. Fifty EFL teachers were interviewed to find out if they felt that nonverbal communication was important (1) in classroom interaction, and (2) in helping students develop communicative competence. Episodes of nonverbal misunderstandings were sought to indicate that nonverbal misunderstandings actually happened as predicted. Teachers and various research facilities provided different ways of teaching some aspects of communication to foreign language learners.; Conclusions. (1) Nonverbal behaviors are mostly learned behaviors. (2) Problems in communication will arise between EFL students and Americans because of culturally learned differences in nonverbal behavior. (3) Three-fifths of the teachers interviewed do not purposely integrate nonverbal considerations into their EFL lesson plans. Of these three-fifths, some had never considered the relevance of nonverbal communication to language teaching; some did not care to. (4) Existing materials for integrating these aspects of nonverbal communication into foreign language teaching are few and not comprehensive.; Recommendations. (1) Teachers should investigate the relevance of nonverbal communication to language teaching. (2) Teachers should pick a model of nonverbal communication from which they can systematically approach the incorporation of these channels of communication into their classrooms. (3) Examples are given showing how individual aspects of nonverbal communication can be drilled; multi-modality approaches are also examined. |
