| Human communication has two forms: verbal and nonverbal. Nonverbal communication refers to all the communicative actions besides verbal ones. Nonverbal communication is so important that it often determines whether human interaction can be achieved successfully or not. Such words as"bearing","behavior"and"style of conversation"all fall into the category of nonverbal communication. In the process of human interactions, the amount of communicative information conveyed by one's bearing and behaviors is much more than that by his words. Just as Mr. Chen Yuan pointed out,"The most important communication tool in human interactions definitely is language, but there are much more tools than language, such as a number of nonverbal symbols…. In fact, in most of the cases social interactions are mixed with verbal actions and nonverbal actions."(Chen Yuan, 1986:177) Studies show that verbal actions account for only 35% in face-to-face communication, while the rest are performed by nonverbal interactions. Nonverbal communication plays a very important role in EFL teaching. Teacher's high spiritual status, humorous speech, vivid expressions, and visual gestures are all impressive. It can strengthen the effect of verbal education, build up a good and harmonious relationship between teachers and students, so that the students are able to acquire knowledge in an easy and pleasant atmosphere; what's more, it can keep the classroom in order and enhance teaching efficiency. The younger learners need more cooperation of nonverbal signals, because a monotonous and tense environment is likely to inhibit their intellectual performance. And the teacher's lively performance can shorten the psychological distance between teachers and students. In addition, it can enable students to better comprehend their materials and reinforce their attachment to teachers.The researches on nonverbal communication have drawn the attention from the circles of intercultural communication and EFL teaching, and many scholars have begun to study this area and accomplished some delightful achievements. Some books on this subject and the related papers published by Chinese scholars have had a profound impact on our nonverbal communication researches. However, currently the domestic studies on nonverbal communication mainly focus on the level of intercultural communication. The discussions on the relationship between nonverbal communication and EFL teaching are not systematic. And as a result, many teachers and students are not fully aware of the function and status of nonverbal communication in EFL classroom.This thesis tries to do some sample researches with the purpose of providing some enlightenment to EFL teaching. For this purpose, the author conducted classroom observations of College English in three classes of Southeast University and Nanjing Medical University, and the total number of students is 300. The majors of these three classes are Precautionary Medicine, Clinical Medicine and Nursing respectively. The author distributed 300 copies of questionnaire 1 and 100 copies of questionnaire 2. In addition, the author conducted an interview involving 50 students and 30 teachers. After having collected the information from questionnaires andinterview, the author analyzed the data. The answers in the questionnaires and the interview show: nonverbal communication does promote students'learning interest, learning motivation and their attentiveness in EFL class; the classrooms with the teacher employing a lot of nonverbal interactions are more active and lively than those with a few nonverbal interactions; however, in practice not all teachers are fully aware of the importance of nonverbal communication. Therefore, they do not consciously use it.In consideration of China's EFL teaching, this thesis gives an introduction of body language, paralanguage, object language and environmental language. Besides, the author did a lot of spot classroom observations so as to discuss the function of nonverbal communication in EFL teaching setting from the perspectives of theory and practice. The author sincerely hopes that this thesis will provide some help for the teachers and students in EFL teaching circle, which they can benefit from for their researches, work, teaching and studies.This thesis is divided into six chapters. In Chapter One, the definition, importance and function of nonverbal communication are given. Chapter Two lists the various types of nonverbal communication, which are body language, paralanguage, object language and environmental language. Chapter Three discusses the methodology of the thesis. In Chapter Four, the author does some statistics and analysis based on the questionnaires and interview, and as well as some discussions concerning the issue. Chapter Five gives some ideas and suggestions for teacher's appearance, nonverbal communication in EFL classroom and teaching intercultural nonverbal communication. Chapter Six is the conclusion. In this chapter, the major findings in the author's studies are raised. In addition, some predications are made in the development of nonverbal communication. |
