Nonverbal Communication And College English Classroom Teaching

Human communication can be divided into two types:verbal and nonverbal.Nonverbal communication(short for NVC) refers to all the communicative actions besides verbal ones. It is an essential part of human communication,which often determines whether human interaction can be achieved successfully or not.Classroom teaching,as a process of face-to -face communication,is also a communicative process in which NVC plays an important role.NVC is culturally patterned.The same nonverbal means may signify differently in different cultures and the same meaning may be expressed through various nonverbal means in different cultures.The improper use of nonverbal means can be a barrier to successful intercultural communication.The paper mainly explores the cultural differences in the use of NVC from the perspectives of kinesics,proxemics,paralanguage and time language.According to "College English Teaching Curriculum Requirements" published by Ministry of Education in 2004,the objective of college English teaching should include English knowledge,applied skill,learning strategies and cross-cultural communication. Therefore college English teaching aims at developing students' competence of intercultural communication which consists of verbal and nonverbal.However not all college English teachers are fully aware of the importance of NVC and some never employed it consciously. Even NVC is neglected in some daily classroom teaching.In accordance with the requirements of college English teaching,the paper is focused on the application of NVC in college English classroom teaching in the aspect of body language, paralanguage,spatial language and environmental language,etc.based on questionnaires, classroom observation and interview in Fujian Normal University,Fuqing Branch and Fujian University of Technology.The results show that NVC has great influence in students' interest, motivation,concentration and participation in college English class.In addition the class atmosphere is more active with the teacher employ more NVC skills than that with less NVC skills employed.And students majoring English,with a better understanding of the target language and culture show a more active attitude toward NVC and employ it more consciously in classroom communication than those non-English majors.And the use of multimedia with CAI and Internet plays an important role in English teaching and learning.Then the author raises some ideas and suggestions for the ways of training teachers of college English and students to be able to make full use of NVC to improve their awareness and skills of NVC in multimedia with CAI and Internet teaching environment.Finally,the author provides a sample teaching plan involved with NVC,taking Section A "How to Make a Good Impression" from college English textbook New Horizon(Bookl, Unit 4) for example.