A Study On The Effects Of Teachers' Nonverbal Classroom Behaviors On The English Learning Motivation Of High School Students

Nowadays, teachers still play a leading role in the teaching process and affect students' study. In actual classroom teaching, teachers interact and communicate with students through both verbal and nonverbal behaviors. However, for a long time, the focus of the education filed tends to be on teachers' verbal behaviors, neglecting their nonverbal behaviors which always company teacher talk. Numerous studies have proved that teachers' nonverbal classroom behaviors have a great influence both on students' learning and teaching effect. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the effects of teachers' nonverbal classroom behaviors on the English learning motivation of high school students. This empirical study was conducted at Jigang Senior High School in Jinan. The subjects include 5 teachers and 125 students from two classes. In order to further explore the influence of teachers' nonverbal classroom behaviors on students' English learning motivation, the research firstly gave a brief literature review of teachers' nonverbal classroom behaviors and its effects on students' learning motivation, and then the investigation was carried out step by step according to the implementing plan which had been designed before.The purpose of this study was to have a knowledge of the real situation of teachers' use of nonverbal classroom behaviors in senior high schools, and to explore the influence of teachers' nonverbal classroom behaviors on students' English learning motivation. What's more, some suggestions were given to stimulate students' English learning motivation from the aspect of nonverbal classroom behaviors.A mixed methodology of both quantitative and qualitative research was employed in this study. By the employment of quantitative research, the author used questionnaires, classroom observation and interview to investigate the true situation of teachers' nonverbal classroom behaviors and the level of students' English learning motivation. While in the qualitative research, SPSS 22.0 paired-samples t test was used to analyze the different levels of English learning motivation statistically between pre-experiment and post-experiment, so whether the students' English learning motivation can be affected by teachers' classroom nonverbal behaviors was checked.This study reported that most teachers did not have a good knowledge ofnonverbal classroom behaviors, and the usage of them in class was unconscious. Teachers use symbolic gesture, adaptive gesture, distance gesture, and paralanguage more often than instrumental gesture, expressional gesture, adjustive gesture and explanatory gesture. What's more, the function of supporting and modifying teacher talk, the function of controlling and organizing teaching, the function of replacing language were used more than the function of satisfying teachers' psychological and physiological needs and the function of expressing emotion and attitude which are difficult to express in words. The significant different levels of students' motivation from the analysis proved that teachers' nonverbal classroom behaviors can influence students' English learning motivation, and the most influential factors are: instrumental gesture, expressional gesture, distance gesture, and paralanguage. The research results demonstrated that teachers' nonverbal classroom behaviors was one of the important factors that influence students' English learning motivation.Finally, the author gave some suggestions for teachers based on the data and the results in this study, for example, raise the awareness of using nonverbal behaviors and strengthen the professional training; apply nonverbal behaviors reasonably and focus on skills of communication with students; design nonverbal behaviors carefully and use them flexibly; meet students' needs and highlight the English discipline's characteristics.