The Effects Of English Teachers' Nonverbal Behaviors In Senior High School English Class

The verbal conversation between teachers and students in English class teaching has been widely concerned in recent years. However, there is little concern on teacher's nonverbal behaviors in the process of classroom teaching compared with the verbal ones. It has been investigated that a hasty glance or a causal smile of teachers can cause an effect on students' learning motivation and interest, or even the whole class management. In the class teaching, teachers' behaviors or even clothing and appearance, attract students' attention and affects every aspect of teaching and learning.Via comprehensive application of the research methods above, this study tries to answer three questions:1) What types of nonverbal behaviors are most used by these teachers?2) In what situation and how often are these nonverbal behaviors used?3) How do these teachers' nonverbal behaviors affect English class teaching?Based on the systemic-functional linguistics and multimodality theory, this thesis aims to find out the types and frequency of nonverbal behaviors teachers use and students' response to teachers' nonverbal behaviors by an observation in eight excellent class teaching videos. Besides, questionnaire is also used to investigate students' attitude towards teacher's nonverbal behavior use in the class at a senior high school in Nanjing. Finally, the researcher also interview several English teachers at this school to learn about teachers' opinions on this issue and conclude their suggestions on improving English teaching at Senior high school in terms of the application of teacher's nonverbal behaviors.Here are three major findings after the research. 1) Firstly teachers use various nonverbal behaviors in English class. And all nonverbal behaviors can be concluded into four classifications: body language, para-language position and movement, and proxemics. 2) Secondly, teachers use different nonverbal behaviors in different situations and in different frequencies. For example, eye contact, smiling, finger movements, head nodding and voice inflection are most applied by teachers. 3)Thirdly, teachers' nonverbal behaviors have a significant effect on students' learning motivation,attention,and class management. For instance,teacher's smile makes students feel confident and more willing to be involved in class activities. Although teachers usually use nonverbal behaviors unconsciously in the class, they still lack the awareness of controlling their nonverbal behaviors and using them to facilitate English teaching.