An Investigation Of Teachers' Nonverbal Behaviors In Junior High School English Classroom

As an important part of teaching in class,teachers' nonverbal behaviors can help verbal behaviors to convey meanings,and also express feelings and attitudes that verbal behaviors can not achieved.Teachers' eye contacts,facial expressions and so on can influence students' learning enthusiasm and classroom participation.Therefore,the study of teachers' nonverbal behaviors has great significance in English teaching.As a school-based research,this study took Xi'an XXX Junior High School as an example.The research investigated the use of 4 English teachers' nonverbal behaviors through classroom observation,stimulated-recall and questionnaire.And 136 students were surveyed to learn influences of teachers' nonverbal behaviors on students' learning by the questionnaire.The results indicated that in the junior high school English class,teachers use various kinds of nonverbal behaviors.They often use eye movements and gestures.Paralanguage and facial expression(smiling)and so on are sometimes used by teachers.What's more,teachers occasionally use head movements(nod)and proximity.Teachers' nonverbal behaviors have influences on students' learning.The head movements(nod)and paralanguage often improve students' learning motivation.Teachers' paralanguage and eye movements often influence students' involvement.Facial expression(smiling)and gestures often make the class atmosphere become relaxing.Besides,teachers' gestures often affect students' cognition and often help students cognize well.Meanwhile,this research also found out although head movements(nod)often improve students' learning motivation,they are occasionally used by teachers.