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Introduction
Body language is an exchange for non-verbal communication. It is a mean of
communication which involve body movements of the head, neck, eyes, arm,
hands, feet or other parts of the body to invert expressions. These body movements
convey messages to the receiver and they are firstly used to mirror our emotions or
to support the verbal message (Özüorçun , 2013: 70).
Body language is a main medium in people’s communication. It contain
facial expressions and gestures. Language is substantial in communication, but
nonverbal communication also can’t be left out, American psychologist Albert
Ellis (1913) said, people get 55% information from expressions. In classroom
teaching, nonverbal communication is more significant than verbal one. When
teachers, teaching will try their best to get the student’s interest of learning
English. Body language as a side means of teaching English is alive, it can warm
up the class mood, help students to understand the lesson, shorten the range
between teacher and students, movement interest of learning English, developing
the quality of education. So, in teaching, teachers have to learn and work hard to
achieve the means of communication in the application of classroom, repair
teaching (Yang, 2017:1333).
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Effective communication has been shown in research that it rests not only on
the verbal message, rather than on the meanings that are substituted through non-
verbal language, and is being significantly incorporated in many disciplines. In
ESL/EFL instruction a few studies show an awareness of how teaching non-verbal
language to learners is so important). However, in many classes the attention is
fixed on the acquisition of general and not that much of focus is paid to the
differences in non-verbal language among the learners’L1 and the L2, Although
these may be as unwholesome to L2 communication while the learners’ use of the
non-native lexico-grammatical structures, and probably more so. Even though that
prosody and body language are emphasized in the increasing popularity of public
speaking classes due to the importance of speech for effective communication has
had, so far, a limited impact only was on ESL/EFL teaching. As a result , non-
verbal language is yet not introduced regularly in the students’ syllabus (Busa,
2015: 83).
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According to Negi (1970: 101).Non-verbal communication is “the process
of one person stimulating meaning in the mind of another person or persons by
means of non-linguistic cues, e.g. facial expressions, gestures etc.” What is great
about communication is that the verbal and the non-verbal signals can’t be
analyzed individually when decoding the message, due to these components are
linked.
Also as a vivid definition we can notice that gestures and body language can
be defined by saying that “gestures reflect and interact with cultural, linguistic,
cognitive, and more general aspects of communication, showing systematic
variation across a range of measures in each of these domains’’. Gestures are
performed to deliver meaning and structure. ie, they are used to clarify,
disambiguate, highlight messages or regulate role play. Gestures are actions which
help the individual to organize thoughts and to facilitate their expressions
(Özüorçun, 2013:70).
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Therefore, “The face is a communication center all in its own. In the midst of
conversation, even when one is just listening . . . faces do a significant amount of
talking” (Sandoval and Jara, 2012: 34).
Consequently, facial expressions convey more meaning to the words
expressed by the speakers. In general terms, facial expressions mainly serve “to
support verbal communication. The facial display is used to convey the
appropriate meaning of the verbal message and is similar to a verbal
interjection". Thus, it is appropriate to transmit coherent messages through both
verbal communication and facial expressions, and in this way, maintain a
balance that will generate clear understanding of the communicative purpose.
Therefore, the receiver will be immersed in a comprehensible communication
process (Sandoval and Jara, 2012: 34).
1.4.2 Proxemics
Is another important issue in non-verbal language. Proxemics refers to the
space between the communicators. The distance when communicating differs
according to culture and the amount of distance has different meanings in different
cultures .For example, Sree and Siawuk have found out that the Gamo (an ethnic
group in Ethiopia) females feel uncomfortable when strangers are too close to
them when communicating. proximics are divided into four main categories;
intimate, social, personal, and public space. Distance plays a great role in the
communication process. They give an example of an American diplomat and his
Arab host, where the Arab moved very close to the American but this closeness
made the American very uncomfortable that he retreated a few feet. On the other
hand this action made the Arab to feel that the American was cold and aloof. This
action transferred a non-verbal message and it was misinterpreted by the two
cultures because of the lack of knowledge they had about each culture. Americans
preserving space can also be seen when two Americans get on an empty elevator,
each one will move to opposite sides. Proxemics is defined as the amount of space
around or between us and others. They indicate that the space between two
communicating people communicates what type of relationship exists between the
two people. The meaning of space differs according to culture and people have to
be aware of this especially in intercultural communications (Ozuorcun, 2013:73).
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1.4.3 Body Movements
All body movements, including other gestures, motions, signals and body
reactions, are also with significant importance in affecting the way we
communicate. Crossing legs can be understood as either negative way of disrespect
or a positive way of charisma prestige; however, in the course of meeting and
communicating with the other, in an interview for instance, such body movement
implication help us to figure out the viewpoint of the one addressing or listening to
us. Communicative skills are built up with abilities of communicating with the
other while we communicate with all their body movements (Hocine ,2016:15).
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1.4.5 Voice Tone
Mehrabian and Ferris (1967) declare that the voice quality plays an
important role in the signaling of speaker affect, and its effect role on the audience
during the communication process. The way we talk particularly have profound
effect on how others interpret and interact to what we are saying and how we are
feeling. Also, he discovers that 38% of our communications come across through
the tone, inflection, and speed of our voices.
1.4.6 Posture
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has the capacity to represent the way in which factors such as motivation and
interest can be present in different situations. Therefore, it is of great importance
to be aware of the posture one utilizes in order to convey the right meaning of
the message that wants to be transmitted (Sandoval and Jara,2012:36).
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2. Specific Use of Body Language in Teaching
Body language can promote the sound development of teacher-student
interaction. But, body language is also a double- edged sword. If teachers use body
language improperly, body language will give a negative impact on students. On
the one hand, it can range from destruction of classroom atmosphere. And
transferring knowledge can not be correctly. On the other hand, it will damage the
professional image of teachers and mislead the behavior of students. To be worse,
it will result in harm to students in Psychology and personality. Those are adverse
consequences. Moreover, violent body language will greatly stimulate students’
psychology to revolt and lead to more serious consequences (Yang: 2017).
One of the main teaching objectives in the foreign language classroom is the
development of communicative competence. As an essential part of
communication is non-verbal, communicative competence cannot consist solely of
the correct use of verbal language. The fact that non-verbal phenomena play an
essential role in conversation becomes evident when we consider the different
functions non-verbal behavior can fulfill (Surkamp, 2014: 77).
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of non-verbal communication, in addition, can be a strategy for speakers to use
their own facial expression and/or gestures in order to give feedback to their
conversation partner concerning their reaction to the perceived communicative
process or, inversely, to interpret whether the communication is successful or not
by decoding their conversation partner’s non-verbal behaviour.
Finally, the combination of verbal and non-verbal communication in the
foreign language classroom can make it easier for learners to remember new words
or grammatical structures. Research has shown, we remember vocabulary and
language patterns for a longer period of time if language is linked with non-verbal
signs (Knapp, 1992: 61).
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CONCLUSION
From reading this paper, one can tell that teachers can make the learning
environment active through their non-verbal communication. Whereby, students
feel alert in the classrooms and participate in the learning process, which
consequently will enhance the level of their retention and understanding.
Proper use of facial expressions, body movements, eye contact, pitch of
voice, and spatial distance helps the teachers to provide better understanding to the
students in the attainment of their learning outcomes. To the contrary the teachers
who do not properly use non-verbal communication in the classroom may not be
able to motivate the students for effective learning.
And, not only college English teachers should be equipped with knowledge
of nonverbal communication, but also the students in colleges should be
encouraged to improve their nonverbal communicative competence.
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References
Allen, Linda Quinn. (1999). Functions of Nonverbal Communication in Teaching
and Learning a Foreign Language. The French Review. Vol. 72, No. 3 (Feb.,
1999), pp. 469-480
Alsheikh et al. (2016). Factors Affecting Corporate Tax Evasion: Evidence from
Jordan. International Journal for Innovation Education and Research,
4(6).
Kuhnke, E. (2016). Body language: Learn how to read others and communicate
with confidence. United Kingdom, Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
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Mehrabain, A. and Ferris, SR. (1967). Inference of Attitudes from Non-Verbal
Communication in Two Channels. Journal of Consulting Psychology.
31(3):248-52.
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Weitz, S. (1979). Nonverbal Communication. Readings with Commentary. (2nd
ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
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