基于课堂观察的大学英语教师目光语研究

论文总字数：35474字

摘 要

非言语行为在课堂中扮演着重要的角色。其中，目光接触在老师和学生之间起着信息传递的作用。目光行为所属非言语交流领域，恰当使用目光不仅能表情达意，而且起到激发学生学习动机的作用。在以往的研究中，学者们普遍研究非言语交际整个大领域，而单独将目光行为这一方面做具体研究的学者甚少，更不用说采取课堂视频观察的方式。基于课堂视频观察的方式，本文探究目光学的三个维度——目光接触，目光移动以及凝视方向。接着研究学生对老师目光行为的解读和反应。最后，总结教师目光语的影响。

本文的研究对象是来自东南大学同一班级的两位英语老师和20位英语专业的学生。所有数据是通过课堂观察，问卷以及访谈的方式搜集的。笔者主要观察两位老师与学生的目光接触的频率，目光移动的范围，以及凝视方向的变化。

基于以上研究，本文得出以下结论：老师与学生之间的眼神互动能增加学生的学习动机和课堂参与度，目光移动有利于维持课堂秩序，凝视方向的改变有助于从每一位学生处获取重要的信息。

关键词：非言语行为，目光行为，目光学，动机，纪律

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments i

Abstract ii

摘要 iii

Table of Contents 1

Chapter One Introduction 1

1.1 Research Background 1

1.2 Research Purpose and Significance 1

1.3 Layout of the Thesis 2

Chapter Two Literature Review 3

2.1 Definition of Nonverbal Communication 3

2.2 Definition of Oculesics 3

2.3 Four Dimensions of Oculesics 3

2.3.1 Eye Contact 3

2.3.2 Eye Movement 4

2.3.3 Pupil Dilation 4

2.2.4 Gaze Direction 4

2.4 Related Research on Eye Behaviors from Home and Abroad 5

Chapter Three Methodology 8

3.1 Research Questions 8

3.2 Participants 8

3.3 Instruments for Data Collection 8

3.3.1 Classroom Observation 8

3.3.2 Questionnaires 9

3.3.3 Interviews 9

3.4 Procedures of Data Collection 9

3.5 Data Analysis 10

Chapter Four Results and Discussion 11

4.1 Teachers’ Eye Behaviors in Class 11

4.2 Impact of Eye Behaviors 15

Chapter Five Conclusions 17

Appendices 20

Appendx I Questionnaire 20

Appendix Ⅱ Interview 21

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Research Background

Bi J. W. (1999) classifies nonverbal communication into four categories: Body language, paralanguage, object language and environment language. Oculesics, a subcategory of kinesics, is to use the eye movements and eyes contact to convey information and feelings. In the transmission of subtle emotions, eye behaviors play an irreplaceable role than other non-verbal behaviors. Moreover, eyes are the most sensitive part of the face, showing subtle emotional activity in the brain timely and accurately. Therefore, eye behavior is a more complex, profound and expressive language than other body languages.

As a branch of nonverbal communication, oculesics includes four dimensions: Eye contact, eye movement, pupil dilation, and gaze direction. Nonverbal behaviors convey much of the information in face-to-face interpersonal interaction. Also, they have the functions of repetition, negation, substitution, supplement, emphasis and regulation during the process of communication. Therefore, in classroom instruction, teachers’ cognition and effective use of oculesics can promote the efficiency of information transmission, learning motivation stimulation and learners' communication skills. Eye contact between teachers and students can make both sides clearly understand each other's psychological activities. Hence, the consistent eye contact between teacher and students in class is an indispensable emotional communicative bond. This paper aims at studying the importance of teachers’ oculesics in college English teaching, and explores how to use it to advance teaching efficiency in college English instruction.

1.2 Research Purpose and Significance

On account of the cultural and individual differences of oculesics, there is no recognized standard for the accurate measurement of its dimensions. However, researchers can narrow down the range into college English class in China, and observe the teachers who are good at using eye behaviors as the research object, and record, describe and analyze the use of teachers’ eye behaviors in college English class through the methods of classroom observation and interviews. This paper explores the impact of eye behaviors in classroom teaching, and discuss the possibility of promoting the research findings to language teaching classrooms in general.

1.3 Layout of the Thesis

Chapter one briefly introduces research background, research purpose and significance, and the structure of the thesis.

Chapter two presents the definition of nonverbal communication and oculesics, four dimensions of oculesics(eye contact, eye movement, pupil dilation and gaze direction), and related research on oculesics from home and abroad.

Chapter three studies the methodology, namely research questions, participants, instruments (classroom observation, questionnaire, interviews), procedures of data collection, and data analysis.

Chapter four analyzes the results and discussion and answers the three research questions.

Chapter five summarizes the research findings and limitations.

Chapter Two Literature Review

2.1 Definition of Nonverbal Communication

Some scholars define nonverbal communication as the communicative behaviors with the exception of verbal language. In a face-to-face communicative environment, all stimuli and the environment that contain potential information, about 35% of the communication is verbal behavior, and the rest is transmitted through non-verbal acts (Samovar et al, 2000). According to Bi J. W. (1999), there are four categories of nonverbal communication: body language, paralanguage, object language and environmental language. Normally, nonverbal behaviors play an auxiliary role in language communication, which manifest themselves in six aspects: repeating, complementing, substituting, contradicting, regulating and accenting (Bi J. W. 1999).

2.2 Definition of Oculesics

Oculesics, a subcategory of kinesics, is the study of eye movement, eye behavior, gaze, and eye-related nonverbal communication. The specific definition varies, depending on whether it applies to the fields of medicine or social science. According to Samovar et al (2000), oculesics studies the information conveyed by eye contact, blinks, eye movements and pupil dilation.

2.3 Four Dimensions of Oculesics

2.3.1 Eye Contact

Eye contact refers to a form of nonverbal communication in which the line of sight intersects in interpersonal communication. It can be divided into direct eye contact and indirect eye contact. The former one often implies that communication occurs between equal persons, while the latter indicates respect for someone in higher social hierarchy. Normally, direct eye contact means honesty and sincerity. A lack of eye contact might be considered impolite. Almost in all social interactions, eye contact can convey important information. There are four vital functions of eye contact. First, as a means of communication, eye contact often shows interest to the topic of conversation; Second, eye contact can control and adjust the interaction of communicators, that is, good impression, bad feelings, or perfunctoriness. Third, eye contact can convey emotion; Last, eye contact has the function of prompt and supervision, such as a teacher looks at a student who interrupts the class.

2.3.2 Eye Movement

Eye Movement occurs voluntarily or involuntarily. It helps in acquiring, fixating and tracking visual stimuli. The involuntary eye movements of nystagmus are caused by abnormal function in the areas of the brain that control eye movements. The part of the inner ear that senses movement and position helps control eye movements. There are four basic types of eye movements: saccades, smooth pursuit movements, vergence movements, and vestibulo-ocular movements.

2.3.3 Pupil Dilation

Pupillary response is a physiological response that varies the size of the pupil, via the optic and oculomotor cranial nerve. A constriction response is the narrowing of the pupil, or which may be caused by scleral buckles or drugs such as opiates or anti hypertension medications. The study of pupil dilation requires an eye tracker. Lacking the device, this paper will not analyze this aspect of eye behaviors.

2.2.4 Gaze Direction

Gazing demonstrates intense feelings via the eye, voluntarily or involuntarily. Eye gaze can be divided into three types: operational gaze, sociability gaze, and closeness gaze (Sheng L. 2012). The triangle area of operational gaze is from the middle of the forehead to the eyes, sociability gaze area is from eyes to the mouth, and closeness gaze area starts from eyes, across chin, until other parts of the body. Usually, there are also three gaze directions (Sheng L.2012), downward line of sight shows authority and superiority, upward line of sight indicates obedience or request, and level line of sight implies objectivity and rational.

2.4 Related Research on Eye Behaviors from Home and Abroad

There are few systematic discussions on eye behaviors at home and abroad, and the specific application of teachers' eye behaviors in the classroom is not comprehensive. The current study basically focuses on the influence of eye behaviors in teaching process, and the cross-cultural differences of eye behaviors.

Leila Barati (2015) explores the impact of eye contact between teacher and students on the second language Learning. She holds that proper application of eye contact can benefit classroom management and interaction in class. Leila investigates 60 female (whose English level are similar) junior high school students in Shahrekord, Iran. Class one with 30 students was experimental group and class two was the control group. Teacher in class one uses eye contact extensively during teaching, while teacher in class two doesn’t use any eye contact with students. She finds that class one gains significant improvement in language learning, while there is no distinct improvement in class two. Also, Leila concludes that eye contact can convey messages, narrow the distance between teachers and students, and facilitate language learning.

Nora McIntyre, Tim Mainhard, and Robert Klassen (2017) mainly record teacher-student eye gaze through an eye tracker, and respectively compare the expert and novice teachers’ eye gaze in classroom in two cultural context: Hong Kong and the UK. They choose 40 English teachers with eye tracker during teacher-centered activities, and explore communicative gaze (gaze during talking) and attentional gaze (gaze during questioning). The result shows that expert teachers’ gaze is longer, more effective and strategic than novice teachers’. Moreover, Hong Kong teachers pay more attention to communicative gaze while the UK teachers focus on attentional gaze. They summarize that novice teachers show greater communicative gaze flexibility than experts, and east Asians are easily emotionally affected by eye contact. This article reveals that different gaze can result in various effect in class .

Similarly, Tsuyoshi et al (2013) explore the teachers’ gaze and awareness of students’ behavior by using an eye tracker. They find that the teacher who notices students’ misbehavior will gaze at the target student longer and more frequently. And they hold that teachers’ experience does not affect their capacity to notice students’ misbehavior.

In addition, Arkar Min Aung et al (2018) study the automatic eye gaze based on classroom observation video. By interpreting interactions based on the context of classroom teaching, they point out that deep understanding of teacher-student interactions requires considering how the affective, or pedagogical methods interact. Through the observation of classroom videos, the authors draw a conclusion that an automatic neural network can figure out the gaze target location of students in the image with high accuracy.

In China, there are only few works on eye behaviors, among which scholars focus on the impact and function of nonverbal communication in English classroom.

Luo L. (2013) states the definition and principle of eye contact, the function of eye contact, the application of eye contact in class, and the notices the occasions when teachers are making eye contact with students. Normally teachers’ eye sight includes praise, criticism, encouragement, seriousness etc, and different eye sight make various impact on students. Luo reckons that eye contact is necessary in the interaction, but frequent eye gaze with students might cause discomfort, and teachers should nod with positive eye contact while students are answering questions. At the same time, researchers find out that the impact of eye contact is closely related to classroom management, learning effect promotion, and information transmission.

Zhang (2005) explores pupil dilation, language of eyes, communication and cross-cultural communication, and etiquette of eyes. He states that the pupil dilation has close relationship with people’s thoughts and emotion, pupil constriction reflects one’s interest, motivation, attitude and emotion etc. Zhang give enough examples to present language of eyes, to certify “eyes do speak”, and he thinks proper application of eye behaviors can promote communication. Moreover, Zhang also claims that etiquette of eyes is important in interpersonal communication.

Wei Y. H. (2013) studies the function of nonverbal behaviors in English class through the investigation of Chinese college students from Electric Power University. The results show that nonverbal behaviors have positive influence on the effect of second language learning.

To summarize, scholars in China have explored eye behaviors from different perspectives. Some researchers focus on the impact of eye behaviors, some mainly study the specific application of eye behaviors, others explore the dimensions of oculesics. However, these scholars do not reach a complete common ground for the dimensions of oculesics.

Chapter Three Methodology

3.1 Research Questions

Research Question 1: Does eye contact have any impact on language teaching?

Research Question 2: Does eye movement have any impact on language teaching?

Research Question 3: Does gaze direction have any impact on language teaching?

3.2 Participants

All together 20 college students and two English teachers have been selected from school of foreign languages at Southeast University. Seventeen students are female, three are male. Their behaviors in advanced English class are recorded in the video. And the two English teachers differ in age, teaching experience, and teaching styles.

3.3 Instruments for Data Collection

3.3.1 Classroom Observation

This study aims to observe teacher’s eye behaviors according to classroom observation. The two English teachers were observed twice a week. The whole observation lasted for four to five weeks with one and a half hours for each class. During observation, two cameras were respectively set in the front and back of the classroom. In the meantime, the researcher took notes based on teacher’s eye behaviors, and consulted the teacher about the intention of their eye behaviors afterwards. All together 30 videos are taken and 20 ones are valid. The observation focuses on the frequency of eye contact, the range of eye movement, and the duration of eye gaze.

3.3.2 Questionnaires

Based on the research questions and hypotheses, the researcher conducted a questionnaire administered in Chinese, to investigate students’ interpretation of teachers’ eye behaviors. The primary purpose of this questionnaire is to testify whether the appropriate application of eye behaviors can improve students’ learning motivation, promote message transmission effectively, or benefit students’ communication skills. In order to guarantee the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, the first patch was conducted on a small scale to collect feedbacks. According to the feedback, proper revisions were made. Then the final questionnaire was given out to the students.

3.3.3 Interviews

Based on the study of English teachers’ eye behaviors, eight open-ended questions are designed to interview two English teachers in order to get explanation of their eye intention. Each interview goes on around half an hour. Basically, the interview outline consists of teacher’s opinions on how to apply eye behaviors in class, the intention of their eye behaviors, and what impact eye behaviors have on the teacher and students. And the two interviews were recorded in researchers’ cellphone.

3.4 Procedures of Data Collection

The subjects were selected from school of foreign languages in Southeast University. The participants’ background information was collected before the questionnaire. The researcher chose English majors from the same class (Advanced English). The whole process of data collection lasted for about two months. The first step is to collect the videos of classroom observation. The second step of data collection centers around ten questions based on the videos of classroom observation. All questionnaires were valid. In addition, during the whole process, the participants’ names were anonymous.

3.5 Data Analysis

All data were collected from classroom observation, questionnaire and interview. The researcher watched the classroom videos thoroughly in order to explore the frequency of eye contact, eye movement, and gaze direction. Finally, one typical video of three minutes for each teacher was selected. The eye behaviors of teacher A and teacher B presents in the following chapter.

To answer research question 1, following the author’s interpretation, a questionnaire was distributed to test students’ interpretation of teachers’ eye contact.

To address research question 2, in addition to video analysis, an interview was conducted to find out how the teachers use eye movement to improve language teaching.

To solve research question 3, a video clip was selected to further explore the impact of gaze direction.

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