浅谈肢体语言在小学英语教学中的应用

论文总字数：28760字

摘 要

肢体语言在日常生活中非常重要，在语言教学中也被广泛使用。基于肢体语言的背景以及前人的研究，本文剖析了小学英语教学中存在的一些问题，然后讨论了运用肢体语言的优势，展示了肢体语言能够有效处理教学中的问题，并且能够辅助教师教学，获得更好的教学效果。此外，关于肢体语言的种类，运用原则，以及在教学中的具体运用也做了详细陈述。

关键词：肢体语言；小学英语教学；应用

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3. Problems in Primary School English Instruction 3

3.1 Inactive Atmosphere of English Class 3

3.2 Lack of Confidence in Speaking English 4

3.3 Lack of Learning Interest 5

4. Advantages of Using Body Language 5

4.1 Stimulating Interest in Learning 5

4.2 Creating a Harmonious Class Atmosphere 6

4.3 Developing Students’ Confidence 6

5. Specific Use of Body Language 7

5.1 Types of Body Language 7

5.2 Principles of Using Body Language 8

5.3 Application of Body Language in Different Aspects 9

6. Conclusion 12

Works Cited 13

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1. Introduction

In China, traditional education pays too much attention to instilling knowledge into the students. Such force-feeding teaching brings up the students who have high marks but low ability (Tai Yuanyuan, 2014: 1205). English teaching aims at developing the students’ abilities of communication, and cultivating their comprehensive abilities to use language.

We use body language in our daily life, so do teachers in their classroom teaching, especially in English classroom teaching. As a part of non-verbal communication, body language also as important as spoken language or written language. As is known to all, classroom teaching is one kind of communicative activity between teachers and students. In class, most of students are often more attentive to what teachers do than what they say, especially students in primary school. They are curious about everything that their teachers do. What’s more, most of students have the limited understanding of foreign cultures, so teachers have to try their best to think of as many ways as possible to stimulate students’ learning enthusiasm. Teachers can simplify their teaching language with the help of body language to arouse students’ interests, so that they can learn better. In addition, the characteristic of theory and abstraction of knowledge also require vivid, dramatic, and accessible gestures to make it more specific and figurative.

In short, body language is helpful in teaching English. Therefore, teachers should understand the body language correctly, master the methods and principles of body language thoroughly and apply it appropriately to classroom English teaching.

The whole thesis consists of six parts. The author first introduces the background of body language, and then analyzes the problems in English instruction to state the importance of using body language. By discussing the advantages of body language, a conclusion can be drawn that teachers can apply body language in English. Types of body language, principles of using body language and specific use of it in different aspects are presented respectively.

2. Literature Review

Body language is a term for different forms of communication using body movements or gestures instead of sounds, verbal language, or other ways of communication. Body language is the process of communicating what you are feeling or thinking about by the way you place and move your body rather than by words (Sally, 2006: 266). Sometimes we may not realize it when we chat with our friends or people who we know. As a matter of fact, we make ourselves understood not only by words, but also by facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, touch, etc.

Body language includes all the communicative methods of human, and it is of great importance, especially in English teaching. The famous educator Ma Caren Co once pointed out that educational skills can be also reflected by facial expression and tones of teachers (Ma Caren Co, 1979: 270). So, good teachers should not only have a command of verbal language, but also attach great importance to the use of body language in teaching. The famous linguist Fen· Lafle· Angle once said that once the body language was lost, a baby cannot have grown into a normal person (Zou Meng amp; Xia Chuan, 2008: 126). The same thing also applies to the pupils.

In fact, as early as 1644, John Bulwer had done research on body language and published a book Gestures: Natural Language of Hands, which was regarded as the pioneering research on body language. Until 1790, Julius Fast completed a famous book, called Body language, and it really made people be aware of the importance of body language. At the end of 1870s, it was not until Darwin carried on an investigation into the differences between human and animals’ expressions by the scientific methods that body language went into the Science Hall.

The use of body language can be seen in a wide variety of fields. Caro Mike pointed out that body language has been applied in the process of detecting deceit through micro-expressions, both in law enforcement and even on the world poker in his book. In addition, it has been used application in classroom teaching such as second-language acquisition, mathematics (Gregersen, 2007: 51). Tai in his paper believed that body language can create an environment or atmosphere that is able to facilitate effective learning. A harmonious environment is more productive for learning and the acquisition of new knowledge (Tai Yuanyuan, 2014: 1205). Han Lijuan in her paper stated that body language in classroom teaching has auxiliary function, feedback function, replacement function and control function (Han Lijuan, 2008: 12). Therefore, teachers’ kind facial expression will greatly stimulate students’ learning enthusiasm and learning effects will be significantly improved.

1. Problems in Primary School English Instruction

English teaching is a crucial part of school education and the classroom is a basic place for students to learn. Although classroom teaching has been reformed and has achieved good results, there are still some problems.

3.1 Inactive Atmosphere of English Class

As we all know, primary school students acquire knowledge mainly from class, and it is also key to enhancing teaching. Therefore, the selection of proper teaching methods has become an important factor in classroom teaching. However, in current situation, many teachers adopt some methods that can only improve grades, but hardly help students develop the interest of learning English.

3.1.1 Cramming Teaching Method

Some teachers focus on passing on knowledge in class, and write so much on the blackboard. This cramming teaching has brought many aftereffects. The more the teacher speaks, the less opportunities he can offer to students to acquire knowledge independently. Thus, students are often in a passive position. There’s no time for students to think, to absorb new knowledge, and it is impossible for students to consolidate what they have learned. What’s more, teachers put in too much knowledge, but students can’t easily grasp the main points. In addition, it will also result in boring classroom atmosphere, and students are likely to feel tired.

3.1.2 Exam-oriented Education

In primary school examination, listening only accounts for a small part. In order to adapt to the requirements of the examination, many teachers do not pay attention to listening training, let alone oral English-practice. They always tell students what they should remember. At last, the students’ minds are full of words, grammar and sentence patterns. However, students don’t know why they should remember those. As time goes by, they can’t find the joy of studying and won’t be interested in English learning at all.

3.1.3 Rote Learning

For pupils, English is a new and fresh course for them. They do not know how to memorize words and sentences. They learn English and remember words by rote. Some students even do not know how to spell words. They often recite, repeat, and write words by alphabetical like remembering phone numbers. They study hard but can’t make any progress. They can not repeat or read the words that they have learned. At last, they have more difficulties in learning English. As a result, they will have fear, disgust and even conflicting emotions in English learning.

3.2 Lack of Confidence in Speaking English

As we all know, language, as a communication tool, can be mastered in interpersonal communication. Oral English training is an important part in primary school English education. However, in fact, teachers rarely create the context and the students don’t dare to speak. The success of learning English lies in creating a context for students to communicate in the target language. On the one hand, due to the influence of mother tongue, the students lack the language environment. Oral English practice is also controlled by teachers. There is a lack of meaningful information and emotional communication between teachers and students, between students and students. Students lack a relaxing and happy atmosphere to speak English. Gradually, students are not willing to speak and participate in class.

On the other hand, communication requires abundant knowledge as support. However, the majority of pupils only have limited vocabularies, and they have difficulty in reading out the sentences, not to mention the oral activities. What’s more, when some students practice oral English, they feel nervous, anxious, and even frightened, so students in class are often silent, unwilling to speak out.

3.3 Lack of Learning Interest

For pupils who have just begun to learn English, English learning is very boring. As the proverb goes, “interest is the first teacher”. No matter in what fields, a person who wants to be successful, first of all must spend a lot of time and energy. Second, he must be interested in it (Tai Yuanyuan, 2007:1205). For most pupils, they have a lot of troubles in learning English, such as the troubles in reading, listening, speaking, and writing. However, these are the most important part in English exam. When students always get low marks in English test, they will lose interests in English learning gradually. When they have English class, they can’t understand what a teacher says at all, they feel tired of the English class. As a result, they will feel boring to learn English and have less interest in it.

4. Advantages of Using Body Language

From the above discussion, we can see that it is necessary to solve the problems in English classroom teaching. To some degree, it is feasible for us to use body language due to the following advantages.

4.1 Stimulating Interest in Learning

The English teaching process is a cognitive process between students’ conscious attention and unconscious attention. If a teacher only relies on conscious attention to attract students, it can make students feel tired (Xia Chuan amp; Zou Meng, 2008: 126). The author believes that once students have interest in learning, they will pay attention to whatever the teacher says. Tolstoy said “the success of teaching does not lie in forcing students to learn, but in stimulating students’ interest in learning”. The New Curriculum Standard also explicitly points out that it is important to cultivate and stimulate the students’ interest in learning English (Yang Guozheng, 2011: 153).

Body language has the characteristics of specific image and strong interests (Xia Chuan amp; Zou Meng, 2008: 127). The students are willing to accept it and will have a deep impression. If a teacher can use the body language appropriately, with expressive reading and vivid explanation, it will make the class full of vigor.

4.2 Creating a Harmonious Class Atmosphere

The famous educator Zakov said that we must try to make the learning atmosphere full of freedom and make students and teachers breathe freely in class. Some teachers use body language to organize classroom teaching and create a good atmosphere (Liang Xiahua, 2012: 82). The emotional communication between teachers and students is an important factor in creating a harmonious classroom atmosphere. The application of body language in the classroom can turn a monotonous classroom into the vivifying one, so as to create a comfortable environment for learning. In such an environment, students will not feel nervous, and they are more willing to practice English listening, speaking, reading and writing, and generally master the knowledge. If a teacher enters the classroom with an implicate smile, kind sight and say hello to students sincerely, students will feel relaxed. If a student answers a question correctly, and the teacher gives him a big hand, he will feel confident. Using body language properly can not only eliminate nervousness, but also build a harmonious and encouraging learning atmosphere.

4.3 Developing Students’ Confidence

During the learning process, students need encouragement from teachers at any time. In addition to the use of encouraging words, the use of body language is also a kind of effective method to cultivate students’ self-confidence (Guo Jingyun, 2011: 120). When a student is afraid to speak, the encouraging sights from teachers will give him strength. When a teacher is listening to the students’ opinions, he should look at students, listen to them carefully, and express appreciation in time. When a student answers correctly, the teacher should smile and nod, and raise thumb to praise him. The varieties of body language used by teachers are easy to affect students so that they can feel the respect from teachers, and enhance their confidence finally.

1. Specific Uses of Body Language

In this part, different types of body language will be presented first. Principles of using body language and specific use of it in English listening, speaking, reading aloud as well as memorizing vocabulary are then discussed in detail.

5.1 Types of Body Language

5.1.1 Facial Expression

The facial expression is one or more emotions or positions of the muscles beneath the skin of the face. These movements convey the emotional state of an individual to observers, such as happiness, sadness, sorrow, fear, nervousness and so on. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. They are a primary means of conveying social information between humans.

For example, blush means you feel embarrassed or ashamed; beam means you feel very happy. Smile is also one of the facial expressions, which means you are happy or amused, etc. As we all know, if a person shows you a smile, you will feel comfortable and relaxed, so do students. In English teaching, if teachers can impart knowledge with a smile, it will make students feel comfortable, improve the sensitivity of the new knowledge and enhance students’ interest in English.

The author thinks that teachers should know how to use different facial expressions in class to deal with different situations. If a teacher can make better use of facial expressions and use them well, he can create a harmonious atmosphere and enhance the efficiency of classroom teaching.

5.1.2 Eye Contact

Eye contact occurs when two people look at each other at the same time (Sally, 2006: 686). A person’s face, especially their eyes, creates the most obvious and immediate cues that lead to the formation of impressions (Magalhaes, 2007: 169). A person’s eyes reveal much about how they are feeling, or what they’re thinking. Eye contact serves a variety of purposes. It regulates conversation, shows interest or involvement, and establishes a connection with others.

In class, eye communication is between teachers and students. If teachers look at all students kindly, it will make students feel calm and students are also happy to learn. When some students are absent-minded, teachers can use eyes to remind students to listen carefully. When some students can’t understand what teachers are saying, their eyes will be full of puzzles and teachers can also tell it easily from their eyes. Teachers’ direction of gaze may indicate to students where they should pay attention to. This will have a positive impact and enhance teaching.

5.1.3 Gesture

A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication or non-vocal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate with particular messages. Gestures involve movements of hands, face, or other parts of the body to show a particular meaning (Sally, 2006: 969). It’s connected with verbal communication and facial expression. For example, hug indicates that you like or love someone; clap means that you approve of or enjoy something; shrug means that you do not know something or you do not care about it at all, etc.

Gestures are widely used by teachers, not only for their abundant expressions, but also for the changeable, flexible and fast actions. The vivid and lively gesture is an auxiliary method of classroom teaching. For primary students, the proper gestures can make the language more persuasive, to make teacher’s language more vivid.

Obviously, there are many advantages of body language in English classroom teaching, but it doesn’t mean that the more teachers use body language, the better effects they will achieve. Teachers must grasp the compass of using body language.

5.2 Principles of Using Body Language

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