The Application of Body Language in English Teaching in Primary School

Abstract：Body language， an important part of non-verbal communication， plays a significant role in the interaction between teachers and students. Body language helps in motivating students interests and improving the teaching effect. Therefore， English teachers should pay more attention to the application of body language in English teaching and make good use of body language in classroom teaching. This article mainly discusses the application and effect of body language in primary school， in order to reach the ideal teaching effect.

Key words：Primary School English Teaching； Body Language； Application； Teaching Effect

The application of using body language in English teaching is one of the most effective ways to learn English. Body language includes teachers facial expression， postures， gestures and body movement. The application of teachers body language in English teaching can create more humor atmosphere in classroom and stimulate students learning interest.

But there are many problems in English teaching in primary school. For example， teachers and parents pay more attention to the students exams and scores. In English classroom teaching， teachers try their best to help students get high marks， so teachers have to focus on vocabulary， grammar and so on. In order to achieve the good effect among the students， they should use body language in English class. Usually the vivid， concrete and novelty things are easier to arouse their interests and attention. Teachers just impart knowledge to students， rather than according to students need to adjust their teaching approach.

Body language is a kind of nonverbal communication， where thoughts， intentions， or feelings are expressed by physical behaviors， such as facial expression， body posture， gestures， eye movement， touch and the use of space. Body language， which is often called kinetics， includes not only gestures and posture， but also facial expression and eye contacts. According to American scholar Julius Law： “Body language is the whole body or part of the body's reflective or reflective action， which is used to communicate with the outside world” （J.Fast， 1988， p.346）. Samovar， Porter and Stefani in their work Communication between Cultures stated that nonverbal communication involves all those nonverbal stimuli in a communication setting that is generated by both the source and his or her use of the environment （2000， p.425）. According to Knapps Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction， to most people， the phrase nonverbal communication refers to communication effected by means other than words. “Body language is the gesture， posture， facial expression and the expression of eyes and spatial location relationship between communicators and recipients” （Geng， 1988， p.123）.endprint

There is no general agreement in classification of body language and different linguists describe body language in a different way. Among these classifications， the first one is from Knapp （1997： 7-11）， who concludes that body language focuses on three primary units as follows： a） the communication environment （physical and spatial）； b） the communicator's physical characteristics； c） Body movement and position. The study of nonverbal communication as well as body language in China dates back to 1980s. Hu Wenzhong believes that body language has the definition in both broad and narrow senses. From all these ways of classification， we can know that body language mainly includes the movement of every part of a human body， instead of the limits to the body movement （Hu， 1999， p.259）. Yang Ping （1994） developed the contents of nonverbal communication into three issues： proxemics， which studies mans use and perception of his social and personal space； kinesics， the principal part of nonverbal communication， which studies the meaning conveyed through movements of any parts of the body； paralanguage， which deals with how things are talked about. Samovar classifies body language into appearance， body movement， facial expression， eye management， touching， sub-language， and so on. At the same time， the classification made by Knapp is that body language includes gesture， body movement， extremities movement， hand movement， facial expression， eye management， posture， and so on.

As a good English teacher， he should use body language with love and improve teachers body language communication skills. Teachers can try out their body language with the cooperation of students throughout each class time， to testify the assistant roles of body language in their regulating the class， promoting teacher-student relationship， as well as improving students cognitive learning. As students， they should improve their awareness of body language and building up a foundation for understanding body language through readings and lectures.

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作者简介：张静，1994年4月1日生，女，汉族，山东省临沂市郯城县人，现就读于陕西师范大学外国语学院2016级学科教学（英语）专业，研究方向：英语教学。endprint