Body Language – The Key Factor to Improve Effects of Teaching and Learning

Teaching and learning is an interactive communication activity between teachers and students based on a systematically organized curriculum to achieve goals to transfer spiritual values, understanding, and certain cultural values. The effectiveness and sustainability of this transfer depends on many factors such as technology, curriculum, and most importantly, the interaction between teachers and students. Therefore, there are always many studies to find innovations in teaching methods to improve the effectiveness of this interaction. Besides many proposed measures, applying Body Language (nonverbal language) in teaching is also a method that is highly appreciated in improving the quality of teaching of teachers. In the scope of this article, the author would like to discuss the importance of Body Language in teaching in general and English teaching in particular.

I. What is body language?

Body language is an important means of communication through which people communicate with each other. It refers to the forms of facial expressions and gestures that people use to express their emotions in communication. In education, body language plays an active role in collecting students' characters and sending signals to students.

Accordingly, body language or non-verbal communication includes:

· Facial expressions

· Eye contact

· Touch

· Tone of voice

· Skin

· Posture

· Spatial distance

In the process of communication, body language plays a very important role, especially in teaching and learning English.

II. The Importance of Body Language

1. In general teaching activities

Teachers need to be aware of the effects of body language (nonverbal communication) in the classroom for two basic reasons: first, to better pick up on cues and messages from students and send positive signals that reinforce their learning. At the same time, the second reason is to become more adept at avoiding negative signals that hinder that learning.

Research shows that students' nonverbal expressions serve as an important source in forming teachers' impressions, attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral expressions. In order to receive students' messages well and send positive messages to students, teachers must combine many nonverbal signals. Students express their interest, excitement or fatigue, boredom, understanding or not understanding the lesson through their attitudes, faces, gestures, and postures more than through words. Thereby, teachers can grasp, adjust or intervene promptly in teaching methods, speed or content.

Teachers express enthusiasm, warmth, assertiveness, confidence or displeasure through their facial expressions, vocal intonation, gestures and use of space. Teachers reinforce or change student behaviour through the use of smiles, winks, frowns and scowls.

The bottom line for teachers is that, whether intentional or not, body language (nonverbal behavior) tells students what the teacher expects of them. Positive expectations bring positive results. Negative expectations bring self-doubt and failure.

It is clear that body language - a kind of non-verbal language - plays a very important role in the interaction between teachers and students. It can not only express the speaker's intention more accurately and effectively, simplify teaching instructions, stimulate students' interest, optimize teaching purposes and improve teaching efficiency, but also help improve students' listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.

2. In English Teaching

+ Improve vocabulary learning and expressive ability

English vocabulary is so rich that students cannot remember all of it. And in fact most students have difficulty in remembering vocabulary even the frequently used words.

Using appropriate body language can not only avoid using mother tongue to explain English when learning new words, increase the ability and speed of absorbing new words, but also help to remember new words longer. In this way, the teaching effect will be enhanced. For example, when a teacher wants his students to look at the blackboard, he or she combines the command “ look at the board ” and hand pointing at the blackboard, then the students will understand the command without difficulty despite the fact that they do not catch the keyword “blackboard”.

Another example, when teaching the word “ push ”, the teacher combines the action of slightly bending the knees, putting both hands forward to express the action of “push” and saying loudly “Push”. Then, the students can be asked to do the same, surely the students will absorb and remember the word better.

+ Improve the atmosphere and increase students' interest in learning

English is a foreign language for Vietnamese students and it is often difficult to learn well in English in the classroom. But using Vietnamese in English class has a negative impact, hindering the students' foreign language acquisition. However, when teaching in English, many students cannot understand what the teacher teaches, they will not listen to the teachers. Then the atmosphere in the English classroom will be very quiet. Teaching to arouse the interest of each student, teachers should look around at the students, use body language to attract students' attention, help them understand the knowledge, and increase their enthusiasm. In this way, teachers can achieve the purpose

improve teaching results

+ Improve 4 skills Listening - Speaking

· Increase listening ability: when starting a new lesson, the teacher tells the story outline in English. Body language can help for example, the teacher can stretch his arms slowly when he says: "she is in a very big room," he can open his eyes wide with his mouth open when he says: "she is such a beautiful woman." As a result, the students will have such an impression, she is very beautiful indeed. Or a teacher who imitates crying or movement, will certainly achieve a better effect when judging and listening comprehension.

· Increase speaking ability: In general, body language can arouse and maintain students' interest in learning and using English. In English classes, teachers should not only use their own body language, but also ask students to use it in different situations. For example, the first lesson in a unit, the book is one of the times when new students first meet, and they do not know each other. So, a teacher can introduce himself first, such as: "hello, everyone, nice to meet you here - Hello everybody. My name's Smith. Nice to meet you!". With a lively expression and communicative gestures such as: smiling when saying "hello - hello to the class", pointing to himself when saying "My name's Smith - I am Smith", shaking hands and smiling at some students saying "Nice to meet you - Nice to meet you"; he writes the name down on the blackboard. After his introduction, the teacher can create a situation for the students to practice. After the students practice the dialogue is introduced naturally from it. Usually, the application of body language in different situations will result in an engaging and successful lesson.

The use of body language can not only attract students' attention, but also deepen their impression and imagination. The use of body language is completely up to the standard of audio-visual teaching principles, so teachers should try to teach English from beginning to end, along with the corresponding body language. Finally, students' English ability will be firmly and quickly improved.

(Phung Thi Yen - Lecturer, Faculty of Foreign Languages)