The Use of Body Language in the Teaching

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1. Introduction

As we know， the classroom teaching is the most important ways that the students learn English. As far as the English teaching in the middle school is concerned， teachers have to arouse the students' interest so that they may learn better. There are many ways to arouse the students' interest and help them to learn better， body language used in English teaching is one of them. In school education， body language plays a positive role in cultivating the students' characters.

2. Body Language.

2.1 Introduction

The scientific study of body language can be traced back to ancient times. As time goes on， people have not stopped the study on the relationship between body language and communication. In modern societies， the rapid development of economy， science and technology and global cooperation bring out the reality that cross-culture communication becomes immense. Human communication is the combination of verbal communication and nonverbal communication. People always pay more attention to the language and ignore the action of nonverbal communication， that is ignore the action of body language， because body language is the main part of nonverbal communication.

2.2 Definition of body language

Body language is the movement or positions by which you show other people your feelings without using words. In other words， body language expresses feelings by gestures， postures， facial expressions， eyes.

Body language can be found in everywhere in our daily life. Sometimes， body language expresses meanings more clear and concise than verbal language. people transmit information though body language in noisy conditions and so on.

3. Characteristics of body language

3.1 Body language has the following characters：

3.1.1 Universal character. The messages transmitted by body language are universal to all the people who have the same culture background. Otherwise people do not understand each other.

3.1.2 Polysemous character. A motion of body language may have several meanings. For example， waving one's hand shows saying hello and goodbye； shaking hands means greeting， congratulations， making peace and making a deal.

3.1.3 Concise character. In some occasions， using body language will make ourselves understood easily by others， such as in sports， in traffic， on stage and so on.

3.2 kinds of body language

3.2.1 Shake Hands： Handshake is the most common gesture of body language. Both Chinese and English speakers may shake hands when they are introduced to each other or when they meet if it is long since they saw each other， especially when leaders meet..

3.2.2 Clapping： When a speaker finishes his speech， speaker and listeners all clap to express "thank you" and "mutual positive feelings" in China， whereas applauding oneself is regarded improper and immodest for Americans.

3.3 Finger gestures

3.3.1 Thumb： When you do well in something or finish the assignment beautiful， others always thumb up to admire you.

3.3.2 Forefinger： In Chinese culture， touching or pointing to one's own nose with raised forefinger signifies "it's me" or "number 1".

3.3.3 Middle finger： Holding the middle finger is to criticize the other side for talking nonsense in China and to express the obscene behavior in American and French culture. So we should avoid using this gesture.

3.3.4 Ring finger： Perhaps because the finger is used to wear wedding ring， people seldom use it to show something.

3.3.5 Little finger： Holding up one's little finger means insignificance and uselessness in China.

3.3.8 Eye contacts

Eye contact is an important aspect of body language. With our eyes we can love， hate， attack without uttering a word. Much of the attitudinal or emotional information is conveyed by eye behaviors.

4. Functions of body language

Body language can convey messages alone， and in many situations it is used in combination with verbal behaviors to convey meaning. Body language has five main communicative functions： repeating， complementing， regulating and contradicting.

People often repeat one's own speech with body language in communication to make it more clear， accurate and errorless. For example， one says to the other person， "How many people are there in your family？" "Four." He or she says with stretching four fingers at the same time.

4.1 The necessity and importance of using body language in English teaching.

English teaching is a key part of the school education With the English teaching methods reform， more and more English teachers organize the teaching process in English so that they may realize the Communicated English. The Communicated English means that teachers instruct the students and explain questions basically in English， and the students are also required to use English in class.

Contemporarily， however， the students in the middle school can't speak very well； neither can they understand why they should use different tones in different time or situation； vocabulary and expressive ability are limited too. These limitations made it difficult to realize the communicated English in the classes.

According to the students' present level and practical situation， body language is required. when teacher teaches the new word "wall"， he or she can use his or her hand to pat the wall of the classroom to make the students understand and remember easily.

5. Body language in listening， speaking， reading .

5.1 Body language helps to improve listening

Teachers often train the students' listening accordingly. if the body language is used， the effect will be better. When beginning a new lesson， the teacher narrates the story outline in English. The body language may help.

5.2 Body language helps to improve speaking

The spoken language is one of the important ways to communicate， so we should try to develop the students' ability of speaking. Factually they are helped to reach the aim in a certain degree by their teacher's body language.

The contemporary emphasis is gradually laid on spoken English teaching. The first lesson of every unit in Senior English begins with dialogue. The teaching programs require the teachers to organize the class to practice English according to the characteristics of dialogue. Generally speaking， the body language can arouse and sustain the students' interest of learning and using English.

5.3 Body language helps to improve reading

The purpose of Senior English teaching is to students' preliminary ability of using spoken and written English. In the senior school， we lay emphasis one the reading ability that serves the students' further study. Reading aloud helps the students to get a correct pronunciation and intonation and to develop the combination of vocabularies' pronunciation， spelling and meaning. and the teachers should make full use of body language to develop the students' ability of reading aloud.

6. Conclusion

The 40 minutes in class is very precious and should be cherished， during which the students should practice as much as possible. To exert the limited time， teachers are required to adopt some effective methods. The use of body language can not only attract the students' attention， but also deepen their impression and imagination. In the end， the students' ability of English will be certainly and greatly improved.