On Using of Body Language in Middle School English Education.doc
On Using of Body Language in Middle School English EducationAbstract: With the continual reform of language teaching and learning methods, teachers are in great demand to organize the classes in English and create English-learning circumstances. However, with limitation of students' vocabulary, the use of body language is completely up to the standard of audio-visual teaching principle, so teachers should try to teach in English from the beginning to the end, together with the corresponding body language. In the end, the students' ability of English will be certainly and greatly improved. Teachers have to simplify their teaching language with the help of facial expressions and body movements to help students understand the text. It not only makes teacher express himself perfectly in class and creates an active atmosphere for students to study English, but also stimulates students' interest to learn and master English. In this article, advantages of body language in English teaching, the possibility and the effect of using body language in listening, speaking, reading and writing will be further discussed.Key words: English teaching in middle schools; body language; teaching tactics中文摘要摘要：随着语言教学和学习方法的不断改革，需要教师用英语组织教学并创造英语学习环境。由于学生的词汇量有限，用肢体语言授课才可以完全达到视听教学原则的标准，所以教师在授课全过程中应使用相应的肢体语言。最终，学生的英语能力一定会有很大提高。教师必须通过面部表情和身体动作来简化教学语言，帮助学生理解文章。肢体语言的应用不仅可以让教师在课堂上充分表现自己，为学生创造活跃的英语学习气氛，还可以刺激学生学习和掌握英语的兴趣。此论文论述了肢体语言在英语教学中运用的优势，以及肢体语言运用在听读写四项技能方面产生的影响。关键词: 中学英语教学 肢体语言 教学策略Introduction As everyone knows, the classroom teaching is one of the most important ways that the students learn English. As far as the English teaching in the middle schools 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. Body language is an important media through which people communicate with each other. It refers to the patterns of facial expressions and gestures that people use to express their feelings in communication. The specialist on body language research, Fen. Lafle. Angles, once said: "Once it was lost, a baby couldn't have grown into a normal person". It's also true to the juveniles. In school education, body language plays a positive role in cultivating the students' characters. For, teachers are usually respected, and factually, what or how the teachers say and do will be possibly imitated by the students (sometimes subconsciously). In a word, teachers' graceful body language helps to improve the students' artistic-appreciation and moral character. If the students develop a wonderful body language, which will possibly leads them to form optimistic and active feelings; they will surely have a more smooth interpersonal relation. The affection of teachers' body language on the students is reflected not only by establishing a good example, but also shortening the teacher-student estrangement by which a more harmonious studying atmosphere is created. As a matter of fact, teachers' friendly appearance can greatly encourage the students' studying enthusiasm. Furthermore, the characteristics of theoretic and abstraction of knowledge also requires the vivid, dramatic and an accessible gestures to make it specific and figurative. As a result, the students' interest is motivated and the effect of teaching is greatly improved. 1. The Definition of Body Language Body language is known as non-verbal behavior which transmits information through gestures, movement and facial expression. People communicate with each other by their body language in the ways of nodding, waving, eye contacting, shrugging and so on. According to the psychologists research, these ways can express something that verbal language can not directly express. Body language can be divided into sight language; body touches language, posture, gesture, manner, facial expression, and clothes language (Bi.2001). 2. Advantages of Body Language in English Teaching 2.1 Stirring Students Interest As an old saying goes: interests are the best teacher. The teachers appliance does not focus on teaching itself only; and the students can absorb better if they study at their own will (Cooper.1988). It is going to be painful that they work hard on academic course just because the teachers expect them to do so. The teachers have to stimulate the students, and the way teachers use to motivate them can be very important. If the teachers have passion in class, they can offer the students positive studying attitude.Some students are so shy that they did not dare to open their mouth to say anything when teachers were teaching them pronunciation. From my knowledge about this kind of introverted students, they can be easily hurt inside. But if the teachers choose an appropriate way, they may help them develop a better personality. Students read the teachers body language to know what they can get in class, what is important or unimportant, and what is commended or what is disallowed. By reading the teachers body language, the students can know read the teachers mind. In short moment an audacious idea occurs to me I was sure that a lot of sermons were not suitable to help an introverted student get rid of his weakness. Why not to set him in an embarrassing situation? Maybe it will work. 2.2 Expressing Themselves Better English is a sort of language which depicts English culture. Due to this, it is definitely wrong for an English teacher to arrange the class normally as the teachers of other subjects do. A good English teacher is not judged by the number of good students in his class, but about whether he could make it sure that the students understand the deep meaning when people are talking in English (Fries, 1945). English learners have to internalize the information that they have got from their teachers. Because of the lack of language atmosphere, Chinese students cannot speak their mind freely, let alone understand the deep meaning. If we do not use the appropriate words, maybe we will make the students become puzzle or ever give them worry information. Fortunately body language helps a lot to solve this problem. So the students do not have to say a lot of words around one idea. With the help of body language, they can easily understand when they try to start a conversation with others. 2.3 Understanding Students Clearly When the teachers are giving class, body language is not only to motivate the students, but also help to understand the students inside world. This informative workshop on body language provides every teacher with an in-depth knowledge of micro-movement. If the students are submissive, anxious, dominant, bored, lying or telling the truth, the way students stand, move, and sit reveal and convey their thought. Because these movement are produced at a subconscious or unconscious level .If the teachers are unaware of the students meanings that are shown by incongruous through the students words or behavior, they can not create an interesting studying atmosphere. To be able to avoid these, the teachers should have a better understanding of how they think and feel. This comprehensive workshop will give them a great opportunity to discover and understand the students behavior. And also some students may be reticent in expressing themselves in class. In their mind, hasty assertions or responses are seen as a sign of crudity of thought, as boastful self-assertion, or as rude. They may appear to be unresponsive to a question posed by the teacher. In fact, when they have an answer they are waiting for a occasion that they consider to be an appropriate moment to answer, so that they may be polite and appear to be thoughtful. Then the teachers should pay more attention to these students. If a teacher goes out for a while, when he or she return, the students give he or she “smiling face” and continue to work. But do they keep working after his or her back is turned? How would the teacher know? If the students intend to continue talking, they are betrays by their body language. Look at the knees and feet, the students fake with the upper body (shoulders, eyes, hands), not the lower body (knee, feet). The body language under the desk intends to impress the teacher. The ability to read this is crucial for any teacher who tries to get a child to do something. It lets the teacher know whether he or she can accomplish his or her objects or whether the student is just giving “half-a-loaf” - a gesture towards compliance with no real intention of doing the teachers requests.3. The Concrete Application of the Body Language in Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing 3.1 Body language helps to improve listening The Greek philosopher Epictetus ever wittily said: "Nature has given man one tongue and two ears that he may hear twice as much as he speaks." From the saying we can learn how important the listening is in our daily life. To understand others is a basic purpose in English teaching, and teachers often train the students' listening accordingly. In this process, 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. For example, a teacher can stretch his arms slowly when he says "She is in a very big room" he can open his eyes widely with mouth opened when he says "She is so beautiful a lady". As a result, the students will have such an impression: She is very beautiful indeed; a teacher who imitates the crying or the movement of the animals under the premise of teaching order will surely achieve a better effect. 3.2 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. In the English class, the teachers should not only use body languages themselves, but also ask the students to use them according to the different situation. Take it for example, the first lesson in Unit one, Book one is about the time when the new students first meet, and they don't know each other. So a teacher can introduce himself first, such as: "Hello, everyone, nice to meet you here. Now I'll introduce myself to you. My name is Arthur. I like playing basketball, for, it makes me much stronger; I like playing chess, for, it makes me more clever; and I like reading books, for, 'reading makes one perfect'". During the introduction, the teacher should use the new vocabularies and sentence structures together with a vivid expression and mating gestures as possibly as he can. He smiles when he says hello to the class; he shakes hands with some students saying "Nice to meet you" he writes name down on the blackboard; he imitates the action of dribbling and shooting at the basketball, playing chess and turning pages to explain his hobby. After his introduction, the teacher can create a circumstance for the students to practice: "Mary and Jack are new classmates. They are walking together in the street, and they meet one of Jack's old friends, Yangpei. Then Yangpei and Mary are introduced to each other by Jack." After the students' practice the dialogue is introduced naturally from it. Usually, the application of body language in different situations will result in an attracting and successful lesson. 3.3 Body language helps to improve reading The purpose of Senior English teaching is to train the 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. Here we mainly mention the helpfulness for reading aloud. Reading aloud helps the students to get a correct pronunciation and intonation and to develop the combination of vocabularies' pronunciation, spelling and meaning. Furthermore it also helps the students to find out the article's internal feelings and appreciate the beauty of the language. A linguist ever said: "A poem is not a poem until it is read." Reading aloud is basic in the middle school, and the teachers should make full use of body language to develop the students' ability of reading aloud. When reading the sentences, attention should be paid to where to speak softly, emphasize, and raise or lower our tone. To make it clear, we can imitate the strong or soft pats that are used in music teaching, which means to use the arcs to represent different tones. Generally speaking, we use falling tones in declarative and special interrogative sentence, first rising tones and then falling tones in the choosing interrogative sentence. The students in the middle school are not often accustomed to and always confuse them; however, with the help of body language, they can solve the problem much more easily. For example, they use gestures. As they read the choosing interrogative sentence, they raise their hands in rising tones and lower in falling tones. After training for some times, as soon as they read the sentences, they will remind themselves of the gestures. As a result, there will be no problems in rightly reading the sentences at all. In a word, the vivid gesture together with the fluent English can create a good circumstance of learning, which will surely play an active part in improving the students' reading ability. 3.4 Body language helps to improve writing. Writing is one of the four basic skills of learning language, and it is so important a skill that we can even say without it, people can't communicate with others. Not only should the students get some English knowledge and vocabularies, but also the ability to communicate in spoken and written English as what is mentioned in the teaching programs. To some extent, writing is much more important than speaking, for it can spread without the limitation of space and time. Since the students learn English as a media for communication, they should have the ability of writing. To get rid of the students' feelings of being dull and tiring, an English teacher has to use every possible method. This is the same to the writing. Teachers use different method in order to improve the students' ability of writing, among which, the application of body language can deepen the object impression, such is magnificent in de
